Life is just a different ballgame now...

I don’t know how most people manage but we are certainly overwhelmed being parents to two small children (4 months and 3 years old). Sleep deprivation and exhaustion have become perennial issues. Coupled with frustration, stress and hyperactivity, our life screams ‘ABNORMAL’. Normalcy has become a distant vision for us, almost as if a fantasy.

I am completely blown away with the change of pace and by the dramatic turn our life has taken. Is there any respite? Are we doing something wrong or that’s just the way it is and will be for the next few years? For the next 18 years when they are ready to spread their wings and leave? Or will it ever end?

Gone are the days when I could laze around in bed on a Saturday morning, watch my favorite TV show uninterrupted, read or leisurely while away my weekend doing practically ‘nothing’. It was sheer bliss compared to the chaotic mornings we have now.

Nowadays, we can never sleep past a certain time, even if we want to. Regardless of what time D goes to bed the previous night, he wakes us up at the crack of dawn almost every morning. And with an infant on an unforgiving sleep schedule, we couldn't have asked for anything more challenging. I do admit that taking care of an infant is a cake walk compared to managing a toddler! We spend a major chunk of our time running after D and keeping him occupied. A very active, tireless boy at that! He saps our energy, whatever little we got in no time and craves for our attention every minute of the day.

I do not deny the fact that it is utterly refreshing and entertaining to have a toddler at home but sometimes I do yearn for breaks, breathers, which are so few in between. Both of us are trying to enjoy and be in the moment as much as we can because we are also certain that in a few years from now, we will fondly reminisce these days of absolute madness and chaos.

Just this morning, as we are rushing in all directions – hubby trying to put A in her car seat while I am helping D with his winter coat, he fondly looks at me and says in the sweetest voice ever:

“Mama, you look beautiful!”

A compliment totally unexpected but when said, it made me completely forget my woes and frustrations and look at the brighter side of things – the fun, closeness, laughter we share with them. The love and joy they bring to us by just being a part of our life.

And I think it is moments like these that compensate for the ‘abnormality’ that exists in our life. Eludes the insanity that sometimes seeps into our otherwise sane life!