It’s no secret that babies are hard. They turn your world upside down from the moment they enter it. For that entire first year you play a back and forth game of who is in control: you or the baby. Figuring out what someone is saying when crying is the only way they can communicate can be deemed difficult to say the least.

You’re always exhausted from trying to decipher those cries, learn the baby’s cues, figure out how to get them to sleep, attempt to sleep yourself, still do the thousand things you’ve always had to do before the baby came along, and let’s not forget the new hundreds of things that are on your plate because of the newest little bundle of joy.

A baby makes your head spin in all directions, but they bring the closest thing to magic inside of your home you’ll ever see. People turn to mush, you find yourself crying all the time (for things both good and bad. Thanks, hormones.), and I have yet to find something that can cure a rough day quicker than a snuggled up baby falling asleep on your chest.

Babies are worth all the hard days and more, but I’m not sad when those days of basically sleepwalking are behind me.

It’s hard to function on minutes of sleep for months on end. It’s a struggle to find a new balance for yourself each time you bring a newborn home from the hospital; not to mention the new balance that your husband and other kids have to find, too. I can’t remember a lot of what went on in each of my kids’ first few months of life (so write in those journals mamas!) and I’m so glad we are past the phase of utter exhaustion. I do not miss it one bit.

So don’t feel bad if you aren’t enjoying it either. If you’re hanging on by a thread, you aren’t alone. I promise.

Your kid will eventually take naps and sleep through the night. You will get to go on a date with your husband again one day. You will (eventually) feel like yourself again.

Hang in there, mama. It doesn’t last forever.

Give yourself grace through the process.

This originally appeared on Facebook.