You haven't lived until...toes

There are many delightful surprises in motherhood.  I expected joy,  but the all encompassing blissfulness that fills every atom of my being is so wonderfully,  well, surprising that I could not possibly anticipate just how happy happy can be.
There are definitely sad moments,  moments that have reduced me to tears. Like when my baby is crying and I have tried everything I can think of to soothe her and the only thing that seems to work is crying with her. And there are moments when I hear a story of a sick or hurt child and I experience joy, gratitude,  sorrow, empathy,  fear and sometimes wrath all at the same time,  which is really confusing the first time it happens. 
There is unmistakable beauty in parenthood,  in motherhood. 
There are an abundance of breathtaking moments, and just as many fill me with love.
Then there are the unabashedly fun moments.  Moments where my own youth is restored and I can't imagine life without giggles and smiles and nursing and burping and rolling over and discovering what a body can do! All the amazing things our hands and fingers and feet and legs and arms can do! All these beautiful things.
I don't even mind diaper changes, and I cloth diaper. (We won't discuss the irony or idiocy of a self proclaimed hack of a housekeeper adding more laundry to the never shrinking pile. I will just say I wash diapers every other day, the hubs can wear the same pair of work pants two days in a row,  no one will notice. ) There is even joy in changing a diaper. It was on the changing station my daughter first discovered her toes and first figured out that they reach and fit into her mouth.
And it is where I kiss those toes. And sometimes,  they find themselves in my mouth. Like today. We were both in a fit of giggles when I put her toes in my mouth. And it was glorious,  until, I ended up with baby toe jam on my tongue. I have been vomited on, pooped on, and peed on. I have been the meal du jour, the teething ring, the toy and the cradle. And that was before motherhood.
But I realize now, I hadn't truly lived until I had baby toe jam on my tongue.