Baby Love Makes Parenting Easy

Although parents prepare for "life with child" during pregnancy, nothing can prepare a mom or dad for the awesome love that overcomes you the moment you see your child for the first time. Let's face it: Newborns are not pretty. Still, somehow that minutes-old slippery little squirt will make you see life in a whole different way, and you will swear that your newborn truly is the most beautiful baby ever born.

I'm convinced our daughter was the hairiest baby born in 2005—a mini-Chewbacca. She came with a head full of hair and sideburns to match. Still, she was the most beautiful baby that hospital has ever seen ... according to us, anyway. Yep, it's the love talkin'.

Yes, this love will make parents overlook small annoyances, like the lack of sleep, cold meals and getting peed or pooped on. That love God puts in your heart when you become a parent is unmatched by any other emotion. My husband remembered this love every time he forgot to keep baby covered while changing a diaper and got exploded on with the mustard-yellow poop my daughter produced so well. Gag reflexes and all, he managed to get the mess cleaned up and smother our poop-machine with kisses, forgetting that he'd just been poopified. Love'll do that to ya.

Every time friends called with free tickets to once-in-a-lifetime concerts and we had to turn them down because we had a brand new baby to care for, there were no hard feelings. Spending the evenings watching our sweet angel discover her hands or rolling over for the first time were much better shows than any concert any day. At an age when most folks are out painting the town red, we stayed in painting a bedroom pink, and we wouldn't trade that for anything. Period. That's what love is all about.

Babies really change people. For the shopaholic, skinny-heel-boot shopping becomes Weebok shopping. For the romantic, sexy nights with your husband become gazing-at-the-baby nights. Those amateur chefs? Gerber becomes gourmet on plastic china and rubber-tipped flatware. Oh yes, all of those things that used to be priorities take a backseat once that cuddly, sweet-smelling little baby enters the world. Brace yourselves, parents-to-be: Life will never be the same, yet you'll love every minute of it.