As another year comes to a close I like to think about all the lessons I learned along the way. I don’t do New Years resolutions but I believe every experience you have, you can learn from. As 2016 ended I realized there were a lot of lessons, some good and some bad. These are the top 3 lessons I learned in 2016.
1. The Stomach Virus is My Enemy
Ah the dreaded stomach virus. The illness to end all illnesses. There is no denying it when it crosses your path and you are all a little worse for the wear after it leaves. 2016 seemed to be quite a year for this infamous bug. After a fun (actually a little bit too fun) adult night out my daughter came into my bedroom in the morning to tell me my son had thrown up all over his room. Gone are the days where I could nurse a hangover by laying in bed all day. Now I’m nursing a hangover while scrubbing puke out of carpets and sheets while my husband is rinsing the sick child off in the tub.
Of course I can’t forget my 10 year anniversary. My husband and I had planned for months in advance to go away for a weekend. Not just a night away but TWO nights away to Boston which is where we always used to go while we were dating. We lined up a babysitter and grandma and were so excited to get away for some much needed alone time. We were in Boston for maybe 6 hours and just laying in bed relaxing while waiting for our dinner reservation when my cell phone rang. It was my mom who said, “Jackson just threw up everywhere.” So after 6 hours in the city and one miserable dinner later we drove home to tend to our sick son (side note – he was completely fine after that)!
Lesson learned: Stomach viruses don’t care about your plans!
2. You Need to Date Your Spouse
Before we moved to Connecticut we had family nearby who would be happy to babysit while my husband and I went out for dinner. Once we moved the family babysitting pool disappeared. Date nights were a thing of the past. We rarely went out alone. If my mom was visiting for a weekend she would watch them but it was once every 2-3 months. I didn’t like the idea of leaving my kids with babysitters. However, in 2016 I finally relented and started researching babysitters.I found two sitters that I loved and my husband and I started going out more.
Was it hard at first – sure. We were both nervous. I remember my husband even wrote down the babysitters license plate as we were leaving “just in case.” We started small by leaving to go out after both kids were in bed and then we gradually worked our way up to letting our sitters put the kids to bed which allowed us more time to ourselves. Being able to catch up with your spouse and have an adult conversation is so important to any relationship. You can get so bogged down by the everyday hustle and bustle that sometimes you actually forget that you still like each other!
Lesson learned: Find a babysitter (and a backup) that you trust and use them as much as you want! Your kids will probably have more fun with the sitter than you anyway!
3. Having Friends Who “Get It” is Vital
Speaking of the hustle and bustle of everyday life, I’ve become horrible at keeping in touch with my core group of friends. I’m sure you know what I mean – you see a text, go to respond and one of your kids need you for something and you completely forget about the text until about two weeks later. Or you go from having weekly dinner with friends which turns into bi-weekly, then monthly, then “oh crap it’s been too long.” Even when you try to coordinate a dinner with friends and they ask when you’re available and you say “In about 2 months.” I feel like 2016 was the year of being unresponsive.
Luckily for me I have friends who understand. Whether they have kids or don’t; they get it. They know that life gets in the way and they don’t hold my unresponsiveness against me. They cut me some slack and they keep trying. I’m so grateful for these people who know I love them regardless if it takes me 2 weeks to respond to a text.
