Parenthood

Having Russell join our family has been quite the experience for Ben and I.  It was a little bit of a rough go at the beginning, and it had me wondering if I really wanted to be a parent after all. 

I do.

The gratification in seeing Russell smiling and laughing as we sing and play with him has almost made me forget those retched nights and the seemingly never ending days of crying we lived with for a few weeks. And, when it's time we'll have more children.

But, it's not that time now. With our move and change in the station of our lives, we have had some opportunities to interact with other people's children.  These have made me realize what a little doll Russell is even at his worst (like as I was trying to make dinner today and he screamed and screamed and screamed because I wasn't holding him).

For example, a friends daughter not much older than Russell spent an entire two and a half hours screaming while her parents were away and all the babysitters rotated who would take time trying to soothe her unsuccessfully. In weeks previous she did the same thing while at church.

And then, the darling daughters who have their parents wrapped around their fingers so tightly that they could get away with probably anything.  The girls know it is their way or no way.  To us it seemed that their parents had fostered into the daughters the idea that they are better than anyone else and thus needed to be treated as superiors.

Never have we been happier with our little boy who wants us to always hold him and snuggle him and make him smile.  We've learned a few things as we've seen other parents with their children. We aren't planning on being their best friends, but we will love them and do our best to parents them as best as we can.