This photo came up on my personal timeline today.

This was taken three years ago — during the early days with baby #2. I had a 4-year-old running around too.

This picture is the perfect representation of the early days with a new baby. Whether it's baby #1 or #5, the juggling of life, work, family, recovering from delivery and everything else is real and incredibly daunting.

So, we put our babies in the laundry basket for 20 seconds while we change the wet clothes from the washer to the dryer, with our babies never more than an arm's reach away.

So, we put off overdue appointments and get-togethers, because we are just too damn tired to go.

So, we eat chips and take-out more than we want to and put off losing that leftover baby weight.

So, we sleep with our babies on our chests in old recliners instead of their $200 cribs in the early morning hours before dawn.

We do what we have to do to get through the sleepless nights and the adjustment of this new person in our hearts and in our homes.

Those early days are hard.

Do what you've got to do, mama.

Motherhood doesn't come with a manual.

There is no right or wrong way to care for your new baby, as long as he's loved and taken care of.

And remember, there was always a mama who came before you and felt the same way or did things the same way.

- Britt LeBoeuf of theseboysofmine.com

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