No one ever said parenting would be easy

This is the statement I got from my mother the other day over the phone as I whined about my daughter's inexplicable need to be attached to me in the evenings.

"No one ever said parenting would be easy," she said in her best mothering tone.

"I never thought it would be all sunshine and lollipops, Mom, but I would like to know how I keep my child from screeching so loudly that I'm afraid the neighbors are going to call child protective services on me," I snapped, child on hip, trying to make dinner, phone wedged between my ear and shoulder.

As we approach Peanut's 1st birthday (you were aware of that, were you not?), we have hit a fabulous new phase. I like to think of it as the "don't even think of putting me down for one second so you can prepare dinner or else I will scream like an angry cat, throw myself backwards and risk a concussion on the tile floor phase."

The ironic thing is that when I finally do have time cuddle, she wants nothing to do with me. She has started pointing at her crib and grunting just as we sit down to rock every night for bed.

No one ever said parenting would be easy.

After almost a year of parenting, I can definitively say that is an understatement.

It's fevers and unexplained rashes. It's late night trips to the doctor. It's juggling schedules and trying to figure out whose turn it is to stay home with her when she can't go to the sitter's. And then there are the late nights and frequent wakings, leaving us with little sleep in preparation for a day at work. There are the worries about development and nutrition and are we doing this right? There is putting us second so that we can take care of our child.

No one ever said parenting would be easy.

I've also learned in the past year that there is more to it than the hard parts. I shrieked in excitement the first time I saw her roll from her tummy to her back and danced around the kitchen when I spotted her first tooth. I love tickling her until we are both gasping for breath from laughing so hard. I can't even describe the feeling of watching her learn that a cat says meow or that dogs howl at the moon and everything else her new world has to offer. My heart bursts with joy every time I see her toddle to me, arms outstretched, knees locked, big gummy smile on her face. I ache each time she curls up in my arms, head on my shoulder, knowing that I would give my life for her.

But the most wonderful thing about parenting is simply loving this child. And that? That is the easiest thing I have ever done.