Mornings are hideous arent they? Well some times in our home they are. Maybe some of you reading this have Littleloves who sleep or even sleep in and you feel nothing but refreshed and love and daisys in the mornings but mornings at our place Suck. It’s an area we are constantly trying to improve, Mr O has started the wake up call at 5:45am to see will more time at home in the morning help (off his head waking me at that time). Usually we take two steps back and one step forward. Mr O and Aoibhie are morning people. Birds singing, cinderella animals sweeping our floors type morning people. Myself and Littlered take a lot of coaxing to feel human in the morning so as you have probably guessed, we dont get on with Aoibhie or Mr O until lunch time.
This morning for instance. Aoibhie handed me an Elsa outfit. I explained to her that the theme of dress up day was nursery rhymes but we could get away with a fairy tale perhaps. I suggested cinderella as it is still blue and to be fair looks the same as the Elsa dress, to which she had a melt down! All before 6:45am!! Somewhere along the way, this littlelove (right now I could think of other names for her) acquired an aversion to Cinderella (please, don’t get me started). No problem. It’s a little cold this morning any way so If you want to go as snow white I have a red cardigan you can wear. Wrong answer on my behalf. She couldn’t bear the thought of covering up such a beautiful costume. What was I thinking.
Then came the tears. LOTS of tears. Then there was yelling. LOTS of yelling. And at one point I thought, we aren’t going anywhere today. Mr O is going to come home and find us both passed out from all the tears and all the yelling.
Finally, after a phone call to daddy (hers…not mine) who had left mid toddler melt down, numerous empty threats (I am talking early bedtimes until she finishes high school), I stopped and realized I was acting like a mad woman. In all honesty, Jeremy Kyle would want me for his show.
Why do I let this happen to me? Why do I take the bait everytime? The hook, line, and sinker! The more angry I became, the more stubborn and emotional Aoibhie became. I do it all the time though. I take the bait. If the day starts off badly I consistently let it continue that way. My anxiety then trigures a laziness in me. It brings on a stubborness in me that makes me want to sit and drink tea in my PJs. Not to mention lets me eat a packet of biscuits!
Anxiety knows our weaknesses. Anxiety hits when we are tired and stressed and knows all of our triggers. I knew that this morning’s fashion wars would send me straight into orbit. When I finally stepped back and took a moment and recognized this anxiety attack for what it was, I did what I should have done in the beginning. I counted to 10 and counted my blessings. I will not let this monings madness steal my joy for the day. I apologized to Aoibhie for acting the way I did. I let her wear the snow white costume with no cardigan and extra lippy (sorry Mr O).
I would love to say that the rest of the morning was all care bears and rainbows but then that wouldn’t be real life now would it. My point is, from the point I realised I was over reacting… I stopped. I counted to 10. I realised I was being utterly rediculous and tried not to let Mammy guilt hit me for the day. It was a bad start to the morning, but we moved on and I am going to try stay out of the biscuit tin.
Mad Mondays ey?
Love, Helly x