I had friends who had children before me, and I always thought they were cute, sure, but never quite understood. I remember specific incidents where the child might do something like drop to the ground on his/her little bottom for no reason and the parent would not only smile or giggle, they’d let out a huge belly laugh. I remember thinking, “It was cute, but not really that funny.” Or a child might give a little smile and the parent would stop mid-sentence to go snuggle that little baby. I remember thinking, “Hmmm, that’s sweet, but what were you saying?”

Before I had kids, I saw it, knew I wanted to be a mother, but didn’t truly get it. I didn’t understand how a simple little smile could completely stop you in your tracks; that a little smile could completely break your train of thought and force you to grab a squeeze and a kiss before you could possibly continue any part of your day. I didn’t understand that a baby could walk by and drop onto it’s puffy diaper and know that I had never seen anything so funny. I didn’t understand.

Honestly, there’s no way to explain it. To many, it isn’t funny, or cute. It can be rude or annoying or completely overlooked. To a mother or a father…these moments are priceless. Before I had kids, I had no idea how full my cup would be, but truly my cup runneth over, and it all started with this little face.