Being a parent is hard

No sugar-coating here, I'm just going to come out and say it: parenting is hard.  Freaking hard.

This is nothing new, in my life or yours.  It's something that all of us parents have experienced- those moments when only the deep, deep love we have for our children gets us through (and sometimes even with that it's only barely).  Tonight is one of those nights.

Brief (hopefully) backstory- we've been living out in Skandia with my in-laws since May.  Truly, we're beyond thankful for their generosity and compassion, because without it I don't even want to think about what life would be like.  They've certainly helped us find some stability in the midst of another one of our transitions.

But we also underestimated the strain of living roughly 500% farther from town than we were before.  Adding about an hour of travel time onto each day on top of an extra 30-45 minutes of "get around" time in the mornings, and now having two children in elementary school to pack lunches for and check back-packs and....I know, I know.  A lot of these are first world problems, and in the grand scheme I don't have anything to complain about yadayadaya. 

That doesn't mean life isn't hard though.  Tonight, life was hard.

More backstory- Sara was able to get a part-time job before the school year at the local WNMU station.  Obviously a blessing, not going to dog it.  It did, however, take away some of our flexibility, especially in the mornings (Sara has to be to work 30 minutes before I do) and on Monday nights, when she has her vocal ensemble (it's like, 1 credit, she needs it for the music program) and can't come home in between because we live in Skandia.  If having an outstanding family support network is reason #1 we've been able to make it, flexibility is #1a.  Another adjustment, another stressor.

So I've pretty much been running the show on Mondays- working a full day, coming home, getting the kids dinner, making sure their lunches get packed and get showered and dishes get done...basically I don't get much time to sit down and chill (obviously I have enough time to do this blog but I'm pretty much writing this on adrenaline so it's not really "chilling").  Again, I don't mean to complain- for some people this is the norm.  It's just been a difficult adjustment for us- me especially, in this particular instance.

All of these things added together make Mondays very stressful and hectic on the best of days.  Today was not the best of days.

Without getting into specifics, I'm just going to say that Delaney flipped out at Shane and I (for reasons still unknown), Shane had two pee accidents, including one right before bedtime, and...well, it's nights like tonight where I go into the living room, throw myself on the couch, and start sobbing because I just don't know if I'm going to be able to do it.

I don't have a tidy conclusion.  Just the knowledge that I'll pick up the pieces, and do it all over again tomorrow.  Thanks for reading, and I hope that you find whatever you need to make it through your hard times.