Your Life Is Going To Change

Misery Loves Company

When I was pregnant with my oldest, people would tell my husband and I repeatedly that our life was going to change and it would never be the same again. It wasn’t said in a change for the better way. It was said in a get ready for lots of misery kind of way. My husband is a saint and nothing rattled him except this phrase. He dreaded hearing it over and over. It was like we had signed up for a life sentence of torment.

I’m not going to lie. The first few months were tough. We didn’t sleep at all. I remember fantasizing about being in a hotel room by myself sleeping for hours on end. I didn’t function well without sleep and I remember wondering if those people were right.

International Incident

When my youngest flew for the first time, it was literally the flight from hell. Every time my daughter cried, the older woman across the row in the window seat repeatedly said, “Shut up, baby!”

It was a five hour flight and she said it over and over. I was doing everything I could to calm my baby girl. Rocking her, feeding her, comforting her but I kept hearing, “Shut up, baby!”

Another senior woman across from me got so upset that she put her fists in the air and told the woman that she was going to punch her if she kept telling my baby to shut up. At this point, the flight attendants got involved because we were about to have an international incident over Canada!

It was incredibly draining. It was embarrassing. I cried as soon as I got off the plane because I had been holding it in the entire flight. But it got better.

They Were Right

Parenting isn’t always easy and it tests me in ways I never imagined but those people were right. Our life did change. It changed in wonderful ways.

Our kids bring us so much joy. They make us laugh. They teach us to be patient and more loving. Our kids remind us to dream big and they inspire us to do more.

Instead of instilling fear in new parents, I always tell them that it is just going to get more and more fun. Just when you think it can’t get any better, it does. Granted, my kids haven’t hit the teen years yet but I am hopeful that if we can get through that flight from hell, we can get through anything!