a tiny little confession, revisited
with vacation season in full swing,
i thought i'd share a post from a couple of summers ago.
this is for all of the moms and dads - whether you're a newbie
or a seasoned pro (is there really such a thing??)...
happy summer!
there were a lot of things that threw me for a loop as a new parent.
things i never thought about when i was pregnant; things no one ever talked about at my baby showers...
like the amount of dirty laundry that would appear in a matter of hours.
like the amount of dirty laundry that would appear in a matter of hours.
and how it would take me an entire morning just to get out of the house to run one errand.
or how about the way my heart would stop and the hairs on the back of my neck would stand straight up every time i was woken up in the middle of the night - not because i was afraid of what was wrong with my baby, but because i was completely ticked off that i wasn't getting any sleep.
one thing i wish someone would've warned me about was that first vacation as a new parent. it was a totally different experience than a normal vacation that we were used to having, as you who are parents know all too well. but for those of you who may be new at it, or about to dive headfirst into it, let me share just a little bit...
for me, that first vacation was a bit of a bummer. instead of lying on the beach all day long (and i do mean all.day.long.), my husband and i would take turns going back up to the house for nap time... sometimes we wouldn't even make it out to the beach until just before lunch, only to head back up to the house 30 minutes later to feed the baby. of course i knew things would be different - my kid was already 7 months old the first time we went on vacation. but it wasn't until we were actually there, at the beach, that i remember thinking how much i longed for (and genuinely missed) my carefree vacation days. i wondered if i'd ever get over the harsh reality that in my vocabulary, the word "vacation" would forever be changed.
i know i'm making it sound terrible, but obviously it wasn't all that bad because we turned right around and had ourselves another kid. :) and guess what? we were completely 100% looking forward to that year's beach trip! sure, vacation was going to be different for us - because it was actually getting better. i no longer cared about how much "sun time" i got - watching my children play in the sand and jump in the water, laughing and squealing with delight became the best part of the day. taking an after-dinner stroll along the beach, eating ice cream and hunting for crabs was what i looked forward to the most. vacation was no longer about me. it was about us and our family, and making memories with those two, sweet kids of ours.
now that's not to say i don't mind the occasional trip without the kids - i mean, who doesn't want to be out on the beach all day long, without making anyone's lunch or wiping anyone's bottom? but what i'm trying to say is this: if you're a new parent, or you're about to be one, or if you're considering parenthood in your future, just remember that your first vacation with the baby will probably be hard.
really hard.
but it really does get so, so much better. :)
or how about the way my heart would stop and the hairs on the back of my neck would stand straight up every time i was woken up in the middle of the night - not because i was afraid of what was wrong with my baby, but because i was completely ticked off that i wasn't getting any sleep.
one thing i wish someone would've warned me about was that first vacation as a new parent. it was a totally different experience than a normal vacation that we were used to having, as you who are parents know all too well. but for those of you who may be new at it, or about to dive headfirst into it, let me share just a little bit...
for me, that first vacation was a bit of a bummer. instead of lying on the beach all day long (and i do mean all.day.long.), my husband and i would take turns going back up to the house for nap time... sometimes we wouldn't even make it out to the beach until just before lunch, only to head back up to the house 30 minutes later to feed the baby. of course i knew things would be different - my kid was already 7 months old the first time we went on vacation. but it wasn't until we were actually there, at the beach, that i remember thinking how much i longed for (and genuinely missed) my carefree vacation days. i wondered if i'd ever get over the harsh reality that in my vocabulary, the word "vacation" would forever be changed.
i know i'm making it sound terrible, but obviously it wasn't all that bad because we turned right around and had ourselves another kid. :) and guess what? we were completely 100% looking forward to that year's beach trip! sure, vacation was going to be different for us - because it was actually getting better. i no longer cared about how much "sun time" i got - watching my children play in the sand and jump in the water, laughing and squealing with delight became the best part of the day. taking an after-dinner stroll along the beach, eating ice cream and hunting for crabs was what i looked forward to the most. vacation was no longer about me. it was about us and our family, and making memories with those two, sweet kids of ours.
now that's not to say i don't mind the occasional trip without the kids - i mean, who doesn't want to be out on the beach all day long, without making anyone's lunch or wiping anyone's bottom? but what i'm trying to say is this: if you're a new parent, or you're about to be one, or if you're considering parenthood in your future, just remember that your first vacation with the baby will probably be hard.
really hard.
but it really does get so, so much better. :)
Comments
Post a Comment