The days are long but the years are short. Or so they say. And I agree.
Parenting is one of the hardest and most rewarding jobs you'll ever have.
When your baby won't sleep through the night. HARD.
When your toddler is throwing an absolute fit in the middle of Target. EXHAUSTING.
When your middle schooler is throwing attitude because you asked them to unload the dishwasher. FRUSTRATING.
And when your teenager slams their door and shouts "I hate you!". HURTFUL.
These are the exact moments you wonder if this season is the WORST.
I've lived through each of these seasons and know I still have many more parenting seasons left to go. Even still, during each season, I feel like it's the longest one ever and it'll last for eternity.
But there are times in those seasons when my heart is filled with joy in the little moments. When I see my child live out the values I've taught them or they do a chore without being asked. Or I just see the twinkle in their eyes and the way their nose twitches just like their daddy's does. It's in those moments I know...this "hard work" is worth it and that it will pass much faster than I want it to.
My oldest is 17 years old and he shared a TikTok video with me the other day (via text because that's how we talk these days) and it jokingly confirmed that this will be his last Christmas a a child. I didn't get it at first. And then it hit me like a ton of bricks to the head. My firstborn will be what society calls an adult by next year. He will be 18 years old. He will no longer be a child.
He's not ready for it and neither am I.
When he was a baby, snuggled up in his baby seat with a soft blue blanket wrapped around him, strangers would tell me to enjoy each moment because they go so fast. And i scoffed because it seemed so out of reach. He was still not sleeping through the night and I was exhausted.
17 years later, I am dumbfounded at where the time went. But if I'm honest with myself, it passed in the moments I complained about not having enough sleep instead of smelling his precious bald baby head.
Or the moments I cried myself to sleep because we shouted at each other when he was in middle school instead of hugging him and telling him I loved him, knowing it was his hormones talking and not really him.
You are in a season of life, mama, that feels overwhelming and exhausting. But it will fly by so fast that one day you'll wake up and wonder where it went.
I have learned to not wish away this season. Or any season of my life. Because each one is beautiful, even in the crazy, chaotic, sleepless, stressful moments.
What are you thankful for in your current season of life?