Calmness in Chaos

As I sit down to write this I look down at my shirt and there is marinara sauce all down the front, the sleeve is somehow ripped, and let's not forget the spit up. I am typing with one hand because Luke is in my lap asleep with my pinky in his mouth, and I know if I either remove my finger or lay him down he will wake up and cry. This seems par for the course these days. One difference is that I actually put on clothes and brushed my hair ( I know you are all thinking how lucky Pete is). Looking back on the week I realize that in all the chaos that is my life much has been accomplished.

One major accomplishment is cooking. Making dinner has not been on my radar at all in months- I do mean months. I might make one meal every few weeks then ask Pete to make fajitas once a week. This week I made a menu for the whole week, I wrote it on the white board, went grocery shopping, and have actually stuck to it-- I have even impressed myself. There were many times during those many months where I had dinner plans but decided it was easier to order pizza, chinese, go to some fast food place, or just eat cereal.

The weather was nice earlier in the week so I grabbed our Baby Bjorn, the camera, bubbles, both kids and we went outside to play. This was the first time I have done this by myself. We stayed outside for over an hour. Here are a couple pictures of Jack making his faces outside.

I decided that it was time to officially potty train Jack. Today was the big start day. Pete wakes up with Jack so he was in charge of reminding him no diaper today. I woke up to Jack crying, the no diaper plan was not going over so well. I came out and began to remind him what we talked about and what rewards awaited him. Jack did not care and he began to tell me why he needed his diaper. It was here that I thought- if my child is old enough to have a reasonable conversation about this he is ready to do it. He threw some toys, had to go to time out, and cried-for a very long time, but then I told him his High Five magazine could only be read in the bathroom and something changed. He went to the bathroom, and I read his magazine to him. After that the kid was all about going to the bathroom. He took a nap without his diaper-no accidents. He pooped twice, there were no accidents all day, and while making dinner he had stopped playing so I sent Pete to find him, and Jack was on the potty using it all by himself! I don't know if tomorrow will be as successful but what a great start. He has taken this being a big boy thing very seriously.

So I sit here reflecting on the past few days and realize there is a calmness in the chaos because it is a constant. Here's to more normalcy being born out of disorder.