New baby. New home. New job. = Pause. Breathe. Reset.

To say the last 2 weeks have been unusually stressful would be an understatement. Between September 26 and October 1, my wife and I welcomed our new baby boy, Emiliano, moved into a new home, and I started a new job. It was a whirlwind of activity and necessary action. Now that things have slowed down just a little bit, I’m beginning to reflect on how much I needed to “Pause. Breathe. Reset.”

Our son was originally due on 10/3. Our plans were to move into our new place, settle in, Karla would naturally go into labor on her due date and all would be on track. Except it didn’t happen that way. When my wife went to her doctor’s visit on 9/21, the decision was made to induce her on 9/26. Our plans went right out of the window and we went into panic mode. An early delivery was added stress we hadn’t counted on. Of course, we were excited to meet our new son, we just didn’t expect it to be amid a chaotic move. We had been packing, purging, working and trying to keep it together the entire month. We blinked and it was time to move. Pause. Breathe. Reset.

Our beautiful baby boy was born on September 26. He’s healthy and everyone is already in love with him. While Karla and Emiliano were in the hospital, I was back and forth trying to finalize everything for our move. And clean while packing. And move boxes in the evening after getting back from the hospital. And making sure our other two kids were okay. Oh, and I also had two job interviews in between that. I accepted a position and was waiting to hear when my start date would be. I was on edge and overwhelmed. We had help from our village but as many of you can understand, there were many things we needed to do ourselves. We were both feeling the stress and trying to keep it together. Pause. Breathe. Reset.

Karla and Emiliano came home. Everything was still a whirlwind of chaos — everything that could go wrong, did. Then I got my new work schedule and was scheduled the afternoon of our move day and the entire weekend. My wife was just a few days postpartum and packing in between. There was anger. Stress. Worry. Anxiousness. Panic. It felt like we would never finish… or get out of our old place… or move everything. There were tears… lots of them. Pause. Breathe. Reset.

Of course, we finished the move. Was it perfect? No. Completely organized? Nope. Did our families come through for us? Yes. Packing and cleaning? Yup. Moving boxes? Lots and lots of them. Money and food so we wouldn’t have to worry? You know it. Household items and little things to remind us we’re loved? Absolutely. We’re blessed.

We’re settling into our new home. The kids are running around, enjoying their new space. Boxes are getting unpacked. Decorating is slow but we’re in no rush. Our dog is back home with us. We’re all excited about the new memories we’ll make together… as a family. I’m so thankful for this life. I’m blessed with a beautiful wife, my three healthy children, and a family who loves us. It’s overwhelming to think of how far we’ve come and how much more we want to do. I know we’ll get there.

Pause. Breathe. Reset.