One might think the preparations for having a baby can change not just the dynamic of a home, but also the decor, functionality and even layout. You would be correct, but I’m here to tell you even more changes happen after that little person arrives home. Oh, I’m not just talking about the initial arrival which brings bassinets, changing tables and a new line of dietary selections in your kitchen cabinet. 365 days later your house will be drastically different from even that first time a baby comes home.

This topic is never more relevant than today as my youngest of four boys (yes, 4 boys) turns 1 year old today. You might think that having been through this three times before there would be little to no changes with number 4? Wrong. Every kid brings forth it’s own set of monumental shifts, not just in parenting, but when it comes to your home.

So for you parents who think you’re settled in with getting a room ready for baby, I’m here to give you a heads up that a year later more changes to your home are coming.

Change No. 1 – Your Home is an Obstacle Course:

Isn’t it cute? All those tiny baby things that now take residence in your home. Tiny socks. Tiny shoes. Tiny hats. But then as they get older, their things start to get bigger. Their domain becomes larger. Now you have to put up gates to contain them. That pack and play which was reserved just for traveling now has taken residence in your family room so you have a cell, er..I mean, “play area” where they can safely reside while you try to get stuff done. All of sudden you’re rearranging furniture and putting up your very own obstacle course to accommodate a 20 pound mini-me.

Change No. 2 – Your Entertainment

See that nicely stacked selection of classic movies beneath your TV entertainment system? It’s gone. You now own 10 different versions of Baby Einstein DVDs which act as your very own private babysitter in moments of need. Your DVR now has Sesame Street and Yo Gabba Gabba intermingled with recordings of The Walking Dead and Scandal. All of a sudden that Friday night out on the town feels like too much effort and you find yourself watching Dateline on Friday nights at 9 p.m. Oh you may think “that won’t happen to me,” but I’m telling you it will. And it’s wonderful.

Change No. 3 – Your Kitchen

When you first bring your baby home, you’re feeding him/her sitting on the couch or in a rocking chair and you have this mobile fiefdom where food can be delivered anywhere and at any time. A year later that baby now needs his own domain and a surrounding area to deal with what some call “eating” but is mostly food demolition. Your kitchen now has a high chair the size of a Fiat in it. Your cupboards have at least 3 boxes of Cheerios at any given moment. Meat sticks reside in a glass jar full of gelatin in your fridge that kind of makes you want to gag every time you look at it. And now you’re mopping the kitchen floor so regularly you’d think Cinderella’s stepmom lives there because you’re worried what this now mobile child may stick in his/her mouth. And why must every child be obsessed with the dishwasher when it’s open? Yes, the kitchen becomes Disney World for babies towards the end of that first year.

So there you have it. That’s what’s in store for your home as you reach the end of that first year. It’s craziness. You can say it won’t change your home, but after I’m done laughing…one more minute…I’ll tell you that it will. Maybe not as big a change for some, but a change nonetheless.

It’s not permanent, but changes will be coming. Embrace them. Enjoy them. Because they honestly do come and go very quickly.

Here’s to living with a one year old and all the things that make a house a home.