Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Where's the manual?

I don't know exactly what I thought being a mom would be like, but I'm finding out more and more that a lot of it is just "wingin' it." For example, on Monday Evelyn had a really difficult day (well, mostly the afternoon) but had a lot of fun spending time with Grandma in the evening. So, how did the day end? With a wipeout on hardwood floor that left Evelyn with a big fat lip, hurt teeth, and just very sad. So when David and Evelyn got home (it happened at David's parents' house while I was at home), I find her crying and blood on both her and David's clothes. As the mom, Evelyn wants me to comfort her, but other than holding her and singing a few Primary songs, I feel pretty helpless. It seems like, as the mom, I should just know what to do. We did get her cleaned up and calmed down enough to go to bed, but David and I were also pretty worried. Luckily, though, our brother-in-law Brady (a 3rd year ER resident) was in town and answered our questions about Evelyn's mouth and whether or not we should be worried. Evelyn's fine now, thank goodness, and it's made me realize that even though parenting doesn't come with a manual, we do have a lot of other resources to turn to when we don't know what to do. From family and friends to prayers and the scriptures, we don't have to feel helpless. We just have to know where to turn when we don't know the answers. And I should probably also accept the fact that, like it or not, Evelyn is just going to be our guinea pig in a lot of things as we learn along the road of parenting.

2 comments:

Christine said...

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I look forward to being a mother. I feel that I've learned a lot already from watching you and Suzanne - you're both wonderful examples to me of being patient and loving to your kids.

Suzanne said...

Hear, hear! I've certainly had days like those, with everything from a mood-swinging toddler, to second-guessing what I should do with a sick or injured child, with disciplining, potty training, you name it. It's been nice feeling like you and I have gone through a lot of the same things together as new parents, and realizing that I'm not the only one who has hard days or who is completely stumped with some parenting dilemma. Thank goodness for inspiration and a Father in Heaven who is even more invested in the lives of our children and wanting our families to succeed. I think you're a great mom, Marie. I look forward to meeting the newest addition to your family soon! (Well, seeing pictures, at least...)