It is hard being a mom, what did you expect? Steps to motherhood: Part three

You can pretty much forget going to bed late or early, or waking early or sleeping in.

Once your kids are old enough to walk, talk, and open doors, nothing is yours anymore.

You already had to give up your body for your little one, even if you adopted, 

your body is your child's comfort blanket.

You wrap around them to keep them warm.

Wipe their tears from their eyes.

Get rid of the constant stream of boogers from their nose.

And of course wipe their little tushes.

And chances are you've done all of those things (except the last one) with the front of your shirt.

It's not just that however,

anything you have your children will immediately assume is theirs.

My Mother never wore jewelry.

She has 5 daughters.

You do the math.

I find myself more often than not choosing not to wear my jewelry.

Because I have a daughter, and she LOVES jewelry.

That is very cute and all, but it's just not safe to let her 

wander around in one of my super long beaded necklaces.  

Entangled, strangled, wrangled.

It's just not safe.

Plus the necklace usually ends up broke.

That is not all.

Eventually your children will start going through your things.

Drawers, cupboards, under your bed.

Nothing is safe.

Some of the favorites my children like to get into are:

Tampons

&

Condoms

Kept of course in a cupboard and in a drawer.

Now none of my children are using these items as of yet.

I am confident that we have many more years before we even need to worry about that.

Yet, they find these things and immediately assume that they are theirs.

But what are they?

The kids don't know.

Is it candy?

Is it a toy?

What kind of surprise sits in these wrappers, they wonder.

So they open them.

I once found one of my children sitting in a pile of condoms.

There were more than a dozen opened, and their were two pulled up onto 

this child of mines hands, like mittens.  

I am pretty sure the next step was to put them on as socks.....

Anther of my children likes to open my tampons.

They discover a colorful box of wrapped somethings, they just gotta know what it in there.

Surly it's candy, maybe a popsicle.

It's neither.

Though what the heck it is the child simply cannot figure out.

And just like the condoms one is not enough.

The kid has got to open them all.

Like a bee trying over and over again to go through a window.

Smack, smack, smack.

My kid tries over and over again to find something they want.

Maybe this one, nope, maybe this one, nope, this one?  Nope.

The whole box is soon empty.

That is usually when I make the discovery.

Gosh dang it!

Nothing is safe.

Your stuff is always better and more interesting than theirs.

Eventually they will grow out of it, like when they move out.

Maybe......

But, when you find your kid in a pile of whatever it is they have gotten into,

You just can't seem to help but think it is the funniest, cutest, silliest thing ever.

And if you are smart you will grab a camera and take a picture.

So that someday you can show their spouse, kids, them.

You can revel in their spouses delight, their kids laughter, and even their own laughter and understanding that these things don't just happen to them.

And of course you know that you'd rather keep your baby and just buy more tampons.

I know I can live without things.

But I can't live without my babies.

Motherhood = Sacrifice = pain = understanding = love = Motherhood