Pumpkin patch or county fair?

Belvedere Plantation with Mason's class was fun but so crazy I thought I had taken a wrong turn at the county fair. There were literally thousands of children there with their classes. The hay ride was more like Nascar Hay Ride on two wheels since Mr. Farmer had to get 10,000 children out to the pumpkin patch and back in 5 hours! I was not prepared for that kind of chaos!
I was not prepared for children beyond the womb. My first pregnancy was , for the sake of comparison, blissful. I suffered a minimal amount of nausea in the morning which was easily assuaged with those tiny little oyster crackers I love to put in my soup. I always wondered why they were called oyster crackers and not just soup crackers. As a first time mom, a term I would very soon come to loathe, I adjusted a lot of things in my life to create a more healthy, safe, loving environment for my baby. I got the most expensive car seat and stroller combo because the reviews insisted. I cut out all alcohol despite a very strange hankering for beer, of all things. I even limited myself to ONE cup of coffee a day. Yeah! Me! One cup. Makes me shiver just thinking about that one now. I got him boutique clothing and chemical free shampoo and stopped coloring my hair. Okay, okay. After 7 months I figured he was cooked and besides sporting my lovely set of braces I was going to be next year's tree topper if I didn't get this gray covered up. So...I slipped. I had my bags packed and was ready to go to the hospital at any moment. The woman at the birthing class assured me that I would definitely go early. No doubt about it. I can't tell you how many times I was asked if I was having twins. Granted, living in Japan with some of the teeniest women ever was no place for a balloon like me to be bobbing around. At 5'0 I'm not tall so you can imagine an almost 8 pounder shoved into my 100 frame. By month 8 1/2 I wasn't prepared for my maternity pants to not fit my rear. I wasn't prepared for my belly button to be visible beneath ALL my clothing. Who is prepared for that?? Band-Aids don't work, by the way. They just pop off under all that pressure. I wasn't prepared for all the discomfort and false alarms and dents in your legs that stay there for days from so much water retention. I wasn't prepared for all the pushing. I wasn't prepared for my husband to "grab a sandwich" while he left me clinging to a pillar in the hospital hallway in labor agony and then later fall asleep in the recliner. I wasn't prepared for the salad tongs to be used to pull my son out because of maternal exhaustion and I just couldn't push anymore.
I wasn't prepared for the most wonderful experience in my life. To hold that baby and touch his nose and count his toes and fingers is something I will never forget.
I wasn't prepared for the second baby either, but in different ways. I was past blissful, but still very happy and content. I knew at least a little of what I was getting into. My water breaking at the movie theater was a bit unnerving. Labor for only 7 hours wasn't bad and he didn't go into the NICU AND I didn't hemorrhage and stay in the hospital for 5 days. It was great!
I'm not prepared for the hold my boys have on my life. They teach me so much every day and they have no idea. Their love for me is unconditional and it is the greatest feeling in the world. I am so unprepared for them to leave.