Life is far never dull; far from it. Dull would be nice, occasionally. I love that life is never dull. I love that life is full of children’s voices, laughter, singing, fun activities and the general mayhem that comes with being a mum. The bickering, the shouting, the joyous celebrations and screaming frustrations that come hand in hand with computer games, the fact that I can not go to the toilet on my own without someone shouting ‘mum’ or rushing in needing the toilet at that exact same second, those things only worry me every now and then.
But once in a while, every now and then I need a tiny bit of space and small amount of time to be me. To sit and reflect, to drink a nice hot cup of tea down to the bottom, without being disturbed, without being a referee, without having to raise my voice, without having to find something that is not really lost, without having to console anyone but myself.
It is not a lot to ask really is it? I don’t often attempt such an amazing feat as having time to myself. Yesterday morning, I woke up early and decided as everyone was snoozing, I would sneak out and go down and have half an hour’s peace. I stealthily made a steaming cup of tea, I grabbed the iPad to catch up on some reading. Bliss.
Within, three minutes of my bottom hitting the sofa, I hear my husband getting up. Great! I have to explain at this point that my husband is the noisiest person in the world. He is. He can not creep, he can not sneak, he just makes noise and lots of it. As he tries to ‘creep’ down the stairs, I can hear the children starting to stir. He comes down with a smile and gets short shrift from me. So he decides (and bearing in mind it is about six o’clock in the morning) to go out and clean the car; in a huff. More noise; the finding of keys, the getting dressed, the search for shoes and front door banging shut.
He goes and there is no sign of a small person, so relieved, I open the iPad to find an article left by my husband about the benefits of oral sex for women’s health! Great! How dare he contaminate my morning reading! I quickly click goodbye to that article, preferring my mental well-being to come from a little light blog reading, when R appears from nowhere and makes me jump out of my skin and I spill my lovely hot cup of tea. He comes in for a cuddle and to look and see what I’m doing. “Where’s dad” he asks. I tell him he has gone to wash the car, great he wants to go and help. Back upstairs then to find him some clothes, he goes out and within seconds L appears. “Can I go on the Wii?”. Currently the question of choice for him on a daily basis. The answer of ‘no’ causes tears and much stamping of his foot. I am thinking longingly about my lovely cup of tea and suggests that he may want to go and help with the car cleaning. I get him dressed and off he goes, but within seconds he and his brother have had a fight and in he comes crying and screaming, which of course wakes A up.
The mere thought of a bit of ‘me-time’ gone again to make way for bickering and shouting and I never did get that cup of tea.
Aaaagh! I feel your pain 🙁 This is why I get up early and go to bed late because SOMETIMES I might get some peace from it!
Oh I feel for you – I a had a moment the other day when E was asking me the same question for the 100th time when I may just have screamed a little ‘please I just want to do a wee’!! x
Hubby and I were up this morning before the kids – as it’s Bank Holiday, this isn’t quite as good as it sounds – but it was bliss to sit together, drink a cup of tea, watch and talk about the news with no interruptions. It didn’t last long but it was glorious while it lasted! Hope you manage it soon… As you said on Twitter – 4am is looking more and more attractive!!