p a r e n t i n g.

Well y’all, I totally had a fun, kid friendly project on the calendar to share with you yesterday, BUT my youngest son, Beckham, casually decided to take a popcorn kernel and shove it up his nose so….yeah, our afternoon got hijacked with a ridiculous trip to the pediatrics office. I don’t know how many of you reading this are parents, but if you are, our understanding from one parent to the next is so universal. We get it. We get each other. We get that the struggle is so real. But in the middle of all of the chaos we experience as parents, there is just something in us that can’t help but to love our wild little bundles of joy fiercely. Even when you are trying to catch 15 minutes of sleep but get abruptly woken up to a bleeding nose with a popcorn kernel lodged in it…that love is uncompromised.

The boys love watching movies and eating popcorn, I mean, who doesn’t right? So I picked them up from school yesterday, and we went home to watch a movie and naturally I popped some popcorn. I was sitting in the middle of my boys, and I may have dosed off for a second. To my defense, I have been sick for almost 2 weeks, and every day I come home completely exhausted. I am positive I am not the first parent to fall asleep during a movie with my kids…or the first parent that selfishly suggests watching a movie with the full intention of catching a few minutes of rest during it! I’m saying this to justify my actions:) Anyways, a few minutes into my nap, I woke up to Beckham crying and blood rushing from his nose. Now I’m really awake! He informs me that he is bleeding, as if I couldn’t see it, and says he has an “owie.” I asked him what happened, and he pointed to the bowl of popcorn with only kernels left in in and says he shoved one up his nose! WHY?! I obviously start freaking out, no part of me is calm in this moment, which now makes both of the boys totally frantic. Great parenting move on my part:)

In my mind, I just feel like I can get it out with my finger, so I proceed with my brilliant plan. Obviously it doesn’t work, I just end up pushing it up further. So then I decided to demonstrate how to blow your nose to him in hopes he would follow what I’m doing. So I instruct him to blow his nose…..he sniffs, of course. So now its wayyyyyyyyy up there. I was like “why would you do this Beckham” and then I thought about it more and was like, “why wouldn’t he do this?” He’s 3, he was unsupervised, he’s curious, and has absolutely no fear. Him doing this made the most sense.

Have any of you ever seen the movie “Marley and Me?” I remember watching that movie over and over and over always thinking how much fun it would be to have a dog that is that entertaining that you could write newspaper columns on them daily. Well, I don’t have a dog that I can write about yet, but Beckham is that kid…that kid that I could write a newspaper column about every single day. He is the kid that you have stories for days on because he’s absolutely fearless, incredibly stubborn, and has the most will power to do what he wants to do whether he’s supposed to or not. And that my friends is why he did what he did. Because he wanted to. So, to make a long story a little less long, I ran out of the house with both boys, Parker was in his pajamas and Beckham was wearing a very wet pull up and his brothers pajama shirt because thats what was within reach as I was sprinting out of the house. No shoes, blood all over his face, and me trying to instruct my 3 year old to ONLY breathe through his mouth and not his nose.

We made it to the dr, I looked like a crazy woman running through the door frantically with a child that was half dressed and dried blood all over his face because I didn’t take the time to wipe it off. I also thought it would get me seen sooner if I made the situation look a bit more dramatic:) It was a super easy fix, they just squirted saline up one side of his nose and watched the kernel fall out of the other side. What an experience.

To all of my fellow parents out there, listen, I think we are super hard on ourselves often, but the truth is, parenting is hard work! There are so many great books out there to read about how to parent, advice from people that have been there and done that, but until you are in it, until you are experiencing it for yourself, nothing truly prepares you for what you are in for when you become a mom or a dad until you do it yourself. I’m just grateful every day when I put my kids to bed and they are alive and well. I feel like if they are breathing, I did something right!

I used to babysit all of the time before I got married. I was so confident that when I became a mom, I would totally know what to do. I was certain I had gained all of the knowledge and experience I needed from watching everyone else’s kids….I got this. And then I became a mom. And my pride was quickly diminished. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Like I said, nothing can fully prepare you to be a parent until you are in it and learning from your own experience as a parent. And not to mention, just when you think you have gotten parenting down to a science, your kids change and evolve and what you thought worked doesn’t work anymore!

I remember when I just had Parker, he was a baby at the time, a mom told me one of the wisest things I have ever heard, and to this day I have never forgotten it. She told me, “The days are long but the years are short, so enjoy all of it.” And it has proven to be so true. There are days that feel so long. Like the days where your son sticks a popcorn kernel up his nose, or the days where every response to what you say results in a tantrum, or the days where you wake up longing for bedtime. I get it. I’ve been there. We’ve probably all been there. But holding my firstborn as an infant seems so long ago. In the moment it felt like the days were a million hours long. The days where you feel like all you’re doing is feeding your baby, changing diapers, cleaning spit up off of yourself and everything else, longing for an uninterrupted shower…but then you blink and your dropping your child off for their first day of kindergarten. WHAT THE HECK!

I say all of this to say, parents, you’re doing a great job. Even on the days when we feel like we’ve don’t terrible. Hang in there. More days than not I feel like I could have done so much better as a mom. But then my kids shower me with hugs and kisses and compliments and I think to myself, maybe I’m not as bad as I thought. Maybe I didn’t miss the mark that much today. Give yourself some grace. And remember, the days are long, but the years are short. So try your best to enjoy all of it. The chaos, the calm, the crazy, and every moment in between. Because the truth is, there will probably be a day when we long for the chaos of having little ones running around the house. I know I will.

Anyways, I hope y’all have a great day. And if your child gets something lodged up their nose sometime, please feel free to reach out to me because I know exactly how you feel:) Talk to you soon!