7:12 AM Tue, Jul 08, 2008 | Permalink
Paige
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Fatigue - it is a mother's worse enemy. The minute your first bundle of joy enters the world - sleep becomes a precious commodity that is often sacrificed for a wet diaper, a monster in the closet, or a misplaced stuffed bunny. As they get older, sleep continues to elude us as we lie awake thinking about the C- on the report card, a broken heart, and their college entrance exams.
The problem with this lack of sleep runs deeper than the dark circles under our eyes. It clouds our judgment and affects our relationships. As our fuse gets shorter, our husbands become increasingly more stupid and our kids become progressively more annoying. As for us, rationality is replaced by pent-up anger that ultimately explodes into a freak-out tirade over such things as socks on the floor or a lost library book.
So what's the answer? Well, I would love to offer such words of wisdom as "take care of yourself", "give yourself a break", or "schedule some 'me-time'".....but who am I kidding??? It all sounds good in theory - but your kids still need to get to baseball practice and your husband refuses to glue cotton balls on your third-grader's history project.
The only advice I can give you is this - cut yourself some slack and take all the help you can get. That means don't beat yourself up if you have to buy a store bought cake for the bake sale or if you forget to write that thank you note to Aunt Edna. There is only so much you can do with four hours of shut-eye and six cups of coffee!
I completly understand this!!! Between my two kids and my husband, there is ALWAYS something going on at home!!! I am always complaining how tired I am, and my husband always remarks, that I don't do anything except sit at work and work on a computer....what he doesn't realize, is I am the one at work at 6 am every morning, I get home, feed the animals, cook dinner, clean the kitchen, straighten the house, do laundry, pack lunches for myself and him, bathe the kids, pack their bags for daycare, get them dressed for bed, take a shower myself, and finally maybe around 10 I get to go to bed, all to be at work at 6 the next morning. He comes home, eats dinner that is already ready, talks to his friends, or goes to ride his horse, comes home and climbs in bed!! And he says he's tired after working all day!!!
I hear you ladies! There are just some mornings I want to pull the blanket up over my head, turn off the alarm and lock the bedroom door and tell the kids to ask their father! Only I know that he will just tell them to come ask me. Take all the help you can get sounds great but when you are your only help, then what?
I will be celebrating the 1st b day of my 3rd girl and we are excited about that, but not only has my fuse been short, or my emotions been a wreck , but I have also spent the last year discovering how pitiful my focus and attention are. I used to rock at accounting and have always been detail oriented, but as the the end of the week approaches, I start making stupid avoidable mistakes. I am okay when I catch them, but not when the boss does.
I have learned not to beat myself up, but in the office, no one understands, and they do it well enough. The additional symptoms have become low self esteem and lack of confidence in my work. I am looking for a different job that has more to offer, but the "downness" seems to be carrying into the interviews.
Does anyone have any advice about that?