In Short
We used to be two young professionals, a finance geek and an engineer, without a care in the world and probably a bit too much disposable income. Several years on, and four kids later, our lives have been turned upside down. And before you judge us for our excessive procreation, we got 2-for-1 on the third pregnancy…
Murphy’s Law (formerly the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics) states simply that:
“All things tend towards chaos”
So here we are. Knee-deep in chaos. We are busier, poorer and perpetually exhausted, but our lives are somehow richer and more meaningful. We are in the process of discovering how to ‘do life better together’. Whether that is figuring out our finances, aligning faith and values with our life choices, living abroad or child-raising challenges. We learned a lot by experimenting on the first couple of kids…
Our goal is ‘to escape the chaos’, despite how the universe works
We were married over 15 years ago on the best day of Mrs Chaos’ life (Mr Chaos wrote this page). Seven years of plenty calm without kids, were followed by seven years of famine chaos with kids. And the journey continues.
Between us, we have lived in 10 countries on 5 continents. Mr Chaos is an Irishman who grew up in Latin America. Mrs Chaos is a Zimbabwean whose family emigrated to Scotland. After Scotland, we lived in Zambia (Southern Africa) for 5 years and now we live in Spain. And so our kids are … confused.
Why Waste Our Precious Time on a Blog?
Many reasons. We both enjoy writing. And the act of writing about our experiences helps us to assess and improve our parenting.
Then there’s the therapy.
When your 2-year-old smears his poo all over your bed – sometimes you just need to share the details for the sympathy – or the laughter.
We have learned a lot over the years, but not everything and my wife is exceptionally opinionated and will gladly share that information with whomsoever will listen – and we hope that the community reading our posts will be gracious enough to share their wisdom with us.
Accountability is also key. We often make decisions only to wonder a few months later why on earth we chose a certain path. Documenting our decisions will not only keep us accountable, but also remind us why we made the decision in the first place.
Our Identities
Prior to starting this blog, we thought long and hard about revealing the details of our family life to the entire world. We are more than happy to share our identities and to own the many mistakes we have made over the years (at least that’s what we like to think!)
But we are conflicted about revealing the identities of our kids, particularly pictures and stories about them. After all, is it fair that a future employer/partner might be able to find out what they chose to do with their excrement on that dark, dark, day?! Anyway, we know that we want this blog to be real and personal but we also want to ensure our kids can get a job one day to pay for our stay in an old folk’s home…
Although it might morph and we may find it necessary to tweak the boundaries at some point. As much as possible we are going to avoid recognizable photographs of them and give everyone Star Wars-themed names – apologies to Trekkie fans as you leave in droves.
So head here to Who’s Who? to find out everyone’s secret identity!
