A while back someone asked me how I was doing, and remarked “I know it is not easy in the trenches.” I remember immediately disliking that expression. Being a Mom at home caring for my children is not at all easy, but it is certainly not the trenches! I love what I do <3

Now all of a sudden today, I’M IN THE TRENCHES! How the heck did I get here? It started with my son coming downstairs about 5 hundred times very early in the morning. I was feeling tired and cranky. When breakfast came around he asked (begged!) for the leftover rice krispies we had from making green rice krispie treats for St. Patrick’s Day. He even offered to eat berries in his Rice Krispies cereal. Willing to eat fruit in his breakfast…Sold!

About 2 bites in he knocks his bowl of cereal off the counter and all over the floor. I swear the rice krispies got up and all walked a few centimetres apart just to spread themselves out as far as possible. The walls were marked with dark berries and purple milk. My son was covered in cereal and milk, and very upset about it. This morning we had a nice outfit picked out for him because it was parent-teacher conference day, but now the clothes he had just put on were a disaster.

I sent my son to the bathroom to take off his clothes. I don’t know why I did that! It just made a nice trail of rice krispies from the kitchen to the bathroom, where they dispersed on the bathroom floor. Let me just say wet rice krispies are not nearly as easy to clean up as dry ones. They are sticky and almost impossible to sweep. I broke out the vacuum because as much as I was starting to feel like losing my mind I had to start somewhere!

Upon my request for my son to help clean up, he comes running over with paper towels, and sticks one in front of the vacuum. Well, that was the end of that! The vacuum no longer was sucking anything up. The paper towel had now disappeared somewhere into the central vac. Somewhere I could not see or remove. This was after about 2 rice krispies were vacuumed and the other 8 zillion still rested all over the floor.

At this point I felt a strong urge to SCREAM! I decided to take a Mommy time out and go into the laundry room by myself for a minute to gather my emotions. I hear my 2 yr old yelling down the hall “It’s OK Mommy! It’s OK!” The cuteness helped.

I came back out, and returned to a crap-ton of cleaning. Of course the dishes didn’t get done last night. Obviously not a fan of that! The sink is overflowing and the dishwasher full of clean dishes that need to be put away. Did I mention by now it is nearing late morning and I haven’t eaten? To use a good term from Brooke, I’m starting to feel ‘hangry’- hungry angry. Hungry and angry are a BAD combination! It is just enough to push you over the edge into being a little bit more of a snap show.

Now I start talking to myself just to add crazy to the mix, attempting to give myself a pep talk. Telling myself such things as Lighten up Wendy! Everything that is important in life is fine, and hey, at least you have a dishwasher. How fortunate is that! One side of my brain is trying to be logical and lift the bad energy cloud looming over me, and the other side strongly dislikes the disaster control I am working on.

Needless to say, today I have not been successful in my goal of not complaining. However, the sun is shining. The mountain in the distance is breathtaking. The music I am listening to is soothing, and writing has been therapeutic. The gratitude I feel for having you to share my journey with swells my heart.

Now, can someone please put me back to bed?!

What helps you climb out of the trenches?
P.S. – Is it normal to feel nervous for your first parent-teacher conference?