Mommy Phenomenon

There is this weird phenomenon going on that has to do with mothers. Why is it, that the second you become a mom, gross things just aren't as gross anymore? Is it a hormone that makes stinky things not stink as much? Did our brains go without enough oxygen for too long during pregnancy? Or could it simply be the love? Whatever it is it's weird.

Jared and I worked at a crisis center nursery for almost two years, and didn't stop working there until about 2 weeks before Adelyn was born. A majority of the babies/toddlers/kids that were there were neglected and/or abused...and I don't mean to be insensitive but some of them were pretty gross (not bad children...it's just that they were dirty and they didn't all smell baby fresh...and I know it wasn't their fault.) There was one little girl that I spent almost an hour brushing the tangles out of her hair, there were 7 year olds whose parents were too lazy to potty train them, there were lots of boogery noses, wet beds, wet pants, poopy diapers, etc. And let me tell you this...it was really gross. I remember changing a kid's dirty diaper, pulling my shirt over the bottom of my face and thinking, "Oh my gosh this is soooo gross what am I getting myself into!?"

Anyways, the point of all this rambling is that it seems when it's your own kid...it's just not that gross. When Adelyn has a boogery nose, I seriously take my own finger and pick it for her! No biggie. She's been teething a lot lately (her seventh tooth is coming in right now) and when she teeths she always gets a little fever and doesn't feel very good. Usually a little Tylenol and a bath does the trick but last night when I was snuggling her on my lap...she turned her head to make a mopey face at me and then threw up all over the front of me. And you're probably thinking ew gross! But it didn't even phase me. When she was 4-5 months old I had her with me at school one time and she made a really big poop. As in so big, it came up out of the back of her diaper and all over my leg. I didn't even go home and change. I just changed her diaper and her clothes and wiped my leg off. And went the rest of the day with a big poop stain on my thigh. See what I mean! That should have seriously disgusted me. But it didn't.

I wonder if fathers feel the same way? I think Jared does to some degree...but it's no where near my gross-factor-resistance level.