The days are lonnngggg sometimes! Am I right?! Sometimes they're a breeze and others are spent checking the clock constantly, waiting for nap time and trying to get your kid to run up hills to wear them out!
That was my day recently. It was a long week and Friday came. The baby woke up and I was not ready. He had slept with me and my husband the night before because the wind was so crazy it woke him up. I was sleeping in a strange position with my glasses on and my back was killing me! So I moved and laid my head at the foot of the bed, well that woke up the said sleeping baby and we were off! So we started our day. Diaper change, clean clothes, dressed, prepped the diaper bag and got in the car.
Side tangent: Is there not 542 steps to get out the door! Literally you get up, change the baby, go to the bathroom, change yourself, clean your face, maybe put on makeup (probably not), prep the diaper bag, feed the baby, feed yourself (probably not), grab the iPad (crap it's only at 8 percent, good thing we have a car charger) make sure to grab Woody and the hot wheels, pick up the dog droppings, wash hands, grab a water and a Diet Coke and now leave the house, get into the car, start the car. Now what, crap I'm so tired I can't think straight!
Anywhoo, so on this said day we went to the park and had a good time, but he wasn't ready for a nap when I needed him to be. So we drove around, still not ready. Went to another park and ventured home, still not ready!! It's about 3:30 pm at this point. A bad nights sleep and running on fumes from a long week of moving. Finally, finally around 4 pm he falls asleep which is obviously not great because we now deal with the battle of getting him to sleep for bedtime. Screw it, let him sleep and I'm going to take a nap and will wake him in a little, haha!
So then we wake up and it's time to start again. At this point, I'm worn thin and frustrated. And I keep reminding myself of something I've heard tons of times before but a mom I met at the park said to me that day. She was in her 40s and had an older child in who was in his 20s and also a 2-year-old. We started talking and one thing that stuck with me that she said was that at each stage there are joys and hardships. And as frustrating as things can be she knows that it goes by fast and she's trying to enjoy every moment. Even though I've heard this type of thing so many times I think it stuck with me because she has an older son and really knows. Not that other people who have told me don't know, but it just stuck with me on this particular day. And I think it will for awhile. It's something we all need to remember because even though my baby is only 2, I already wish I could have enjoyed the newborn stage more. I was so stressed, working when he was 12 days old and had postpartum. With all of that there really wasn't a way for me to enjoy it as much as I wanted to, but now looking back I really wish I could have and will make an effort with the next one to do so.
Moral of the story is we do a lot, we literally do 323 things every day! And it's hard, it's frustrating, it's tiring. But at the end of the day, we are doing the greatest thing we will ever do, we are raising a child. Who will one day be an adult and their childhood will form them. How we treat them, how we discipline them, how we love them is what they will remember. And what they will take into life. Into their job, into their relationships, and will mold part of their parenting style. Thinking about it that way is like holy crap that's a lot of pressure! And it is! But we need to focus on enjoying every single minute, the good and the bad. Because one day they will be grown and it will happen in a flash. We don't want to have regrets, we want to look back and know we enjoyed those little munchkins the most we possibly could have!
Jordan Trueba
