Hormones Schmormones and What The Hell Were We Thinking?

Yesterday was a struggle.

Re-read that line and emphasize struggle.

Anna wouldn't breastfeed. Gabe began the day by tossing his cereal bowl full of Rice Krispies and milk all over the floor because he thought it was "funny." Manny was sleep-deprived. I was... A crying mess. 

"It's just hormones," I kept telling myself, as I organized bills. Not the thing to do when you are already stressed. 'Balance Due' kept flashing through my mind as I foresaw next month's 'Past Balance Due' arriving in our mailbox. One thing on top of another until I was completely overwhelmed by the Clowd of Overwhelment. I cracked. 

"Knock, knock," Manny taps on the door. "Can I come in?"

Mascara running, the thought that because Anna won't take to me today that I am a failure as a mother and would be better off dead and we are going to become wards of the state, Manny sits down... "Umm... Everything's going to be okay. We are fine. We just have to play catch up. It's okay, really." 

These words should have brought me some soothing. But then the damn hormones kick in and I am in a ball of tears again. 

Two kids. Are we crazy?

Yes, postpartum hormones... For someone used to being in control, these are completely uncontrollable. 

Then I came across this quote:

"The most extraordinary thing in the world is an ordinary man and an ordinary woman and their ordinary children."

-- G.K. Chesterton

And I realize, my family really is extraordinary. Take the cereal bowl and the struggles and the sleep deprivation and the not-so-hungry baby and all of it is okay. We are the complete family and everything is going to be A-O-Kay.