24 hrs of Lessons.

As a parent, there are new things to learn every single day. Here are some of the lessons I've learned in just the last 24 hours:

~ A sick baby is a crabby baby. And a crabby baby is no fun. I want my sweet, smiling baby back.

~ As soon as you mention in your blog that your child's fever has disappeared and she's bouncing back, she'll throw up in her sleep and require a total strip down of both her and her bed at 3 a.m.

~ Just because your 4-month-old can sit up on her own at home does not mean she's ready to sit up in the grocery cart by herself. (I ended up having to hold her with one hand the whole time, so it took me an hour to get $30 worth of groceries.)

~ Always keep an eye on socks. Otherwise you'll end up retracing your steps (like going back in the grocery store and weaving through people in your checkout line, for instance) in an attempt to find it.

~ Inevitably, your child will have the most epic poop of her life on a day when you're both sick and you just did a load of baby laundry. EPIC, folks. An 8-wiper and bath-worthy. (In our house, we measure the greatness of the dirty diaper by how many wipes it takes to clean her. Like "Oh, this was a gross one; a 3-wiper." Today's 8-wiper is a Reeder house record. And that was before we just went to the bathtub.)

~ If you make the mistake of thinking to yourself "Ok, she's been napping for 30 minutes. I hope she naps a while longer so I can finish the laundry," she will instantly wake up. Like within seconds. Telepathic babies up in here.

~ Pathetic, crabby, sick babies are cuddly and just want Mommy to hold them while they sleep. And Mommy, though still sick and overwhelmingly exhausted herself, will happily oblige. No better feeling on earth than chubby arms wrapped around your neck and the sound of rapid warm breaths in your ear.