The Things They Don't Tell You.

Breastfeeding is boring.
Most of the time I love breastfeeding Bertie.  He's a good eater, and he's been a good latcher almost from day one.  But having to stop whatever I'm doing to feed him can be frustrating.  I haven't mastered the art of the breastfeeding-multitask; aside from watching tv, or playing with my phone.  I've read about people reading books, or magazines, but I have no idea how you do that without balance the book on baby's head.  A lot of times I just sit there and look at him, sometimes I'll talk to him, but he's not particularly interested in listening.

There is no alone time.  Ever.
Especially if you're breastfeeding.  I can't even take a shower without the baby needing something, or Aaron having a question about the baby needing something.  Alone time comes if Aaron takes the boy out somewhere, or I drop him with my MiL, or I leave the house, and Aaron stays at home.  Lately, baby can't sleep in his own bed.  (Except :knock on wood: he's sleeping in his bassinet right now)!

I have no clue how people have a 2nd child.
Really.  This kid does not like to sleep in his own bed, or for predictable lengths of time.  Also, by the time we actually get to bed at night we're both so exhausted it's not even a thought.  (And when I'm not exhausted and baby happens to be asleep in his own bed, I have anxiety about him waking up).

Baby wearing is not the panacea I'd hoped.
I had always been excited about baby wearing.  I looking at the different slings and carriers, and tried some that my friends had.  What a great idea!  Keep the baby close and get so much done.
Kind of.
Baby wearing is really good for certain things, and really terrible for others.  I can wash, dry and put away dishes fairly easily while wearing Bertie.  But I can't load or unload the dishwasher.  I can take laundry off the line and fold in.  But I can't move clothes around from the floor to the washer to the dryer (or line).  Anything where you need to bend is really difficult (to nearly impossible) while babywearing.  At least in the front carry.  I could see those things being easier in a back carrying pack, but he's not big enough for that.  But I can sweep and vacuum, and scrub the counters with ease.  So I guess it's a draw.

Co-Sleeping happens.  (And you might like it).
I planned to never co-sleep.  I was worried about squishing Bertie, not being able to sleep, not being able to snuggle up to Aaron if I wanted.  And the baby's ability to self soothe, and be able to sleep in his own bed (The the 2nd child issue).
And, I still worry about squishing Bertie, I don't sleep very deeply now, and I can't snuggle up to Aaron.  But I do co-sleep from time to time.  I suppose it's mutually beneficial for baby and me.  I give up on trying to get him to sleep in his own space (because I'm tired, frustrated, or both), and he gets to sleep with me and Aaron in our bed.  Win-win, I guess.  Most of the time I do like sleeping with him, but it's hard to change sleeping positions, and I can't have the blankets up as far as I want.  

Cloth diapering is easier than I thought.
I was really excited to cloth diaper.  But also really nervous.  Washing your own diapers, keeping gross stuff in the house instead of just throwing it away, extra laundry, etc.  But it's been surprisingly easy.  We wash diapers by themselves every two or three days.  They don't smell very much at this point, since he's breastfed.  And I love not having to spend a ton of money on paper diapers, or worrying about running out.  We do have a box of paper, we've started using them at night (since theoretically he sleeps longer), and we used them for a day when he had diaper rash.  But we had two big boxes of newborn diapers that we just gave away, he outgrew them.