This morning was the first day back at nursery & school after the long weekend. The school run isn't the most pleasant experience in the world anyway, getting 5 people ready, doing breakfasts, sorting lunches etc, but this morning proved a bit more trying than usual. First of all we got up & everyone got dressed & it seemed like we were off to a good start. But then it all came apart at the seams... my stomach started hurting. Now for any of you who aren't aware, the only way my stomach & back seem to get any relief during one of these episodes is by sitting & laying in a bath of roasting hot water. At 8am, this is 100% NOT convenient, especially when you have several people to get ready & escort to school. So I headed upstairs, clutching my stomach, knowing full well I had no time for a bath so I jumped in the shower & attempted, to no avail, to use the shower head to soothe the pain. By the time I got out, the toast had popped & gone cold, nobody thought to put anything ON the toast. So all children had breakfast & headed up to brush teeth & get hair fixed. Just about ready to go, all we needed were jackets & lo & behold W needed the toilet. So I ushered him upstairs & told him to hurry up & do a wee. But no, of course, he needed something else. So he sat on the toilet for over 15 minutes & did nothing, NOTHING, not even a bloody pee!! Then came the wasp at the front door, me screaming & running through to the back door (major wasp phobia by the way). But we made it there in the end, albeit late.
Then I lapsed into a coma again with the youngest when we got home from the school run, mother-in-law called to say she wanted to pick W up from nursery so I knew I could drift off for a while without panicking I'd miss W at nursery. So we got up & I was overcome with boredom & after exchanging a few messages the plan was to visit K & her son. Of course lunch time was first so beans on toast were on the cards. Allowing the youngest to feed himself is normally a bit of a messy event anyway but oh my God, the beans were *EVERYWHERE*. The spoon was cast aside & he was raiding through them with his hands (because, come on, who DOESN'T love playing in cold beans?), they were in his hair, all over his face, all down his t-shirt. So I managed to wipe all the bean juice out of his hair & off his face but had to change his t-shirt. On the way to K's in the taxi, it became apparent that my child's jeans are covered in bean juice & it's too late to turn back so as usual, my children end up looking like tramps!!
So after a nice visit, chatting & cooing over K's adorable & cheery wee darling, I was prepared for the nice atmosphere to continue when I got home but it was not to be. The kids had arrived home from school & holy shit there were a few ants managed to get in the living room. Now I'm talking like 10 max which probably got in when the front door was left open but the wa y our darling 10yr old drama queen was performing, you'd think there were a thousand man-sized vicious, rabid mutant ants cornering her in the living room. The screams, the chaos, the drama! Peaceful talking gave way to angry voice & I'm ashamed to say it... I screamed at her. I'm not going to lie, I was fuming at the carry on that went on this afternoon but I'm still pissed at myself 6hr later for shouting at her the way I did. Yet again though, we're our biggest critic. We apologised to each other & sang karaoke to make up for how we made each other feel. Respect is a two way street & we need to earn it from one another not just from child to adult. Losing it on either side isn't productive whatsoever.
But we made it through the day. Not surprised that there was another event which will stand out in my mind as "the day with Ellie & the ants" but I still love them all to pieces & wouldn't change them for the world.
- M
