If anyone out there knows where I can find a definitive list of mom milestones, please holler back. While there is value in every stage, and an especially surprising number of things you can learn from other new moms, sometimes it's hard to remember just what we've all been through. In my experience, there is no clear cut experience, or age, or number of diapers that moves you from "new mom" to "experienced mom." It happens slowly over time, after lots of practice and planning and patience. It's kind of like ordering a pizza: You don't know when it will arrive, but once it does, you can feel proud and satisfied. You did it. Your pizza has come.
To be honest, as the mom of an almost-2-year-old, I think I'm hovering somewhere in between new mom and experienced mom. Every week seems to bring a new stage, or a new word, or a new discovery, and I can appreciate that we still have many major developments ahead of us. But that said, I've been through pregnancy, the newborn stage, the infant stage, first steps, first words, and first ER visit, so I'm ~slightly~ more comfortable with the day-to-day than I was, say, 18 months ago. I'm also able to bring a new perspective to the conversation when I see that my friends who have kids who are younger than mine, and they're also to show me a thing or two as well, like: