Perspective

As I mentioned yesterday, Ava was at a sleepover last night and this morning. So I spent much of my day with just 2 of my children. My first thought: take advantage of being down one and get as many errands done as possible. We paid the registration fee for Ava's religious ed class at the church, turned in Jocelyn's paperwork to the preschool, and bought a few gifts for some friends. We did all this, and made it back home in no more than an hour and a half. I feel like I've had several conversations with other parent-friends recently about how silly it now seems that we were so overwhelmed with our one child. I remember when Ava was about 10 weeks old, she would sleep for an 8-hour stretch from 1am til 9am. I had such a hard time staying up that late with her. Now I think, what the heck was my problem that I couldn't get my act together and just sleep when she did? I know after Jocie was born, it was at least 2 months before I felt comfortable taking 2 kids to the store by myself. Now "only" 2 kids seems like a mini vacation. There's no way to gain this kind of perspective except in 20/20 hindsight, and I'd never want parents of an only child to think I feel superior to them or that their struggles are not valid. These thoughts just made me realize how much I've grown in the last few years, and that a new perspective can make one appreciate the little things even more.