“If your baby is beautiful and perfect, never cries or fusses, sleeps on schedule and burps on demand, an angel all the time, you’re the grandma.”
(Theresa Bloomingdale)

Jenny and I have some great friends who are about to have triplets. (I know…wow.) While we’re so thrilled for them, and cannot wait for them to experience everything that awaits, there’s also a dirty little secret they will soon find out:

If you’re a brand new parent, there will come a time when you don’t like your child very much. You will never not love them, but there will be a moment when—if you’re honest with yourself—you will find yourself so aggravated, so exasperated, and so o angry at your child you may be surprised by the terrible thoughts that pop into your head.

Infants and young kids are sweet, precious, adorable little people who depend on us for nearly everything. They’re also messy, loud, demanding, irritating human beings. Let’s just be honest about that. As comedian Tom Papa says, young kids are like the worst roommates ever.

Don’t beat yourself up if you have moments when you look at your child and wonder what in the world you’ve gotten yourself into. You’re not alone. Talk to a trusted friend. Take a walk. Get a little fresh air — and find a little perspective. The very things that drive you crazy now just might be the things you miss most when your little chickadee flies the coop.

Peace begins with pause,