Balancing Act

I’m troubled. I feel like our family is out-of-whack right now, as a consequence of all the craziness of the past two months. I feel short-tempered and frustrated too much of the time. And, the kiddos have been reacting to the stress as well. I want us to be coming into the holiday season emotionally prepared because the holiday’s tend to be hard on us. I want to feel less fractured and more cohesive as a family. I wish I could whisk us away for a family weekend, something to take us out of our norm and push a reset button on things. Alas, this isn’t financially feasible. So, I have to try a different, less dramatic tactic. I think, since a grandiose family bonding weekend is not in the cards, I will have to divide and conquer.

 

I’ll start with Love Bug because he’s the easiest. I know what he needs to set his world right and that is to spend time with mommy chilling on the sofa, playing silly games and giving and getting lots of kisses and cuddles. Just this simple time with him tends to lessen his tantrums and angry toddler-ness. Sadly, when I’m stressed and trying to use chores (the things I can do, the things I do have control over) to over-compensate, my chill time is one of the first things I let go. But, Love Bug needs that time with me and so to hell with clean dishes, my priority this week will be quality Love Bug time before he has to go to bed.

 

Primero is also easier, meaning it doesn’t take much for us to iron out the wrinkles in our relationship, but as my go-to guy to watch the kids, getting time away just the two of us is challenging. The kids have a visit with their grandmother coming up, so this would be an ideal time for me and Primero to spend time together. The difficulty will be getting him away from his friend, who is with us every weekend. I’ll have to set this up, prepare him ahead of time and maybe, if that doesn’t work, intervene with the friend. The visit is the weekend before Primero’s 18^th (YIKES!!!) birthday, so maybe that can be my excuse to have him to myself? It’s worth a try! Usually, I allow Primero to decide what we do and he often chooses going to the movies. That might not sound like quality time, but we have the car ride there and back, so there’s time for us to chat, which generally works some magic.

 

Chica Marie is the toughie. I have to find a project for us to together, but it has to be something simple that she doesn’t find frustrating. She has decided, after going to the CHOR fall festival as a witch, she wants to be an angel for Halloween. Sure, I could go buy the fluffy feather wings at the costume store, but wouldn’t it be more fun to make them? So, this will be our getting-on-the-same- page project. I’ll do some prep work, to grease the wheels, and she will be so proud to show off her creation when we go trick-or-treating.

 

For myself, honestly, if I can get the house in order, it helps me to feel more in order. So, I’ll keep working on that. It helps me to write out the things I want and need to get done, and I’ve already started on that task. Being able to check tasks off my list is settling for me and knowing the house isn’t a blazing disaster also helps me find some inner peace. So, this is my goal for this week, sprinkled around the other things I’ve mentioned with the children. Getting a good night’s sleep and maybe another soak in the tub should also help me re-balance and restore myself emotionally.