I never understood...

I was thinking the other day of all the things that you deal with as a parent. At first it seemed like nobody every tells you these things, but then I wasn't sure if that was entirely true. I think people tell you or make comments about different scenarios, but until you are actually doing it you can't completely understand what they were talking about.



I never understood...



- what it meant to love someone more than yourself.


- how it would actually feel to have night after night of interrupted sleep.


- how you could see the world in a completely different light.


- that you make decisions based on how it will effect your child(ren).


- how getting the greatest bear hug with two small arms can make a bad day so much better.


- how much you'll see yourself in your child(ren).


- how proud you can be of someone who learned to use a fork, or sit up, or sleep through the night, or talk, or clap, etc...


- how much it brings you and your spouse together.


- what it truly meant to have unconditional love.


- how scared you'd be when your child gets their first fever.


- that I'd be getting up in the middle of the night just to make sure they're still breathing.


- what people really meant when they said that having your own child is nothing like taking care of someone elses.


- that I would look at myself and feel like I wasn't good enough to be a parent.


- that when my parents said they hoped I would have a child just like me, that it would actually happen. (and he's only 19 months!!)


- how choosing a name can sometimes be stressful.


- how some days I would want to run away for awhile and be alone.


- that saying, "It will only take me a minute" wouldn't really exist once you add a child.

- that I could have so many different voices for all the different characters in the story books.


- that a small child can teach lessons too.


- how kids remind you to look at the little things of life. (Garrison has a way of hearing every single plane that flies overhead and loves to point to the sky and let us know to look too.)


- that picking up the same toys 10 times a day will drive you insane.

- how seeing your husband get down on the floor and wrestle with his son would make you fall in love with him even more.

- that this is a wonderfully hard and rewarding job. One that I wouldn't trade for the world, even when he's throwing a tantrum or screaming his lungs out at the grocery store.