Concert of Crying

During our 70 minute drive from Des Moines to home last night, I think Jesse and I enjoyed maybe......maybe 7 minutes of silence. Our eldest two sons basically did a hand-off style crying concert all.the.way.home. Hayden would sob (because he dropped his pacifier on the floor), and then settle himself down and Owen would commence wailing, an infant-style shriek. And then we had the duet for probably 20 minutes....lovely, just lovely.

So, I am a fairly laidback person, but that level of insanity could make anyone crazy. But what's a girl gonna do? Risk a seatbelt ticket to crawl all over the vehicle? And it's not like you can even take them out and hold them like they want you to...

To maintain my own sanity, I work myself through the following 6-step program:

•  Deep, steady breathing and slow, purposeful counting
  
• Remember, this too shall pass
• Reality check: No baby in the history of babies has every perished from crying, and yours won't be the first. 
• Be thankful for beautiful babies with healthy lungs. Many mothers long to hear their babies cry, and would gladly sit through an hour of their crying just to hold them in their arms and comfort them once you're home. 
• Don't try more than once to stop it, it only will make you more frustrated when you are unsuccessful.
• When all else fails.....just laugh about it, I mean...do they even know how funny they look?!?