No One Said This Would Be Easy

No one said this would be easy... motherhood that is. Thankfully no one said to me "if you think the pregnancy is hard, just wait until he gets here."

My first big obstacle of becoming a Mom was when I realized that Lil Man would be so demanding of me. Gone were the days of sitting down to eat a meal. Forget getting a leisure shower. Somewhere in there I sort of got lost along the way. I'm a runner, but who has the time or the energy to run when you have a demanding (there's that word again) newborn. But I got through it. We found our routine, and we made it work.

Now are approaching the two's. Let me say, this is really hard. Here is this little person before me who has his own ideas about EVERYTHING. And it seems like lately that my ideas are not his ideas.

I'm trying to remind myself that just like I got through the newborn phase, I will get through this one also. I've also learned that it is important to take time for me. Taking care of myself makes me a better Mom. So I take the time to run. It might mean getting up super early morning while everyone else sleeps. But I try my best to make sure that I am taking care of my needs along with everyone else's.

And something else that I've been trying to do lately is 'enjoy the moment'. Now, let me say, this is very hard for me. Especially when your kid is throwing a major temper tantrum, 'enjoying the moment', isn't exactly what you want to do. But this tantrum throwing (we hope) is a phase. And in the blink of an eye, these toddler years will be gone.

Before long we will be dealing with the next phase and the next phase. And I hope that I am smart enough to slow down and enjoy it. But sure it's hard. Some days it's so very hard to just survive the day it seems like.

But if I can get just a few moments to breathe and remind myself to stop and enjoy the smiles, the hugs, the fact that he does need me. Because there will come a time, that he won't need me like he does now. So I want to enjoy it. I want to stop, soak it all in and enjoy it all. I want it etched into my brain, etched into my soul. This very phase, as difficult as it is, it's a phase in my life that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world.