The girl with a big question mark

I have a friend that says she describes me to other people as an image of a girl seating, surrounded by books, with a big question mark over her head.

I understand the archetype, or stereotype, as I have been this way since before I could read... if I don't understand something, I want to know why and it will bother me that it doesn't bother other people. The concept of ignorance being bliss doesn't register well with me.

So it's no surprise I am seating here surrounded with books about babies, breast feeding and how not to raise a psychopath.

Then there is the question of things to buy and things to do before the baby is here.

The lists seem to be endless. In my mind all a baby needed was a place to sleep, some diapers, some clothes and a pair of boobs. After all, what did cave people do? Didn't they just wrap their babies on their chest and hope for the best?

Not so much for the modern baby. Modern baby needs different clothing for different occasions, and jumpers, and swings, and bouncers, and pack n' plays. Modern mom needs at least one extra bag, sometimes two, and forget about anything matching.

I will probably be the mom that will remember to bring all baby's things for a play date and forget the kid. I'll be saying, "I didn't forget anything! Yay me! Now I just have to go back home and bring the baby!"

The more I gather information from other moms, the bigger the list gets and then there is always other scary information I don't know, such as preparing to breastfeed. "I have to do what with my nipples????"

I thought that baby came out of the belly hungry, you gave him a boob and everyone was happy.

Not so fast. Some babies don't like boobs right away, and vice-versa.

The list of classes I have to take to be a mom also sound like a continuing education course for some kind of certification that I will never get.

Question is: do classes really teach you to be a better parent? Haven't people been doing this for millions of years?

Apparently, according to some baby books, how you treat your infant will reflect on your child's personality and consequently, on how functional they will be as adults. No pressure, right? This concept got me thinking about crazy, needy, and socially awkward friends and ex-boyfriends, so I had to buy the books. The marketing people hired to sell those books are geniuses, by the way.

Should I just trust my instincts or is the modern mom that flawed?

My mother should be my best teacher, right? I was a good baby, as I have said before, but then again she did burn my brother in the tub (nothing serious but I wonder if that's why he has a nervous twitch? - just kidding!)

I don't know, and because I don't know I will continue to read.