An intro, I guess?

So starting a new blog.  A place to gather the thoughts, memories, rants and rejoicing of mommydom. 


Now that I have been a parent longer than I have not, how the heck did that happen by the way, I realize that all of those "older" moms that used to give me this bit of advice were right.


It does fly by.


And while each new season of parenting has wonderfully new agonizing moments and memories, there is a sweet nostalgia for the prior season.


Of sweet smelling babies that love to snuggle...
Of little giggly questions that fill our day...
Of baking cookies for class snack...
And we pass this wisdom of 'enjoy every moment' and 'cherish every day' onto moms who are in great disarray and stress...frazzled and feeling overwhelmed.  Reality? They may not wish to enjoy or cherish those moments, because they aren't even fully sure at that moment that they want to have them!




How soon we forget.




But the opposite isn't helpful either.  Those worn and weathered moms who discourage with statements of, 'oh-all kids do that' or 'wait until you get to THIS stage...blah, blah, blah'.  So if a new momma is experiencing some kind of euphoria that her 2 year old finally DIDN'T bite the neighbor kid, she feels silly for doing so.


Shame on us.


One of my favorite sayings is, 'it is what it is'.  Kind of a reminder to live in the truth and accept situations for what they are.  It might be hard to see how that might relate to motherhood.




But somewhere, in the midst of pretending motherhood is only frolicking through spring meadows OR only trudging through dark caverns of the underworld...is the truth.


The truth that mommy days often lead to a strange phenomenon that can only be described as mommy daze.


The daze that comes from no sleep.
The daze that comes from reading a story one more time.
The daze that comes from finding out your child's secret that you would never want to know.


But also.


The daze that comes from realizing this precious gem of a person is a part of you.
The daze that comes from rejoicing with them as they reach a goal.
The daze that comes from seeing them interact with others in a rewarding way.


It can't and shouldn't be separated.  And as we share with other mommies, we can't and shouldn't pretend it was better or worse than it was.


It is what it is.


And I wouldn't change it for all the money in the world.