I never wanted kids

Growing up, I never babysat because I didn't like kids. More specifically, I was afraid of other people's kids. I tried to babysit once and ended up calling my Mom to come help me because the kids wouldn't go to bed (fast forward 35 years and I still can't get MY kids to bed). If you would have told me, when I was in high school, that I would have three kids, I would have laughed you right out of the hallway.

I wish that before having my adorable offspring, someone would have sat me down and told me what my life would be like. Of course my Mom gave me the "it's hard work, and life's not fair" speech about mothering but there were some really important things left out of that speech. Like:

You will clean poop out of places you never knew poop could get into
Someone will pee in your new snow boots
You will at times be jealous that your Daughter is pretty and smart
You will have a child that will test every ounce of your resolve every single day
You will go to three different grocery stores in one day to get the best price on groceries
You will drive a mini van and actually like it
You will be soo jealous of people that don't have kids and the freedom they have
You will pop a processed chicken nugget into your mouth without thinking twice
You will sit at endless parent/teacher conferences/games/practices/ER visits
You will go to war with your child's school over a "supposed" lost library book
You will tell your kids math isn't that important just to get out of helping them when you really don't understand it yourself
You will wish for and hate summer break all at the same time
You will be thrown up on more times than you can count
No one will care that you are an excellent cook
You will cry at every single on of their birthday's because you don't want them getting older
Someone will pee in a peanut can on a trip, every time
You will think that everyone around you has their crap together better than you do
You will be jealous of the mom with 4 kids who has a banging body
Your husband will hate to see you cry
Laundry and dishes become a never ending Olympic sport
There are times you will feel unloved, unappreciated, unshowered, unable to make a good decision
Sometimes you will want to runaway

Had I know all this and more, I would have taken a really hard look at what lays ahead of me for the next many decades. Maybe would have thought about just having two and not three.

But then I would have missed out on being the person these little people have made me. I spend so much time trying to teach them things that it is me that has learned the most over the last 14 years. I would not be able to empathize with other parent's of kids with issues, I would not be so compassionate about education and making sure all of my kids educational needs are met, I would not be as patient as I am today, and I would not know so much about Hot Wheels/Dinosaurs/Twilight Series/Taylor Swift/Xbox, etc.

Parenting is hard and being a kid is hard sometimes, too. Take some time to have some fun with your kids this weekend. It will make everyone happy and you will be glad that you had them.

Party on peeps!!
Cat