Mommy Confessions: Parenting is Hard

Where have I been for over 3 months? Well, ignoring my blog of course! Why? Oh, so I could handle the rest of my life. I won't bore you with details. But let's just say it started with Peanut's birthday, Halloween, Sprout's birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas....next thing I knew it was February and I had just come up for air. And while I wasn't looking, our kids learned how to step all over us. Peanut started acting like a typical four-year-old (extra stubborn, opinionated, difficult, rude, etc.) and Sprout decided to act like a typical two-year-old ("No! No! No! No!").

Last night I was at my wit's end. All of us have been sick with a bad cold and I felt like I spent all day cleaning, feeding and giving time-outs. I was exhausted, emotional and losing my voice. I got out of the house for an hour when Hubby got home. Once I had time to breath I reminded myself that just like every parenting hurdle, we will get through this time too. Our children are testing their boundaries. While it would be much easier in the short term to throw our hands up and let them have their way, in the long term we'd only be hurting them. It's our job to show them where their boundaries are...again and again and again and again. They seem to test us every waking moment. And then at the end of the day they remind us that they also need our unwavering love, attention and acceptance. With all of the chaos that ensues during the day, at bed time both boys soak up as many hugs and kisses as they can get. Almost like they are saying, "Thanks for letting me push all your buttons today so that I can learn what my boundaries are. And thank you for loving me with all of your heart anyway."

It really is amazing how difficult parenting can be. But the rewards are priceless and precious.