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Parents share hilariously relatable photos before and after they had kids.

You'll truly never be the same again.

parenting, viral photos, comedy, bloggers, community

Photo by Allen Taylor on Unsplash

The daily lives of parents, #Tuesday.

When dad and blogger Mike Julianelle compared a photo of himself to a photo from 10 years ago, he noticed a big difference.

Yes, he looked a little older — after all, a decade had gone by. But there was something else: a deep, deep look of utter exhaustion.

Life has a way of asking a lot of us. How we cope and manage the moments at work, our personal goals, the friendships, and our loved ones.

All these daily routines navigated that bring the best and ask the most. But what was that other thing which had changed over those 10 years?

Julianelle had two kids.

You've probably seen all sorts of before and after concepts on your social media feeds. If you missed this one, you'll see why they all became a "thing."

When he posted the side-by-side comparison on Instagram, it was an instant hit. So he invited other parents to share their own "before and afters."

The results were hilarious and oddly inspiring. They also revealed a bunch of important truths about what happens to you when you become a parent.

Like...

After kids, a blanket becomes your favorite outfit.

You are frequently at risk of getting accidentally walloped in the nose.

Your glasses become a favorite toy.

So does your entire face, actually.

When your baby decides to take a nap, thou shalt not move.

Alcohol can go from an indulgence to a necessity.

Did we mention you'll be tired? Like really, really tired?

Most days, doing your best is all you can really do.

But, at the end of those days, it'll all be worth it (at least, most of the time).

The project went viral, with Julianelle receiving hundreds of submissions from other parents via Instagram.

While not everyone has been brave enough to publicly share their no-sleep, just-got-barfed-on selfies with him, Julianelle says the response has been hugely positive.

"I hope people take away a few laughs and a little solidarity," he writes in an email. "Parenting is awesome but it also sucks and there shouldn't be any shame in admitting that."

And as the photos show, he's absolutely right. Parenting is hard but rewarding work, at its best. It's also exhausting, frustrating, frightening, and anxiety-inducing.

Julianelle sums it up perfectly in an interview with Huffington Post: "Kids are the worst best thing that's ever happened to us. If we don’t laugh about the havoc they wreak we'd have to cry instead."

You can see more hilarious before and afters over on the Got Toddlered Instagram account.

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Parents share hilariously relatable photos before and after they had kids.

You'll truly never be the same again.

When dad and blogger Mike Julianelle compared a photo of himself to a photo from 10 years ago, he noticed a big difference.

When he posted the side-by-side comparison on Instagram, it was an instant hit. So he invited other parents to share their own "before and afters."

The project went viral, with Julianelle receiving hundreds of submissions from other parents via Instagram.

Her viral video sparked a debate as to whether or not providing school supplies should be mandatory for parents.

Help unlock your child's best self with a few tried-and-true strategies.

A lot of parents are tired of being told how technology is screwing up their kids.

But beneath the madness of modernity, the basics of raising a moral child haven't really changed.

1) Hang out with your kids.

2) If it matters, say it out loud.

3) Show your child how to "work it out."

4) Make helpfulness and gratitude routine.

5) Check your child's destructive emotions.

6) Show your kids the bigger picture.

"It's pointless to dwell on regrets, but I often think about how I had it all wrong. I was so wrong in how I perceived your generosity."

You always stole my thunder. You gave them everything they wanted. You never said no when they asked for anything.

Until you were gone.

My kids, now in their teens, miss you dearly. And they don't miss your gifts or your money. They miss you.

The more I long for you to come back, though, the more I realize that in a way, you never left.

Birth is intense. It's also beautiful.

When San Francisco photographer Lisa Robinson was about to have her second child, she was both excited and nervous.

Normally, Lisa takes portraits and does wedding photography, so she knew the logistics of being her own birth photographer would be a somewhat precarious new adventure — to say the least.

In the hospital, she realized it was a lot harder to hold her camera steady than she initially thought it would be.

The shots she ended up getting speak for themselves:

In the end, Lisa was so glad she went through with her experiment. She got incredible pictures — and it actually did make her labor easier.

Lisa's mom took this last one.

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