From utter terror to laissez faire

I remember bringing our son home from the hospital and wondering what I was supposed to do now, I'm in charge of a life!  I called a friend who had also recently brought her first child home for moral support and we survived the first few hours and then an entire night and then an entire day...  Then you bring your second one home and casually hop on a plane two weeks later, child in tow!  With the first you observe all the 'rules' be they pediatrician guidelines or governmental regulations, with the second you can't remember what the rules are, except they aren't supposed to have tomatoes until they are twenty three or was the thirty, and I think egg whites?  I've found myself adding a little salt to those mashed up carrots and even resorted to letting her cry instead of getting up three times a night (she's now sleeping through the night after only 2 weeks of gradually cutting back on night time excursions on my part).  A friend (with 2 kids at the time, now up to 4 and expecting 2 more!) told me once that she 'hadn't slept through the night in 4 years,' and I really didn't want that to be me.  So at six months of age and twenty plus pounds, I decided she could at least cut back to once or twice a night and as it was going so well we pulled an all nighter and she does just fine.  Sleep, my old friend, how I have missed you!  Parenting does get easier with experience, but I'll never be an expert, as there's always a new phase or personality quirk!