The boys are getting over a nasty cold that set in the middle of last week. It's been severe in every way - the amount of snot, the tears, the lack of sleep, the sneezes and coughs, have all felt out of control. In looking back on this week, I've realized that the timing of it was kind of perfect (though of course I would have rather them gone without the pain of it!).
I started off the first week after Christmas vacation lamenting the lot of motherhood. I'm always hyper aware of the loneliness of it after spending time with family - aka - other adults to witness these tiny lives with me.
We started the week running full force. Somewhere to be every morning - people to see, things to buy, museums to visit. And then the whining started. Then the subtle running of the nose. Then not sleeping well. By Friday Michael was sleeping on the couch tending to Phin while Atticus slept in bed with me.
I hate it when our normal is disrupted, when it feels like we've moved back a step. But all of these disruptions, my poor babies' sickness, made me focus on what they needed at the moment. I'm realizing now that so much of my approach to mothering, and everything, is to take every day in light of the overarching goal. This makes me a very proactive mom. We determine schedules, we make a lot of plans. We don't typically take things on a day-by-day basis, there is always an agenda, or at least to-do list, laid out for the week.
But suddenly the basics mattered so much.
Warm, nutritious food every night.
A clean house.
Personal hygiene (snot wiping and diaper changing all. the. time.)
Quality time together
Reassuring them that I am here, even when they are in pain.
This week of sickness reset me. The first week of January, of all weeks.
I'm hoping to take on new and different things this year. But this is me, reminding my future self, to care. about. the basics.
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