Hard work

Not a happy bunny

After the glorious sunniness that was my birthday. Today I'm being brought back to reality with a short, sharp, thud.


Being a mother is hard work. Hard, hard, hard, hard work. 


As I type this my daughters are bickering for the millionth time today - *yawn* and I've just about had enough of the squealing, shouting, moaning and crying. My son has had the odd whinge and crying fit too but that was easily solved with a bottle of milk and some food. Boys are so different.

My three year old on the other hand is such a little madam. She is by far the cheekiest and most challenging of my children. (I think it's a second child thing because my mum seems to have or has the same issue with my little sister - sorry sis.) 

 My angelic faced daughter can be a complete nightmare sometimes and her behaviour pushes me to the edge of my parenting ability. Lately the terrible two's seem to have transformed into the equally if not worse tedious three's. The number of meltdowns this child has had in the two weeks she has been three is a joke. Albeit an unfunny one. 

Most of the time she is completely sweet and funny and does as she is told and other times she will look me square in the eye with all the confidence and will in the world and point blank refuse to do as she has been asked. 

When she was younger I believed it was her age that was responsible for my inability to reason with her, now I know that not to be the case and have come to realise that she is simply a headstrong, defiant and intelligent child. She can see through anything. 

If her dad and I threaten to take something away or stop her from doing something if she doesn't do A, B or C, she knows it is a threat and I have often overheard her say to her big sister 'Mummy/Daddy didn't take away such and such or stop us from doing such and such last time, so we can do that if we want' Can you believe it? Three?

Deep down I am rather impressed that my three year old daughter has the tenacity to see through things and challenge them, but as it's her dad and I on the receiving end we need to manage it or she'll be running rings around us in no time.

Since she can quite clearly identify if a threat is empty or not, we have had to be extra vigilant and make sure that we follow through on everything we say.  It's tough because you don't want to deny your children, but if their behaviour is not up to scratch and they refuse to listen then it's the only language that is understood in our household these days. 

It's draining, frustrating, repetitive and boring, but I guess that's the beauty of parenting. I'm trying hard to keep my cool but it's not easy. All the bribing, disciplining, shouting and pleading is incredibly trying but hey this too shall pass. 

I hope.

Pity Party

Image from omtimes.com

I wrote this excerpt in my diary a few days ago, it's funny how your mood can change so much from day to day. I was having a particularly hard time when I wrote this by the looks of it;

"Today I feel like crying. I'm juggling so many balls right now, one is sure to get dropped and smash into tiny little stressed out pieces. Nothing is ever easy or straightforward. Too much to do, too little time and not enough help. Think I'll throw myself a 'pity party' that should cheer me up?"
What has made you feel sorry for yourself lately?

Embracing where you're at

Image from mysearchadvisor.com

I've been thinking, how can I learn to cope with this never ending lack of sleep I am experiencing?

I have reached the conclusion I have to just embrace it, and the more I think about it the more it makes sense. If we surrender ourselves to our situation, no matter how dire, we will always make it out to the other side. Eveything in this life is temporary, so we must learn to take the rough with the smooth and ride out the storms.

So this morning, armed with my newfound resolve I decided to push through my extreme fatigue, (compounded by yet another night of very poor quality sleep), and attempt to get things done.

After waking up and making breakfast for the children, I went into machine mode and blitzed the house from top to bottom, hoovering, dusting, laundry, dish washing, you name it, I did it. And, may I add, this was all achieved before 12pm. Very impressive for me, especially since baby was crying his head off the whole time. I had to keep stopping to try and calm him down, only for him to flip out as soon as I left his side. He is definitely at the separation anxiety stage that babies go through. Oh joy.

I am finding that if I get up and 'do', rather than sit down and 'don't', I feel a lot better.  Despite the awful sense of weariness, if I accomplish something that I can see, like a clean house, I feel better for it and strangely energized.

Before my blitz I scoured the Internet looking for tips on how to survive on little sleep and came across these golden nuggets of information on ehow.com.

Maybe you or someone you know is experiencing lack of sleep. These tips, although seemingly obvious, could provide some much needed comfort. They have for me.

How to survive on little sleep

During the day

1. Snack on protein, such as tuna fish, to give you an energy boost.
2. Exercise. It may be the last thing you feel like doing, but taking a brisk walk around the block may help you if you're feeling sluggish.
3. Catch a catnap during the day, but no longer than 10 to 15 minutes. Any longer than that and you'll feel worse off, and you may have trouble falling asleep at bedtime.
4. "Nap when your baby naps" only if you are getting up every few hours for feedings. Once the child is sleeping through the night, you should too.

At Night

1. Give yourself time to wind down in the evening. The temptation is to use those evening hours to do everything you couldn't get done during the day, which revs you up again.
2. Drink a little chamomile tea and honey, which are natural sedatives, and eat a small snack of low-fat carbs, such as toast with jelly, before you go to bed.
3. Sleep the same amount every night, even if it's only six hours. Regular sleeping habits are just as important as the length of time that we sleep.
4. Keep your room cool and dark so that you can fall asleep quickly.
5. Sleep in an hour later on the weekends if you're able, but no longer than that or it will really mess with your internal clock.
6. Try for a half-hour to fall asleep. If you haven't fallen asleep by then, get out of bed and do something else. When you feel drowsy, try to sleep again.

Tips & warnings

1. Avoid nicotine and caffeine
2. Avoid exercising too close to bedtime. You should try to exercise during the day (morning is best) and no later than three hours before you go to bed.
3. Avoid pharmaceutical sleeping aids, which can turn into a bigger problem for you.
4. Avoid big meals before bedtime, which may actually wake you up.

  

40 winks

I am about to lose my mind.

My son is teething and he is NOT sleeping....AT ALL. 

At first he was and now he isn't, and if baby is not sleeping then NEITHER AM I.... I feel like I'm not getting enough help because the 'better half' is NOT PLAYING FAIR... again.

In a repeat of the days when baby was newborn and super colicky, lazy pants has gone back to sleeping in the spare room to avoid the crying, which I think is taking the biscuit. WHAT ABOUT ME??? I don't remember making this child on my own!

I'm a walking, good for nothing zombie. I keep snapping at the girls for every little thing. Like most children they have to be told a million times to do something before it gets done and as a result I'm shouting quite a lot (can you tell ??).

They have started calling me naughty mummy. This can't be good.

I NEED SLEEP!!!

Mad busy

This should help me to unwind - image from Basehead 

There are not enough hours in the day.

My last few posts have followed a similar vein, I'm not sure what is going on but it is so frustrating. I am so FRUSTRATED.

It can't help that I'm quite impatient. Everything needs to be done now, immediately. This INSTANT. I've got a million things to do and the time is always running away from me.

Take yesterday for example.

Day starts. Feed the children, wash the children, dress the children, entertain the children, soothe crying baby.

Housework. Make up the beds, load the dishwasher, do the laundry, hoover up, soothe crying baby. Put away the laundry, tidy up, tidy up again, then tidy up some more, referee a squabble, make lunch, eat lunch, make bottles, change nappies, soothe crying baby.

Debate whether to go out. Shocking weather, decide not to go out. Reason with defiant toddler, discipline defiant toddler, respond to the question 'Why?' from an inquisitive 4 year old for the millionth time, make dinner, eat dinner, children brush teeth, read children story, children say prayers, soothe crying baby, children to bed.

Carry out research online for blog, write blog, think of ways to promote blog, blog, blog, blog, blog...by this time it's usually past midnight!!!

I'm working myself into a frenzy here. There is too much to do, I need to slow down, but I don't want to. Not really. I am enjoying the freedom that writing brings, but with three small children it's a juggling act.

Got to push through. I can do this!