Keri Russell: 5 Things I've learned About Being A Mom

August Rush star Keri Russell, 31, is five months into parenthood, and sat down with People to share what shes's learned so far.

1) I thought before that you have a baby and you would instantly be like, "I'm a mom!" but I still feel like a kid. I didn't anticipate that. I have this baby I love very much, but I'm the exact same!

2) You can't control things like you used to, and you have to roll with things better. i like to keep things very clean, but all that goes out the window.

3) You still have to see your friends, but the one thing that changes is you have to develop weird bedtime rituals to get the baby to sleep, so that kinds of x-es out the dinners with them. Shane and I sing, play guitar, and do bath time.

4) He throws up, so you can't wear nice clothes. But none of that stuff matters as much anyway. There's something else that's so much more important.

5) You just become that much more empathetic, and your heart is that much bigger. It's wild, but it happens! 

5 things you can't buy anymore until your kids are grown

I'm not cheap, but, over the years, I have figured out there are certain purchases, which, even though I still make some of them sparingly, are just futile:

1. Tape - every toy must be taped to the next one because...well, I don't know why, it's just a law when there is a filled tape dispenser

2. Kleenex - Must get white squares out of the box as fast as possible. Touched your face? Away with it!

3. Single serving size anything - even my oldest can't resist the siren song of the individual applesauce

4. Paper Towels - Cleaning up spills 47 paper towels at a time since 1994.

5.Canned air - this is a new development. Before I realized we burned up the motherboard on our computer, I figured I'd clean it out a bit. I used the $13.00 can, and, stored it near the computer, only to figure out later that someone dusted the entire house with it because it was "cool'.