We can do hard things

 TGIF!

This week has been rough around these parts.

My family and I live in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area and if you haven’t already heard, the entire metroplex shut down this week. Apparently other people knew winter was coming, but I was blissfully unaware until I woke up around 2am on Monday morning to find my husband eagerly watching his fancy weather apps. He told me that our 1-year-old wouldn’t be going to school because of the weather, and I shrugged it off. Her daycare closed and has been closed all week. The four of us – my husband, toddler, newborn, and me – have basically been existing in one room of our house for the duration of that time and things are getting wacky.

On top of the cabin fever, we’re all working on getting over some virus. My husband and I have had it for almost a month. The toddler was sick over the weekend and now the newborn is sick. Watching him cough so hard is heartbreaking. He’s content to snuggle all day long and contact naps have made up the entirety of our days since Tuesday.

We’ve all had our frustrations. It’s been nice to all be together with nowhere to be, but I’ve also been wishing the time away. I’ve woken up trying to figure out how we’re going to get through the day. The toddler has had way too much screentime. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve heard Hop Little Bunnies. Every door is currently open on the play kitchen because we just did not have the energy to reset the room last night before going to bed. It’s been a hard week.

To romanticize this week a bit, I’ve loved how mindless it’s been. Nowhere to go. No decisions to make. We made a big pot of chili on Monday, and we’ve just been eating it all week. It’s rare we get uninterrupted family time like this. Since welcoming our newborn, it’s been hard to create intentional, one-on-one time with our toddler and this week has made me realize that we need to prioritize that more. I also started a new book. I don’t know… while this week has been hard, frustrating, annoying, exhausting, and boring, it’s also been entirely needed, insightful, calm, and weirdly fun (minus the whole illness part… that aspect just sucks).

I already know that because of this week, my husband and I will be more confident parents. It’s like a little badge we can wear as a reminder that we have accomplished hard things together and will continue to.