No doubt, being a parent is a tremendously hard job. Taking care of a child solo or with a partner when they need your constant attention requires steel nerves and a bunch of confidence in nearly every aspect of life. While getting used to a completely different life takes time, being a parent is truly a blissful experience. No amount of sleepless nights and laundry baskets will ever overweigh the happiness that your child can bring you. Taking care of them and supporting them throughout their milestones is the most rewarding feeling, even if sometimes it feels like you’re hanging on by your last thread.
These days, it’s easy to find a never-ending amount of support that parents can use to double their inner confidence in childcare: a bunch of forums, countless advice and even video diaries.
Jo and her husband Matt went viral after posting several TikToks regarding things they’ve personally learned since their daughter’s arrival. The family is currently living in Arkansas, enjoying the sweet moments of new parenthood while also sharing those special moments on Jo’s account that has 1.2M followers.
Image Credits: Jo Johnson Overby
Here we’ve gathered a list of things that the Johnson-Overby family learned since becoming new parents, which they’ve kindly shared with their followers.
Let us know in the comments below what was the best parenthood advice you’ve ever received?
More info: TikTok | Instagram | Blog
#1
Your kid smiling at you is still the best thing in the world. It doesn’t get any less cool – it just keeps getting better.
Image source: Smiling Amelia, Jo Johnson Overby
#2
It doesn’t matter if you have a girl instead of a boy, they’re still going to pee on you.
Image source: Smylers, Jo Johnson Overby
#3
Nursing may be breastfeeding, but not all breastfeeding is nursing.
Exclusively pumping is totally an option and a great option if you want to feed your baby breast milk and nursing doesn’t feel like a right fit for you.
Lastly, no matter how you’re feeding your child – it’s emotional and it’s hard, and new moms deserve support and not be questioned in their decision.
Image source: Quinn Dombrowski, Jo Johnson Overby
#4
Husbands who take on all of the night feeds are elite. They’re better than anyone else.
Image source: Qfamily, Jo Johnson Overby
#5
Kids are, like, aggressively happy in the morning.
Image source: Jacob Bøtter, Jo Johnson Overby
#6
Friends were constantly checking on me for postpartum depression and that was definitely on my radar, but I was not at all prepared for postpartum anxiety.
It’s intense and it’s real, and I feel like a lot of us don’t bring it to light because we think it’s just a part of the stresses of being a new mom – and it’s not.
Image source: mliu92, Jo Johnson Overby
#7
Breastfeeding is also not as intuitive as it looks.
Image source: Nelson Kwok, Jo Johnson Overby
#8
Clipping your child’s nails is terrifying and feels like a very high-risk endeavour. Get a clipper with a hole in it, so you can see that you’re not chopping off their fingertips.
Image source: Yoshihide Nomura, Jo Johnson Overby
#9
Sometimes your crying baby may make you want to cry. And in that moment it’s important to have a partner who can talk both of you and the baby down.
Image source: madgerly, Jo Johnson Overby
#10
I was not prepared for how much I would be willing to drop everything to cuddle with my kid all day.
Image source: Shannon McGee, Jo Johnson Overby
#11
Baby pass outs. 10/10.
Image source: antian, Jo Johnson Overby
#12
Your options aren’t formula feed or breastfeed.
Those are your two options but you don’t have to exclusively formula feed or exclusively breastfeed, you can do a combination of those things and it’s ok.
Image source: Abigail Batchelder, Jo Johnson Overby
#13
Being a food source doesn’t get any less weird.
Image source: myllissa, Jo Johnson Overby
#14
Laundry’s never ending and no chance you’re going to fold it… or at least no chance I’m going to fold it.
Image source: Russell Harrison Photography, Jo Johnson Overby
#15
When do I feed them? I was so stressed about that and it turns out that you learn it pretty naturally.
But then breastfeeding and how you feed them, I thought “oh, that comes naturally” but it’s really hard.
Image source: ella, Jo Johnson Overby
#16
Moms have moms’ backs and I love that part.
Image source: Mark Doliner, Jo Johnson Overby
#17
Sleep regression is real and it’s frustrating. It’s as frustrating as people tell you it is.
Image source: Nathan Walker, Jo Johnson Overby
#18
Spit up is water-soluble, it will come out. And it will also happen.
Image source: Honza Soukup, Jo Johnson Overby
#19
The first week that I had to spend away from home for work, I didn’t realize that face-timing with my child would put me in an existential crisis. But it did.
Image source: Todd Van Hoosear, Jo Johnson Overby
#20
How do you give a newborn a bath? We’re doing it, but are we doing it enough?
Image source: Kelly Sue DeConnick, Jo Johnson Overby
#21
9 times out of 10 you put a diaper on and it goes smoothly. But like one of those times it leaks. I don’t know, there is a gap and something happens.
Image source: Lyn Lomasi, Jo Johnson Overby
#22
Assembling baby furniture/stroller/anything that comes for a baby is not as intuitive as it looks.
Image source: Quinn Dombrowski, Jo Johnson Overby
#23
I didn’t know that baby’s first Halloween was supposed to be an all-out production.
Image source: Jon West, Jo Johnson Overby
#24
You have to change your baby a lot, so get changing mats.
Image source: ajay_suresh, Jo Johnson Overby
#25
Every piece of clothing that everyone owns – should be magnetically closed. It’s awesome.
Image source: Daniel Lobo, Jo Johnson Overby
#26
Speaking of FaceTime – whenever you FaceTime people with a baby you’re always holding a camera facing the baby, but then you can see the person and the person’s making faces at the baby.
I’m here for that. Matt played peekaboo with me and didn’t even know it.
Image source: Quinn Dombrowski, Jo Johnson Overby
#27
Newborn insert in the car seat is supposed to come out at 11 pounds.
Image source: Debs , Jo Johnson Overby
#28
Get a little mini sound machine, so it can go on your stroller or on your crib. Our kid loves it.
Image source: sara, Jo Johnson Overby
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