Becoming a Mom Made Me a Big Crybaby

Before having kids I rarely cried. In fact, it might have been weird how little I cried. Emotional moments around other people made me uncomfortable. It’s not like the end of The Notebook isn’t sob worthy. I just didn’t ever want to share that with the people I was watching it with. I was going through life totally kid-less and cool as a cucumber with all of my emotion sharing appropriately in check. Nobody was more surprised than I was that becoming a mom made me a big crybaby.

Irrational. That’s what pre-mom me thought about moms crying over things having to do with their kids. Why would you be upset you are packing away their baby clothes or that they are going into a new grade or over school pictures? Don’t you want your kids to grow? Isn’t that what they are supposed to do? Also, maybe you can chill out on sharing yet another picture of your kid that doesn’t look like they are really even doing anything. And every milestone just can’t be that big of deal. Doesn’t everybody eventually end up peeing in the toilet?

But now I have kids of my own. I always say that with my kids my heart grew a big new place for them that is filled with love so strong it sometimes feels like I might not be able to keep it in my chest. That’s it. Becoming a mom has made me feel things more intensely.

Here’s the thing I didn’t realize before I had kids. Yes kids are supposed to grow and progress. As a parent though while I am living it, it can feel so tiring. It can feel like I’m not getting anywhere. But then it’s time for a step to be taken, like packing away the baby clothes or starting school. Then I realize how fast time actually went by and how much they’ve changed in such a short period of time. And that’s why I cry about the milestones, because I don’t realize how fast a certain phase with them has gone by until it’s over. And that’s why I overshare, to help me remember.

The intense feelings since becoming a mom aren’t just about my kids though. I’ve gained downright extreme empathy.  If you are going through something and tell me about it, I just may cry. Heck if you tell me a story about someone I don’t even personally know that is going through something, I may cry. If I watch the local news and hear horrible story after horrible story, I may cry. The same goes for reading a heartwarming Facebook post or hearing one of those feel good stories in between news on NPR. You get the idea.

So becoming a mom has turned me into what I used to find irrational, a big crybaby. I’m completely okay with it though. Am I alone here with this? Comment below and share something you’ve cried about since becoming a mom that might have seemed silly before.