Reminders

“The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one's 'own,' or 'real' life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one's real life—the life God is sending one day by day.” –C.S. Lewis

Yesterday was a mess. The kind where you call your husband at work at 10am with pee (not your own) dripping down your legs and ask him to please rent a carpet cleaner on his way home. And then call him back later and ask him to also please get supplies to fix the back screen door latch because your baby fell out of the house and on to the back patio. The kind where every other minute the house seemed to have another insect in it that needed to get “taken outside” (RIP).

Nothing earth-shattering, and certainly nothing far outside the norm (except for the falling-out-of-the-house thing; that was new). None of it should have frazzled me as much as it did. But my reactions were so disproportionate to the events of the day. I was rude, and impatient, and so bothered by every little thing that Eloise told me I should calm down :(

We are healthy, safe and cared for. Today, everything is good. So what that probably means is I need to do a better job at expecting and preempting these “interruptions” and “annoyances” (aka motherhood) and managing myself better so that I am calmer and more capable of dealing next time an issue crops up (so, in two minutes).

The best ways I know how, that I haven’t been doing well lately:

GO TO BED EARLIER. This is the hardest thing for me.

Get up before the children. Even harder.

Possibly save the wine for the weekends. Sometimes my 5pm weekday glass does the opposite of what I think it will and makes me less capable of dealing with witching hour shenanigans instead of more relaxed about them. I’m not totally sold on this resolution but am leaning toward it. (It would also help rein in our booze budget!)

Also not sold on, but considering, devoting part of the girls’ afternoon nap to productivity rather than my usual cat nap. Now that Amelia is consistently sleeping through the night (PTL) I’m not in as dire need for daytime sleep, and it’s harder to justify spending the huge chunk of precious child-free time on rest and relaxation. I feel like my afternoon nap makes me go to bed later, which makes it harder to wake up early and more tired during the day, which starts the daytime napping cycle over again. Although I love napping more than most things, I think I have to break this cycle on most days.

Am I the only one who sometimes flies off the handle for minor things? My husband certainly doesn’t (but he’s also a saint). My best friend blames her strong reactions to things on her fiery Mediterranean blood, but she’s a lot more Italian than I am so I’m not sure I can use this excuse either!