This morning I was woken by early by the baby who I managed to put back into bed with us for a little more sleep before the alarm went off at 7am. I’ve had to start setting it because we all kept sleeping in until after 8 since we got back from Italy. Harper came in shortly after cranky because something was wrong with the game she was playing on the iPad. I kept my eyes closed and tried to ignore everyone which I did for about 47 seconds before I had to get up.
Daisy arrived shortly after, in a mood, because of something. The girls started bickering, I asked them to take it out of our room so I didn’t have to make putting out a fight the first thing I did for the day.
It went from there, feeding the baby, getting breakfast ready, putting out fights, confiscating devices, so many stilly little fights between the girls, soothing Maggie, wiping benches, getting uniforms out, beds made. An actual dust up then occurred between the girls while getting dressed, Harper giving her sister a bleeding nose before running away screaming and hiding in her bedroom refusing to go to School or get dressed. More washing got put on and out, more beds made, a fight with Daisy and I where she told me that I have never actually proved myself to be a good Mum, not ever, and that she doesn’t actually like me very much. Tears over this. That.
We got them out the door, thankfully Rob dropped the girls off at School while I stayed and got Maggie to bed, and the washing on the line. I came inside and Frank proceeded to vomit on the rug and then the carpet by the front door.
DEAD SET.
Never you mind that people’s lives seem perfect and calm and pretty. That’s a little taste of how things went down in the Macdonald house this morning. Tomorrow is another day.
Remember that just out of that shot that makes Instagram there’s usually something else entirely going on.
How’s your day going?
What is it with bickering sisters!!! OMFG. I want to knock their heads together sometimes… They are only three, god help me as teenagers
I said the very same thing to Rob this morning.
I was just thinking this morning as chaos erupted around me that I would love a series of photos of what people’s houses look like while they’re doing the school run. Ours is like a bomb has hit it and I always think of those scenes in the movies where they say the family must have left in a hurry but really they were just doing the school run!
Ha! That would be a good feed.
Yay its not just my household that has morning tantrums , early morning like before 6am ( in queensland ). I have 2 teen girls that have a go probably on average 3 mornings a week either with each other or me. Not pretty at all. Usually its over hairbrushes, hair ties, gadgets , not listening. And this week Mr Ed chundered too , why do they choose the nice carpet and rug parts of the house instead of tiles in 80% of the house!!? Anyhow Thursday night is close enough to Friday so have a wine tonight. . You deseve it.
We were out of wine! Disaster!
We had one of those days yesterday. Sometimes being a mum is hard. Lucky they’re cute! The thing that got me through yesterday was looking forward to Those Two Girls next week & seeing you! Here’s to a better afternoon xx
Oh thank you – I am SO looking forward to it!
A rule in our house has always been absolutely no devices, computers or tv before school until you are 110% ready. We found it too distracting. But that’s just how we roll……
We usually don’t have them but everything has been out of whack since we got back. Won’t make that mistake again!
Love hearing about reality and that you pointed out what’s going on just outside the Instagram shot. The bickering sounds terribly familiar and tedious and infuriating. I have 2 brothers here that resort to fisty cuffs on a half hourly basis and I’m at the end of tether with it. It’s encouraging however when I hear similar things happening in other households.
Of course! It’s happening every where. Promise.
Oh my goodness it sounds like every afternoon this week. Feral, feral kids. Thank goodness today is the start of a long weekend and I can share this “joy” with Clint.
Enjoy my love x
that’s crapola isn’t it , I have two girls, sometimes there is just nil love between them, born on each others due dates same freeking star sign. Hearing you loud and clear on the dog vomit as have a 15 year old blind staffy. Sit down with something hot and something sweet and have a break luv . My hairdresser just said she swears by a 4pm coffee 😉
I have been rolling a few of those of late…never used to drink coffee past about 2pm but now I can and do!
Jeepers! Better than yours! 🙂
Ha!
It must be something with the Moon – coz DEAD SET – I put the daughter out of my bathroom and locked the door – all over hair ties. I lost my shit and she lost hers too.
Then at Kindy drop off I get
“I love you Mummy”
Lucky you do xoxo
Bless them – always saying the right thing at JUST the right time!
Commiserations. Must be something in the air… this morning was yuck. Woken by the two lads (5 and 3) at four f**king thirty this morning, and that set the tone for the rest of the morning until daycare drop-off – fighting, youngest giving my husband the cold shoulder (every morning, so sad!) as he leaves for work, things being thrown across rooms, my attempt at morning exercises being repeatedly interrupted, refusals to get dressed, being begged for ‘special treats’, water fights, instructions being ignored. Yep, we fit a lot in around here.
While I don’t ‘like’ the morning you had, I appreciate you sharing it here. I feel less alone 😉
Oh yeah, forgot to add yelling. Lots of yelling (by me)! Looking forward to picking them up this afternoon and hitting the reset button…
Hope today is brighter too Josephine!
Still happens here Beth with daughters age 23,20 and son age nearly 17!!
Even worse when both of the girls have their periods !!
I’m sorry your morning started out like that but I hope the rest of the day has been a bit brighter.
Did you have time for a little treat of some kind to pick you up??
Heaven help Rob in a few years time…I remember my sisters, Mum and I all used to synch our periods! That’s 4 at one time!!
This makes me feel nostalgic, yes weird I know. My sister and I fought like mad our entire childhood (my poor parents-I still feel bad). There was the usual verbal sparring and occasional pushing, shoving and locking out of the house (my sisters favourite as a teenager). These days we love each other to bits, mostly ! And after a year of having her live 4kms away (for the first time in over 10years) she has moved 9 hrs drive away for work and I miss her like crazy.
I feel for my daughter as she has no siblings and I know she will miss having a sister or brother later in life. God help her when she has kids of her own, she won’t have a clue what to do with the bickering and fighting siblings.
Tomorrow is another day Beth !
I used to fight with my little sister too – ALL THE TIME.
Oh Christ I’m exhausted reading that and amazed that you still managed to do all you did in amongst that chaos! I guess that’s what women and mums do…keep calm and carry on! Hats off to you Beth and hugs xx
That’s what we do – thanks Sharon 🙂
Mornings can be the absolute pits. Even though my boys are much older than your girls, getting out the door of a morning can be a marathon. Hope tomorrow starts off more smoothly for you x
It already has – thanks beck!
Something is seriously unbalanced in the universe. I know bickering is normal but deadset Mr 6 and Mr 4 want to kill each other. KILL each other. I kid you not… I am dead set serious. What’s with that?
Strength in a glass of NZ’s finest. It is juice after all… Perfectly femented nectar of the gods…
Ha! And to you.
Love your honesty Beth! Hope you managed sit down and just breathe somewhere quiet today! What’s with friggin’ chunder and carpet?!!! Animal or child – never on the tiles right?!!! May the force be with you love xx
It’s like some unwritten rule…my carpet has been given a good work out over the years.
You just described my morning perfectly. Except I have boys instead of girls, AND I happen to be solo parenting the three of them at the moment while hubby is away for work. Big, fat, mothereffing *sigh*
Tomorrow IS a new day. Good luck to you!
May the force be with you…
That’s a cr@phouse morning indeed… Good on you for the honest account of events.
I have to confess sometimes a morning like that results in me sending a mildly sick kid to school because I know there’s no way I could tolerate being home for the day with them..
You wouldn’t be the first!
*OH SNAP*
-Hubby away all week with work…. he has been flat out at work so its just his physical presence that is missing and he’s occasional input in feeding children.
-10 year old birthday tomorrow, making a cake for the first time EVER (I usually outsource!) plus the massive excitement overload that goes with birthday and trampoline party. Wants a friend to sleep over after the party but refuses to clean her room. I am currently hollering from the couch that I am going to cancel the party if they come out again complaining they are hungry/thirsty/want to see whats on the TV instead of cleaning.
– first week back at school (in the ACT). Term 4 is always busy anyway, and this time it is no exception. flat out running from the get-go. People annoying me over organising christmas concert which is in week 9. We’ve got HEAPS of time. It takes like 2 weeks to do that. Don’t bother me with bullshit this early.
– my house is a friggin tip/bomb site/no go zone but I haven’t had time or energy to clean it. Washing from last weeks hasty coast trip for *some* fleeting family time remains untouched.
send vodka and bouncers to break up the fights with my girls.
Happy Birthday to your 10 year old! Hope the cake worked a treat!
I’ve had three days of this same thing, boys (2 & 4) fighting and bickering every 2.4 seconds and cats vomiting everywhere! Must be something in the stars! So this afternoon I drove to my husbands work and we are now all in the city together for an early dinner.
Hope you had a good circuit breaker 🙂
We had gastro wipe through 6 out of 16 three year olds in my class this morning- all within the space of 2 hours. Not going to lie, sort of glad there were a few of us on the verge of (ok….that’s a lie….crying) this morning.
Here’s to less tears and more mango – roll on the weekend !
Hope you are all on the mend…gastro is every Mum’s nightmare.
Oh Beth! Tomorrow is a new day my love.
Today I just had bub at home so took it easy and he slept on the boob while I watched Gruen on iview. And miraculously he didn’t cry in the car when I picked up his sister from day care. Then he fell asleep in the car on the way home!!!! Unheard of!!!
May tomorrow be much more lovely for you. And if all else fails, just remember that they will move out one day. X
It already looks that way – the sun is shining and it’s a cracker!
Oh I can so relate! Pick up can be rough too. Especially on the day I do yoga (with toddler in toe). I feel extra Zen and excited to see the kids and then they are worked up, fighting, cranky and endlessly hungry (except for the dinner I spent too long making). I am impressed with your laundry multi tasking!
Got to make hay while the sun shines!
my mornings are insane, I run around like a cartoon character making beds, getting ready for work, sorting out lunch, breakfast, tidying up…I find the evenings so much easier. x
I can just imagine…I am the same!
Just when you think the day can’t get any worse. It absolutely always can.
Lucky we get another one soon enough to try over right?
The sun always shines again the next day my friend x
I’m sorry. It’s 11:36 pm here in the US. I got to the end of your post and laughed VERY OUT LOUD over Frank barfing on the rug to cap your morning.
We got a very lovely letter from our very difficult teenage son (who wasn’t sure we were the best parents in those years) when he was halfway through college. He was thanking us for putting up with him through his difficult years and never giving up on him. And saying we were the best parents in the world. He’s now 41 and saying the same thing.
Hang on and never give up. You are great parents. They love you, they do.
Laugh away Cyndy – I do too. Because otherwise I’d cry! When I first had Daisy and I called my Mum in tears sobbing down the phone “I Get it! I GET IT NOW. You only ever wanted the best for me. I’m so so sorry.” I’ve got a long way to go till then!!
This is why I love reading your blog Beth, your honesty, the good, the bad and the bloody awful!! Love it! xx
Thanks Narelle 🙂