Perspective

Sometimes I lose perspective. Sometimes occurs more often than "sometimes" when I'm pregnant.

At times, I view little things - like my husband's failure to bring home a subway sandwich for me when he had one for himself as a major betrayal. In hindsight, this seems a little extreme. After all, we are talking about a turkey sandwich, not a violation of our marriage vows. But I'm pregnant. And hungry. And by golly, I wanted that sandwich. (I'm not saying it's rational, it just is.)

Perspective.

Many of my friends have babies and toddlers. I am listening to their stories and their trials and a part of me just wants to sigh and say "wait til they get bigger and you have to deal with things you can't control." Like school and friends from other religions and media influences. A baby that slaps her mama over a snack just doesn't seem that complicated. Kind of the way my friends that have teenagers look at me when I start in about my problems with my boys. They are dealing with sexual urges and behaviors, exposure to drugs and alcohol, fighting in schools, opposition at home, and a million other things I know nothing about - thank goodness!

Again...Perspective.

I'm hoping to look back when Kate gets here and remember this. When I'm sleep deprived or she's throwing tantrums or the days seem impossibly long and hard, I want to not feel so overwhelmed. That is how I felt with the boys a lot of the time - overwhelmed. I failed to enjoy a lot of moments because I was trying to survive them. I've stopped a lot of that. At some point, I started to realize that all things are a phase. I worried so much and so far, my boys are pretty awesome, amazing, wonderful boys. Is everything perfect? No. But perfect is boring.

So, with perspective, I'm hoping that for Kate the lesson has been learned. To enjoy more and worry less. That it is all going to be okay and it will all go way too fast. The hard days won't last and they make the good moments that much sweeter.

They say 3rd time is the charm. Here's hoping!