Embrace the Now and Love the Season

The joys of a Saturday morning are filled with bubbling laughter and tiny voices with sheer excitement ready to explore a new day and what lies ahead. I sleepily make a Spark, wishing I could have this pumped through an IV intermittently throughout the day. I’m always scrambling and searching for ways to keep my eyelids from drooping and dark circles from darkening more with each passing day. Trying to entertain my bright- eyed yet overzealous baby girl as I pray my 5-year-old will wake soon to help entertain her precious soul. If you know me well, you know my sweet Easten is my little right hand man. He will jump through hoops and go the extra mile to help and make others proud of him.

Let me take you back about a month ago when everything seemed to go awry. Multiple colds, new teeth coming through, starting a new MDO program, taking steps, and learning to talk all bundled up into one little being’s new world. One night turned into two, which turned into three and now here we are one month later, having our bouts with attitudes, tantrums, sleeping problems and outburst!!! That is right, the former elementary teacher and certified sleep consultant who has helped so many others for years is going through it all, right along with you my friends.  

Easten was your ideal baby, toddler and now preschooler. He is in the sense, “The Golden Child,” a similar reminder to my own brother, but that story is for another day. The bar had and continues to be set high for Ellis Jane, but this child has kept me on my toes since before she was born. I am highly confident the good Lord gave me my second child to help prepare me for this phase of my life. Ellis is a true blessing, but sometimes the dramatic differences in my children seems to be extremely challenging; however, I’ve realized that my Ellis actually enables me to help others that are going through the same life situations in a more profound way.   

Day after day, I pulled out my magical bag of tricks as surely this technique combined with that strategy would be the cure to get her back on track. As I sit here on a crisp spring morning, the birds are chirping, and a gorgeous sunrise is peaking through the white clouds. I had a moment of realization, sometimes you just have to roll with the punches. You see it is not anything different that I am doing or that Ellis is trying to deviously plot against me to somehow make my days longer with her erratic outbursts and out-of-sorts behavior. It is merely called a season and a time of regression that with time shall also pass. I have the proper schedule, techniques and good sleeping habits incorporated into her life, therefore it makes this time much easier to drudge along in and to handle.

Once I look back and see all the changes and new beginnings that have taken place in her life over the last month, it is easy to see why she has regressed and struggled with many aspects of her 13-month old life. This week I came to the realization that this is a tiny bump in the road that too shall pass, and one day I will beg for a tiny little human to solely rely on me for their every need.

I leave you with this thought, there is not always a rhyme or reason to things that may be happening with our children or in our own life. You must embrace the time and know that this season of our life may leave us drained, tired, searching for answers and much more. There will be a time when we are no longer wanted or even needed, so enjoy the present. I have heard this many times in the past, but never truly took the meaning of it until recently. The days are long, but the years are short. This could not be more fitting as I prepare my first born, my little right hand man for Kindergarten in a few short months.