At the moment I feeling like my life is like Groundhog Day. I am living the same thing over and over and over every day. Does anyone else ever feel like that? Please be warned that this is quite a moany and definitely rambling post so be warned and feel free to stop reading at any time!
Monkey’s chatter at the moment, is very cute and lovely… but it is also incessant. He just never stops and just jabbers away constantly. When he was younger and was a bit delayed in his speech people used to say to me that there would come a time when I wished he was quiet. Oh how right they were!
It doesn’t help that LM stresses me out a lot at the moment with her teething and lack of sleeping. When she is screaming, moaning or unhappy my tolerance levels for any noise reach zero and I can’t even have a conversation with hubs while she is crying without getting stressed. Monkey’s chattering at these times drives me completely potty and I do sometimes tell him to just be quiet. I feel like an awful parent but my brain just can’t take it! He generally doesn’t listen to me anyway and carries on jabbering away. Occasionally there is a couple of seconds pause, or he whisper shouts instead of normal shouting but mostly he just carries on at normal or shouts even louder to spite me!
He is also massively contrary at the moment. It is worse when he is tired or not feeling himself (we still seem to have a cold continually in our house with at least one of us snotty and grouchy at all times!) when it reaches extreme proportions but he is contrary a lot of the rest of the time too. Reverse psychology is in constant use and even that backfires a lot. Here is an example of a conversation this morning. Me in purple, Monkey in blue
Eat your breakfast please. It’s not breakfast, it’s dinner. (Sigh) Fine, then eat your dinner please. It’s not dinner it’s breakfast. Fine. Just eat it. I don’t want to. Ok then shall Mummy eat it? No I wanted it!
If only that one conversation actually meant that he then ate his breakfast without further chatter and debate! It’s not only food over. We have the same conversations over TV, clothes, activities. Even when he was helping Daddy make biscuits at the weekend ( an activity he loves) he was deliberately arguing against every suggestion Daddy made. Would you like to roll the dough? No I don’t want to. Right I’ll do it then. No I wanted it! …Oh I don’t want to! I have to admit it was a little gratifying when Daddy got stressed out by this as it made me feel like less of a terrible impatient Mother when I get annoyed by it on a daily basis!
It’s not just Monkey related though. The laundry is doing my head in at the moment. The step up from 3 of us to 4 of us seems to have trebled our washing (I think Muslins take up a huge proportion of that) and it just feels relentless and never ending. No matter how much laundry I seem to do the washing baskets seem to be constantly full! It doesn’t help that LM refuses to sleep when the washing machine is on so it has to be timed to be on when she is awake, and we daren’t put it on at night at risk of it disturbing her. Our sleep is too precious! Then there is the tumble dryer which again is on all the time – a constant ( well I was going to say hum but it is a lot louder than that) rumble(?) in the background which also drives me crazy.
I went on a bit of a subconscious laundry strike last week. I just couldn’t face it and ignored it (which is very unlike me) and well that certainly backfired as of course the piles reached epic proportions! Hubs said later in the week he wished I had said something to him as he could have tried to do it instead, but with it being a subconscious strike, in that I didn’t consciously decide to stop…. I just didn’t do it for a few days.. I hadn’t thought to mention it. Plus mentioning it would have meant actually admitting to myself that I was doing it and would have forced me to stop being so daft and just do some blimming laundry.
Then there’s the constant amount of crumbs on the floor and the never ending hoovering and sweeping that needs doing. (Even seconds after hoovering every inch of the downstairs I see a new crumb or get one stuck to my foot. I swear they reproduce or grow out of thin air!) And the washing up, and cleaning the table, and cleaning bathrooms and windows. Plus of course the formula preparation and the cleaning and sterilising and all of that rigmarole that needs doing every day. Loading and unloading the dishwasher… the list of housework goes on.
Oh and all the nappy changes…. I really wish Monkey was ready for being potty trained. Not that I am looking forward to actually doing the training, I am very much looking forward to him using the toilet rather than needing changes. Changing two of them all day every day makes it feel never ending . He is nearly ready I think and we are laying a lot of the groundwork, but I really don’t want to rush him as I know from friend’s experiences that that only ever makes things harder. In the meantime, all the hand washing and hand sanitiser from the constant nappy changing are making my hands so dry and horrible. I now wear rubber gloves for washing up and leaning, but they aren’t really so good for bottom wiping or bathy time!
My Mother in law said something the other week (about a totally different subject) that really stuck with me. If you can’t change your situation then you have to change your attitude about it. I can’t stop the amount of laundry that needs doing, or stop Monkey being contrary (hopefully he will grow out of that one day) and we have a while to go with nappies as LM is only 5 mths old. So I need to try and change my attitude. As ever with this kind of thing that is a heck of a lot easier said than done but I need to try as I am a bit of a misery guts at the moment.
A lot of it is down to LM’s randomness and continuing lack of routine (despite our best efforts we still have a mix of good days and bad) which makes me grumpy and I haven’t worked out how to manage my time best, when I don’t know what time I am going to have. I am trying to accept that she doesn’t have a routine and not expect to get things done, as that stresses me out when I don’t achieve things. But then I am still getting stressed because I never achieve anything and can’t even plan how to achieve the things I want to because of our lack in routine! It’s a bit of a vicious cycle.
I keep trying to remember how lucky we are, both kids sleep from 7pm at night and she goes through til 530am which is early but not terrible. Monkey sleeps til nearer 7 and he still naps a few days a week, for a good 3 hours at a time so I know how lucky I am with that. I also know that all of this is only temporary but I don’t like feeling like I am wishing away this time. I also realise that as an SAHM at least I don’t have to worry about all of this as well as being at work… but I also get no break from the monotony.
I made a choice to become a SAHM and I don’t regret it as I have loved watching Monkey grow and learn, and I know I will love doing the same with LM too. But it isn’t always easy and I guess that’s my point.. if I have one at all! I told you it was a rambly post! IBut I do feel better for having a bit of a vent so if you have made it this far, thank you for reading :).
Wow, I could have written this exact same post, word for word! I recently wrote out what a typic day was for our family, and it really resembled groundhog day. The same thing day in day out. I’ve decided at leas once a week to get out and do something small. Wether its going to a different park, going to a different cafe, just anything different! For the sake of my sanity 🙂
Oh and please don’t get me started on the piles of laundry, the washing up and the constant crumbs. One day your children will need to know the importance of chores!
oooh yes they certainly will! ha today in fact I set up a “fun activity” for Monkey to wash some toys! Of course we ended up with water everywhere but at least we got a job done. I like your plan and I used to do the same with one, but am finding it too stressful with 2 of them. There will come a time when i am desperate to get out of the house with them again though! xx
I REALLY admire you for staying at home with not just one but two so I think I could have probably written this post too if I was in your shoes. I think you are just hitting “phases” with both at exactly the same time and it must be so frustrating. I don’t know how you manage with Monkey though and stay so calm when he’s contrary. I’d have lasted 2 minutes with the baking; something that needs working on!! YOu do a fab job and in time will all be worth it when the 2 of them play together happily.
ps I had to laugh about the crumbs. I HATE crumbs!!! xxx #thetruthabout
Thank you lovely, I am struggling with the two of them I have to admit, though I know I am not alone in theis struggle and I know it will get easier over time. It can be so hard, there is a lot deep breaths that need to be taken and he does make me cross. I Got so snappy with him today that he then broke my heart as he came over and said “Didn’t mean a make oo cross” bless him. haha glad it’s not just me, crumbs and dust, what is the point in them???
I think all stay at home parents feel like this at some point. Hopefully it will get better as time goes on. ☺
You’re totally right and I am looking forward to those days as I know they will come! x
You’ve summarised my life there.
Lizzie’s Daily Blog
Oh the Groundhog Day! It will get easier hon. Unfortunately (for us both) there is something known as the ‘threenage’ years which are essentially the ‘terrible twos’ but multiplied by 100! Maybe this contrariness is the beginning of that… I know exactly what you mean about the crying baby rising your stress levels – I can just imagine the cacophony. The nappy thing? Yep still waiting for EJ to show the remotest sign. If he’s like his brother then it won’t happen til he’s three. Oh to be free of nappies! (Having said that JJ still likes me to wipe his bottom after a number 2 – deep joy!). Thanks for linking to #thetruthabout Caroline Xx
Thank you lovely, I know it will get better and just have to tough to out :/ hmm yes the threenager thing, tbh I think we got off lightly with the terrible twos and it is all going to be about the threenager in our house :S xx
Sweeping is killing me! I refuse to sweep more than once a day so our kitchen and dining room are usually filthy except for about 3.5 minutes once a day. I also hate mopping, to the point where I ask myself before guests come over, “Am I really that embarrassed about the dried pasta sauce spill the size of a dessert plate on the floor, or should I just pretend I don’t see it and maybe they won’t, either?” Hang in there!
#thetruthabout
Haha I know how you feel and often ir is people coming round that shames me into cleaning a bit more 😉 x
I hear you on all of this! Our clothes horse is constantly either being ridden by damp clothes or a back chatting toddler. Urgh.
Just started potty training (with a toddler who refuses to go butt naked), so we have a lot more washing from soggy accidents. Maybe steer clear of that for a bit longer, if you’re still feeling laundry sensitive! #BrilliantBlogposts
Oh gosh that definitely would not help with my laundry fatigue, definitely worth holding off a bit longer! Xx
So, I read this post the other day and meant to reply to say how much I agree with you about it all. But I forgot to reply and I also forgot to do any washing! Just sorted it out and now got 6 loads to do. The stupid thing is that I do this every few weeks when I can’t face the washing machine. It’s always me that suffers after the boycott but I still don’t learn!!! Chin up lovely xx
Thank you my lovely and I am so glad I am not the only one who goes on a washing boycott, even though it makes life harder for ourselves in the long run! I can feel a boycott coming on again already! 😉 xx
I can so resonate with this! Some days I feel very much like all the days are rolling into one. You need to get some you time! It’s amazing how a couple of hours away can reboot your energy & outlook on everything! That time to yourself is so precious but so important! xx
You’re totally right, I am terrible for not taking me time as I know I will come back to the same things so feels pointless, but in reality I know that it does me good to get away for a few hours! Xx
I hear you sista, I hear you! I have been feeling the same all week. I was SO overwhelmed with groundhog day on Monday I was in tears before 8.30am. I’ve been trying to pick myself up all week and actually appreciate what I have (change my attitude, like you say) but it doesn’t help the relentlessness of it all. All the food and crap on the floor. The endless cleaning. The endless laundry. It can just be too boring frankly and doesn’t really bring out the best in you! You are not alone! Thank goodness for blogging so there is actually something to use your brain and voice again!
Oh I am so with you, sometimes I wonder if my blog takes up time I could spend doing other things but I know I couldn’t do without it, it keeps me sane amongst all the mundane repetitiveness of life sometimes! Xx
I completely understand how you feel. I had two years at home with our two before I went back to work leaving my husband to carry the load. The housework – or lack of it really got to me. Feel free to rant away – I have so much sympathy for you 🙂
Thank you, every now and then it is good to get it off my chest that’s for sure! X
Goodness I thought its just me!!!! I need to do something to shake this boring repetitive days and then spring break came so my 2 weeks are sorted! #pocolo
I think it is so important to be able to express your feelings – not moany at all! I remember going through all of this when Grace was a certain age and I want to tell you that it does all come to an end – honest! Thank you for linking to #PoCoLo x
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