Guest blogger Elizabeth Lyons: There's no escaping it. No matter how many times you've had a baby in the house, doing it again is jarring. There simply are many facets of the experience we selectively forget.

I know because we've just welcomed Baby Number 5 and, even though I've been-here-done-this several times, I'd forgotten what it's like to be awakened every 3-4 hours, to be held hostage to a 3-hour schedule, and to be unable to go further than the mailbox without a bag full of supplies.

I had also forgotten how expensive these little people are! This weekend I wandered into a baby superstore to purchase a play-on-the-floor activity thing for our I-get-bored-after-thirteen-minutes-of-anything babe. My jaw hung as I noted that the least expensive one was $65. Folks, it's fabric! I swear, prices are going up by the second --- gas, Oreos, and baby entertainment apparatuses.

As I wandered the aisles, I considered the anxiousness with which many expectant parents don the doorstep of these establishments. From the wall of bottles to the two entire aisles of strollers to the eight Exersaucer options (at least), it's enough to send anyone into a frenzy. "Which one is right? Which is the best value? Will the kid even like it after we spend a million dollars on it?"

I thank the universe that I've graduated from the holy-crap-do-we-need-all-this phase. That's the reward, I suppose, for doing this five times. Of course, sometime soon, I'll fall back into the fold. Some cool new item will come to market (retailing for a mere $4 million) that I'm convinced my babe must have, and with which, I'm convinced, I'll be granted 24/7 sanity and bliss. And on that day, I'll again find myself in line with all the other anxiety-ridden parents at the baby superstore.

Elizabeth Lyons Author of Ready or Not...There We Go! The REAL Experts' Guide to the Toddler Years with Twins. Recently quoted in Parenting, Better Homes & Gardens, Pregnancy, and American Baby magazines.