Around the time Mateo was about 8 months old, life shifted, hard. Chris’s injury got worse, and suddenly he couldn’t work. (He was injured on the job early 2023 and had surgery.) Due to complications he also wasn’t getting paid, this began in August 2024.
It was already 2 months of us living under only my income. Boy, I truly wish I could have done it. We had two car payments, rent, all the bills, and a baby we were now feeding 3 times a day. I felt the pressure building by the day, and my body let me know it.. My milk supply started dipping again. Stress really does show up everywhere. Chris and I were just trying to be so happy for Mateo but truly were so stressed and tired. Mateo was staying home with Chris everyday at this point.
I remember one night, I just got done taking Mateo a bath and Chris runs inside and says “they are towing your car!!!”. Yup, as embarrassing as it was and still is, hey we are human and life is fucking hard! They towed my car because I only paid half my car payment in August and couldn’t pay since. The amount of tears I cried that night… I truly felt defeated.
Eventually we had to make one of the hardest decisions — we broke our lease and moved in with my sister and her boyfriend until Chris was able to work again. That was very humbling. I can’t even explain how heavy it felt to leave our apartment, to pack up our life, and admit that we couldn’t do it all on our own. Apparently I was hiding it all so well my parents were so sad to know we were struggling and we didn’t ask for help until now. I was just doing everything I needed and could do at the time, we both were.
But at the same time, I’m so grateful. My sister is a literal angel, and having her support in that season was everything. Even though it was tough, like really tough, it reminded me that asking for help doesn’t make us weak. Sometimes it’s the only way to survive.
The timing was wild too! This all happened right before Halloween. So there I was, balancing financial stress and personal struggles, but still trying to make the holidays magical for Mateo while STILL adjusting to work. At this point I talked to my boss and let him know I couldn’t get into the office at 7 anymore and asked him for some flexibility because at that point I was 1000% surviving. And we did and I also did my best to be my positive self through it all. Because no matter what, Mateo deserves nothing less and truly with my babyboy, that’s the easiest thing to do. He’s such a light through it all.
It’s crazy as I recently realized it was around this time last year… I really have no concept in dates or time anymore.
🤎🤎🤎 Has anyone else had to make tough choices to keep your family afloat? Moving in with family, downsizing, asking for help? It’s not easy, but sometimes it’s necessary. How did you navigate it?
