“The struggle is real”

This week has felt like one of the longest all year. I have been feeling especially exhausted over the past two-weeks, and I’m sure it’s because of stress. I honestly never thought that parenting would be so difficult: arranging schedules, managing appointments, attending doctor/therapy appointments, transportation, trying to self-care AND working full-time. By the end of the work week, I’m pretty much dead to the world. I say this because I have zero motivation to go anywhere, socialize with anyone or work on any projects.

I also have a very short tolerance for G’s tantrums and kid shows by Friday night. The past month has really tested my patience and parenting skills, when it comes to trying to stick to protocol and not reinforce G’s behaviors or feed into his tantrums. It’s almost as if the moment he wakes up, until he is asleep, he’s crying or throwing a fit about something. I swear I hear the crying in my sleep, despite Greyson being across the hall in a melatonin-induced deep sleep.

No matter the stress or pain of the day-to-day functions, I try to remember that we could always have it worse.

Derek and I are very fortunate to have two children to love and play with. Regardless of G’s developmental disabilities, we have two kids that are healthy and happy. We could always have it worse.

This coming week will be a little chaotic. I will be staying home with the kids Tuesday-Friday in the afternoons, which will give me some rest from my full-time job. We also have G’s EEG in Baltimore on Friday morning. I’m a little apprehensive about the EEG. We had one in December 2017 and it was nothing but a giant pain and wrestling match with Greyson to stay still. He’s become larger and more aggressive since December, so thankfully Derek will be accompanying me to Baltimore to help manage him.

Continued encouragement and positive thoughts help a lot. We received a number of cards, texts and phone calls this week, which really helped brighten our days a bit. Thank you to all of my friends, colleagues and family that ask how we are, and reach out to check in. We greatly appreciate all of the kind words.