Then some little visitors turned up, and a whole pack of sweet happy overexcited children ran amok while I quietly ignored the chaos in favour of knitting and pattern designing.
Well, Martin arrived home eventually, and the chaos subsided slightly. Or perhaps it's that it doesn't get into my head when it's not my sole responsibility! Film, home made popcorn, happy children... Bliss.
At Church, Talia enjoyed screeching to get people to look at her, so we decamped to the little room at the back where she switched her attentions to trying to pop balloons. *sigh* Martin took her for a walk outside eventually. And we spent the afternoon zipping here and there, water park, my mum's house, visit with grandad, crazy day.
The lack of posting or pictures yesterday is explained along similar lines. Noise, chaos, lack of positive mental attitude, exhaustion, burnt-out, long work hours for hubby, AND a busy day. Rhyme time at the library (on my own with four children = brave), sling meet (also on my own, but joined by hubby for lunch, and with more people to catch my children if they tried to escape) where I delivered some custom bright rainbow yarn to a friend and talked about home birthing and benign neglect as a parenting style. ;)
This was the rest of my Monday.
Monday was pretty darn joyous, actually. Something about Rowan's cheery affection and Talia's long nap in the afternoon... So today, I am going to make a good attempt at going with the flow again and not getting caught up in the "chore" mentality. Wish me luck!
That is what I have trouble with too. I get so focused on either what has to be done or what I want to do, the kids sense it and go nuts trying to get my attention, which in turn makes me not want to be near them! Some days, man...I had one of those yesterday!
ReplyDeleteGood luck to a better today and tomorrow and rest of the week :)
You have it precisely - hyperfocus on the activities instead of the people, and then it all falls apart! Hope your week has started getting better too. xx
DeleteI hope the noise has reduced, the chaos gone and life is flowing smoothly once more!
ReplyDeleteMartin had his usual days off, thankfully, so everything has been lovely! Back to work tomorrow. :S
DeleteI've been struggling with overwhelm lately with my three girls, so I can totally relate. I tend to let the chores all go by the wayside and just focus on the bare minimum when I'm feeling that way. Unfortunately, that leaves my house a pretty good mess a lot of the time, but if we're all fed and relatively happy, I call it a good day :)
ReplyDeleteYes indeed! It's a tip here today. But we're happy. I'm working on the usual principle that if I ignore the mess it might go away. ;)
DeleteI can relate to so much of what you have written :)
ReplyDeleteSometimes, simply taking some time to yourself while they play and wreck the house is just what's needed.
I smiled at "benign neglect as a parenting style"
Sometimes it works wonders.
:)
Works for me! You could call it minimalist parenting too haha, don't do for them what they want to do for themselves, don't try to hurry them to do anything they'll do in their own sweet time, don't freak out over things that almost certainly won't kill them (or matter in ten years time). That's my philosophy! ;)
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