Embrace the Chaos

I haven't been posting as much as I did in the beginning of the Healthy Home Revolution.  The revolution is still in full force, especially with summer here and trips to the beach in the near future.  I'm still exercising everyday, (or most days), and cooking healthy meals for my family.  But the chaos has been at a record level here for quite sometime now...

As my baby girl gets bigger (now 15 months), she is sleeping less during the day, (and sometimes less at night with new tooth popping through), learning many new things, and requiring more of my attention.   Some of these new things are not things you want her to learn, such as climbing up on the kitchen table.  Some of these things are dangerous and require constant monitoring.   As I direct more attention her way, I am unable to give as much attention to my boy (now 3 1/2).  I see him act out a little more and ask more of me at nap time than before.  Although we have tried transitioning him away from a nap, he isn't quite ready for it and frankly, neither am I!  And now, he is trying all sorts of tricks to get out of nap even if that means waking his sister up.  UGH!

Today he was great (great being a relative term, meaning he wasn't running around or yelling while I was trying to put the baby down) - he quietly read a book in bed waiting for me to finish nursing the baby to sleep.  Then he whispered, "Mommy, will you lay down with me?".  How can I say "No" to that????  As much as I need some down time to do household chores, take a shower, finish a workout, post on this blog, or just pee alone, HE NEEDS ME MORE.  My children are only small for so long.

A friend recently told me that the days are long but the years are short.  That has become my new mantra.  There are days that he goes to sleep on his own just fine and there are days like today.  There are sleepless nights with a teething baby, much like last night, when I wake up feeling as if I didn't get a moments rest.  And there are mornings you wake up feeling like you could conquer the world.  I'm doing the best I can, as WE ALL ARE.  And I choose to be present in the moment for my kids and to make those memories that will be with us forever.

He fell asleep today in less than 2 minutes, after I was able to lay next to him and rub his back as he requested.  He's snoring now and in dreamland.  I'm thankful for these past 15 minutes to myself to type out what I'm thinking and be grateful for my beautiful family - chaos and all.

So I'm done blabbing now -  I'm sure you didn't need all those details.  But I wanted my readers to know that I have lots of yummy recipes and pictures of food to share.  And when life allows me to share them with you, I most certainly will.  Until then, I will embrace the chaos and live in the moment.

Happy Cooking,
Sarah

My sweet boy