Life Lesson for My Little Men #11

So it has taken me a while to get back to writing because my last post took a lot out of me and truthfully life has changed a lot and reflection had become a bit painful.  In fact, even as I write this, I am having a hard time concentrating on any one thing long enough to form a coherent thought. So bear with me!

Our boys are a little over 5 months old now and I would dare say we've established a bit of normalcy around the busyness.  We've both started playing sports again and have even ventured out for the occasional meal in a restaurant.  It helps that they are both really good at being in new places and traveling.  Recently, however, a few things have happened which throw things off and knock us out of whatever semblance of routine has been established.  First, we had our first change in regular diaper filling.  9 days of poop free diapers left us reading posts and books about how it is perfectly normal for breastfed babies to go two weeks without leaving a stinky present in their diapers.  While each of these pieces of information was helpful in calming some nerves, it was still a little unsettling for both of us.  Poop questions became a daily greeting to my wife as I walked through the door.  It became the topic of conversation with parents and friends.  The things is our boy seemed fine and comfortable (for the most part) and we were left to wait in anticipation of when things would return to normal and the impending ass-plosion, which it eventually did...filling four diapers and lasting the better part of 30 minutes off and on.

Recently, shifts in sleeping schedules have been the norm.  It is common for both of our sons to have an off-night once a week, which seems to throw things out of whack.  The thing with twins and breastfeeding and sleeping is that it is an even more complex balancing act then what you may see at a Cirque Du Soliel show.  First off is getting them to sleep, usually after a final feed they are ready to hit the hay, although every now and then one of them will decide he would rather be up and goof around and so you are left entertaining and playing the waiting game or trying to "top him up" to see if that will settle him into his food coma.  Then comes the first wake up, when they were younger this would mean waking them both up to maintain a sound schedule, however, as they get older and with the promise of a possible 5 hour stretch of sleep a whole slew of new questions pop up.  Often this works, however when it doesn't my wife has been up every hour and a half to feed one.  I am lucky in that she believes that my job is to get up and go to the office and somehow, after years of responding to an on call phone 24/7 for some reason baby cries don't wake me.  This change in routine tends to have a major impact on the next day and despite best efforts can lead to frustration and tired days.  Frustration that usually melts away with the first smile of the morning...and the joy of twins is that there are usually two.

A life lesson for my little men from our recent experiences is that routine is good but can never be counted on to remain in tact.  In all walks of life, the only true constant is change. What can drive you to success is not only your ability to adapt but to do so positively.  When working with people it is important to remember that life exists in shades of grey and that nothing is truly linear in terms of it's progression.  You guys are a perfect example of this.  Each day forward is a step forward but does not mean that the step is the same length as the day before.  You will experience this all the time in your life.  There will be days when you seem stuck or in some cases to be moving in reverse, but if you do your best and create a positive outcome whenever possible, the truth is you are always moving forward...and you have the next moment to look forward to, when things seem to fly ahead and you are leaping rather than stepping.