Christmas break is always so relaxing, I’ve spent a month cleaning, and baking, and cooking, and prepping, to relax for the days thru the holiday it self. Then the New Year rolls around and I have a heck of a time getting up and running again. Its tough to get moving and motivated to start cleaning and cooking and baking again after a nice break.

Well this year has been especially difficult.

We’ve all been sick!

I mean lay down don’t move flu bug sick and it just seems to linger. Already 1/3 of the way in to the month and we have been quarantined to our home for days. My poor little ones are asking if we have any friends who can come play and they just don’t understand why we can’t hang out with other kids right now.

Although I have managed to keep the house relatively clean, my Christmas tree is still standing, I just don’t have the energy in me to take it down. We have watched all the ice age movies X3 worked our way thru the Toy Story Series, and Paw Patrol has been my best friend when I need them to just sit down, conserve their energy, and rest their bodies. We have read every book we own and I started to pull out the “special” ones (the ones that are so sweet they make mommy cry!), we have put all the puzzles together at least 3 times. I have enough art to hang on the fridge for the whole year, or maybe I just need another fridge! We have snuggled and cuddled and fought and cried for days. And now I am just ready for this sick family to get healthy and get back to our busy lives that we love.

Of course I say this and always in the back of my mind I think about those families who are on many more days of laying low for much more serious reasons and I try to use perspective to remind myself that we will be thru this flu soon and life will return to normal.

In the midst of it though it’s still tough, and I am one who will say this sucks.

After I had the girls, I had a friend who always would correct her baby woe complaints by saying “but oh I only have one it must be so much harder for you with two, I shouldn’t complain.” This always frustrated me. Babies are tough, no matter how many you have, and by that logic the only person who can complain is the lady out there who had the most babies at a time!

Like 8 was it, or more?

We are all people, we all have struggles, whether it’s the number of children, the age of the children or how close the children are in age, everyone is entitled to their own limits, we are all different and our strengths and struggles look different to each of us. And although perspective is good we are allowed to have a bad day, we are allowed to feel that a part of our lives is not easy just because its not easy for us we to not need to compare the struggle we have with someone else to the point of feeling guilty that we are having a tough time.

All that being said it’s also not healthy to sit in self-pity over the struggles. It’s important to move thru these tough times and make sure to find the light in the day, its good to smile, laugh or at least sit with contentment at some point thru a rough day. If we spend the whole day, or many days wallowing, the problem not only sticks around but new problems arise from all the perpetual gloom.

So, go ahead and say this day, week, month, or year so far SUCKS… but then build that puzzle again, snuggle your babies, and giggle when they do at those silly characters on their favorite show, read the story that makes you cry and try to find at least one thing to laugh at today!

– A