When I first thought about being a parent, I had so many expectations about how it would be, but the reality of things were much different. I had these visions in my mind of my children and I lounging on a Saturday morning basked in sunlight, with a homemade meal sitting in front of them. My reality is sooo far from that picture. I’ve listed some of my best expectation vs reality examples below.

Expectation: My children will be on a schedule. We will wake up at the same time every day and be on our schedule throughout the day.
Reality: My kids are on two completely different schedules. Little Bug thinks 4:55 am is a reasonable time to get up for the day and LeLe will not budge from her bed until at least 7:15, sometimes later. Little Bug wants to eat all.the.time and LeLe is usually only really hungry at lunchtime. She eats a small breakfast and a few snacks throughout the day and then finishes the night by eating half of her dinner. Little Bug’s naps are unpredictable, even at 6 months old, and LeLe is on a serious 1:30 pm nap time. She loses her mind if we push this. These two must have decided early on that making me feel crazy by being on totally opposite schedules was a great idea. I’m fairly certain that Little Bug is the mastermind.

Expectation: Parenting will be bliss, happy moments abound.
Reality: Parenting is bliss, but it is also really hard. There are a lot of moments where I am frustrated by something one of the kids is doing and I have to make a conscious effort to calm down and redirect that frustration. Because the kids are actually little people, they have their own minds and they often choose to go against what I had in mind. Stinkers.

Expectation: Parenting will come naturally.
Reality: I have no idea what I am doing most of the time. My own children are a mystery to me. Some days I think to myself, “who are these people?” and I want to crawl into my bed for the rest of the day. Other days I feel like I own parenting. It’s a roller coaster.

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Expectation: Being a mom will not fulfill me.
Reality: Being a mom is the most basic and wonderful fulfillment I get. I love being a mom. I love being a mom more than I have ever loved anything else in the world. I am so proud of my little family. There are millions of little moments that I never could have expected that take my breath away. It really is the little things.

Expectation: I will have well behaved children. Little soldiers I always said.
Reality: My two-year-old is extremely strong willed. If she doesn’t want to do something, I am pretty much out of luck trying to get her to do it. She is smart and has some sort of weird super human strength when she wants/doesn’t want to do something. It’s exactly like getting a cat to do something you want. Little Bug is a little easier, but I can only imagine what it is going to be like in our household in a year’s time.

Expectation: I will have three or four kids.
Reality: Two is a lot to handle. Seriously, I can’t even imagine being outnumbered. Yes, I would like to have more kids at some point, but the reality is that I am not sure that it would be a good idea. I feel overwhelmed by two, more seems like insanity. I tip my hat to those of you with more than two. Well done!

Expectation: I can have it all. Work/Family balance will be a breeze!
Reality: No, just no. I think I probably do have it all (mostly) but holy moly, this is hard work. The hours in the day are limited and I spend a lot of my time prioritizing the tasks that need to be done. Laundry takes a back seat to making dinner, which means that it piles up. Organizing our office/guest room has been on my list since before Little Bug was born and will probably stay on that list for a while longer.

Expectation: Being a parent will be boring.
Reality: I have never been less bored in my life. My weeks seem to fly by and the amount of free time I have is pretty much nil. We are always on the go and every weekend is gone in a flash. I always hated when people said that the time just goes so quickly, but they are right! It’s like I had kids and the world started spinning faster.

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I have a sneaking suspicion that it was this way for a lot of you as well. Becoming a parent is such an amazing transition and once you have the new life, things generally fall into place.