10 Truths About Motherhood You Have To Learn The Hard Way

Picture this – it’s 3 pm and you’re relaxing on the couch, watching your favorite show on Netflix. You’ve had a slightly rough day, but you finally have some time to chill out. It’s been a struggle getting your baby to fall sleep, but you managed to get her to close those beautiful brown eyes. This is the only time of the day you get to yourself, so you’re fully enjoying it. You’re an hour into nap-time and your precious little angel is in bed, sleeping so soundly. Or so you thought.

You’ve finally had a little time to yourself and you start to miss your sweet sweet baby, so you decide it’s time to go peak in the bedroom, just to make sure they’re okay. You hear a slight rustling, so you think maybe they’re starting to get up. You tiptoe around the corner quietly, just in case that angel of yours is still sleeping and that’s when you see it.

POOP.

EVERYWHERE.

And I mean everywhere. Not just a little poop here and there.  Poop on the pillows, on the sheets, in the crib – and worse – on your child’s face, hair, arms, legs, feet – EVERYWHERE.

FULL ON EXFOLIATING POOP MASSAGE. 

Cleaning my daughter’s poop off the wall was enough birth control for me to last the rest of my life. I was so in shock, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Seriously though, I had to have an important talk with my daughter about not playing in poop. I told her it would make her sick and we would have to take her to the doctor to get shots, because that’s the best thing I could think of at the time. Maybe not the best thing to say because I don’t want her to be scared of the doctor either, but I’m learning as I go.

MY EXACT EXPRESSION WHEN I SAW THE PICASSO POOP PAINTINGS ON MY BED

I can honestly say I never thought I would be scrubbing crusted excrement from my daughter’s toes.

These are the things you don’t think about before you have kids. Will I have to clean poop off the wall today? Should I only put my child in onesies so she can’t access the poop as easily? How can I make sure this never happens again?

I’d love to tell you I know all the answers, but it’s still a mystery to me why even the most curious child would want to play in feces. I’d also love to tell you that was the last time I ever had to deal with a poop explosion but, unfortunately, ’tis not the case.

My oldest has officially stopped being curious about the contents of her diaper – cross your fingers – but I’ve still got one under one, so I’m not holding my breath that it won’t happen again.

My point is – parenting brings about so many daily challenges that you are completely unprepared for. And there are so many ways to deal with these issues. If you’re searching for the perfect solution, you’re doing it wrong because – to be completely honest – there is no one right way to parent your kids.

Every child is unique and needs parented based on who they are as individuals. Some children may need a strict schedule every day, while others may thrive having more freedom to decide how they want to spend their time. All you can do is think about what’s best for your kids. And if you do that, you are a good parent.

Just pay attention to those sweet babies of yours and give them all the unconditional love they can handle; because in this big, scary world, all they have is you. Be the parent to your kids that you needed growing up. Now, I know I’m not perfect, and definitely have work to do as a parent, but everything I do in my life, I keep my children in mind. And that’s all they really want from you – to be present and happy.

Photo cred: Jayci Photography

Motherhood is difficult – and trying at times – but it is worth every crazy moment. There are so many things I’ve learned already and I know there is so much more I haven’t learned yet. I want to share with you some of the truths that have taken me by surprise these last few years.

10 TRUTHS ABOUT MOTHERHOOD

YOU HAVE TO LEARN THE HARD WAY

1) YOU WON’T ALWAYS LIKE YOUR KIDS.

Now don’t get me wrong, you will always love your babies, but kids can be real jerks. Sometimes after the 5th time you’ve told them to stop licking the window, your patience wears thin. This one was a bit of a shocker for me – as pre-mommy me had completely unrealistic expectations that you will always be happy with your sweet children. I love my girls more than anything in the world, but mommy needs a break sometimes too!

2) YOU’LL NEVER SLEEP AGAIN.

Okay I’m exaggerating, but you won’t ever have the no responsibility, only need to worry about myself kind of sleep that you get pre-children. Now, I  hear it gets slightly easier when your children get older, but even my grandma tells me she stays up at night worrying about her fully grown and capable kids. Some nights I only have to get up once or twice, but other nights my girls have me up every hour. It is exhausting at times, but to be honest – you get used to it.

3) YOUR CHILD’S CRY WILL BE THE WORST SOUND YOU’VE EVER HEARD.

It’s in our instincts to react to the sound of our children crying. My girls’ crying is worse than nails on a chalkboard for me and as soon as it starts – I immediately want it to stop. I have never been able to do any sort of “cry it out” method – nor would I really want to. The only way your baby can communicate to you is through crying – and if you don’t respond to them, and continue to not respond to them – they’re essentially giving up to call for you because they know you won’t come. For me, that is a way harder thing to accept than to hear crying. I always want my girls to let me know if they are hungry, hurt, etc. – even though I hate hearing the crying.

4) YOU CAN’T FIX EVERYTHING.

This one was a really hard lesson for me to learn. As a parent, all you want is to fix every problem for your children. But sometimes they will get sick or break their arm, and no matter how much love you give them, it won’t fix it. That’s why you have to teach them to be resilient. I always tell my oldest if she can’t figure something out to just keep trying – and that goes for all things in life.

5) YOU WON’T ALWAYS KNOW THE RIGHT THING TO DO FOR YOUR KIDS.

As soon as your baby is born – and even while you’re still pregnant – you’re hit with a ton of decisions to make for your child. Are you going to breastfeed? What about storing their cord blood? The list goes on and on – and these decisions may affect your baby for the rest of their life. With all the information out there, it’s really hard sometimes to decide on the right thing to do.

6) SOMETIMES YOU WON’T AGREE WITH YOUR PARTNER ON HOW TO PARENT YOUR CHILDREN.

Everyone is raised in a different way and there will come a time when you and your partner disagree about how you should handle things. It may be something as small as whether you want your little one to have a snack before bed, but it will come. The best thing to do is discuss it – not around the kids – find an agreement on the rule and then stick to it. You shouldn’t undermine your partner’s word to your children and if they tell your child not to do something, that should be the end of it – and the other way around. Although I don’t always agree with how he wants to parent the girls, I always appreciate that he cares enough to parent them the way he thinks is right.

7) IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU ANYMORE.

Gone are the days of selfishness, because as soon as you hold that sweet baby in your arms – you are holding your everything. It is your responsibility to make sure that your child is fed, bathed, changed, warm, comfy, etc. – and that is not something to take lightly. While you do still need to take care of yourself, you have to put those sweet babies first. Some people may disagree with me, but for me – as long as my babies are good, I’m good. The days are over where I could spend hours getting ready and looking in the mirror – and replaced with days of caring for my girls, lots of laughter and even more love. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

8) YOUR PRIVACY IS GONE.

And when I say gone, I mean gone. Boy do I miss the days when I could use the bathroom in peace – when I could actually shut the bathroom door without having it swing back open on me 10 times. My oldest actually bruised her cheek one time because she was standing so close to me while I was on the toilet that she leaned down & hit her face on the toilet bowl. I think once my girls are a little older, I may get a little more privacy, but I’m not holding my breath.

 9) YOU’RE OFFICIALLY SOMEONE’S MAID FOR THE NEXT 18 YEARS.

For someone who really doesn’t enjoy cleaning, this was the hardest truth to learn. Obviously as your kids get older, they can do more to help around the house & can clean up their own messes – but until then it’s all on you mama! As I get older, cleaning is more therapeutic for me – so not such a big deal anymore, but I still don’t particularly love it.

10) YOU DON’T GET TO CALL IN SICK TO PARENTING.

This was a particularly hard lesson to learn as well. Whenever I get sick, I just want to crawl under the covers in bed and live there until I feel better. When you have two little girls to worry about, there’s no way to do that. For me, this is when I need the most help from dad – but when he’s working and it’s just us at home, I have to suck it up and get on with my day the way I normally would. Once the girls get a little older, they can fend for themselves better – but for now, just gotta keep on keeping on.

Photo cred: Jayci Photography

I hope you enjoyed reading about some of the hard truths I’ve had to deal with as a mother. What are some of your mommy horror stories?

LEAVE A COMMENT LETTING ME KNOW ABOUT SOME OF THE HARD LESSONS YOU’VE HAD TO LEARN AS A PARENT!

Love Always,