~Balance~

I find that more and more my sense of balance is becoming intertwined with the balance of my family.  Right now it is mainly Rudy because for the most part Rowen keeps a fairly routine schedule that doesn't really cause too many disturbances in the balance of our family.  I know there will come a day when that won't be the case.

When I say balance, I guess I am referring to the way we 'run'.  When we both are having good weeks at work, and getting enough sleep, we are like a well oiled machine.  We go to work, come home enjoy time with Rowen, cook well balanced meals, and find quite time together.  But when we are unbalanced, when one or both of us are having hard weeks, we are usually overtired, eat fast food, still squeeze in time with Rowen, but after that go back to doing work.  And being unbalanced makes our home feel dirty to me.

Take for instance last week.  We had just come off of a high week where everything went smoothly, and had had a great weekend.  And then Rudy had to work like crazy, travel, and most nights that week wasn't home until 630.  While that is a normal for many people, in our home we like to have dinner, dishes, and all chores done before 700 considering the fact that our day starts at 0430.  This week there was no way to plan for when he was going to be home, so it was usually a where would you like dinner from kind of week.  Any errands I needed to run waited until about 730 because Rowen goes to bed between 5 and 6.  We stopped working out.  I felt like we were just going through the motions.  And when Friday came around, we were exhausted as a family.  So much of the weekend was spent trying to catch up on sleep.   And worst of all, I let his unbalanced week make mine unbalanced and thus our families unbalanced.  I could of fought harder to get things accomplished and keep things running, but instead I said well he is exhausted from work so I have to be too.  

I told myself this week we would be better about the balance, and I am finding that in order to do that, I have to assert control where I can.  This means having a dinner prepped that I can pop in the oven and cook on short notice.  Making sure I am working out when I have the time.  Keeping our chores on track.  Trying to tackle all of the house and Rowen tasks (with the except of dinner clean up) before Rudy gets home.   Rowen has even thrown a kink into the system this week by having a nasty cold, and I have tried my hard to not let that derail this week.  There may of been a early evening couch nap here or there, but in general we have kept our feet moving.  Even if this week is unbalanced, I want it to seem balanced.

Today is Friday.  We have survived another week and have the weekend ahead of us.  In my book despite the bumps in the road, this has been a good, balanced week.