Hard

So I was totally inspired today by my friend Shannon to do this post for myself. You see, she was brave enough to post today about the hard things that are going on in her mommy-hood right now. I say brave, because I don't think we mommies openly talk enough about the days where you feel like everything is going wrong or worth worrying about! We're all REALLY good at talking about how much we love our kids and how much fun the good times are, and we should be because everyone I know has wonderful kids that are worth bragging about. But we gotta talk about the hard stuff too. So here's what's hard in our house right now:

- Kennedy hates napping on her own. Actually, she pretty much doesn't enjoy napping, but tolerates a good long nap if it means she gets to snuggle on the couch with her mom. She does however NEED to nap or she's one awful child to deal with.

- Oh goodness, we were on such a roll with nighttime sleep...and then somehow we lost our mojo. She is loving going to bed at EXACTLY 8 pm each night...but we're up between 12 and 1 and then we're awake every hour or hour and a half until I give up and put her in the bed with us until morning. And I'm tired. And I'm not great at tired.

- Putting her in the bed with us is just one of the many ways that I am worried I am endangering my child on a regular basis. The internet and pediatricians and authors would have you believe that on any given day your child is darn lucky to come out alive. EVERYTHING can hurt them. And I am a worrier...

-I am terrified of Kennedy getting teeth. We had SUCH A ROUGH start to nursing and now we're in this really good place with it. Teeth, I am concerned, will RUIN this good groove. Yes, I know I shouldn't worry about things that haven't happened yet. But I wouldn't be me if I didn't.

-We're headed back to the fleet soon. This means long days for Andrew and weeks and months spent away. And right now when he doesn't come home until after she's gone to bed, I sometimes feel like I'm losing it. What in the world are we going to do when he's deployed?!

-Kennedy has this dent in the back of her head. It's making me crazy. She's nearly NEVER put down during the day, so I have no idea how she could have gotten a flat spot...and it's NOT flat. It's a dent. Ugh! And the pediatrician said, "If you're worried about it, you could increase her tummy time." Um, yeah. Tell Kennedy that. This is the girl that learned to roll over at 2 1/2 months old just to avoid tummy time. Good. Luck.

- I have WONDERFUL friends here in northern VA. And they all live what feels like forever away from my house. This didn't used to be a big deal. But now most of us have little ones. And it's hard to transport a little one 30 minutes or 45 minutes to someone else's house by yourself. So it's not easy to set up weekly get-togethers. And I wish it was. Goal: Figure out places to meet in between. Pronto.

- Chestnut has an awful ear infection. We're talking, they've treated it twice and are now doing a culture of the bacteria to figure out what they can possibly wipe it out with because it's not responding to treatment. He also needs a haircut, and a nail trim. I'm not sure how any of that works now that we have Kennedy. And I'm constantly concerned that he feels jealous.

- Am I ever going to be able to clean my house like I'd like to? And seriously, how in the world are we going to put the house up for sale?! "Hello, perspective home buyers, don't mind the 100 burp cloths and laundry piles..."

Now, all of that being said, the reason I normally don't choose to blog about the hard stuff anymore? I'm so lucky. And I know it. But isn't it okay to know that you're lucky, that you have a great little girl, that you have a wonderful family...and things are still hard sometimes? I think so. And you know...everyone needs their feelings validated sometimes (right, Shelly?) so what's hard in your life right now?