So There I Was.......

I love to tell stories. Just ask my brothers, who when wanting a simple answer to a simple question, get an utter dissertation on the entire situation. Usually these dissertations include 47 adjectives, just so I'm sure they know exactly why I am answering their questions in the way that I am, and how I feel about it. My younger brother will actually preface his questions to me with, "Just give me a simple answer, not the whole story..." I mean, doesn't everyone want to hear about my entire lifelong infatuation with butter, to include a funny story, before I pass it at the dinner table? No? I don't see why not.

On that note......

Now that I'm a Mom, I am really seeing the beauty of language. I'm also feeling the "Cabin Fever of the Mouth" that comes with talking only to an infant all day. Don't get me wrong, she is a great listener, as well as conversationalist, but there are times where our talks seem just a little one sided. I love that every syllable I utter to her is teaching her how we communicate, that I have time to teach her, as well as listen to what she has to say to me. But I realize now that I use the words "poo poo" and "big girl" at least 700 times a day. It makes me glad to see the face of an adult so that I can employ the rest of my vocabulary. Not that Violet would find me any less interesting if I used lots of twenty dollar words.

I love being a Mom. I never thought it would be such equal parts exhausting and rewarding. I look at all the other Mom's out there with renewed respect. I am impressed to see a Mom with more than 2 children who seem happy and tame. I am sorrowed to see a Mom who is clearly too young and alone, but still trudging through. I am no longer so quick to issue a reproving glance to someone with a crying child, as I now know too well, that your child will always cry when you least need them too. It is no longer about you, it's about them. They have so many needs and no way to let you know what they are. Which leaves you to the task of unraveling the enigma that is a new baby. But what a rewarding task!

Three months into my new occupation and I'm just now starting to see that I can do this. That Violet will survive, and somehow, so will we as her parents. I can now anticipate her needs and translate her cries. I am no longer filled with nervousness about the next turn in the road. Now I look forward to starting each new day to see what I'll learn about her. And even better, what I'll learn about myself through her.

She is trying real hard to roll over and babble, and I am learning that when I am the most tired her smile is like a cup of really strong coffee. I knew my life would change drastically, but like myself and so many others know, you never really know how much until you are in it.

But who would ever trade it for the life they had before?

I bet none of us.