Fair Warning

Once when I was seventeen, my grandmother--in an effort to thwart any notion I may have had to have a child before I probably needed to (and trust me when I say I had no such notion)--described for me the level of change that takes place in people's lives once children do enter the picture. More specifically, she commented on the change in the quality of one's mobility. 

"When you don't have a child," she said, "you just have to worry about getting yourself ready. You get yourself dressed, grab what you need, and go."

She continued, "But when you do have a child, Honey, you got to get yourself and that child ready. Then you got to make sure you have everything the baby might need while you're out. Get the diaper bag together, get that baby, and then go.  A lot more work in general goes into it all when you have a baby!"

Here I am eighteen years later as a mother, and let me just say,  she was absolutely correct. In fact, since she'd had six children of her own, she could have emphasized the point by telling me what it's like when you have at least two! Most days when it comes to leaving the house to go somewhere, it's in my best interest to start getting us ready at least two hours in advance, since it never really goes smoothly. Even still, all that pre-planning and pre-doing might find me fumbling, dropping, and forgetting things when the actual time comes to head out the door. I can only imagine what it must be like for those who have 3/4/5/6 little ones.

At this point I don't really recall what it was like to be responsible for getting only myself ready to leave the house. Although my children are only three and one*, that seems like so, so long ago.  Many of the moms I socialize with have only one child, and they ask me how I do it with two. Well, honestly, there are plenty of moments where I'm not sure whether I'm coming or going, and when I'm going, it surely has the potential to be a hectic mess!

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*My youngest is a year old today!