If there is one thing that changed my life more than any other thing, it would have to be becoming a mother. This won’t surprise anyone who has had children. Being a stay at home mom really emphasizes the challenges. Thank goodness for the rewards.

Children change your life. Not just in the ways you expect, such as having to get up at night to feed the baby, watching him or her grow, spending money on the many things kids need, and so forth. They change your life in ways that if you weren’t a parent would probably drive you crazy. That’s just kids.

It will be years before you take your privacy for granted, even in the bathroom. Little kids won’t stand for it most of the time. You’re behind that door and they’re going to find out what you’re doing. Then they’ll tell you all about their latest imaginary adventure or what’s happening on their favorite show that they’ve watched more times than you can stand.

You’ll also discover how fascinating potty talk can be when you’re potty training your child. Not only will you talk freely about bodily functions to your child, but to other parents as well. And they’ll even get excited about it with you.

If you changed your name when you got married, that change of identity is nothing compared to the change when you become your child’s Mommy. That’s how you’ll be identified by your’s child’s friends and many of their parents for years to come.

Perfectly clean home? You mean for more than a few minutes while the kids are awake? Not likely! Some days it seems like kids just have to look in a room to make it into a disaster area.

Perfect hair, makeup and clothes? You’re begging for the baby to get sick, aren’t you? Probably just as you’re ready to head out of the house.

How about a sick day? Check your temperature, because you must be feverish. Sick or no, the kids need to be taken care of, and if it’s mommy they’re used to, it’s mommy they will try to get even if daddy is home.

On the plus side, there are few things as wonderful as being snuggled by your child. It doesn’t matter if you both had a really rough day. Kids can make it up to you with one quick hug. And if that doesn’t get your energy back up at the end of the day, have a little chocolate, a hot bath or another indulgence after your kids are in bed.

I make no promises as to how this all works in the teen years. That’s an entirely different game.

It’s amazing how much I’ve forgotten about having a newborn baby from when I had my first two kids. I guess a nearly 4 year break between babies is a pretty long time.

And it’s not just the ever so delightful pains of childbirth, or in this case, C-section. Nope, there are many more things I’d forgotten.

Like how good even a 4 hour stretch of sleep feels. 5-6 hours is even better.

That tired can be a way of life.

That you should tuck those cute little floppy collars into baby’s clothes if you want her to sleep. Otherwise the collar tickles her cheek and causes a suckle reflex. Suddenly your peacefully sleeping baby wants to nurse.

How very fast babies grow out of clothes. Thank goodness for tons of handmedowns.

How much all of my kids have loved “Muttzart”. It’s really too bad they don’t make that toy anymore. Great music, and encourages babies to “talk” to it. Also very soothing when babies cry at night.

That it’s hard to get such little arms into the belts of a car seat. They feel so delicate.

That sometimes diaper changes feel like a waste of time. Selene’s a champion with this one. Change a diaper and… oops, there she goes again!

How hard it is to get work done when a baby needs you… or is just looking too cute to leave alone.

I think one of the hardest things for me with this pregnancy has been rescheduling my work times to cope with the fact that sometimes I just get more tired.

At that I’m lucky. If I worked outside the home I’d just have to cope or call in sick. I do love my flexibility in work times!

This past weekend’s trip was one of those occasions where I had to think about what I wanted to do not only by, well, what I wanted to do, but also what I was really up for doing. Combine attending BlogWorld Expo with being 5 months pregnant and dealing with severe hip pain, and you really do start to think of excuses to just sit down.

Which makes it really hard to network until you get to a table full of people you can talk to. But it’s really good for attending sessions.

I was just glad to only be 5 months along. Another month or two, and I very much doubt I would have risked it. I came too close to losing my son late in my previous pregnancy to take chances.

Of course everyone has their own priorities. You just have to look at the controversy surrounding what Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin did. I’m not using that as a criteria for whether or not I think she’s qualified, but she certainly opened up a big debate on what mothers should be doing so late in a pregnancy. I wouldn’t have. She did. It turned out all right for her.

And that’s enough politics for now. I just found the discussion on motherhood that opened up interesting.

As with so many things in life, it comes down to your own tolerance levels. Those of us who chose to stay at home to raise our children have different priorities than the ones who choose to work outside the home. And different from those who work outside the home out of sheer necessity.

What I don’t do and I don’t recommend doing, is letting pregnancy take complete control of your life… unless you’re on bedrest or something. There are times to push your limits and times to take it easy.

As for me, I’m trying hard to get a lot of things done. I have serious goals to consider, such as building my income to be prepared in case this miserable economy does in my husband’s nice, new job. It might.

But I’ve been taking advantage and sleeping in as much as my son will allow. Changing how much and at what time of day I read other blogs so that I can get work of my own done. And trying to get my husband to understand that walking a lot build up hip pain much faster than it builds up endurance, which he thinks I should be trying. I don’t think he understands that it’s not a muscle issue.

I know these next few months will bring more changes to how I work, and after baby girl comes around, it will change more yet. Little rascal will no doubt make life interesting in yet another new way.

They always do.