Before I had Master I, I swotted up on pregnancy and babyhood.  I read the inevitable (What to Expect when you are Expecting and Baby Love), the slightly hippy (Well Adjusted Babies by Dr Jennifer Barham-Floreani), the somewhat terrifying (Misconceptions by Naomi Wolf), the guilt-inducing (The Smart Love Parent by Pieper) and the hilarious (Up the Duff by Kaz Cooke).  In retrospect, I may have believed that becoming a parent was going to come with a final exam – a literal rather than figurative one.  What those books cumulatively gave me (aside from a complex) was the belief that:  I would never shower before noon, I would lose all sense of my self, the people in my life would lose respect for me, that I was completely unprepared for parenting and if it were possible, I should rethink the whole idea.  My reality was very different.  I wanted to share seven things in my life that are so much better for having children. Read more…