Being a parent changes everything

So I've discovered something since becoming a parent.  And by something I mean a lot of things.  I've learned that you can survive on little short bursts of sleep for months on end.  You can be obsessed with the size, color, frequency and consistency of your child's poop.  You can suck it up and clean up that poop too.  You can get ready, be walking out the door, and end up leaving 30 minutes later, after you wash yourself and your child off and change everyone's clothes.  You can whip your boob out anywhere and nurse, if you managed to stay covered it is the small miracle of the day.  You can be crying in frustration one minute and happier than happy the next when your baby discovers something new.  I know this because when Michael was about 10 weeks old, and he had been keeping me up all night every night, there was one morning when I thought "If I could return you to the hospital I would".  And right when I thought this he smiled at me for the first time.  I ended up crying and apologizing to him.  I've learned that babies are smarter than you think, they will figure stuff out that you thought they wouldn't.  Before your baby is mobile is WAY easier than when they aren't.  I can no longer leave on a whim to go to the store, a date, to eat.  I don't get to eat, sleep or go to the bathroom when I want to.  I learned that I can worry about crap that is completely in my head and act completely paranoid about it.  Saying "my son" is weird.
But all of this stuff aside, the thing I've learned the most is nothing anyone ever says can prepare you for this in any way what-so-ever!  Nothing can prepare you to go through all of this.  Nothing can prepare you for the love you feel.  I have carried so much bitterness through the years from my parents' divorce.  Bitterness that made me a cynic of marriage and having children.  And I look at my life now and I am so thankful that I am married and that I do have a child.  I look at my husband and my son and realize that the deepest desire of my heart is to be with them forever, that I would do anything to make them happy, to keep them healthy, to protect them, to help them.  And this love I have isn't just for them, but has expanded to my parents.  I suddenly realize that all the times in my life when I felt they had "failed", they were trying so hard to do those things for me.  Having a child has not only changed  the way I see my parents, it's changed the way I love them.  I'm only in the begining of this journey of parenthood, I can only imagine how much harder it can be.  I can make Michael happy now by just smiling at him, but I know one day that won't be enough.  Tomorrow he'll be a little different from today, a little older.  He will never be the same as he is this very moment.  I hope that he is a more forgiving person than I am, that we won't lose the time my parents lost with me, that he will accept my imperfections.  Being a parent is hard, it's wonderful and it changes everything.