Parenting

By no means am I an expert on parenting, but there are a few things that I've learned so far.

Parenting is wonderful. Being a mom is one of the best things that I have experienced in my life. It is wonderful to see your child grow and learn. Seeing Ryker experience new things is amazing to me. And when he is well behaved, I am so proud that I could just bust! This past Sunday, we attended Devin's graduation. Ryker was so well behaved that I think I have told everyone that I see about it. I'm proud. It makes me so happy to see him like that.

Parenting is unbelieveably hard. You are now in charge of a person. Not a dog that you can lock in their cage while you leave the house. Boy oh boy it is so much harder than you think it's going to be. You have to make sacrifices. Before we had Ryker, I didn't understand why people didn't just want to leave their kids with the grandparents and go out at night. Now, I understand. Especially working full time. And I would absolutely trade a night out on the town for sitting in the recliner snuggled up and watching Tangled.

Parenting hurts. He falls down, he cries. He gets his hair cut, he cries. He tries to touch the hot stove and I quickly smack his hand, he cries. I turn around to leave for work, he cries. Oh this hurts my heart. He looks at me with those sad eyes and that lip out and I just want to go scoop him up. I want to hold him forever. I think to myself, before I know it, he will be going to school. He is already running around the playground and going down slides with little to no help. He is already pulling away to be independent. I love to see that he can do things himself. It makes me proud. But when he runs back to me, clings to me, hugs me, those moments I cherish because I know they won't always be there. There may come a day that he doesn't want to hug me before I leave.

It already hurts to see him growing up because I know that one day, he won't need me like he does now. But for now, I am going to treasure every moment I have.