Quirks of being a parent

People say that being a parent is the hardest job of all but the most rewarding. After 10 months of being a parent I have to agree. The strangest thing I have found about being a parent is balance between anger and joy. One minute your kid can do something which will frustrate you and on occasion make you blood boil. They can then turn to you and do something so cute and adorable it makes your heart melt and you can't hold on to the anger. I suppose that what gets you through the tougher moments. When you live from moment to moment as only babies can do you really see what being present is all about.

Babies have a hard time with emotions. They flow so easily. Sofia is an intensely emotional person. She seems to feel joy, anger, happiness and frustration with such intensity that sometimes it makes her shake.
You can read all the parenting books but all they can tell you is average development milestones. The only way it seems to really understand parenting is to do it.  I've also found that when I ask my other mama friends (thank you Amy, Pamela and Abby) about their experience with certain situation that it's often very similar. They have been more reassuring and helpful then any book could ever be.

Another quirk about being a parent is the open ended job requirements. Because babies shcedules change weekly even daily you never know what you are going to get. Like last night was an all night nurse-athon ending at 5:50 in the morning. To which I had to get up and be playful and alert. But then two hours later Sofia took an hour nap, allowing me free time to plant seeds in the garden.
I'm sorry if this is a bit rambly, I've been thinking about this post all day and wanted to put it out there. What do you think about the quirks of parenting?