Weighing the Priorities

My son had colic when he was a newborn.  The “really awful, screamed for stretches of 48 hrs. straight, fussed around the clock, and never slept for more than 20 min. at a time (and then only if you held him)” kind of colic.  It was truly the darkest time of my life.  And then, like everyone said, it passed at 12 weeks.  He exchanged his screams for smiles and has been a happy guy ever since.

Source: Microsoft Office ClipArt Now, if someone could just tell me how to balance blogging with managing the kids’ needs, I’m golden!

During this time of overwhelming new momhood, I quickly developed a hierarchy of care that constantly ran through my mind.  #1–made sure he was safe, #2–made sure his needs (feeding, diapering, etc.) were attended to, #3–worked to keep him happy.  This helped me organize myself when he was crying ad nauseum and I wasn’t sure where to even start.

This mantra still lights my way today with two children (ages 1 & 3).  Above all, I try to ensure their safety, and then the rest can follow suit.  Seems simple, right?  Well, if this Mom of the Year can make anything complicated, you know she’ll find a way 😉  I somehow manage to find a lot of gray matter, especially when juggling between the needs of both kids.  Son begging for juice and daughter crying for her bottle?  Do I just pick a favorite?  How about when son hops off the potty and needs those germy hands directed to the sink STAT, but daughter is making beeline to pull herself up to stand on the toilet?  Ick, yuck, eww!

I somehow find it easier to make the call when Mommy’s needs are involved.  For example, obviously I will take them out to play and sacrifice my desire to catch up on all the latest crappy reality TV shows (this may be more negotiable if we’re talking about the Olympics…).  But if Mommy hasn’t had a shower in 3 days, we need to leave the house, and my little 12 mo. old girlfriend isn’t hopping on the nap train?  She’s going to have to fuss it out in her crib.  Sorry, babe–that’s just the way we’re going to have to play this one…

So I guess, all in all, we aren’t doing too bad at keeping our priorites straight, but don’t let anyone fool you–parenting is never a brainless task.  It’s a constant weighing and measuring of what’s important–all in the nanosecond it takes your baby to crawl over and sink her gums around that toilet seat 😉

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Meredith

Meredith blogs at The Mom of the Year, where she dedicatedly earns her title one epic parenting fail at a time, offering quick, relatable laughs for fellow parents and all their empathizers. She has been part of several best-selling anthologies, featured on prominent sites such as Huffington Post, In the Powder Room and BlogHer, and loves her role as the Executive VP/Operations Manager of The BlogU Conference. When she's not breaking up fights over Legos and juice boxes, she remains fully committed to sharing a less serious look at the world of parenting.

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