The Fundamentals of Caring
Ben: Every corny thing you've heard about having a kid is completely and utterly true... It's the only reason we're here.
It’s
been awhile since I’ve blogged, and truth be told, I wanted to, but I knew I
was going to wait until I made my pregnancy announcement. Now that the secret
is out I have sooooooooooooo much I want to discuss, but I’ll start with a
movie I watched this July called The
Fundamentals of Caring. It was a random pick and I only chose it because I’m highly
attracted to Paul Rudd, and he stars in the movie so I figured it couldn’t be
terrible. Let me tell you, by the time it was over, and at the point I heard
the above conversation, I was balling like a baby (pregnancy hormones got me crying
at least once every other day).
Paul
Rudd plays Ben, and I don’t want to give away any of the plot, but when he said
that line, “Every corny thing you’ve heard about having a kid is completely and
utterly true….It’s the only reason we’re here.”, it struck a chord with me
because it is exactly how I would describe being a parent, maybe minus the last
part since I know kids aren’t for everyone. I’ve said many times before that I
never thought I would have kids, I wasn’t ever 100% sure I wanted them, but
life throws you curve balls and I’m so glad I knocked this one out of the park.
Some
people are lucky enough to wake up every day with a purpose. They have the job of
their dreams, or the life they've always wanted. For the rest of us, it’s the rat race,
waking up every day and doing things out of habit and not out of passion. You
have a job that pays the bills but it doesn’t light a fire inside you. I,
ladies, and maybe a few gentlemen, am one of those people. I have a great job
that lots of people might take in a heartbeat, but it doesn’t “do it” for me, I
don’t have a passion for it, I’m just good at it and so I do it. Prior to
having a kid I was stuck in this rut, but now that I have a child I get it. I
know why I want to wake up every day, I finally have a passion and a drive to do
something spectacular, and that’s to be a mom and to raise a young man in this day
and age. It’s terrifying and gratifying all at the same time.
There
are days I crash and burn and there are days I want to jump up on the top tier
and grab that gold medal because I killed it. The crazy thing is that even on
my bad days I never want to quit, I always want to keep going, try again, try
harder, and experience some new facet of parenthood. The road to retirement in
parenthood is LONG, and until our dying day I don’t think we every really
retire at being a parent, but I don’t “long” for it to pass the way I yearn for
5:00pm Monday through Friday. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely count the
minutes until nap time every now and then, but it’s different. Every time I see
my son’s face I fall in love all over again.
Being
pregnant for the second time, and knowing it’s a boy has got me all worked up
and overly emotional. My husband is so stoked to have another boy. I’m super
happy too, but I can admit that in the moment I heard “boy” I realized how much
I would have loved to have a girl, but as my niece used to say, “you get what
you get and you don’t get upset”, and “every baby is a blessing” so just being
able to have another baby, boy or girl, is something I am incredibly thankful for.
How do I feel about having another
baby? Well, I’m excited and I am terrified. I know women have been having
babies since the dawn of time, lots and lots of babies, and while the thought
of having another seems so beautiful it’s also crazy scary. I’m trying to wrap
my head around the fact that I won’t be sleeping for several months after the
baby is born, only this time I’ll have a fresh two year old running around too.
How the hell am I going to do this? How the hell have billions of women before
me done this? My roots are going to be out of control, my nails probably won’t
see polish until 2020, my eye brows are going to bush out, and I may even skip
a few showers, OR….I’ll surprise myself and somehow keep it together, wake up every
day and slap on some mascara and lip gloss and change some poop diapers with
some 4 inch heals on, in my pajamas of course.
On
that note, and with that image seared into your mind (you're welcome), I will close this blog by
repeating the answer to the question: What’s it like being a parent? Every
corny thing you’ve heard about having a kid is completely and utterly true…It’s
the only reason we’re here.
