I have known Kate pretty much since I started blogging. Back then she wrote Peeping Moms, her parenting blog, and since then she has started up a foodie blog called The Clean Plate Club. She has been one of those blog pals that feels like a real life friend right from the start. It is a relationship like that that reminds me of why I love blogging in the first place, because, as I have said many times before, blog friends are real friends too. Kate and I share emails, read about each other’s lives via our blogs, and, I think, know each other pretty darn well for two people who have never met. When I was thinking of potential guest posters she was one of the first that came to mind, both because I love her, and also because I guess I sort of missed hearing her take on parenting. Enjoy.

Beth asked me to guest post on her blog and I couldn’t be more honored! I have been reading Total Mom Haircut for a long time. I think it is the blog I have been reading the longest. I’m excited to be a tiny part of it because I totally respect and dig Beth’s work.

When she emailed me, Beth mentioned that I must miss mommy blogging. (I used to write one, now I do a food blog at www.thecleanplateclub.net) I do miss it. So, I’m here to answer the challenge and kick it old school with some thoughts about parenting.

I’m thinking a lot about time lately. particularly how fast it goes. Both of my children have birthdays this week. My baby girl will be 10 months (she’s just gotten her 3rd tooth!) and my son will be 4 years old. Which I cannot believe. Lately I am just constantly looking around with my mouth open going, “how did this happen?” “How can I have 2 kids of 4 and nearly 1 so fast?”

It’s a strange juxtaposition. Because I can remember nights (MANY nights) that felt so. incredibly. long. My son was not a sleeper. Not even close. He didn’t sleep thru the night until he was 15 months. Those nights seemed to last forever. I would literally sit there and wish for day to come so it would be over. The sleeplessness made me loopy and grumpy ta’ boot. Little did I know my wish would come true–again and again. And all of a sudden it’s years later and I’m somehow
feeling like I was rushed. How dare I say that when all I wanted was to be past it?

My daughter is another story altogether. She IS a sleeper. A real good one, God love her! Her babydom seems to be passing even quicker than my son’s did. Which is just ridiculous. And while this excites me on one level, it makes me sad on another. Hubby and I are pretty set on the decision not to have another. So, I feel my baby days waning. Sometimes this is a great relief to me. Soon we’ll have 2 kids and not one kid and one baby. We’ll be able to do more as a family. We’ll be
less tied to nap times and bottles and diapers. But on the flip side–there will be no more nighttime snuggles while she eats, no more cute, tiny clothes, no more laying on the couch just cooing at each other. I feel like it’s all passing me by! It’s going too fast!

In a way, I feel like my son is “done.” He walks, talks, has all his teeth, is potty trained, goes to school. We got him this far, he pretty much takes it from here. This week he learned to buckle his own seat belt. Obviously, he’s only 4 and therefore, I have YEARS of taking care of him, but I do feel like he has passed thru a threshold. And it is one that I see on the horizon for my daughter. It will be here before I know it. Literally.

My answer to all of these feelings? A greater commitment to living in the moment with my family. I dive into everything excitedly. Every dish I wash, every load of laundry I do, ever diaper I change, bath I give or pre-bed snuggle time we have. I am trying to appreciate and love it all. I spent a lot of energy when my son was new fighting the selflessness that has to come with parenting. I wasn’t prepared for what I would give up. Or the work I would have to do. Now, I can say,
I embrace it. Bring it on! Because I’ll have years of my life where I can do or not do the laundry. I can head out to a movie on a whim with hubby. Or take my sunday morning slow. That will come. Right now I’m all about the ride, the chaos, the work and joy of being a stay-at-home mom.

And it’s a privilege to care for these two children. I’m honored and humbled. And determined not to miss a thing.