
My past couple years have been spent around many kids and babies. From my cousin's and siblings' offspring to the many littles at my church to allll the kids I have babysat, there are a lot in my life.
And I love being around kids. For the most part.
Truly, I'm one of those people that genuinely enjoys babysitting other people's children. I get excited to see them, I take selfies with them so I can remember fun moments and I like learning other kids' routines, etc. I really do enjoy babysitting. BUT. I am always happy to leave when my shift is done! I like heading to a coffee shop alone or home and getting to have my own time, getting to drive somewhere, even running an errand that needs to be run. I love leaving the kids I babysit!
So as you can imagine, with all of this babysitting and nannying under my belt, throughout my pregnancy with Lincoln, the only thing I could compare future parenthood to was babysitting. And that thought made me nervous. As much as I love babysitting, I love being done babysitting. But when my own baby would be born, that wouldn't be an option! I would be stuck with him ALL THE TIME.

But I'm here to tell you the thing I've been proven wrong on: babysitting and parenthood are very different. I'm serious, they are. I have been completely surprised by how much I love spending all my time with Link, and how much I don't get sick of him! Of course there are moments I'd like to leave my house alone, etc., and that can be arranged, but in general (in my experience so far), being a parent is just inexplicably different than watching other people's children.
So If you're like me and have either enjoyed or not enjoyed babysitting and fear that parenthood will be the same, let me just tell you, it's so different. I'm grateful to have the experience and knowledge babysitting has brought, but the way it feels to have a child who is your own, who you can take anywhere and do what you'd like with no time limit, and make decisions for, who loves you more than anyone else and lights up when you enter the room, is worlds different than watching someone else's child.






I had almost zero “real” babysitting experience before having kiddos. Lol. But you are so right—this is very different 😆. Thank you for sharing this, Alex. Link is soooo so so so cute and adorable. 🥰💕💕💕