Parenthood---New Perspectives

I've been a bit reflective lately, and I haven't put into words my "new perspectives" since becoming a parent. Below, in bullet point fashion, I will share some of my "ah ha" moments.

Since Becoming a Parent, I now see:

- That strollers in the Palisades mall are a hassle. This is true because lazy people who can well enough walk, or stand on a stair that lifts them to the next floor (i.e. escalators) choose to take up all the room in the elevator. More annoyingly, when an elevator is packed with healthy, non-stroller attached people, and they come to the floor where you are waiting to get on the elevator, they stare at you and push the "door close" button several times in order to leave you standing there waiting. They do this instead of offering to get off so you (who can not use an escalator) can get in. Sadly...I was once that young college aged kid pushing the "door close" button so I could stop looking at the poor woman with a stroller and I could get to work. I vow to NEVER USE ELEVATORS in the palisades mall EVER again unless I have a stroller!

- We parents rarely get a warm meal. What I mean by this is that when you cook a meal, go out to eat or grab to go, the babies needs must be met first. On more than one occasion, Hilary and I would sit down to our nice, warm meal only to be interrupted by MJ's cry for help...leaving the meal alone until it got cold. This doesn't bother me much at all because cold food is still food after all

- POOP Happens. Before becoming a Daddy, I wasn't as keenly aware as I am now that poop happens. It can come in little dribbles, or explosive gushes that seem to be a never ending flow of bodily fluid. Sadly, MJ is still in newborn diapers and his ginormous poops are too much for those dinky diapers to handle. He doesn't always have gigundo poops, but when he does...it's laundry time!

- If You're Not Careful...You'll Get Pee'd On. I hear that this revelation comes more so with the joy of being a Daddy to a young boy...the females don't quite have the same problem. Little Marvin seems to enjoying peeing right when he shouldn't. For example, after a huge blow out diaper, I needed to wash the little guy with a wipey, change his clothes, re-apply a new diaper and the like. While in the middle of this deconstructing and reconstructing a baby outfit...the sprinkler goes off. He pees a bit on me, his own face, his monkey, his new shirt, his changing table, his crib, his sheets and lastly his crib quilt! It was literally a crazy time...


- Single Parents Have it Rough. I never sat down to think how difficult it would be to raise a newborn alone. Never until I became a parent that is. Hilary and I see that without two parents, two helpers, two diaper changers, two comforters...this parent thing would feel like hell. It's the greatest blessing on earth, don't get me wrong. However, babies are so needy, so hungry, so poopy and so dependant that one person alone would go crazy, trying to appease, feed, change and love their baby. I would call a single mom "hero" for sticking it out. I would call a man who leaves his woman and child "deadbeat" now more than I ever would've before!

- Parenthood Is a Miracle And a Blessing. I love being a Daddy! I love hanging with my family. I love looking into my son's eyes and telling him I'm proud of him. Telling him all about Jesus and sometimes about Doctrine. I love humming my boy to sleep. I LOVE watching Hilary take care of our son. Being a Daddy has definitely touched my heart and soul in a way that isn't comparable to anything else I have experienced in this life thus far.

- I love Hilary More Than Ever. Seeing Hilary as a Mommy has caused our love to deepen by leaps and bounds. This is an aspect of parenthood I had not anticipated. I didn't expect our love to deepen as it has...I thought I loved Hilary as much as I possibly could! I now see that there is no "As much as I can" because God has ways of making marital love deepen with the years and days and life experiences! When I look at my wife (whom I married 3 years ago today!) I see the most beautiful woman on earth. I see a caring, loving mother who protects her child with the heart of a lioness. She has gone from "woman" to "mother" and I love her so very much. More today than I did 3 years ago! Parenthood is GREAT!