You'll rarely walk alone

If most prospective parents are/were anything like me, you think about a lot of things before you have kids. Things like family dinners and playing in the yard together. Things like bath time and bedtime stories. Things like Band-Aids on scraped knees and making cookies together. If you've had any experience with young children (which I really didn't), you might even think about things like cleaning up after them when they're sick, and having to take them to the doctor for seemingly endless shots, and nights of next to no sleep because they are teething. What I didn't think of or know how to prepare for was having a constant entourage.

Most of the time it's not really a big deal ... you get used to having little ones following you into the kitchen to see what you're making, or being curious every time you pull out the vacuum cleaner, or wanting (however badly they do it) to help you sort laundry. You get used to the "Mommy, what are you doing?" or "Mommy, what are you making?" or "Mommy, where are we going?" questions. You might even be able to get used to the constant stream of "Why?"s, although that has been more of a challenge for me, personally. I don't mind answering "why?" questions from one child, but when I'm getting "Why?" from three directions at all hours all day long, it gets wearing. I've been known to even pull out that dreaded parental response, "Because I said so."

But more to the point, not being prepared for being constantly followed around leaves you having to deal with things that never occurred to you. Having "alone time" when you're a parent is a challenge, especially when you're a full-time parent. So you'll find yourself thankful and actually pleased on the rare occasions that you can do simple things like go to the bathroom by yourself. I've got a fairly good imagination, but THAT was something that I could never have predicted. I do my best to enjoy every moment I can with my children, but I've also learned to enjoy the little moments, no matter how brief, that I can get to myself. One of these days my kids will quit "tagging along", and I'm sure I'll miss it, but I have to admit that right now a trip to the potty without a constant stream of questions can be a marvelous thing!