It is the best of times, it is the worst of times…it’s real life with kids.
A girlfriend asked me what life with kids is really like, the honest truth. Does it really change things? Um. Yes, yes it does. And so the flashbacks and all too honest snippets began. Prepare yourself. This is what it is really like surviving life with kids in the suburbs.
*You do not glow when you are pregnant. That my friends is simply what good friends say about the sheen of sweat you are showing off from the constant battle against morning sickness.
*Giving birth? It’s not pretty. Parts of you will be stretched beyond human recognition and it hurts. Period. But don’t worry, most of your bits and pieces will bounce back and drugs are a gift from the gods.
*Nursing (for me) was not natural. It was learned. A battle of nipple vs a teeny mouth disguised as a vacuum. There will be raw nipples, possibly some blood and definitely some tears and that will just be from you. Once you get it though it is so worth the fight! Hang in there.
*Sleep? I hope you had lots of sleep before you had kids. You won’t be getting any more until those kids leave for college.
*After you have kids your life is never ever really yours again. If you want five minutes of peace and solitude you had better take a good book and hide in the bathroom. Don’t forget to lock the door because those little toddler type creatures will hunt you down, even there.
*It will be years before you ever sit down and eat a hot dinner again. Accept it.
*Carpool will become one of your favourite words. A good carpool is almost as fabulous as a good babysitter. Once you find another parent you can count on to share driving responsibilities to and from some of the dozens of extra curricular activities your kids are in you might have to restrain your self from actually kissing those people. Carpool partners are GOLD!
*Hot lunch at school. Just do it. Sign your kid up and enjoy the occasional day off of trying to create an imaginative and healthy meal that will actually end up in their tummy’s and not the closest garbage pail.
*By the time your kids are teens their social schedules will be busier then yours. It just might be time to start to try and get your own life back!
*You will quickly forget what it was you ever did before you had kids….and you will be just fine with that.
My children are my biggest, my best most beautiful gift. I wouldn’t change one moment of my life with them. What I do wish, is that there had been one girlfriend in my life to tell me it’s not all picture perfect, and that it isn’t supposed to be. Sometimes it’s bumps and bruises but every bump is an opportunity to make another memory. Just hang on tight and enjoy the ride.
Excellent list!
I did glow towards the end of my pregnancies because my hair was thicker than ever and I had lost a lot of weight. It was the months of no sleep and excess chocolate following the birth that did me in.
Ha! I love this post! I totally agree with all your points. Except for maybe the hot lunch at school. The lunches at my school look nasty. So I opt in for the once-a-month pizza lunch.
Truer words have never been spoken. Or written.
All worth the time and effort….*sigh*
XO
Great awesome post!! And yes totally life changing but so worth it in the end. My son buys lunch about 1 day a week- as most of it he doesn’t want but the days he is willing to buy I totally do a happy dance.
Oh the nursing, well you know how I feel about that, it really is wonderful, but it really is hard work. I do love being a mum but damn it’s hard.