Hellobee Boards

Of course I don't enjoy the public (or private) meltdown/tantrums or my LO fighting sleep but honestly I enjoy every aspect of being a parent; the good, the bad, and the ugly. I think someday I will be able to say "you know what E, you were a bit of a monster when you were 2, I'm so glad you turned out normal!" haha and joke about it just like my mom does about me now (she likes to remind me I'm getting everything she hoped I would get for how naughty I was growing up!)

I don't enjoy tantrums and the I don't want to get dressed battle, but I'd honestly say I love 90% of parenting. It would be nice to not have a messy house and I'd love all that daycare money to be in my pocket, but I wouldn't change a thing if it meant I didn't have my girls.

I've had an easy go of it with healthy kids that love to eat and sleep. Snuggling with a newborn is awesome. Cuddling with a toddler that could easily run away is even better.

My lo is still really young but so far the best part is when she spots me and smiles and watching her learn new things. I love being a parent more than I expected, I thought I was going to want to escape more often then I do-- and I have never really enjoyed young babies. The worst part is by far when she screams for no apparent reason before bedtime, she goes from super happy and playful to a train wreck in .001 of a second.

@blackbird: yup I'm in the E has awesome hair fan club.

@oliviaoblivia: lol! Poor H is going to have a complex about having brown hair!

Just watching him learn and develop his own personality. Seeing him interact with the world. He does this thing where when we're holding him or he's facing us, he snuggles his face into our chests and laughs.

I don't enjoy the stress. Everything is just generally more stressful, even if its just leaving the house. I constantly worry myself to death about EVERYTHING. Am I playing with him enough? Should I do this? Should he eat this? What if he misses his nap and won't go to bed later? Are his milestones on track? That other baby his age is clapping...he's not clapping. Is something wrong? Am I not spending enough time teaching him things? Etc etc.

Tantrums are really the only thing that suck! They can really wear me out at almost 7 months pregnant!

Other than that, my LO is amazing and I love all the sweet, funny things she does! I am really loving the new out-of-the-blue things she says...I call her name in the house and she will shout "Coming!" In her tiny 2 yr old voice and it's so cute. And she just started telling us she loves us. So the sweetest thing in the world is when I tuck her in her bed and she says in a super tiny voice, "Nigh, nigh Mama. Yuh You." That is worth any tantrum she throws:)

Oh and we sleep trained at 7 months and I really enjoy that I have a fantastic sleeper who goes to sleep on her own and stays asleep for 11-12 hours. That helps a lot!

I don't enjoy the sleep deprivation. What I do enjoy, though, is watching my girls grow and blossom into the unique individuals they are. I love watching them reach milestones and become little people with big personalities. I also love how much they love me unconditionally, that's kind of awesome!

We had a good day today so I have lots of examples but really all the little moments throughout the day carry me past the sleep deprivation and tantrums/trying episodes (of which there are many). For example my little one keeps asking for "a bit" of everything, grins like crazy every time we go potty and always makes sure that his brother is getting fair treatment. My older one has the most awesome imagination now, is a great helper and is fiercely protective of his brother. Obviously these things change, but just seeing the world through their eyes, watching them become independent and articulate their thoughts and the love they have is inspiring and gratifying.

Watching her learn things. It's like watching lights turn on in so many little rooms of her mind. Right now she is learning animal sounds and it just makes my heart leap to hear her say "quack quack" and "moo moo"! I think she is a genius

The list of things I don't enjoy is very very long but never getting to sleep in and the tantrums top the list.

@matador84: all of this!

As a mom, I'm always tired. But I also have so much more love in my life. I don't really dislike any of it. Sure, some nights I just wish I could veg out instead of doing baths and putting kids to bed, but I always think about how fast it is all going by. I love seeing them interact and love each other. I love hearing "hi mama" and seeing my baby's face light up when he sees me after I come home from work.

My son is 10.5 months old. He just started walking, and he repeats lots of sounds and generally seems to think everything is delightful. He has a sense of humor, so I think my favorite thing is figuring out how to make him crack up. And I taught him how to "hug", so usually when I ask him for a hug he will bury his face in my shoulder and make a cute noise.

I do NOT enjoy the diaper changes when he constantly tries to roll over and crawl away and acts like we are torturing him when we're simply trying to avoid a disgusting mess. I also do not enjoy the screaming and wailing when he's being strapped into the stroller. And I am really glad I work because as awesome as he is I need some adult conversation during the day.

LO will be 18 months in a week and I feel like we're in a "sweet spot" right now, so I'm enjoying most things. She's starting to talk a lot more so watching her learn new words and watching her little personality develop have been my faves lately.

Right now the things I don't like are: J's hitting and tantrums and the fact that he'll listen to dad but laugh at me when I try to discipline him.

But I love so much else! He has learned so many words and he's really cute when he gives hugs and kisses. He always is saying "mommy" and it's cute to watch him learn to do new things, like put his legos together.

I love the squishy faces, the snuggles, the silly phrases, the "mama take a walk with me", the ballet, the giggles, the sparkly eyes, the stories about school days, the creative ideas, the singing, jumping, tickling, endless ring around the rosie, the absolute obsessions with things that I could really care less about... it's all so great.

I could do without girls who are not good listeners. I have no interest in saying "put your socks on please" 22 times or "leave the dog's food alone" 109 times.

There's a whole lot of things I don't enjoy, and that drive me mad! But I adore hearing him giggle, seeing him smile, and just when it's really obvious that he's feeling happy inside. Also the sweet things he's starting to do as he enters toddlerhood… yesterday I caught him trying to feed his toy dinosaur some water from his straw cup… cutest thing ever!

Right now DS is teething so he's been up a lot at night, has a slight fever, and DH threw out his back so I've been solo parenting and it has not been fun not to mention that things are wonky at work. I'm exhausted and earlier this morning I was making a bottle and accidentally spilled it everywhere. I got upset and threw the bottle in the sink and tears started to come. These are the days where I wish I can just take a day off from life and do nothing.
But, I don't blame anybody for it - teething must hurt! And so I know I can comfort him and he'll be ok. I love that I can do that to another person - I never knew I was capable at that. His smiles and laughs are infectious - he is such a serious baby that it's pretty rare that he'll laugh. He smiles a lot and loves to look around and watch what you're doing. I love that curiosity about him! When he has a serious look, we ask, "are you worried about the mortgage? don't worry little dude, it's been paid!"

I wouldn't say I enjoy parenting, but I enjoy my LO a lot. Hearing his gibberish, seeing him splash in the tub, making him laugh, his chubby thighs ... stuff like that. But the hard parenting work, I don't really enjoy that, but it comes with the territory.

Things I love about being a parent: Seeing H learn new things every day, the cuddles, seeing how much she loves her family/animals, hearing new words.

Things I can do without: tantrums and early wake-ups when she's teething. I'm also counting the days until she can wipe her own butt.

@Cherrybee: I think that totally makes sense, though! I'm exhausted reading about it. Work can really leave you with nothing left to give sometimes, and then if things are crazy at home, you can't catch up and recharge your batteries fully. And i know you've struggled to get that with your husband and his weird schedule, too! I get pretty frequent breaks, which help me keep my head in the game, ya know? i think it's really important, but when you don't have access to them, everything just sucks the life out of you.