I wake up each morning to see my kids dressed, the place clean, to prepare breakfast in a timely fashion and to an uneventful school day-not.
In reality I am seriously stressing out because I cannot seem to get anything done at all. Baby Fredegar likes to be held. I can't blame him, he is so small and needs me, and frankly I like holding him. But it's like I get 2 minutes here and 2 minutes there to get breakfast done, to cook, to clean the bathroom, to feed the cats, etc. Polo is working long Christmas hours which adds to the problem. The two older kids help, but they do it in that kid way. I don't want to say "half assed" because they do their best, but it is never how I would do it. The other thing that drives me nuts is the older kids use the fact that stuff needs to be done as an opportunity to order the younger ones around. I spend a lot of time wondering if I put too much on their shoulders, which in reflection, I don't think so. I know a major part of my problem is I am kind of OCD and I'm a little more stressed about the state of my home than I really should be considering how old Baby Fredegar. But also, since we had the new baby, I was so blase"oh sure, another baby, I can handle that..." like it was no big deal, being this Catholic, open to life, cooking from scratch, attachment parenting, homeschooling Supermom and all that I like to envision myself as, I never stopped to think how much of an illusion that is without at least bit of practice with each new addition. I need to reformulate my new routines and I really need to reformulate the kids routines before I throw them all out.
Then I need to take a break somehow-this weekend, get a grip, and eat more chocolate.
I'm also stressing because I'm seeing my grandmother for Christmas-which I'm looking forward to, but she is starting on about how I am small and I need to make sure I control my weight. Gosh, can't I wait until after Christmas because I needmy chocolate? I'll let you in on a secret, my mother gave me a bag of mini-Twix bars for my birthday and I'm not sharing them with the kids.
don't you just LOVE those backhanded family comments that seem all too happy to pop out at Christmas, like "hey, have you lost weight? or are you just dressing better than usual?"
well, you know what i think about your family! ;)
also, i don't think you need "practice", i think you need to add "open to help" to your shiny resume, because even though you ARE a supermom, 5 kids will drive anyone nuts, so there. with all due love and respect to your kids :)
Mmmmmmmm. Mini-Twix bars. (Said in my best Homer Simpson "Mmmmm. Donuts." voice.)
I'm amazed at mothers esp. of multiple kids who get more done than basic feeding and changing. Seriously. Because even when I determine not to be lazy, it seems those things fill up nearly every moment! Okay okay, so I spend some (non-nursing) time online and often on the phone even on those days, but it doesn't seem like there are enough minutes between feed-and-change to actually *finish* any other Project. Maybe I need to stop thinking in terms of finishing and more in terms of starting...