When I became a REAL mom

I blogged on here all about my pregnancy. I was a mom-to-be then.
Then I blogged about giving birth and the early days of Callum's life. I was a new-mom then.
Now I will blog about the event that cemented my mom-ness into history.

I got a minivan.

Yes. A minvan. The thing I used to say I would NEVER get. I would tell my parents, "psh they are so dorky and embarrassing. I will never drive one, a car or SUV is fine." My dad would smile and say "you'll see. They're the ultimate family car." (This also from the man who owned an early 90s full sized conversion van that we all piled in to. And it had a TV. If you were a 90s kid, you know TVs in vans were a luxury that wasn't installed into every van like they are now a days. You were pretty cool if you had a TV with reception so horrible to render it useless in your family's van in the 1990s. For the record, on trips my parents would somehow hook up a VCR to it. Yep, a VCR, baby,).

So anyway, fast forward 15 years and suddenly I have a kid. When the receptionist at the dealership asked how many kids I had, and I replied "1" she said "oh." as if that was not good enough for a van.

 But then I reminded her of all the STUFF a baby has, and she got it. It's not just Callum. It's Callum and his GIANT HONKIN' carseat that takes up as much space as a 400lb person riding in my backseat. It's the struggle to get him into that carseat, backwards, because that's safest. While it's 0 degrees and snowing and icy, and he's wearing layers (but NOT a puffy coat because that would kill him). All without bumping his head while I toss him over to the middle seat, because that's safest. And the struggle to adjust the straps to the current clothing layer, and pull as tight as I can at an awkward stretched out angle, because that's safest. And then having to remove him once we reach the destination. It's his diaper bag. It's his toys. It's  the baby gate I bring to someone's house. It's his strollerS. It's the baby carrier. It's the portable baby seat that attaches to tables that's supposed to fold up but only one side does. It's my purse. My coupon binder. The boots I forgot to add to the bag. And the bottle/sippy cup I threw in as an afterthought on the way out the door. Oh and if I was at the grocery store or shopping and have bags to put in or unload... forget about it.

I view my life in 2 time periods.
Before - when I could walk out my door, get in my car, and drive away. Get to destination, get out, and walk in.
AFTER - see my above description. It takes about 3 trips to load everything and everyone, and 3 trips to unload. It's exhausting.

When I get to leave the house alone, I am giddy not so much for being childfree and not having to watch Callum. I am giddy that I can enter and exit a car like a normal person again, saving time and effort. Oh the effort.

A minivan, while not perfect, does help. It allows me to fit more junk in my car, without things being as cramped - which means I can also leave things in my car (which cuts down on dragging them in adn out of the house). The seat is at a more "comfortable working height" and *right there* for me to set Callum into. Now, it's still a PIA to get him into the backwards carseat, and still a pain to finagle with the straps. But It's a tiny bit easier. I also have the option of climbing into the car, out of the COLD, and snow and rain to settle him in. And in our van, the pathway between the front seats and middle seats can be opened (console folds down) so it's easy to just walk up front. It also helps that I am the size of a large child, a giant man probably couldn't crawl in between - but I digress.

So without further ado, here is my baby with my new baby lol