I’ve learned a lot of things over the years during my motherhood journey. Some have been really important life lessons, other have been a little more lighthearted. Today I want to share a funny story from those early days of motherhood. And it’s even inspired a tutorial for a nursery nightlight too! Sometimes in this this crazy thing called parenthood it’s important to just laugh–even at the baby basics. This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are completely my own

an early baby basics lesson

As I watch my fourth little one growing up I’m reminded of how quickly time passes. As I sit among my piles of laundry and Huggies Little Snugglers diapers, I often think back to those first days as a new mom. Truthfully, I felt pretty prepared for motherhood. After all, I had grown up with two little sisters who were significantly younger than I was. I was well-versed in diaper changes and bottle feedings. There were different techniques for rocking and swaddling and comforting, and I was aware of all of them. I also understood middle of the night wakings and the importance of a nap schedule.

And then the first nighttime diaper change at home came. 

With my first we’d been in the hospital for about 5 days as my son was struggling with bad jaundice. In the hospital it had been so different from a home environment. There were always lights on somewhere, it was never completely dark. In fact, it was something that I had been looking forward to the most—being able to be in my dark and quiet home. Far away from the hustle and brightness of the hospital environment. So when we finally made it home as a family of three for the first time I didn’t put a lot of thought into nighttime diaper changes.

well, guess what? It’s hard to change a diaper in the dark—I was so unprepared! Sure, I had my Huggies Little Swaddlers Diapers (my favorite!) and Huggies Natural Care Wipes. Yet somehow I had forgotten something so simple and so obvious as a nightlight?! I definitely didn’t want to turn on our glaringly bright overhead light. That would risk my baby–and myself–waking up completely. And not being able to fall back to sleep was not an option. But my eyes also couldn’t adjust well enough to efficiently change a diaper in the dark.

The following is a true baby basics diaper change story–

I once put the clean diaper on my child over the dirty diaper. To this day I’m still not completely sure how it happened. But somehow, I had taken off the soiled diaper and hadn’t moved it out of the way enough. This resulted in the dirty diaper ending up inside the clean diaper. The extra funny part of this story is that I was looking for it everywhere, but obviously didn’t find it until the next diaper change. Oops.

| Read: What I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Motherhood |

easy DIY nursery nightlight tutorial

Today I want to share a tutorial for a simple and inexpensive nightlight to help light the way for your own late night diaper sessions. Not only do you only need a handful of items to make it, but it is a quick naptime project that won’t break the bank! This is a perfect DIY project that will save you money for other baby basics.

This project is so simple and can be customized any way you’d like to fit your own decor. Simply take the glass block outside or to a well ventilated area (once you’ve got your little one down for a nap) and cover with several, light coats of spray paint. Once it’s dry all the way then fill the block with your light strand—that’s it! If you’d like to you could also place a vinyl decal on the front of your block. I thought about adding some waves to mine but decided sometimes less is more.

I think we all have moments like mine—when we think that we’ve dotted all our “i”s and crossed all our “t”s, but the reality is that parenting is hard and trying to remember every little detail or know how to do everything is quite the feat! Even the most seasoned among us could probably  learn something new or have a refresher course when it comes to childcare. Motherhood is hard enough–try not to stress the small stuff.

What’s your funniest diaper change story? What do you wish you had learned before having babies?

Find more easy DIY projects on my Pinterest boards!