Have a Blast!

Parenting is hard.  I hate waking up in the mornings and am not sure I'll ever overcome that (more on that later).  We dont have family nearby and are still trying to make friends.  I'm tired.  Steven is tired.  We are each other's only help.  My days run together and seem routine.  I feel like I run out of things to do with Annie and find myself googling "things to do with a one year old" just to figure out how I can better teach and engage her.   Sometimes its just flat out overwhelming - and we havent even entered toddler hood yet.

I actually came across a comment the other day as i was googling things to do with a one year old... and a mom talked about how much she hated this phase and wish she could skip it and erase it from her memory.... I shared that with Steven and he was appalled.  He said to me, "you know, we need to always remember the Josh and Jane approach." - 

A couple of years ago I took family photos for some old friends of ours.  They drove quite a ways to us with their three children.  The oldest was 3-4 and the youngest was fresh out of the oven.  It'd had been years since we'd seen them, so we spent a lot of their session catching up & talking kids (since we didnt have any at the time).  In the midst of our conversation we asked them a very ordinary question, and got such an extraordinary answer. We asked, "So what's it like to be parents?"  

And I can still remember the brightness in Jane's face when she exclaimed, "ITS A BLAST!!"  Here she was with two children and a newborn and her answer is, "Parenting is so much fun!!"  

We expected her to say, "Oh my goodness, it's so hard.  Three is tough.  I'm exhausted, etc..." but that's not the answer she gave.  And you know what, the longer we were with them the more we saw how true her statement really was.  They really did enjoy their children and had a blast with them throughout our shoot.

And you know, that's how it should be.  Yes all of those things I said above are true, but I think some days we just need to change our perception.  We are so incredibly fortunate to be Annie's parents and I would never in a million years hope to erase any of her phases from my memory - no matter how hard they may be.  Oh that the Lord would always help me remember how HUGE of a blessing it is to be a mama.... and to enjoy my sweet baby daughter - and to have fun!  After all, babies don't keep. (and I am realizing that more and more as my girl turns into a toddler!!!)

Josh and Jane - thank you for giving us the best piece of parenting advice that you probably didnt even know you were giving us.  To choose to enjoy parenthood... and have a blast!!