by D. Warnaar

Created on: January 15, 2009   Last Updated: March 27, 2011

You learn many things in your first few months of motherhood, but it's not until around the time your baby is five months that the fog in your mind due to sleep deprivation begins to lift and you can sort what you have learned into complete thoughts. Among the many things I've learned, perhaps the most important is to keep a sense of humor and simply do your best. Take each day as it comes and at the end of the day, it's totally OK:

-To put on a full face of make-up and blow out your hair even if the only person you see that day is your baby. It's equally OK to still be in your PJ's and a ponytail when your husband gets home from work.

-To skip your baby's bath on occasion in favor of the wipe-style bath (wiping your baby down with wipes). Babies don't really get that dirty anyway.

-To let your baby watch 20 minutes of a Baby Einstein DVD despite the AAP's recommendations not to let babies watch TV until they are 2 years of age. The laundry doesn't do itself and having a baby means having a lot of laundry.

-To prefer to communicate with the outside world via email instead of by phone. Most the time, you're just too tired to talk.

-To go to bed at 7pm when your baby does. I don't know a single fellow new mom that is able to "naps when the baby naps".

-That your husband dresses the baby in mismatching clothing. Let him do it his way. (But it's totally OK the change the baby into a matching outfit after your hubby leaves for work or before taking him out in public even if that's just a walk around the neighborhood.)

-To prefer a night of Scrabble and a glass of wine with your husband instead of a "real" date night. Any time alone after the baby is in bed counts as mommy and daddy time.

-To continue to wear the shirt your baby just spit-up on a few more hours. A new one would only incur the same fate!

-To feel isolated. Many new moms feel this way, especially if you were working full-time and are now staying home with baby full-time. It does not mean you love your baby any less. It means you are totally normal.

-To miss your single friends but not the single life. I go to bed at 8pm most nights. My drink of choice is coffee. I get up at the crack of dawn and sometimes at random hours of the night. I don't want to go to the bar for girls' night out. I'd rather see a movie and go for tea. Deal with it, it's part of getting older.

-To really hate that remaining 15 extra pounds of baby weight but to be too tired to do much about it most days. That's what Spanx are for. Besides, I created a human. What more do you want from me?

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