One of those days…

Have you ever had one of those days where everything goes wrong and any attempt to fix it just makes things worse?  Where normally pleasant and agreeable children have decided today is the day they are going to pick every battle?  Where the laid back, sweet little baby refuses to play on his own and is indignant that you are not holding him constantly?  For us yesterday was that day.

It started off with a pounding headache however I wasn’t about to let that interfere with our routine.  I jumped on the treadmill but every step I took just made the headache worse.  I tried to distract myself  by staring out the window at our unused trailer, longing to escape.

Downstairs I was met by the Professor who appeared to be as unpleasant as myself that particular morning.  I was a bit weary because I’m not a naturally patient person.  It’s taken a combination of 3 children, a fixer upper house and homeschooling to build up the level of patience I have now and it was in jeopardy of being torn down in minutes.  It certainly wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened and I’m sure it won’t be the last, but it’s never pretty – it always leaves me feeling defeated.

Homeschooling was tough, about as pleasant as a root canal. Later that day the pile of work on my desk was going down painstakingly slow and the Milk Monkey just wouldn’t nap, or play on his own.  I was beginning to question my parenting abilities, then it hit me, it’s an unusually lovely day for March, we need to get outside and go for a walk.  After scrambling to pack the diaper bag and trying to get everyone in shoes and  just a bit of frustration we found ourselves enjoying the warm sun and the sounds of birds.  That is, until the Princess fell and scraped her arm.

The thing about the princess is that she tends to overreact to things.  She can be very dramatic especially when it comes to pain or even perceived pain.  There have been times when we have closed all the windows just to try to remove a splinter from her finger – we don’t want the neighbours to think we abuse our children.  Just trying to get a look at one of her wounds sends her off in hysterics.  She screams and yells and shouts “No, no, no…don’t hurt me!” at the top of her lungs.  She gets herself all worked up to the point that her body starts shaking.  It’s all very traumatic.

I imagine the shrieks that came from the Princess yesterday could be heard halfway across town especially after she spotted the blood.  She screamed her usual “no, no” and I was secretly glad that we were outside for all to see that I was not beating her but merely dressing a little scrape.  As I held her tightly in my arms, kissing her little head and wiping away her tears I realized that being outside was not the magical cure to our disastrous day.  The Princess had enough and wanted to go inside, so we did and the baby started crying again.

I longed to lock myself in the bathroom with a good book and a bubble bath when Daddy got home but remembered it’s in desperate need of remodeling.  Instead I decided to let the kids watch a movie while lying on their beds.  I turned on the tv downstairs and played with the baby feeding him puffs to keep him quiet and happy.  I gave up on any hope of accomplishing anything of significance.  Maybe it’s not the best parenting moment but it was what worked for us at that time.  Once again there was peace in the house and the headache I had woke up with started to fade a little.

Not every day is going to be a great amazing day and I can accept that.  Some days are just tough.  I realize that I just need to keep focused on how blessed I am to have my three wonderful children.  I’m able to stay home with them and raise them myself.  We have a great life and I’m not going to let one day detract from all the other amazing days we normally have!

 

 

 

One thought on “One of those days…

  • 21 March, 2012 at 7:58 am
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    Awwww gee….I am so sorry you had such a bad day, and weren’t feeling so well! Hopefully today will be better 😉

    Reply

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