Today was to be my last night of my 7 day shift at work, so normally by the end of the week I am pretty tired, and when I say tired I mean grouchy. So this morning I was begging the kids to just sit quietly and watch Clifford so that I could nap for 30 minutes on the couch until the show was over. Now on any other day, they would do this for me, I don't know how, I guess I am just lucky, but NOT today! Not on the one day when I can feel the Monster Momma trying to break out, and I know that all I need to lock her inside is a quick little nap. Bleh! That is how it all started, it was down hill from there. For some reason Brady decided he wasn't going to listen today, and that it was his mission to pester Natalie so much as to make up for all the other good days when he left her alone. Needless to say the morning opened with a lot of pointless yelling, crying, and general whining from all 3 of us. So to make up for it I dragged the kids with me to Wal Mart (woo hoo) to finish up my grocery shopping. I knew this would only be a bearable trip if I promised a special lunch when we got home. So with the cart loaded with Oscar Mayer cheese dogs, Little Debbie strawberry shortcake rolls, and Mac & Cheese Pringles we were back on our way home after a surprisingly nice trip to the store, heading to what I was hoping would be a surprisingly nice afternoon. That was where logic failed me!
After the kids scarfed down their lunch I though Hooray! time for naps. This will be easy, we do this every day. Haha hee hee ho ho ha. No. The kids were in their beds at 2, and for the next hour I went in their no less than 5 times to pull Brady off the bookshelf, or clean out his bed of the toys he had gathered, or just plain telling him to shut it. Most of these times I held myself together, but in the essence of honesty I will say I lost it once (only once) during the full hour. So finally at 3 I left the room for the last time (I thought) and headed back to the sanctity of my bed (ah, blissful sleep! so close, yet so very, very far) to lie down. Now on a side note I will say that I am not a person that can run on little to no sleep, I have lowish iron so I get tired anyways (because I never take my pills, that I am not so sure actually help anyway), but after a week of erratic napping I was pretty much at my limit and NEEDED that bed to take care of me. BUT, right after I began to dose I got a phone call, and then after the call was over I heard something, I wasn't sure what it was, but I heard something. So I sneak into the dining room to listen at the kids door and sure enough, an hour and a half after I put him to bed (and I KNOW he was tired when I put him down, because he was rubbing his eyes, and SAYING sleepy!) Brady was still playing! This is after multiple pops on the butt, after mommy laying down in his bed and singing him sweet songs, after too much yelling on my part, after crying on his part, the kid was STILL awake. So I throw open the door (which always scares them, and I find this mildly funny, because they KNOW they are in trouble) and march in there to see what the heck he is doing. Do you want to know what he was doing?? He was playing trains! He had all of his metal (cuddly, no?) trains in bed with him, well except for the five or so that he had lovingly placed on Natalie's sleeping body (nice). Oh this boy, I love him so, but still! Why today?? When I most need a nap, and the beast is awakened, and my patience is shot, and I JUST. WANT. TO. SLEEP!
So, after that last bought of crazy (they both went to sleep after that! Hallelujah!), I went to call Keith to just cry a little, tell him I was losing it and obviously either sleep deprived or crazy, and have a little sympathy tossed my way. Luckily by this time he was close to being on his way home, and that meant close to being there to relieve me! There were other little things throughout the day that added to the drama, Brady's diaper leaking on MY bed, Natalie ripping a brand new book because she didn't wait for me to help her (that was not a good thing), the kitchen light burning out, the old sippies found under the couch with MILK (or what used to be milk) in them,, ick! There were good points to the day though! I will list them here so that I don't forget that with every bad day there is always something good too!
1. I am starting to work on a new rotation at work so that means transitioning from one set of 7 on, 7 off days to another. And THAT means that I have tonight off (which I should have been working) and tomorrow off. Then after a bit of a crazy work week this week I have a full week off next week!
2. We did have a fun time at the grocery store picking out fun foods for lunch, looking at all the people, and just enjoying being out of the house.
3. Lunch too was nice, the kids ate good, we all talked and played, and it was a very nice half hour in the middle of an other wise loony toons day.
4. I had a blissful hour and a half (or so) to myself when Keith went with Bryce to Sam's club AND he took the kids (which he said were monkeys, surprise, surprise, but at least HE was dealing with them, not ME).
5. We had a nice unexpected visit from Keith's Aunt Annette and his cousin April (whom I had not yet gotten to meet) tonight, and it was very fun! The kids loved April right away and we all sat and chatted in the kids room, while the kids showed off all their toys. Relaxing and nice.
6. My kids love me, this is the most important! Even when I lose it and get all "Rawr" as Natalie said today, they still love me and I love them. And at the end of the day we can put it all behind us with a few prayers and promises of a brand new day in the morning.
Days like this need to happen every once in awhile I think to remind us of how to behave. When I have a day like this it is a nice kick in the pants for me to get my rear and gear and work on being a happier Mommy EVEN if I am tired, exhausted, and otherwise beat down (as Sarah said, I am a total lightweight!). I still need to be nice.
A few moments of peace this morning, playing with the infamous trains. I love when kids lay and play like this. Brady kept kicking his legs up, but I just couldn't capture it on camera. Natalie was being a doll. Poor thing got the short end of the stick today.
K
Keith, April, Annette, and the kids. They had so much fun showing April all their toys. Natalie LOVES "big girls" so she was in heaven!
Brady took to April very fast. He was really hamming it up looking all cute and innocent in his jeans and no shirt. Under that sweet exterior though...today he was a little booger. For reals.
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5 comments:
I've had 'em too! But you're right, it's a good reminder and its amazing what we can make better with a few prayers, hugs and the promise of a new day tomorrow.
Sounds like one of those crazy days, I hate those. I get the same way when I'm exhausted, I think I'm getting that way tonight, and I'm going to be up late again tonight watching Grey's.
Sorry you had such an awful day. At least you know it will get better! Hang in there.
Now I can tell we are related. I also suffer from low iron and never take my pills. Lack of sleep makes me a big grouch and gives me migraines. I had the same Wednesday as you (without the kids, I just wish I could tell my employees to go take a nap!!)
Glad I'm not the only one to have days like that! That is a really great idea to list the good things.
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