Still here!

It's been quite a while since I've updated! My son is now two years old and I'm busy with the everyday stresses and pleasures that come with being a mom to a toddler.

This has been the most challenging two years of my life. Having a miniature person looking to me for basic needs, teaching, fun and direction has been overwhelming much of the time. A lot of the time I felt like I was doing it wrong. I'd listen to my friends talk about their kids, or see them post their perfect photos on Facebook that seemed to suggest that raising kids was easy. I'd get discouraged. Why was it so hard for me? What was I doing wrong?

And then a coworker whose children are now a little older than me asked casually, "Oh, do you cry? I used to cry all the time. My son was so difficult."

I hesitated only a moment before nodding. Yes. Yes, I cry. I feel like I'm the stupidest, most incompetent mother on the planet. You mean that's not unusual?

Since that day, things have gotten better. My coworker's stories of raising her son have made mine not seem so bad. I don't find myself crying in the bathroom any more. And even though my son is still a bigger challenge than I'd expected, I feel like it's a challenge I can handle.