You know you are a parent when...

We all have those moments as new parents when we suddenly realise our lives will never be the same. As new parents, we might yearn for a nice hot shower or a cup of tea that isn't cold but mostly we wouldn't change a thing. But here is a list of some of the special things that are unique to parenting.

You know you are a new parent when:

• You can’t take a bathroom break without your child following you
• Leaving the house is a thing
• Getting yourself and the baby into the car takes longer than the actual errand
• You’re greatest fantasy is about having a good nights sleep
• You happily leave the house with food stains on your clothes because it isn’t poo or vomit (or maybe it is!)
• You get food stains on your clothes and figure you can still get two more days wear out of them
• The majority of your conversations are about poo and sleep
• You are grateful someone got you a massage voucher for your baby shower so you could escape the house for an hour and lie down
• When your husband tells you the only booking available for the restaurant you want to go to for date night is 8.30pm and you tell him politely by yelling at him, that you are not going
• Going back to work sounds like a nice break
• You cry every time your baby falls asleep in the car
• You think that transferring your baby from the car to the cot might just work THIS TIME.
• What’s a Friday?
• You have fallen asleep at the movies and it was only 5pm
• You try to pick your baby’s nose and celebrate when you get the booger!
• The first time you put make-up on your face after giving birth, it felt like your face rejected it.
• Your hair regrowth is so bad, but you can’t get to the salon
• you consider having had a shower a ‘good’ day
• You consider having a shower without having to listen for the baby crying like a day at a spa
• You cease to be in interactions, instead you are checking to see how people are reacting to your baby
• You talk about yourself in third person to strangers ie Stranger: How are you? You: ‘Mummy could do with a good night’s sleep’
• You feel sad when your baby is trying to look and smile at someone and they don’t respond.
• 5 minutes after telling everyone how you’ve had the worst day EVER, you see your baby asleep on the monitor and say how great life is with them.

Bella Hilton is a mother to the ‘cutest baby in the whole world’, and never ever EVER exaggerates. When she’s not running around after her baby, she runs an online baby gift business www.babygiraffe.com.au because she likes to make people smile.