Things I learned this week including that I don't function well on my own


This week has been a bit of a battle for me. LOML has been working in Melbourne for the week lapping up the five-star accomodations, five minute walk to work and five hours of blissful solitude every evening... jealous much? Which leaves me holding down the chaos that is Maxabellaland. I called for backup and my Mum and Dad arrived on Wednesday to see us through the rest of the week. Hallelujah!

I learned a few things this week as a result...

1. Single mothers are really amazing. I knew that already, of course, but I learned it all over again this week.

2. I can't sleep when I'm by myself with the children. I lie awake all night, keeping vigil. The burden of responsibility to get them safely through the night almost drives me crazy. Have you heard of the condition called Responsibility Induced Insomnia?

3. If there is anything that needs to be done in the evening, I can't stop going. I can't sit down and think "I'll do that in an hour" and put my feet up. Because all I can think about is doing that in an hour! So I have to get everything done before I can relax, even my nightly shower. Then I can just go 'aaaaaaah' and my on switch can finally be turned off.

4. You can't change what you don't acknowledge. Thank you, Dr Phil. After my WMG post a couple of weeks ago, I realised that I needed to take responsibility for how I was feeling and work on doing things to change either the way I felt the situation or the situation itself. I need to know that I'm consistently working towards being the best mother I can be (even if I never actually get there!!!). As a result, I've made a few changes that have had a big impact on this working mother... I'll post about them next week.

5. It's really, really difficult to write a post about birthing experiences and keep it real without going into the gory details. I wanted to keep it short and focus only on the sensation, but some of the comments I received made me realise that I might have sounded like I was idealising the whole thing. One day I'll give you all the details and you'll know that couldn't get any further from the truth!

6. How to make butterscotch from scratch (thanks Dawn). If you're keen to get the recipe, email me.

7. There's a fantastic site called Little Golden Gems that features treasured vintage Golden Books pages. You could click on the pictures for a larger size to print and use for crafting children's cards and what not. The illustration above perfectly sums up my week!

8. A BlackBerry can survive being immersed in water and thrown down a flight of stairs by an experimental two year old. Next week, setting it on fire.

9. At the Gala Day last Saturday, I showed many scary symptoms of the dreaded Soccer Mumdome disease. My ability to screech instructions from the sidelines plus run onto the field to administer a scolding during the match made me very nervous indeed. I'm very happy that Gala Day marked the end of the season. Unfortunately, despite Maxi-Taxi showing a remarkable propensity to skip rather than run during all of his matches, we may still have to front up next season. At the conclusion of his final 2010 match he said "That's the end of it. You won't have to listen to me saying "I don't want to play soccer" until next year now".

10. Vanity is largely over-rated. Nobody cares what you look like except possibly your partner who is bound for life to love you just the way you are anyway because you he knocked you up in the first place.

Happy Friday, everyone! Love youse all!

PS - Of course I'm a self-flogging floggy flogger again today over at Lori's place. I just can't help myself.


[Illustration by Bernice Myers from Golden Gems]