Motherhood is Ridiculous... And You're Gonna Love It

And they were right.

But I'm thirteen years in now, and our crew has grown to four kids. And all I can do is crack up at some of the moments I've found myself in since those first pregnancy days.

I can't help but look back and wonder why did no one also say - "Things are about to get totally RIDICULOUS!"

Have you had those moments when you just have to hit pause for a second to laugh out loud and process what kind of crazy you are living?!

I've pushed toddlers in a twin stroller, while also wearing an infant in a baby carrier, while also pushing a gigantic cart full of groceries with my "free" hand.

I've sat in the ER with a three year old who thought the nose was a good place to put a game piece, and listened intently while the doctor instructed me how to blow into her mouth while holding closed the side of her nose without the toy piece. (It worked.)

I've stood on a chair on top of a (sturdy) table to try and remove those darn gooey sticky hands from the very high ceiling of a vacation rental house.

I've darted across a restaurant to scoop up a child who started vomiting (literally without warning), gave my husband the "figure this out, apologize to everyone, and meet me in the car with the other kids" look, and ran out of there with said child at olympic track speed.

I've sat in the van parked in our own driveway on a very cold day, waiting for power to be restored to the house after being knocked out by a storm. Husband in the driver seat, 3 squirrelly kids in the back, a toddler repeatedly trying to open the door and wriggle out into the tundra, a dog that insisted on being on my lap, and a giant mason jar full of water and the two goldfish I rescued from their soon to be frozen tank squeezed between my feet. All while handing out snacks.

I've showed up to several destinations just to find we loaded kids into the car without shoes. (Crocs or flipflops from walgreens and the dollar store for the win in a shoeless pinch.)

I've watched my kids put on a parade through the front yard with the oldest in the lead playing an antique accordion that he saved from my neighbor's basement clean out.

I've carried a child, my old man dog, and a bike all home from a trip around the block on a too hot kind of day.

I've accidentally ended a call with the school secretary with an "I love you," because once you're a mom all your conversations end that way.

I've looked up from loading the dishwasher to the sight of a small child actually swinging from the chandelier light over the dinner table.

I've told my husband the new tv he just got for his birthday now has a small rock sized hole in the screen courtesy of our toddler.(Why would we have a rock in the house? We didn't have A rock, we had whole piles of them, because they were another child's "treasure.")

I've lost a set of keys for two years, just to find them tucked inside one of the kids toys and watch a smile sweep across a little face with the words "Oh yeah! I remember putting those there!"

I've signed the wrong kid up for a sport.

I've opened my backdoor (instead of the intended door down to the basement) and tossed every blessed piece of an armload of dirty laundry into the backyard in a crush of sleep deprived brain.

......Annnnnnnd I've accidentally killed those same goldfish that I so heroically saved during the power outage freeze (somehow got the chemicals wrong while cleaning their tank).

So.much.ridiculous.

New moms, if you're out there reading this, know that yes motherhood is going to be all those things that everyone is telling you.

But it's also going to be totally ridiculous.

And you will love it.

Because it's the stuff that will keep you laughing. Maybe not always in the moment, but out loud cracking up when you look back. It's the stuff that becomes the gems of family stories; the kind you laugh about for years.

Yep, it’s ridiculous.

And it's great.