What No One Tells You About Parenting

As I sit down for the first time today to take a moment to myself & watch the Bachelorette - 35 minutes after it has stopped airing - I begin to reflect back on my day today with Carson.. Realizing that I had about 7 minutes to heat up & eat dinner. I probably could have had a lot longer if I had not sat next to him on the floor for an hour watching him play, smile, squeal & giggle at his toys this afternoon.. Doing so prevented me from getting in the shower sooner & then it was downhill from there. Then I think about the fact that I wouldn't have it any other way. I certainly wouldn't have rather had a longer shower, I wouldn't have wanted a more peaceful or less rushed dinner to miss out on that time admiring him. I can't even begin to tell you how quickly these last 8 weeks have passed. Carson will be 2 months old by the time this blog post is published. It's true when people tell you how quickly the time passes you by before you have children doesn't compare to how quickly time passes by after you've become  a parent yourself.

When you first announce that you are pregnant suddenly everyone wants to give you their opinion, their unsolicited advice, the dos & don'ts, without having any inkling to ask you what you & your husbands (or partners) beliefs are on the subject matter that they are trying to push said unsolicited advice or opinions.

I can not even tell you how many people emailed me, called me, text me, to tell me that I needed to get my son on a sleep schedule by the time he was X days/weeks old. How many women I ran into at the grocery store who proceeded to tell me why it was horrible to vaccinate - women I didn't even know. The number of people who insisted that I never feed Carson on demand and only feed him when I said it was time to eat.

My point is that everyone has an opinion on all the things you don't really need, or want, to hear their opinions, or advice on. Everyone tells you that you can never imagine the love you will feel for your child until you have them. This is true, but what they fail to mention is that most days you'll spend the entire day holding that baby, loving on that baby, talking to that baby, and your household chores will fall the the wayside & you won't care! Even the most OCD Momma will love and cherish these moments with their babies while the house is torn to shreds.

Everyone tells you to enjoy these moments because it passes by quickly. What no one tells you is that while you're eager for your baby to reach a new milestone & anxious for them to explore & learn everyday, when they reach those milestones you'll cry... Not necessarily happy tears either. You'll cry because when people said it would go by fast they never said it would go by THIS fast. I bawled like a baby the day that Carson outgrew his newborn diapers, newborn clothes & the swaddle - yes this all happened in the SAME day. While I was so happy that he was growing & I was providing him with what he needed, I was so sad that he'd gone through this phase so quickly.

No one ever tells you that some days you will spend the entire day in bed with your baby feeding.. All. Day. Long. These days will be some of your favorite days. I know some women have said that these growth spurts made them feel like a cow because their baby was feeding nonstop.. I was ok with this & cherished this time with Carson.

No one ever tells you that when you finally get that baby on a schedule that works for HIM (I let Carson set his schedule & have never let him "cry it out" as I believe he is only crying if he NEEDS me at this point. He's only 8 weeks old & he doesn't fuss unless he is hungry - not even when he's wet), that your sweet baby will go through a growth spurt & suddenly you'll go from sleeping 6-7 hour stretches at night to being up every 1.5 to 2 hours. This will last a week or so & then he'll slowly start to get back into his routine. Even though his schedule was off & I was sleep deprived, I enjoyed it.

Everyone tells you that being a Mother is the most challenging & rewarding thing a woman can do. While I agree with this whole heartedly, I find that the challenging portion, so far, hasn't really hit. I'm totally in heaven with this boy. So even the "hard" times have been so much fun for me. I know there will be a point when I look at Adam & just want to cry, in fact, I probably will cry, because it's been a particularly hard day but my point is, that I wouldn't give even a second of the hardest day with Carson for the world.

What no one tells you is that being a parent is all the wonderful things you imagine it will be only it's a thousand times better than you could imagine.