I think I have spent a lot of my time as a parent thinking ‘I am not ready for this’.

When you are first handed that beautiful, exquisite, little bundle that you have been percolating for the previous nine months, the first response is somewhere in the ‘Wow’ realm, and shortly thereafter, ‘I’m not ready for this’. When they start rolling, crawling, running, talking, arguing…there is always the initial amazement and celebration (…maybe not with the arguing…) then the realization of what these accomplishments mean and the new challenges you are going to face.

My most recent feeling of not being prepared happened just this past week.  My youngest had a hormonal day.  A day of unfounded irritation; stormy, stomping, anger; lengthy sulking; unreasonable expectations.  It took me a bit of time to figure out what was going on. You would think that this being the fourth time through I might be quicker on the uptake.  Nope. They all hit it at different ages and respond in different ways.  So there I was, thinking “what..??”, then I had my epiphany… boy, I am not ready for this…