Why we Forget

I've often heard women say that they forget how painful labor is, or how hard certain parts of life are, until they are experiencing them again. Then they say "oh yeah...now I remember." I remember feeling my first contraction going into labor with Violet and thinking to myself, " oh crap, now I remember, and its only going to get worse..." Well, as my mom reminded me yesterday during a pep talk she gave me (and I desperately needed) I forgot the difficulties of having a newborn. I forgot how hard it is to get anything done because you are either feeding or holding a baby...a lot. My goal yesterday was to take a shower and hang the laundry up. I did take a shower at 10:30pm but never hung the laundry. My mom also reminded me that "this too shall pass." I know I will look back fondly on these days and will probably not remember the difficulties, but right now, its hard to imagine that.
For 3 nights in a row I have had less than 4 hours of sleep. Last night was the worst...Violet did not sleep more than an hour and a half in a row. She has major gas and is in pain a lot. She has been crying a lot the last few days and that makes for hard days and even harder nights. On top of that, Sunday night Gavin was up several times sick with croup. During the night it is hard for me to have good perspective. I am tired, frustrated, and really bummed I can't alleviate this pain for my little girl. During the day, my perspective seems to be better...looking at Violet and knowing she was perfectly formed inside me, for our family, and knowing that this is a tiny part of a big picture of life. This too shall pass...and I will probably look back and wish it did not pass so quickly.