Ice Blended Dark Chocolate

My wife and I sat in the car yesterday, and all three kids fell asleep.  This is a rare treat for us, as we usually end up playing driving DJ with Lion King or Aladdin on the 1s and 2s.  Yesterday we timed things well though and the kids fell asleep and we could talk (a nice treat).

We stopped at the local Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and shared a new frozen coffee beverage.  As we talked  reviewing our little son being two, we talked about being home with our kids, the effort we have to exert, the tiredness, but ultimately our blessings.

At one point I pondered about parenthood, most times I would describe parenting as a blessing, and still others I would say it feels like a burden.  My wife and I agreed there are times that we both feel really connected with our kids.  Just the other day I got to listen with squeals of delight coming from the dining room as my wife and the boys sat and colored, and worked on activity books.  To hear my family is such delight as I worked in the kitchen was awesome.

  

Drew working on tracing his name, and Sean coloring.

Without fail, the sounds of screaming and yelling, shrieking and crying will permeate through the house as the boys fight and the baby makes her presence known.  There are days I just want to sit and vegetate in front of some screen...being a parent is something that feels like too tall an order.  A few times my son has asked me to play a game, or do a puzzle, or play baseball.  Looking back now I really regret sluffing him off and doing little to nothing memorable with that time, instead of classic memories now, I have a feeling of guilt for not better taking advantage of that brief moment of a child reaching out to a parent.  I feel like a train sometimes, and the thought of building up the energy to truly engage my kids can seem monumental, I know if I get going it will be easy to keep going, getting those wheels moving is harder than it seems sometimes.

Every parent needs a recharge, energy to play, time to themselves, and ultimately this concept of burden or blessing is something I think I will always feel.  I pray, and my wife and I laughed and said, it is probably 75% blessing 25% burden.  Optimistically I threw out 80% 20%, joking I'd like to think that I can be a "good parent" 4 out of 5 opportunities.

We continued driving, having a moment together, and built up the energy (a little help from caffeine) to really engage our kids when we arrived at our destination.

Life over an Ice Blended Dark Chocolate Coffee from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf

Look at my last post HERE