I thought it must be a drag to have to think of someone else's needs before your own all the time.
I thought my career defined me.
I didn't understand all the fuss about breastfeeding and why women would ever want to continue it for more than a year.
I cared about suffering children, but I didn't physically ache every time I heard about a child who was abused, starving, suffering from a disease, or abandoned.
I didn't know that spending a Friday night making stacks of paper cups and watching a toddler knock them down could be a really great night.
I didn't know baby kisses could be the most memorable kisses of my life.
I hated pink.
Shopping really wasn't my thing. I had no idea it could be so much fun to shop for things for my child.
I didn't understand that all the gross things kids do aren't gross when they're your kids.
I didn't know that I could go days without sleep and not even be mad at the person who made me go days without sleep.
I didn't know how what an honor it would be to have someone give you complete trust, to feel that little body "let go" and fall asleep in your arms.
I didn't realize how deeply I could love.
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Amen, sister! I was one of those women who thought I might not want kids. Now I have two blessings of my very own.
ReplyDeleteCount me in a well. I can be having the worst day ever, and forget about it when my nearly-3 year old says, "Mama... kiss..." and puckers up.
ReplyDeleteDon't even get me started on how cool my 7 year old is, either ;)
These are such wonderful feelings, aren't they? Here I am, raising four kids, and never thought any of this could be true . . . and I love that it all is. ::smiles::
ReplyDelete*hugs*
ReplyDeleteYou know how it feels to finally sit down on the couch and finally pick up that book you've been wanting to read that was a much talked about, runaway bestseller a year ago when you bought it, and finally switch off the running list in your head of things that must be done before you close your eyes tonight? And you know how it feels to hear just the mildest shade of something amiss in your child's voice, something no one would have noticed but you? Then you know how it feels to put down the book, get up off the couch and relinquish a quiet moment to go to your child and soothe the pain and count yourself the most fortunate person on the face of the Earth just to be able to hold that beautiful person in your arms.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to motherhood. We who are about to serve salute you.
Jenna, dear,
ReplyDeleteI hope you are getting some of this on video! We are watching some old tapes of when Samantha was littler. OMG, she was so darn cute! And we were all just so in love with life. It was like a great big love fest. Now we are all about growth. School. Learning. Friends. The transition from mommy and daddy being the whole world to, "Wow, check out the world." It's cool but there was a bliss in those good old days. You enjoy every second!
I thought these same things, it's so funny how our perspective can change after children come along.
ReplyDeleteJenna,
ReplyDeleteI was just wondering how things were going and how motherhood was treating you. I remember when you were pregnant and, well, I wasn't worried about you but I just wondered how you'd change.
I don't remember why, but I remember thinking "Jenna doesn't think she'll change."
Probably because I didn't think I'd change either! But yeah, in the words of the Fresh Prince, my world was flip turned upside down.
I want a third child and hubby isn't convinced. He asks me why. I almost can't answer him, but then I realize that I like myself so much better now that I'm a mother, I can't imaging slowing down the production line. LOL