Opposition

Before Joseph was born, I blogged about unpleasant things. What I lacked in experience I made up for in perspective. Then again, it's easy to have perspective when you're not stuck in the middle of the trial.

I now have a little bit more experience, and I've learned a little bit, too. Labor hurts. Babies cry. They don't sleep when you want them to. They can be difficult to feed. It's hard being a parent.

I remember when I was visiting teaching one time right before Joseph was born. Both my companion and my visiting teachee had little girls and they talked about baby blues. The hard thing, one of them said, was that when they're so tiny they just take and take and take.

Having been there now, I know what they mean. Little babies don't really smile, they don't laugh . . . some hardly open their eyes! It seems they either just cry or sleep, none of which really makes you feel particularly warm and fuzzy inside.

But it gets better. They start sleeping more. Eventually they learn to smile. And I feel like as long as I know Joseph will eventually smile, I can put up with a lot more crying than I could a few weeks ago (and I appreciate every smile I get). Interesting little concept, "opposition in all things."