Do you ever have those moments during the early years of motherhood where you find yourself having to decide between one of two options; those being either the choice to sit yourself in a dark corner and pull out your hair, one by one starting with your eyebrows, or climb to the roof of your house, stand up straight and scream expletives out from the depths of your lungs? Either way it ain't pretty.
I'm having one of those days. Again. My youngest is eight months old and is still waking up several times each night for feeds. I thought this was supposed to stop at three months of age?!
Being woken up at 5:30am is not a great way to start your day. Accidentally falling asleep on your couch for fifteen minutes at 8:30am because you just can't physically keep your eyes open and waking up to a child sticking their poo covered fingers in your face isn't the greatest of experiences either. Even worse is realising the same child has finger-painted their own poo all over your fridge, tables and walls. Trying to clean up that disgusting mess while another child is hanging off you, screaming because you can't pick him right at the moment just adds to the fun. Knowing that I have a week to get my house in shape (seriously, it is like a bomb hit it) and push out a huge pile of product reviews before I fly off to Malaysia is also quite daunting.
Being woken up at 5:30am is not a great way to start your day. Accidentally falling asleep on your couch for fifteen minutes at 8:30am because you just can't physically keep your eyes open and waking up to a child sticking their poo covered fingers in your face isn't the greatest of experiences either. Even worse is realising the same child has finger-painted their own poo all over your fridge, tables and walls. Trying to clean up that disgusting mess while another child is hanging off you, screaming because you can't pick him right at the moment just adds to the fun. Knowing that I have a week to get my house in shape (seriously, it is like a bomb hit it) and push out a huge pile of product reviews before I fly off to Malaysia is also quite daunting.
Life was a tad easier when I hired a housekeeper to come in once a week but I had to break it off with her "It's not me, it's you"style after she abused my pay-by-the-hour arrangement by taking a whole hour to iron four trousers. That and I'm not ok with someone scrubbing their dirty feet with the same sponge I use to wash my plates with. Gross much?
After becoming overwhelmed with everything around me, I ended up shutting myself in the hallway, both kids crying at the door, trying to calm myself down from the inevitable mini mental breakdown that I am pretty sure all stay-at-home mothers have from time to time. To get out of it involved a long process of showering my poo covered child twice, finishing off the walls, calming the other child down, doing the dishes and making myself a coffee twice while I pulled out the old chalkboard and chalk to keep my eldest busy for a moment. The first time I burnt the milk (I make my coffee on the stove) and had to redo it. By the time my coffee was half drunk I found myself somewhat chilling out and returning back to normal. It was really the coffee that did it. It woke me up a bit while the process of sitting down and having a few sips took my mind off everything around me that needed doing. It's funny how at work I can handle thirty kids in a classroom with no worries and remain calm throughout it all, but my own two at home can drive me loco on a regular basis. Staying at home is definitely more stressful than having a career.
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It got me wondering how do other stay at home mums get themselves out of those stressful moments? Is there something in particular that works for you? I find sometimes saying "stuff it, it can wait" to everything that needs doing and taking the kids for a breather in my backyard's sunshine and breeze cools me down at times. How about you? What do you do to de-stress and stop yourself going crazy? Do you have any day-to-day survival tips you can share?