I was up at 5am this morning, a weekend, after a disrupted night of sleep because a small thing in my room crying every hour, not wanting to be left alone in its bed. We are puppy sitting for 2 weeks, an 8-week lab en route to a Assistance Dog program somewhere in North America. Newly separated from its mother, it is full of micro learning moments, utterly adorable, and incredibly tiring.

Now my kids are relatively self-sufficient (our interactions are more about keeping them on track than micro managing their every move or thought), it is easy to summarize parenting as straightforward. We got here, and the memories blur out to be a worthwhile challenge taken up with love and hope.

The first days of watching the puppy up to no good doing anything and everything reminded me that parenting is really hard – cognitively, emotionally, energetically. I am exhausted. I have barely a moment to myself, except when I have deliberately and consciously passed on responsibility for the puppy to another member of the family.

Of course, looking at his adorable face, his little playful leaps, his fat-tummied sleeping – it is all worthwhile. But, note to self, no more kids. Maybe we will raise another assistance dog sometime, but this week is a good reminder to be clear eyed about the commitment.

This Much We Know.