Pro's and Con's to Growing Up

As we prepare to welcome another baby into our home, my level of panic has steadily been on the rise.  Rather than getting more and more baby hungry and excited about a tiny little baby, I find myself watching mother's with a newborn and thinking "Oh crap, I have to do all that again".  (Don't judge, having a newborn is a little scary!)  But I do have to add, that a lot of the panic/worry is that our life is SO un-settled right now and in limbo that I'm not sure how we're going to handle throwing a baby in the mix.

But then as I watch my other kids continue to get older and more "independent" I have begun to realize that there are some serious pro's and con's to them growing up .  I decided to make a list to illustrate my point.

The pro's are followed by the con that goes hand in hand with it.

Pro's and Con's to Growing Up:

A.K.A. "Dreams vs. Reality

• Wipe their own bums
• Still yell from the bathroom for help to wipe their bums occasionally...which is just gross 
• Get dressed on their own
• Suddenly forget how to dress themselves when you're in a rush to go somewhere or can't find their shoes anywhere
• Help out more around the house
• Whine and complain about helping out around the house
• Easier to go places
• Can walk and run around stores rather than being strapped in a car seat.
• Can more easily entertain themselves
• Complain about being bored and having nothing to do.
• Communicate with words instead of different cries
• Resort to whining, back talk, groaning, grunting, screaming to communicate
• Sleeps through the night 
• Scares the crap out of you during the night by standing right by your face and yelling "Mom! Can I sleep with you?"
• Eats normal people food
• Refuses to eat anything but hot dogs, chicken nuggets and Tootsie Rolls
• Can feed themselves
• Decide that throwing food, spitting milk is way better than eating civilly
• Can go play out in the backyard without you having to watch their every move
• Digs through Grandma's garden and makes a huge muddy mess because you weren't watching their every move
• Can turn on a movie to distract them in order to take a shower 
• Can open the bathroom door and stand there holding the shower door/curtain open yelling at you and whining while you try to shower. 
• Learning more, getting smarter and starting to read
• Become know it all's, and mom is suddenly stupid.   Also begin reading your text messages/emails over your shoulder
• Goes to school
• School fundraiser/parties and other propaganda they bring home that they "HAVE TO DO!"

So really, maybe newborns aren't that bad after all!