Reality...and Motherhood

Have you ever been in the middle of your day and all of a sudden thought, "Woah, how did I get here?" Lately, I've been thinking this fairly often. The fact that I'm married, have a baby, and am a stay-at-home mom still catches me off guard.
When I was pregnant with Lincoln, everytime we saw Sean's dad he would always say, "Your life is about to change..." and then he would go on a little about becoming a parent. When Lincoln was first born he would say "Can you believe how your life has changed?" Now, after the initial shock of caring for a tiny infant I'm starting to understand more of what he meant. My life has drastically changed! And it's never going back. Once you have a child you can never think the way you thought about your life before. For example, sometimes I have random thoughts about random things I would like to study or a random job that I think would be fun to have. And then I remember that doing things like that in the future would never be done the way they were in the past. Another example: last Saturday was my grandpa's 80th birthday party. Lincoln and I drove to Richfield (2 hours away) with my dad and brother to celebrate. We were gone pretty much the whole day. Throughout the day I kept noticing how my tasks operated differently than anyone else there because I was the only one who had a baby. All of my cousins that attended are future parents (some sooner than others), and all of my aunts are quite a ways past the baby stage (and possibly into the grandma phase). I didn't even see one other person with a baby at the event... and needless to say, it became even more obvious how my day basically ran around Lincoln. He needed to nurse, he needed baby food, he needed a nap, he needed a diaper change...REPEAT. I can't just leave him to fend for himself! He's got needs! That I fulfill! Go figure.
With this said it's just funny how I sometimes feel like I'm in a temporary phase of life--like summer betweeen school semesters. And then I slap myself back into reality and remind myself it's not really gonna change. I will be doing this for quite a while. And it will only get crazier and more complicated as soon as Lincoln gets a younger sibling, and as soon as Sean climbs farther up the Texas Roadhouse ladder. But is it weird that I daydream of those even crazier days?
Not surprisingly, the first few weeks that I was done with my job and staying at home were completely amazing. Some of that joy was attribited to my new, less stressful life, but those days were also some of the best days of my life in terms of just feeling like I was making an important difference to someone's life. I love it. Every time I think about being a mom and taking care of Lincoln I just smile. Motherhood is the most fulfilling thing I have ever done. And I've tried to find purpose in a lot of things, let me tell you. Nothing has worked out as well. The whole process of being pregnant, giving birth, and taking care of such a tiny and delicate life is magical and beautiful. Don't get me wrong, it's also brought me closer to insanity than ever before, mainly because of unnatural sleep levels and excess doses of physical discomfort. It's also taken away a few freedoms that I won't get back for a while, but I would never go back. Being a mom is wonderful! It just is! There is just a feeling about it that is unlike anything else. It's a special type of love that makes you more selfless than you ever have been. And I am very grateful to be able to enjoy it as thoroughly as I have. I would recommend it to anyone... :)