Becoming a parent changes everything. Much more than getting married, moving to a new country, getting a new job, going to college and many other things that happen to us over our lifetimes. My friends who are not parents (pretty much all of them) often ask me what its like being a parent. In one sentence, it is life-changing. No matter how much you've told yourself that things won't change, they will. After all, you have to know that your life has changed when you:
- Hate Velcro products with a passion
- You can drive to the nearest Babies R Us in your sleep - and you often do
- Finish all your meals in 1/4th the time
- Realize at the end of the day that you washed your hands 40 times that day
- Find yourself offering Purelle to everyone who comes within 2 feet of the baby
- Notice for the first time how bumpy your neighborhood sidewalks are
- First thing out of your mouth when you meet other new parents is "does yours sleep through the night?"
- Take 1000 pics of your baby but don't find the time to ever filter them or post them online
- Crave for some "alone-time" with your spouse, but when you do get it, you talk about what the baby must be up to - THE ENTIRE TIME!
- Your back hurts. A lot
- You finally understand why your friends used to say that, after having children, they had not watched a single movie in one sitting
- In spite of all this, you discover that nothing could bring you more joy than that first faint hint of a smile from your little one
