My dad once asked me what I thought was stressful about being a young mom. I actually laughed out loud. How do you answer that?? The stresses and the joys of motherhood are so intertwined.
...
Some days feel like they are entirely made up of back-to-back five-minute events, each of which requires or evokes a different emotion. It feels like we're functioning at a frantic pace. At the end of those days, I'm exhausted.
...
But some days are quiet and slow so we do whatever we want, whenever we want to do it. We play. We laugh a lot. We bake a lot of treats. It all feels so easy. At the end of those days, I feel like it's our little secret--just between the kids and me (though we are always excited to tell David)--how much fun we had and how much of nothing we did.
...
And most days are a little bit of both. Somewhere in between. Filled with listening to the older kids make the baby laugh, reading books, doing laundry (the endless battle), sending them outside to play, bribing them with popsicles to stay outside a little longer, cuddling, finding nasty curdled-milk-sippy-cups under the couch, laughing, tickling, watching them excited by learning something new, coveting the baby's naps, buckling car seats, unbuckling car seats, cutting up food for the baby, picking up said food from the ground when he's done, making dinner, remembering what it was like to be little, hugging little bodies, rocking little bodies, holding little bodies, dispensing Spiderman Band-Aids, kissing ouchies, time-outing, mopping up all the water on the floor after baths, explaining for the millionth time that sharks don't live in the lake we often drive by, teaching, praying, and taking the time to stop and watch them and marvel at how wonderful they each are.
...
I'm so glad I'm a mom. I look at my children regularly and think to myself what good ideas they were. Well worth the nasty-milk sippy cups, don't you think?
8 comments:
Spot on, as usual. Dave and I always wonder why we didn't have kids sooner. You are so good with expressing your thoughts - I'm jealous.
i totally agree! well said! it is a total adventure and well worth everything!
Ah those nasty milk cups, make me gag everytime.
And I wouldn't call those lakes, more like oversized mud puddles.
First, I LOVE your new comment by Haven about her name. SO FUNNY! Blake said a good one today--"I got my braves out"--meaning he was more brave in the pool than he was last time. Anyway, I always enjoy reading your thoughts about motherhood. They are honest and heartfelt. I would describe it pretty much the same way as you. We still need to do a skype chat with everyone! Does skype allow more than one person at a time to talk? Thanks for the great post!
What I meant was: Haven must think that EVERYONE'S name is a common noun. Look at the family- we have a Glen, Scarlett, Jean, Jade, Brooke, Brooks, Dawn, Dane, Chase, Laurel, Cole, Star, Cruzer (sp?), and Tripp- I'm sure I'm forgetting someone too. It'd be such an embarrassment to NOT fit in and have a regular name like "Amy"- even when you're just pretending!
Amen! Love this Lindsey! And I'm glad I'm not the only one who routinely finds nasty milk cups.
OK, you may find this a bit disturbing since I shouldn't be commenting on such subject for I am not a mother and I am not planning on being one any time soon:), but your post made me think of some despicable movie I made the unfortunate mistake to bring home from our very own neighborhood's only Redbox place about a week ago. It is called "Motherhood" and Uma Thurman is the only reason why I rented it...well, also since marrying Jodie my movie choices have forcibly changed a bit...let's just say I haven't seen so many "family, PG-13 or even G" movies in 27 years as I have seen in the last 5...The horrendous part of the whole deal is that she made me sit there and watch the whole thing, while I was desperately trying to excuse myself and flee the room since I found that movie extremely harmful to my well being and alpha male pride. Enough said, if you didn't seee it, you should, it's a good movie or so Jodie says...but please, do me a favour, I don't know your better half, never met the guy, but I urge you to spare him of such torture and not make him sit there with you for the whole thing...I suffered enough for all mankind, no other man should go through what I had to go through, and when you see it, you'll understand:)
Post a Comment