Posts Tagged ‘chaos’

Embracing Chaos

Friday, April 26th, 2013

From Friday Mom – Erin:
The past week has tested my resolve as a parent in new and challenging ways. First, my husband had knee surgery last Thursday. That meant that for the first 72 hours after his surgery I was taking care of both an infant and an adult. It also meant I was without the second pair of hands I was used to having to help with Rory in the evenings, and the second person to help with household chores such as doing the dishes, taking out the trash, etc. Needless to say, it was a long weekend.

Second, Rory decided that last week was a perfect time to change his eating habits and become a much fussier eater. After a week of screaming through feedings, rejecting the breast with no apparent pattern, and waking up two or three times a night, I finally determined that he is ready to stretch out the time between his feedings. I have also gotten really creative in searching for ways to burp him. We are still working to find a new balance, but it was a frustrating few days, especially since I felt like I was flying solo.

Third, we had our roof replaced this week. Just as my husband was getting more mobile and Rory seemed to be headed back towards a predictable schedule, the contractors began a day of pounding on the rafters. Naptime has been a carefully orchestrated effort, with varying degrees of success.

Fourth, and finally, we had a range of other tasks to accomplish against this backdrop: closing on our mortgage refinance, getting my husband to physical therapy appointments, hiring a summer nanny, and having our cleaning lady over to clean the house. Each day was a new adventure.

As I have said before, I am a planner, and I am not fond of the unexpected. However, rather than allow this conflagration of changes to frustrate me too much, I tried my best to embrace the chaos. I knew that being a Debby-downer about it all would get me nowhere. I chose to look at it as an opportunity to realize first hand that so much of parent is about learning how to adapt to and embrace the complete lack of predictability. I definitely lost my cool on more than one occasion. But, overall, I am proud of my ability to keep a positive outlook, and I am impressed by our little family’s developing adaptability in the face of new challenges.