Life is brillant.

 

My sweet little bee had his second 4th of July today. We got to take him to his first parade and it was so fun! He was so interested in the bright colorful floats, the loud, ground-shaking bands, and the all of the people around us. A few days ago I picked up a little fifty cent flag from Micheal's for him to play with today. It was probably one of my best purchases. Boy, did he love waving it! It rarely left his little hand all day long. Even at the end of the parade, when we were all hot, tired, and ready for a nap, Brody laid back in his stroller, and still grasped his little flag, all the way home. 

This photo is from last year:

 

Aside from this shot being one of my all time favorite pictures taken of Brody, it amazes me how much he has grown in just one year. I remember last year we took him to a 4th of July festival in Idaho Falls. We went with a bunch of friends and stayed until late, watching the fireworks. I remember Jeff and I being so worried that Brody was going to be scared of the loud bangs when the fireworks went off. We brought Jeff's huge, padded headphones, got him to go to sleep before they started, and delicately placed the headphones on his ears. It completely squished his little face and make him look 100 times chubbier than he already was. He peacefully slept through the whole show.

Here's the proof:

These recent years, since marrying Jeff, have brought with them so many changes. From moving, to switching schools, to graduating, to different jobs, to having a baby, to getting pregnant again, the list could go on and on. I feel like I am always looking forward to the next big event, and with that comes a lot of worrying, which usually leads to stressing. 

Today, I was thinking about how life will be different, again, come next 4th of July. We will be a family of four, with a 8 month old little girl, dressed in red, white, and blue. Brody will be bigger, once again, and he will hopefully understand how to "stay behind the white line" better at the parade. 

Thinking about how our life was last 4th of July compared to this one, it seemed like it was a lot easier. We were able to enjoy the fireworks with a sleeping baby right beside us. We could easily pick of up his car seat (where he laid sleeping), put it into the car, and let him continue sleeping through all of the busy firework traffic, all the way home. This year, as I type this blog post, Brody is asleep in the next room, and has been since 7:30. Jeff's at work, and I am planning to possibly go to sleep a bit early tonight since I'm exhausted from our day spent in the sun. I'm not sad about missing the fireworks this year. I am fully comfortable with the fact that this is how this stage of my life is right now.

People are constantly using "just wait until..." statements. I wish these would stop. For example, when a pregnant lady complains about not being able to feel comfortable enough in bed to get a full night's rest, many mothers will jump at the chance to say something like, "Just wait until the baby comes, that's when you won't get any sleep." Or when a mom of one child complains about being so busy with her little one and never being able to get anything done around the house, many other mothers might jump at the chance to say something like, "Just wait until you have more than one kid, that's when your house will really feel unorganized." Or when a newly married couple complains about the struggles of getting used to living with eachother, another married couple might jump at the chance to say something like, "Just wait until you guys have a baby, that's when the arguments and disagreements will really start." I see and think about these types of scenarios all of the time.

While I do think that the people that are saying these "just wait until..." statements are trying to make that other, complaining, person feel better about the stage of life they are in now, I think that these statements instead make the person struggling feel hopeless, and stressed. When I've heard these statements being said to me, I realize that maybe life isn't very hard at all. Maybe I am just overreacting. I start to feel as though I need to immediately pause and enjoy life right now, because soon life is about to get worse. Therefore I better just start preparing myself. I also better get good at living through whatever tough thing is going on now, because life is about to give me something much, much worse. 

This is what these statements do to my head. Stress, stress, stress. Wait, stop stressing Karli, you need to enjoy this challenge. Ahhh!

But really, at the time of whatever I might be complaining about, I am working through my own struggle. Whether this be with money, or babies, or marriage, or in my job- it is my own challenge, that seems important to me at the stage of life I am in right now. And whether or not someone else has already been through that struggle and is happy to tell me something worse that is about to happen in my near future, they should just stop and listen instead. 

Life is brilliant. 

Every stage gracefully prepares you for the next one. 

Going to college and having roommates prepares you for living with your future spouse. Being married and learning how to compromise your needs prepares you for being pregnant. Being pregnant and being accountable to taking care of a growing being inside of you prepares you to be a mother someday and take care of a little someone outside of you. Being a parent prepares you to be a parent again to another child. These life preparations go on and on. And while each stage brings their own various challenges, they are preparing you for the next stage.

Future stages usually seem harder than the present one, which is why many times people tend to be scared of what the future holds. But in my experience, once you get there, you are more ready than you ever thought you would be. And once you are there, you are already on your way to the next stage of life before you know it.

We need to remember that everyone is in a different stage of life. Each individual faces their own, unique, challenge that is difficult for them at that time. So rather than list off things to them that may be harder than what they are going through now, we should just listen. The best advice I am ever given is when someone can try to remember what their life was like at my stage of life and try their best to understand that even though their life might be harder right now, back then wasn't very easy either.

Today Brody was attempting, again and again, to balance his little bowl on the top of my head. He'd giggle every time it would fall off, bend down, pick it up, and try again. I loved having him be so close to my face. I just sat there and looked up at his little long eyelashes on his concentrating, careful eyes. His mouth was just a little bit open and he breathed just a little bit harder, while he made his body as still as possible. Sometimes, after the bowl would drop, I'd gasp as if it might break when it hit the floor. Brody would make eye contact with me, and know what was coming next. Then I'd take my little guy up into my arms and bury of face into his little tummy, allowing me to soak his giggles as I tickled him like crazy. These moments help me see how great life really is. I know that everyday isn't perfect, not even close. But if we can notice the little blessings that are within our days, or our weeks, or our months, those hard days will be a little easier to overcome. We are then able to move on because we can look forward to the next precious moment that keeps us going.