Motherhood

When I was in high school my health class offered to let you take care of one of those mechanical babies for extra credit. I did not need extra credit but thought it would be fun so I signed up to do it. When my day came I eagerly went to pick up my baby after school. My teacher set me up with all of the tools for my baby (keys you put in the baby to feed it, change it, etc...all the babies also have an emergency shut off key just in case, but my baby was missing its key, i was fine with that...I was sure I wouldn't need it)

I took the baby to basketball practice with me, it was an angel, didn't even cry one time. After that we ventured home where I fed it when it began to fuss. This was going to be easy.

That night we had a youth activity at church and I was so excited to show off my baby to everyone. When we got there my mom needed help carrying stuff into the church, and since there was a lot to carry I decided to put the baby in one of the bags so I could help carry more.

As we were walking in, the paper bag the baby was in began to rip, and before I could do anything the baby had fallen to the ground and it began screaming. And on top of that the ABUSE light had gone on. ABUSE=automatic failure!!! From that point on I didn't really care much about doing a good job 😄. I got the baby to stop crying and everything went well until I got home.

I was SO tired and just wanted to go to bed but no matter what key I stuck in the baby it would NOT stop crying. I decided that the best option was to find a way to mute the cry...enter brilliant idea...the Dryer! I went and stuck the baby in that heaven sent machine that made it so I didn't have to hear that stupid thing (because remember I was not given the emergency shut off key!)

Off I went into dreamland, when maybe an hour later my dad comes and wakes me up asking where I put my baby (he could hear the muted cry) at which point I told him and he made me go and get it out and take care of it. WORST NIGHT OF MY LIFE.

Why do I share this? I was thinking about this experience the other night when I was up with Liam who was crying because his teeth hurt. As moms we don't have emergency shut off keys when our babies are crying in the middle of the night. However, I must say that even though my teenage self probably vowed to never have kids that night, I am so grateful that I get to be a mom. I am grateful that I have two beautiful kids who I get to cuddle in the middle of the night when they are not feeling good and who during the day bring me so much joy and make my life so full! And I have to add I have never had a night with my kids that was as bad of a night as I had with that mechanical baby or ever been tempted to put them in the dryer so I didn't have to hear them cry. I promise I would never do that!!!!

Being a mom is sometimes hard and not as easy as sticking a keys in your baby until you find the one that makes them okay. It is full of heartache when you don't know what is wrong with them and tears when they are hurting. But it is more full of joy when you see them smile and excitement when you see them learn something new or master a new skill. I will forever be grateful for the blessing of my kids and the lessons they teach me every single day!