Urgh

[ailbhe]

Today was hideous. I think it's a combination of anxiety, the horrible mess the house is in, PMS, and parenting difficulty; there's a tricky social situation, or several, and I don't know how to handle it. Or them.

But at least everyone involved - all the adults, anyway - is willing and kindhearted and so on.

But there was such fighting and screaming today. Eventually I walked out the front door without my keys and ended up stuck on the doorstep with Astrid for almost half an hour. When I got back in, thanks to a neighbour calling the children through the letterbox and being not-me while doing so, everything seemed to have calmed down.

If my old-normal PMS is coming back, we have a problem.

But it could be plain old exhaustion; Rob just did two weeks on call, which means I am on my own from 6:30 am to almost 8pm AND bedtimes are later because of his late arrival home so we all get less sleep. Also it means he can't leave the house at weekends much so I have to do all the errands. And as well as that Linnea has been ill, and Astrid has been under the weather, and the weather was punishingly hot, and I probably have ordinary PMS as well.

I can't imagine why I might be tired, you know?

Today, however, Rob came home early, just after 2pm, and we all went swimming, and then he put up a shelf (the alcove we started shelving well over a year ago!) and cooked dinner. So there's hope.

Mind you, tomorrow he's going out for drinks with ex-colleagues after work, so it's 6:30-21:30 or later. BUT I am not alone, I have help planned.

And Astrid is AWESOME. She puts things in her mouth so that I can say "What's in your mouth?" and praise her when she spits it into my hand. She bashed my face very accurately this evening while saying "Nose. Eye. Teeth," really very clearly (Rob was delighted and surprised, which was how I knew I hadn't imagined it). She stands up and applauds herself for doing so. She is so so so communicative - she can ask for a drink with a sound and a hand-sign, she is very clear when we ask what she wants whether it's a yes or a no, it's great.

I think we might have a Roomba, second-hand off Ebay. I await the post with bated breath.

Comments

[ljgeoff.livejournal.com]

It's very cool that you can see the awesome in the midst of the horrible. I hope that today, as you read this, things are going better. *hugs*

For some frubble: A few days ago, I was talking to my son Jake and he started telling me about how his lease was coming up in August and so I was waiting for him to get to the point where he'd ask to borrow some money for the security for a new place. But what he said was, "I was thinking that what I really want to do right now is reconnect with my family. Do you still have that extra room?"

Holy Wah.

[tiggsybabes.livejournal.com]

PMS sucks. I am *touching wood* but mine seems to have improved recently, so is just down at more normal levels of tenseness. This may be because my body is revving up for the menopause again though.

[rachel cotton (from livejournal.com)]

PMS is the pits whether normal or inflated. If it helps, I locked myself out of the house the other day during one of Deborah's meltdowns. It was first thing in the morning and I find the Reasonable Parenting button tends not to get pressed until after breakfast. I panicked, went to our neighour, she calmed me down long enough to find Michael in the house who thought this was a great new game. He was just awesome and managed to turn a key and let me in, such a mensch he is. Sorry to be Yiddish, but he really is one. Luckily D had stopped screaming too and was fine. I find there is something so much better about taking 5 minutes self time out the front of the house than in the garden. Same activity but feels so much less claustrophobic. In the back garden I just worry that all the neighbours think I'm terrible, at the front I'm able to relax and see out a bit more.

Glad Astrid is doing so well.

[barakta]

sorry things had been so crap, am hoping they're better now!