Adventures in Lapinskas Land

I thought about starting this post apologizing for my absence. But then, I thought, geez, every time I start a blog post, I talk about being absent. Whatever. This is my blog. I write what I want, when I want, and shouldn't have to apologize for not writing. So, I'm not. I love that you're here reading this, and I'm sorry if you were disappointed that I hadn't posted. Somehow, I'm not thinking that there was much disappointment out there. ;0)

So - I could talk about what we've been up to lately, but that's boring. I mean really - I'm bored just remembering it.

I got to thinking. I am working on planning a baby shower. It got me to thinking about parenthood. What's it like to be a parent? I recently told a co-worker that being a parent is like being on the longest baby-sitting job ever. And I wish these kids' parents would come pick them up soon.

I really think that being a parent is one of the hardest things I've ever done, if not THE hardest. It takes patience, knowledge, the balls to try new things, patience, love, hugs, patience, frustration and patience. My kids don't always behave the way that they should, or even the way that I would like for them to behave. They don't eat the food I make, or the food I buy. They wear clothes that make them look like they are covered head to toe in pepto bismol. They make me yell and they make me laugh. It's kinda awesome.

But, back to the beginning. As noted earlier, a friend of mine is pregnant. This is her first. I have been excited for her to have kids for awhile and was excited when she told me she was pregnant. (This is how/when I learned that pregnancy IS exciting, as long as its not me that's pregnant.) When she told me, she was less than thrilled about this new development and felt bad about that, like she should be sprouting rainbows from her palms and roses out of her butt now that she's pregnant. If you have kids, do you remember the first time you found out you were pregnant? I do. I burst into tears. I was terrified. Prior to this, it was exciting, would I get pregnant? Is it eve possible? What will pregnancy be like? Then, that evil little pee stick has a plus sign and now what? HOLY CRAP!!! NOW WHAT?!?!?!

I could totally understand where she was coming from. One of the things I learned after my first pregnancy is that pregnancy sucks, but there is an awesome end - a baby. That little baby was the best/coolest thing I ever did

It's kind of the same as parenting. Parenting will make you throw up, be abusively angry for little to no reason, make you clean and re-decorate furiously. Parenting will make your hair turn gray and wrinkles to suddenly appear on your face. Parenting will make you embarrassed over things you can't control, and make you want to control them even more. Parenting is something you can't hide, and secretly love.

I love my kids - they are the brightest, somewhat well-behaved, most beautiful (yes, I'm partial) kids in the world. I really do love this parenting adventure that we are on.

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While I wasn't here, here are some of the things that we have been up to: