Wednesday, August 3, 2011

You've had a baby? Laugh it off


You know when an athlete falls, gets hit, or somehow injures herself and the coach instructs her to "walk it off?"

Well, it's nearly three o'clock in the afternoon and I just got out of the shower.  I had the best of intentions of going to the library today, running some errands and preparing a decent meal for dinner.  Those intentions lasted about 10 seconds, which was the amount of time between Lizzy opening her eyes for the day and W screaming from his room.

This is the life I live nowadays.  And...it's good.  It's a fleeting time, they tell me, these days when I sometimes feel like all I do is wipe bottoms, wash yellow fecal matter from clothing (mine and hers...clothing, that is), empty the potty into the big potty over and over again, pick up toys, read the same books.  Eat, nap, change, rinse and repeat.  They tell me I'll look back on these days fondly and wish I could relive them.

Sometimes I wonder who "they" are.

Sometimes I wonder if "they" ever had children.

Or do "they" just sit back and laugh at the awkwardness and hilarity of teaching small people the facts of life?

I mean, you've got to laugh when you hear, "Don't touch your bottom.  Do you need to poop?  Well stop touching your bottom!" repeated 7,000 times a day.  Or watch a lady walk around the house all day with spit up on her shoulder and a half-naked boy following her.  Thank goodness she didn't leave the house.

It is funny, isn't it?  I have to laugh at it all sometimes.  After the second blowout (on me), the dog failing to make it outside, and the boy on a seek-and-destroy-everything-I-touch mission, I just have to laugh it off.  

Or I just might cry.

3 comments:

Becca said...

Yep. I'd say this pretty much sums it up. Parenting 201 is entirely unpredictable, crazy, frustrating, fun, and fulfilling.

My big pet peeve is when "they" are the ladies in Relief Society on Sunday, saying, "oh I wish I hadn't spent so much time focused on keeping things clean and spent more time letting my kids know I love them," etc. Completely forgetting how the physical mess just adds to the tension level when things start to melt down. And how it's impossible to keep the Spirit in your home when you're constantly tripping over toys you've asked a special little one to pick up more times than you can remember--blurting out (or at least thinking) expletives too big for little ears.

Sherry said...

Oh, I could have written this post. In fact, I have tried to write it but I'm too crazy chasing around 3 kids. :)

Kristen said...

i couldn't agree more... who are "they" anyway. i highly doubt i'll miss getting woken up EVERY single night by a voice screaming "mommy!!!".... but we'll see... maybe one day we'll be "they".
hang in there lady! miss ya!