When I was
younger, I dreamed of having 8 children. Then I grew up. Now, I am a wife and a mother of 3 beautiful, amazing children: Reese, my oldest boy, is 9
years old, Ethan is 7 and my spitfire little girl, Maddie, is 4. The parenthood
journey is far more exciting, demanding, wonderful, messy, stressful, eye
opening, difficult, and fascinating than I ever could have imagined. And,
although I am an avid reader and consumed book after book about the parenting
adventure as well as seeking out wisdom and advice from those who had gone
before me, I certainly feel at times that not nearly enough was said to me
regarding some of the day to day activities of running a household with children.
So, with the idea in mind that perhaps you might be able to be a bit more
prepared for the entirely exhausting life of parenthood, or at least that you
might not feel alone in your everyday struggles, here are some things that I’ve
learned along the way.
1. Everything you
own will be colored on.
2. You will learn
very quickly how ugly your speech is because they will parrot it
constantly.
3. When they get
sick you will spend your entire grocery budget on medicine. I'm talking over the counter. (Health insurance,
co-pays, prescription medications are a completely different category.)
4. Sleep is never
ever the same. Ever. zzzz...
5. You will never
be able to clean your house once a week. And
that's okay.
6. Their homework
is your homework.
7. You have to get rid of 90% of their toys every year or you
will be overrun.
8. The laundry,
literally, will never, never, never, never stop.stop.stop.stop.
9. Cleaning up poop does not end with potty training.
10. If you have more than one boy it doesn't
matter how many times you wipe the toilet there will always be pee all over it, and you will find yourself
longing for the days when the toilet was outside the home.
