Ever have one of those days?

I’ve had bad days before – plenty of them.  I’ve had awful days and in-between days, but every so often, I just have one of “those days”.  The kind that makes you feel like curling up in a ball and shutting everything out – including the people you love.  I love my kids and I love my husband, but the demands on my time have suddenly come to a crescendo.  Here’s my day….starting last night (because that’s a big part of it):

Guilt trip Mike into doing dishes around nine o’clock, feel guilty about it, but whatever.

Get up at one o’clock to deal with Jenny, who has pooped her pants.  I saw it coming, but what can you do?  Toddler with diarrhea, no diapers, this is what you get sometimes.

Get up at six o’clock to go the bathroom, take Jenny again just in case she feels like repeating her accident a second time.

Wake up when Mike gets up, wonder why he’s leaving so early, go back to sleep hoping that the kids sleep in a bit.

Wake up approximately twenty minutes after Mike leaves and force myself to get out of bed to get the kids up.  Spend the next hour (or more) in bed with them trying to wake up.

Feed everybody breakfast of pound cake and strawberries.  Am I a good mother or what?  Just so concerned with my children’s diets.

Fast forward…the in-between hours weren’t so bad, mostly the same as any other day.

Make very nice lunch of salmon and green and yellow beans that Jenny actually eats (it’s a miracle – I guess I get one today after all).  Watch Elias proceed to put most of his lunch onto his lap.

Go to doctor’s appointment and deal with kids that don’t want to remain in the stroller.  Ask doctor about Elias’ skin condition and finally get a small breakthrough – a referral to a dermatologist.  Of course, it can’t be in town, but has to be two and a half hours away and probably completely at the whim of that office as to when we go in.  Look forward to driving to Grande Prairie by myself, as it is bound to be on a day that Mike won’t be able to get off work.

On the way home, listen to demands from Jenny for gum that lead to consequences for her that had to wait until we got home, which is not my favourite way of doing things.  Go through the process of telling her why she’s in trouble a good ten minutes after she’s been yelling at me. 

Put the kids to bed, fortunately without much trouble.

Come out into the kitchen, look around the house and cry. 

Balance on the verge of tears while writing and checking my email.

That’s the kind of day it has been.  The vastly overwhelming kind that really does make me wish I could take a nap for about a week.  Even napping today should be out of the question, regardless of how tired I am.  In this house, if I don’t do it or beg Mike to do it, it doesn’t get done.  That counts for everything.  I have laundry piling up, the kids’ room is a mess (although nothing can be done about that while they’re sleeping, anyway), the kitchen is a wreck, the living room is…you guessed it, a wreck, and the remains of lunch are still waiting for me in the high chair where Elias left them. 

All that and I’m having pain in my stomach again because of the baby.  And I feel like eating lots of junk and drinking chocolate milk and laying on the couch reading until I fall asleep.  And then when Mike gets home, turning him to robot mode where he’ll do all the chores without complaining or remembering having done them.  Okay, so the second thing isn’t actually possible, but I sure wish it was sometimes.  A robot would be nice.

As for pregnancy (I guess I’d better throw it in here, even though I mostly just feel like complaining today), everything is ship shape.  No diabetes (no surprise there), slightly low hemoglobin, but not low enough to worry about, normal blood pressure, normal weight gain, measuring appropriately for my due date, active baby with strong heart beat.  If only the rest of my life were that easy.