Sacrifices

Parenthood means sacrifices, no doubt about it. I work with a couple physicians who are married without any children. I sometimes wonder, why would people choose not to have any kids? It's possible, they weren't able to, but if we polled all married couples without children and asked them why they chose not to have any, I wonder what they would say.

Sometimes I try to picture my life without my three kiddos and think, how boring would that be! Yes, I would probably have all the time in the world to spend on myself, but parenthood also means learning not to be selfish. What would I do if I had every day/evening to myself, (except for spending time with my husband). We could go out to eat, travel around the country (or the world for that matter), spend money on ourselves, make whatever we want to eat for dinner, and find new hobbies to pass the time. As amazing as that all sounds, I wouldn't trade what I have now to experience that.

Children open your eyes to the little things, like collecting candy at a local parade and story time at the library. They make you slow down and enjoy these things. This can sometimes be challenging when I know I have a million and one things that need to be done. I try to remind myself to live for each day and each memory. The laundry, cleaning and errands can wait until I'm done being Alena's "student" or letting the twins climb all over me. When the kids are all napping on the weekends or after they go down for the night, Justin and I run around crazy trying to get as much done as possible, but by the end of the night I can sit down and reminisce on the fun moments we had that day.

National Balloon Festival

Children make our lives busy. When they are infants, they keep you busy, depending on you for every thing. Then they become mobile and we stay busy keeping them from getting injured and teaching them right from wrong. Pre-school years parents are busy molding their child into a respectful human being. During the school years, children keep us busy running them from activity to activity, finding dinner in between and helping them with homework and school projects. When children enter high school, their need to depend on their parents changes (except for money or borrowing the car). It's during these years that parents are busy worrying; wondering why their daughter isn't home by her curfew, hoping their son will score high on the SATs, and dreaming about their children having a successful future. The busyness never stops, it just evolves as children grow and it's become part of our lifestyle now.

 All parents would say there is never enough hours in the day to get everything done. I used to be OCD about many things, including keeping my house clean and in order, (thankfully Justin likes things tidy as well). After I had Alena, I tried to keep up with my house as much as I could. Yet, I realized as Justin was enjoying the little things with Alena, I was cleaning the bathrooms and picking up the toys she was dragging out. I've since learned to let some things go so I, too, can enjoy my little ones, because we all know how quickly they grow up!