In a world where having children is a joy and excitement and anxious anticipation of what is to come fills our conversations – it’s amazing how quiet everyone gets once these little blessings arrive into our lives.  Let’s be honest, parenting is hard!  However, what often makes it harder is that few parents will admit or even talk about the difficulties of parenting. Sometimes I wonder if people are living in denial, or if they are just hiding under a thick blanket of ‘keeping appearances’ up for the surrounding world.  Regardless, of why so many shy away from admitting that parenting hard – it is, and remains the world’s most difficult and challenging job!  It will test your patience, ability to multi-task, ability to get anything truly done in a day, and it will force you to operate and function with only minimal sleep.  Somehow when we are planning for our babies to arrive we find it hard to imagine any difficulties or challenges.  Even while pregnant, you may think “I want 3 kids”, and plan them to be two years apart – your plan will be the most logical thing to you, and seemingly make sense until your first baby arrives.  Then reality sets in..

The reality of motherhood is that it is far from being logical let alone scheduled. Life takes a new turn once your little one arrives, and for the most part takes control over your daily routine. Especially if you choose to be a stay at home Mom (but also if you don’t), and try to put order in the chaos that is now your life (newborns often mix up their days and nights, and if you are lucky, they will feed every 3 hours on average). It will take months (if not years) till your schedule will return to.. hummmm, your hands.

Children are a joy – nonetheless, parenting is challenging and difficult.  People don’t tell you that being a new parent equals little to no sleep for months, dealing with new experiences (even with your second or third child; each baby is unique in its temper and needs), and having to keep going, providing, and many times having to keep a job on top of everything at home.

The irony is we can’t truly know what we do not know, nor can we understand experiences we have never had – yet it is really important to know that the challenges that lie ahead will test you in ways you’ve never been tested before.  However, do not spend too much time worrying over the future and try to enjoy the pregnancy with all its challenges and expect for the best after. Meeting your new baby is an amazing experience. Learning how to care for your newborn, yourself and your marriage is not easy, but give yourself a chance, with time, it DOES get easier. And if you need help, support or advice, you can always speak to family, your baby’s pediatrician, friends or other professionals.

Enjoy every minute, because even if you are sleep deprived and think you are miserable, you’ll be surprised at how fast this stage is gone and they grow. Enjoy your baby’s milestones that make you a proud mother such as the first time they smile, laugh, turn, crawl, etc. Like many things in life, the little things are what make it all worth it.

Amazingly enough, we forget how difficult it was and then have another…