Not the hardest but still hard.

Being a parent is hard.  I don’t think that there is any parent out there that will tell you it’s easy.  Even if you have the most laid back, mellow kid, there are still things that will come up that are hard.  There are things that will happen that you will never read about in any of the parenting books.  If you’re already a parent then you will be able to resonate with what I am about to share.  If you’re not yet a parent then take this as a forewarning of what may come.  Now these are not the hardest parts about parenting, but they’re still hard in my opinion.  I wish I had know about them before becoming a mom.  They wouldn’t have stopped me from having children but at least  I could have been better prepared.  (This is just a brief list.)

• Picking up Cheerios off the floor ad nauseum – This wonderful chore happens around the time your child begins eating finger foods.  I try to keep the food eating in the kitchen but somehow I still end up picking up Cheerios from the living room, bathroom and bedrooms.  Why?  Because as she’s eating them Nora drops cheerios down into her high chair and then they stick to her pant legs because they’re just a little bit slimy from her slobber.  Once the sticky slobber wears off they fall off of her pants and end up all over the house.  Oh and she also just loves to throw them off of her high chair tray.  She must think I like bending over every two seconds to pick them up.

• Cutting finger nails and toe nails – Hopefully this won’t be an issue for you.  It was a huge issue for us.  For some reason Brinley though that getting her nails cut would hurt.  I guess I can’t blame her.  Cutting something usually does hurt.  Well, she was so afraid of it that she would break down in hysterics whenever it was time to cut her nails.  It got to the point where Scott had to sit on her to keep her still while he cut her toe nails.  Please don’t report us to DSS.  I promise we were not hurting her.

• Matching and folding tiny baby socks – This might sound trivial but it is a pain.in.the.butt!  Not only is it hard to find the tiny socks in the sea of laundry that you have to fold but they end up stuck inside all of the other clothes.  I can’t remember the last time I did laundry and was able to find a match for each sock.  I usually end up with 3 or 4 that do not have a mate.  I never will understand what happens to them.  I truly believe we have a sock eating monster in our dryer.

• The wipes are always empty when you need them the most – Ok this irks me to the Nth degree!  I have no idea how this happens.  It never fails though.  It seems like every.single.time there is a diaper blow out or just a very full diaper that the wipes container is empty.  I keep telling myself that I need to check the status of the wipes before I take off the diaper but I never do it.  Then I’m sitting there with a squirmy baby and a pile of poop with one wipe.  Not fun.  Let this be a lesson to you to check the wipes before you take off the diaper.

• Nothing is yours anymore, nothing – This usually pertains to food, but it can be anything.  The best is when you make yourself a nice snack and just want to sit down to enjoy it and your kid comes over and swipes it right from your hand.  It’s not worth trying to get it back because it will likely result in a tantrum and who wants to deal with that.  Just let the kid have the cookie, right?

• You eat meals with a child on your lap – I can’t remember the last time that I was able to finish a meal with out one or both of my kids wanting to sit on my lap.

• No privacy – As with the meals, I can’t remember the last time that I was able to go to the bathroom without having company.  Even if I somehow manage to get in there alone it’s only a matter of seconds before someone comes barging through the door.  It’s not always a kid either.  Sometimes it’s my husband.  If I try to lock the door then it’s like I’m trying to hide something.  I guess using the bathroom is now a family event in our house.

• Cleaning the crevices of the high chair – Do you realize how gross this is?  When Nora is eating she usually will manage to grab a handful of whatever it is and shove it into her mouth.  Most of the time half of it falls out, but as with they Cheerios, it’s already somewhat slobbered on.  So then it falls down into the high chair seat.  By the time she’s done eating it’s all wedged into the little crevices of the high chair and all slimy.  When the meal is over I never have time to clean it right that minute so it sits there for a little bit.  When it comes time to do the cleaning I sometimes forget what we had to eat and how gross it might be.  Then I just stick my hand right in there and ewwwwwwwwww is it gross!

• Changing crib sheets period – This is just not a fun task.  Ever.  I hate it.  The end.

Like I said, this is just a brief list.  There are many more things that are just plain hard.  What’s on your list?