This is a follow-up to the post I wrote for Tyler’s blog. I also wanted to add in a few personal observations, from the mommy perspective. When I was young, I never was much of a “kid” person. Not that I didn’t like kids, in fact I always found it interesting to watch them learn and interact. But I didn’t really know how to relate to them. I was no big fan of babysitting, and found other ways to earn money when I was a young teenager.
As I got older, I never felt “ready” to have kids, and eventually I wasn’t even sure I wanted any. Sometimes I thought I did, but sometimes I thought I didn’t, I just wasn’t sure. Then our little “surprise” came along. And I can say, unequivocally and without hesitation, I *love* being a mommy! It is absolutley profound, the intensity with which I love that little guy. It really is one of those things that you just can’t understand until you experience it. (the same is true, it turns out, of labor pains. there’s just no way to describe it or to imagine it until you’ve lived through it….)
And now I understand one of the things I had wondered about when I was pregnant. I would often get the comment from parents that “kids are a lot of work… but they’re worth it”. This was usually either preceded or followed by quite a bit of grumbling about the ways in which kids make life difficult. I remember Kevin and I having a conversation once, about whether or not the “but they’re worth it” part that everyone tacked on was just a sanity saving delusion on the parent’s part, one of those things they try to convince themselves of because it just *has* to be true, or else they’d lose their minds.
Well, now I know. I know that it becomes a stock phrase because, like labor pains, there is really no way to explain in words what it feels like to love a child so much. There aren’t any words big enough to convey just how much we love our little man, and love being his mommy and daddy. Even though he is a lot of work, and having a child does make things difficult sometimes, he is so totally “worth it”!