Amateur Parenting at its Finest

Dalton has somehow lasted three months despite our amateur parenting skills. We learn something new about this kiddo every single day. It is definitely an educational experience at all times. I now completely understand why the first born is the "test dummy" child. You literally are learning how to deal with everything for the first time. And as a first born child, I completely understand what kind of damage I'm doing to my child.

I'd say we are far from experts in the parenting department and google is my BFF right now. How did people raise children before the internet? Just this morning I was googling how long baby's can/should sleep at night before you wake them up. Dalton was 13 hours deep in slumber with only a quick 10 minute milk session around 5 am. We own an Owlet, but I still kept checking to see if he was breathing because he had been out for so long. (I am well aware that most 3 month old babies don't sleep as soundly as mine. I count my blessings daily for getting amazing sleep each night. Hopefully we make it out of that 4 month sleep regression alive...)

Ryan's going to hate me for telling this story, but I think it is the perfect example of learning on the job. A few weeks ago I was watching him make a bottle of formula for Dalton. He put the water in the bottle and then scooped out one scoop of formula (4 oz of water equals 2 scoops formula). I asked him if he knew that he was suppose to add a second scoop. He literally had no idea and who knows how many bottles Dalton had received with only one scoop. Ooops! I guess it's a good thing we don't rely on formula exclusively for nutrition.

When I was pregnant, people would tell me I was lucky I was having a boy because diaper changes are so much easier. Three months of changing little boy diapers and I COMPLETELY disagree. AND I have to wonder if any of these people have ever changed a boy diaper before... Every time you begin a diaper change it's like a mysterious time bomb. If you don't move fast enough, you'll definitely get sprayed. My kid managed to pee straight into his own mouth at 3 weeks old thanks to my lack of talent. It was a perfect aim, and I just had to laugh. Sure, changing a wet diaper is fairly easy logistics-wise. I mean some people don't even use wipes for that kind of diaper. BUT poop diapers are a nightmare! When you open the diaper, there is way more places for that mess to get trapped. And while your trying to clean out every nook and cranny that time bomb is still ticking...

I'm sure there are plenty of mistakes we have made in our brief 14 weeks of parenthood. We are living proof that they don't give you a pretest to raise a child... And graduate level degrees don't make you any better at parenting!

In other news, someone complimented us on our "cute baby girl" at church this past week. I got a pretty good laugh out of it. I thought that confusion was reserved primarily for baby girls. I know babies can look a little gender neutral, but the yellow bow tie should have been a total giveaway.