Stupid Things We Did as First Time Parents

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Andy and I tried to stay up late on New Years Eve. We made it to later than usual, but that was only 9:30 p.m. Meh, midnight is over-rated anyway. We spent about an hour laying in bed on our phones going through pictures from the last 9 months since our adorable bundles of joy came into the world. Every so often we came across a picture that just made us stop and say "what the hell were we thinking?"

These things seemed like a good idea, or a necessity, at the time. But, man, looking back a few months later we realized we were newbies. New to the game of parenting and figuring out what worked for our family. New to all of the toys, contraptions, and baby items that come along with said babies. Here's a look at 2014 and all (some. only the things that have photographic evidence!) of the stupid things we did as first time parents. Take note, newbies, take note.

We thought we could contain the babies and their mess. To their nursery and one area of our living room. We even purchased this awesome rainbow colored play yard. For the first few weeks that we had it, I insisted that the babies were enclosed in the play yard if I walked away from them. They could barely sit and roll - they were not mobile yet - there was no need for them to be in baby prison when they weren't going anywhere! Silly me.

This play yard fence now spans our living room keeping the no-no's off-limits - the stone fireplace, TV, computer and all of the cords. It also kept their grubby little hands off of the Christmas tree while it was set up! 

Baby butts are slippery when wet! How do you keep them from slipping and sliding all over the bath tub? You put a towel at the bottom, duh! Ugh, you have to keep pushing the towel down! Their feet are getting caught under it! I have to wring it out to dry every night? Geez, now it smells like mildew in here. Surely, there has to be a better way?!?

Apparently there is. Someone already invented non-slip mats for your bath tub. We finally figured this out and bought this super cute one from Target. #firsttimeparents.

No more slipping and sliding in the bath tub! However, I do give myself a couple of points for being creative with a towel. Just kidding, it's embarrassing. 

We thought we had to take our newborns on daily walks. You know, like a dog. These little babies were born in March and before my maternity leave was over in May, we were going on daily walks. Yup. They couldn't sit up (as shown) or appreciate the outdoors. And since it's early spring, I'm thinking it was probably too chilly for them in their short-sleeved onesies with a light blankie draped over top.

They make these awesome things called infant car seats that attach to this stroller. Keeps baby snug and upright. And you can bundle them with blankets IF you really want to go on a walk with newborns in the cold shortly after having a C-section. We actually put these little guys in their stroller like this at about 2 weeks old - I can't even. I'm hanging my head in shame and embarrassment right now.

We didn't realize that our babies are not toys. I mean, we understood it on a certain level, but on another level we didn't exactly consider the best interests of the babies at all times. This 12-ish week old baby should have been inside, probably sleeping, NOT going for his first dip in the pool in the blazing sun... without a hat. Or sunscreen.

We went entirely too many places to please entirely too many people by "showing off" the babies and doing meet-and-greets. Nope. Nope nope nope. Babies are not toys! I'm sure they would have loved to stay home and sleep, eat and poop - just what infants do best!

Looking back at these pictures make me wonder what else we did as first time parents that wasn't documented, but was equally stupid! Do you have anything to add to this list? What was the strangest thing you did/thought as a first time parent?

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