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Patience
The first lesson of parenthood is patience. You discover you’re pregnant and then must wait almost an entire year to see your little one in person. Of course there is much to marvel at during pregnancy, but the wait can be excruciating, especially for those used to immediate gratification.

Once your baby is born, however, you learn that waiting for her birth was just the beginning of the endless cycle of parenting which requires infinite patience. She will sleep when she wants and wake when she wants. She’ll eat as much as she wants and will likely eat slower when you’re more than ready for her to hurry up. Learning patience has a purpose, however. Your baby is helping you learn to take life at a slower pace so that you can enjoy it that much more.

Forgiveness
When things go wrong in your life before children, you might have forgiven the perpetrator, but once you become a parent, you learn an entirely new meaning of forgiveness. There are two things likely to occur when you begin handling your own baby at home. The first is that you call your own mother and thank her for dealing with you as a baby. The second is you’re going to get frustrated and mad at your baby at least a few times.

She hasn’t done anything wrong - she’s just a baby and doesn’t know that 1am isn’t the best time for a play session or that poop that explodes out of her diaper is more than just an inconvenience, even at four in the morning. So no matter how mad you get that you’re now taking care of poo emergencies instead of sleeping (again), you’ll always love your baby and constantly seek her forgiveness for thoughts she hasn’t a clue you ever had. The best forgiveness is the kind you allow yourself when you discover that no matter how hard we try, no parent is perfect; you just do the best you can to do what’s right for your baby.

Multitasking
The biggest skill of parenting is the ability to multitask. Your multitasking abilities kick into overdrive when you have more than one child, but even a single tiny baby can suddenly make things a lot more complicated around the house. How do your hold a crying baby and bring in the eggs and milk from the car? You need to fix dinner and entertain a tired baby at the same time. Nobody has perfected these kinds of skills better than slightly frazzled parents.

Ability to Take It in Stride
Parents are great at taking things in stride once the newness of the baby wears off just a bit. In the first few days, everything is like an emergency and stress runs high. But after a few weeks, you realize that arriving fifteen minutes late is okay if you have to change a diaper. And keeping multiple changes of clothes in the car is the simplest solution to the inevitable spit-up on the way.  Once upon a time you might have freaked if you found yourself covered in mashed bananas while driving the car with no make-up on in your house slippers. Now you just know that some battles are worth fighting and others are just as easy to skip all together in exchange for a hot shower and another snuggle with the source of those bananas.

You can always find more articles related to parenting and pregnancy on the TotSites article section. Feel free to leave a comment here on the blog or post on the community forums.

ARTICLE: As delivery nears, you begin to give a bit more thought to the inevitable – that baby must come out. While there are really only two ways a baby is born but there are many birth decisions you should consider and discuss with your significant other and medical professional long before the anxious trip to the hospital in the midst of labor. It is time to create your Birth Plan so everyone has a common set of expectations.

 

For those of you looking for something fun to entertain the kids – here are a few Thanksgiving Craft Ideas:

- Making a Thanksgiving Centerpiece

- Making Thanksgiving Cookies

Create a Spooky Halloween Scene

Create a Halloween Pencil Holder

Have fun and remember to be safe!

 

One of the best things about becoming a parent is introducing your child to the fun of holidays and special occasions. While Christmas is almost universally the favorite holiday of parents, Halloween ranks highly on the list for parenting fun. Read More

See what they deem to be this years top 12 holiday gifts  (note: their picks are not just for Baby – but kids in general)

 

Read more about some helpful hints for coping with colic.

 

Luckily there is a solution. Here is a recent article we posted on Capturing Video from a DVD Camcorder onto a Computer. Hopefully this will help you share those precious moments with friends & family!

If you have requests or suggestions for future tutorials, please let us know!

With less then 2 months away my mind started racing with all the home projects and baby essentials we needed to pick up. You would think that since we have been through this once we would be immune to the “baby item marketers” of the world =). It was a nice reminder to see what we really need to prepare for baby. In reality, we had all our essential items covered but the baby bath (Even that can be solved with the sink!).

If you’re expecting in the near future, check it out! Real Baby Essentials 

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Brian