A Little Peek Into Motherhood

This weekend I babysat the Johnson Family.
There are four kids- Kelsey 12, Luke 9, Courtney 6, Matt 2.
It was a crash course on mother hood.

Not the stress about where they'll go to go to college kind of mother hood.

Not the stress about where dinner is going to come from kind of mother hood.

But the- care for and genuinely worry about those kids kind of mother hood.

Courtney (6)

Courtney and Matt at our Picnic

Matthew (2)

First of all, these kids are ADORABLE. So despite the fact that I had to change two nasty diapers.... It was worth their cuteness. Oh, and for the record. First diaper change ever. Yeah, I know. How am I twenty years old, and how have I never changed a diaper till this weekend? Well, let me explain. When I was younger and I babysat, it was always for an hour at a time. So the kid would be changed before I got there, and then they wouldn't need to be changed in the hour I was there. Crazy, I know, I know.

The worst part though, was when the kids got hurt and started crying- because there's nothing you can do as a mother for a hurt child besides either give them some medicine, or slap on a few bandaids. At one point I brought Matt and Courtney to Hidden Pond Park where they played for a while. Within the span of 5 minutes Cortney had two kids push her and "say mean things" to her, and Matt got knocked over by a stampede of little kids. The parents at the park all kind of froze when Matt fell down, and I had to maneuver through them to get to Matt, so parents were all freaking out, and I was like, he's okay, and he was. But still. Anyways, then after we returned home, the kids got on their bikes and went riding up and down the street. At one point Courtney wiped out on her bike, kind of falling into the bicycle, and started crying. It was loud- like you could probably hear her crying a mile away kind of crying. I ran over to her and got the bike from all around her and moved it to the side, and picked her up and let her just cry- cause what else can you do? We went inside and I got her three bandaids which seemed to do the trick. Poor poor Courtney. I just felt so bad for her, and didn't know what to do.

Best part? I babysat from noon one day until about six the next night, and that first night there was the best. Why? Well, Luke and Kelsey were playing basketball, and Courtney and Matt were riding their bikes and then everyone kicked around a soccer ball. It was like perfect songwriting material. Everyone was so happy and the weather was perfect and the moon was shining bright... Made me want to stay in that moment forever. Literally. It was perfect.

Second best moment was taking Matt and Courtney on a picnic. They were so excited and so happy. I made each person their custom made sandwich and Courtney grabbed the blanket and we were off. It was so much fun to just sit in the nice weather and just relax.

So, this weekend taught me a lot about having kids. And as Justin Smith (of Jericho Road) put it, there's a reason there's an order, and why we get married first and then have kids. But still, I realized I don't want kids for like thirty years cause I am soooo not ready. Not in the slightest. If I had kids now, I'd totally screw it up.

Anyways, that's all for now. More confessions to come.

- J