I believe I have officially reached my threshold.
I am tired of carrying the baby around 24/7, and nursing him nearly as much, and he’s a fussy little bugger.
Terzo is firmly in the Terrible Twos and has thrown several tantrums in the past week that left ME sobbing. And he weighs a freaking ton, so I have been left watching, helpless, because I can’t hold the baby and physically deal with picking him up. Which means that I stood on the sidewalk the other day - baby in the front pack, Terzo lying in a puddle on the sidewalk freaking out – and just waited him out. Stubborn little cuss (wonder where he gets it?) kept me there for fifteen minutes.
Seg, too, for that matter – my sweet boy, screaming No! and throwing himself on the floor, or jumping up and down hysterically, over NOTHING. Nothing, I tell you. He’s turned into a total drama queen.
But Primo – Primo takes the cake. Oh my god, he takes the cake with frosting, and buttercream filling, and sprinkles on top.
He’s been faking stomachaches and lying about throwing up every morning for the past week. He lied to come home early from school on Monday. H and I have asked about schoolwork, his teacher, bullying, his friends – anything we can think of, since it is CLEARLY NOT physical – and come up blank every time. I have NO IDEA what is going on but I am moving quickly from sympathy to anger and frustration. I should not have to be threatening, cajoling, and ordering my seven-year-old around every single morning to get him out the door. This morning, when he claimed illness, I told him he could stay home but there would be no TV, computer, games, hockey, or playing outside – if he was home sick, he needed to be in bed, reading or sleeping. Within five minutes, he “felt better” and had his uniform on. I am at my wits’ end.
And while I am kvetching: my laptop battery only lasts for an hour, I have a chapped area on my lip that hurts like hell and looks like a cold sore, I need a haircut and an eyebrow wax, and I am tired.
I have lost a ton of weight but now am terrified that I am going to pack it all back on.
And we are out of orange juice, my desire for which continues unabated.
Oh, and have I mentioned the weather? Cold and clammy and wet and grey. Sorta like my brain.
It may be March on the calendar, but it’s still February in my soul.
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*Calvin & Hobbes
13 comments:
Poor you. You're amazing. I don't know how you cope. I can barely manage one.
I wonder if the older three are having a bit of a reaction to suddenly becoming four...
Fingers crossed that everyone's moods improve soon! And that the dratted weather gets better.
Well, see? That's the problem. It's March.
Everyone says February is the worst month but March has always made me CRAZY. Twitchy and itchy. Good Lord. What with the wind and the up and downing of the weather and the WIND. It'll make you nuts.
Hand in there Babe, hope eveything calms down soon.
I wonder if Steph is right about the Primo situation.
This too shall pass. And in the meantime, there is coconut cake.
(may I also say kudos for letting Terzo tanrum himself out on the sidewalk? The force is strong in this mother!)
Awwww, you need someone to take care of YOU. Can H take a tomorrow or Friday off as a mental health day? Not that he'd take care of you, but he might take care of 1 or 2 of the hooligans so YOU can take care of you. Even a quick nap would work wonders. I wish we lived closer.
And yes - kudos to you for letting one lurk in a puddle, and also for not whacking the lot of them.
Yeesh. New babies are hard but having a new baby and three other little ones? I can't imagine.
Now I know why all my childhood friends with lots of siblings had such chaotic homes.
Maybe the secret is to embrace the chaos.
Both of my kids were winter babies. Ugh, I remember all the greyness and feeling all cooped up. Good news! Spring is getting closer every minute! There's hope!
Also, I left you a Facebook message. And yeah, I had trouble figuring out who you and Sarah Louise were on Facebook too. I had to break out the old detective/Clue skills!
Yes, I thought it might be a bit of attention-seeking from all of them, due to the baby. I have no idea what you do about that though. Maybe your husband can give THEM more attention for a while and let you focus on yourself and the baby? Praying for you dear girl...
As far as the terrible two tantrums, one time in a parking lot, Paddycake decided to throw a big one, throwing himself to the asphalt kicking and screaming. I said "Paddy if you don't get up right now mommy is going to leave without you." Still kicking and screaming didn't stop. I said, "Ok, bye Paddy, mommy is going home." Before I could take one step tantrum stopped like I had flipped a switch, and he jumped up and ran to me and grabbed my hand and compliantly got in the car. Remember you have to call their bluff. You are just too tired from the new baby. Have hubby take them on Saturday, so you escape to the library.
There is something about 7 that turns kids into rabid hypochondriacs, even without the New Baby Syndrome. Hell, *I* even remember faking a stomach ache every other day in 2nd grade.
Spring is coming, I promise.
My cousin did the fake sick thing a lot this fall - he's 8 - and pulled things like pretending he couldn't put weight on his leg, then being brought home and running around the living room. Or saying he was going to throw up, getting sent to the nurse's office, the nurse calls his mom, mom asks what he's doing, and the nurse says, "eating his lunch." And he didn't even have the new baby in the family excuse. So it seems like a weird trend in kids that age. I wish I had advice - just sympathy!
Like a few people have already said, it sounds like the attention-seeking gene has kicked into overdrive - which is understandable but soooooo very hard to deal with on a day to day basis and with a very young baby too. It's at these times you need a break - even it is small and only lasts an hour to have a soak in the bath or something to get you a little recharged and able to put one foot in front of the other again. I feel for you BB; keep blogging it out - it lets you blow off some part of the steam. We are all thinking of you.....
Make sure this weekend you get a whole day lying in bed with the baby, a good book or seven, and several cups of tea, and make H deal with the other three.
Lotsa love,
s
What everyone else said, esp. about the new baby giving everyone else the desire for more of your attention.
I'll have to think of something--I have a couple advance readers, they might not be any good but at least you can say how bad they are...
The fourth breaks you.
In my experience.
Rinse and repeat.
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