Balance

If I had one million dollars to bet, I would bet that every single parent has dealt with the issue of balance at one point in time always during their time in parenthood.

I'm struggling. I am struggling to make sure I can do all that I have to do. Often, I get everything done with the sacrifice of myself and my own personal time. I make time for work. I make time for Jack. I make time for my husband (at least I try), but rarely do I take time for me.

There are times when I have seriously felt guilty over taking a shower every day. Seriously. True story. How does that even make sense?! Since when is personal hygiene a luxury?? But I bet there are some of you out there who can relate.

I feel guilty for working out. Exercise, people! That gets pushed so far down on my list of priorities. It's really disheartening.

There are some nights when I get home from work and all I want to do is curl up with a book or watch the latest episode of the Bachelorette (hello, guilty pleasure!) but normally those desires are pushed to the wayside in order to accommodate keeping a clean house, feeding animals, and taking care of a needy toddler.

I'm tired. Hell, I'm beyond tired. Tired is what I used to think I was after I would stay up too late at night reading when I had school the next day.

I'm freaking exhausted. And I only have ONE kid! How do you people do it, fellow parents? I'd love to hear your words of wisdom here. I'm so burnt out.

Thankfully we are going on a short trip next weekend and I am beyond excited. It'll be a lot of work still, but so fun to get away and go on an adventure for a few days.

In the meantime I am going to keep going to bed early and drinking copious amounts of coffee.

Saw this on FB yesterday and it fit me perfectly :)

How to Panic like a New Mom

Yesterday we had a bit of a scare.

I went to pick up Jack at my sister-in-law's and found a very heavily-crying/lethargic baby. It was unlike I'd ever seen him. I immediately knew something was wrong. Daniel was there because my SIL was at her math class and while she is in class, Dan and I take turns taking our lunch and hanging out with the baby for an hour. Well, she was jus returning from class when I arrived. She said about an hour earlier Jack had choked on a piece of cucumber. Back a week or so ago before his two teeth were in, we were letting him suck on a large piece of cucumber. Well, yesterday he decided to give those new teeth a try and tore a chunk off and choked on it.

Reacting like a quality caregiver, she took all of the necessary steps and did the baby Heimlich, but nothing came out. So she made sure he was okay, he drank some milk from his bottle and everything seemed okay. Until Daniel got there and Jack awoke from his nap. Apparently, possibly traumatized, or had an upset stomach from the cucumber, I don't know.

But in my panic-induced new mom state, I rushed him to the ER, just in case. Fortunately he appeared to be getting plenty of oxygen and after we were there for a while, he perked up and calmed down and turned in the giggly happy baby I know on a daily basis.

So we left and went home.

All in all, I am a little embarrassed that I overreacted so much, but grateful to my SIL for doing everything she could to make sure Jack was safe. And now we've all learned a huge lesson to NOT feed him any sort of solid food until he is ready to learn to actually chew before swallowing. He is very impatient about eating and clearly isn't ready for real solids. Baby led weaning is not going to happen in our house for a very long time.

For now, we'll just soak up the time we have with him as a wee little babe and not rush the solids. I am happy with this decision :)

And for your viewing pleasure...

BABY GIGGLES (he loves his silly daddy)

 

and in case you missed this gem on Facebook:

 

 

TGIF, Ya'll!!