Entering parenthood for the first time is a mind boggling, world shaking, life changing experience.

Even though you “know” that this will be the case, you will never REALLY know this until you are elbow deep in poop and wading through pools of baby spew at 3am.

For example, going to the shops used to consist of simply jumping into the car, with your cash or card stuffed into your old bra, dashing in and out of said shop, and making it back through your front door in a total of ten minutes flat.

Now it consists of packing bags which require so much equipment that it feels like it is the equivalent of arming a small country.

Another hour or so sees you wrestling your little human into the torturous contraptions that are infant carseats. Then wrestling them out of the aforementioned torture chamber and into a pram or an infant trolley whilst you manoeuvre your way through the shop, potentially ramming several old ladies and knocking over a chocolate bar display during your tour of destruction.

Forget about the fact that you will then have to wrestle your human back into the car, and then somehow find the will to get them, along with everything you purchased, into the house without your animals escaping through the front door and running for their furry little lives at the first chance they sniff out.

No, going to the shops takes so long that by the time you have purchased what you need, you probably don’t actually need it any more.

And a Sunday morning sleep in used to consist of lazy and luxurious restful hours, halo’s of sunshine peeping through the windows and gently caressing your brain into wakefulness, and relaxingly reading the paper over a slow cooked brunch in your undies in the kitchen.

Now it consists of fantasising of sleeping in until 8:30am.

On those glorious mornings when you do get to sleep in slightly longer than usual (you know, those mornings “off” when you aren’t actually getting the morning off from anything), you hear nursery rhymes being sung so loudly by your darling husband to your child who cackles with glee, that you are shocked awake. In this instance, you end up smothering yourself with your own pillow in the hopes that you will fall unconscious and get another 5 more minutes of shuteye.

Though, you may still get to eat brunch in your undies, but its generally because you have no time to get dressed. And its brunch coz you didn’t get the chance to eat breakfast. Since last week.

Your life has become a whirlwind of singing, nonsensical babbling and hauling your baby up in your arms so they don’t slide completely down your body to the floor to be licked within an inch of their life by the dog of the house.

But you wouldn’t chance a thing. Except maybe how long it takes you to get to the shops.

Even the days when your little one dribbles and it lands right in your open mouth. Or when they can’t sleep at 3am because their little teeth are moving around under their sore pink gums. Or when you get poop on your new shoes after a poosplosion. You wouldn’t change it for the world.

As exhausted as you may sometimes feel, these little humans bring so much joy and laughter into your life, that you can ignore your grainy sleepy eyes. You can also ignore your tired arms which are fatigued from holding a baby close who wants nothing more out of life than to be held and loved by you right now.

You can ignore it all, because the love you get in return truly makes it a life worthwhile.

These are just some of the things that no-one tells you about becoming a parent.

Because they can’t put it into words. How much you will have to do. How much your life will really change. And how much you will be loved. You will be loved more than you can imagine, and more than you could ever have hoped or wished for. And that epic kind of love is worth it all.

 

 

What do you wish you had known before becoming a parent?? Leave a comment below as we would love to hear all about it! xxx