Case of the Mondays

Let’s talk Mondays.

Mondays tend to be my hardest day of the week, and I know many people who can understand this sentiment. Most of these people work Monday-Friday jobs, which can be hard to go back to after a weekend.

Being a stay-at-home mom, I don’t have a paying job to drag myself back to. So why is this day so hard for me?

The simple answer? Because my husband goes back to work.

No, seriously. I’ve come to the conclusion that it messes with my kids. For a while I thought it was something I was doing (like, am I just a terrible mom?!), until I realized that the problems we have are almost ONLY, and ALWAYS, on Mondays.

So what is it that makes Mondays so rough?

The top thing that happens is that my kids refuse to cooperate with naps.

Normally, Amelia will nap around 9 or 9:30 for about an hour (maybe longer). On Mondays, I’m lucky if I can get her to go to sleep around 10. And if she sleeps more than 30 minutes, it’s a miracle.

This lack of a good morning naps makes her CRANKY. Because she’s cranky, I can barely put her down without her screaming like the entire world is ending. And I don’t mean she’s crying because babies cry. I mean SCREAMING to the point where it sounds like she’s gonna lose her voice (because that ‘s what would happen if an adult did that). So I’m constantly trying to keep her somewhat comforted.

(Just so y’all know, teething makes this 1000 times worse)

While I’m in the midst of that, I inevitably forget to make Rin go to the potty. And even if I do remember, she fights me tooth and nail on it, so a 1 minute activity takes at least 5 minutes to complete (all while she and her sister scream bloody murder). So there’s almost always a pee cleanup on Mondays. The rest of the week, using the potty is no big.

At least today, while I was trying to put Amelia down for a nap again, she had her accident in the bathroom when she was trying to get her pants down to use the potty...

And then there’s the fun of keeping Rin in an approved location while I feed her sister.

You see, on the weekends, she has almost free reign of the apartment, even when I’m feeding Amelia, because her daddy is here to keep her out of trouble. Not so during the week.

So I almost always fight with her on Mondays to keep her in her room while her sister eats so that A) Amelia doesn’t get distracted and B) she doesn’t get into something that she isn’t supposed to.

And then, of course, is the breaking of the rules. Because apparently, that girl forgets that this momma enforces the rules since daddy enforces them on the weekends (which gives me a breather).

It doesn’t help that Mondays are hard for me too. Because I, too, get used to Andrew being here over the weekend helping and miss him when he isn’t here. And I always manage to not get enough rest or not get coffee in the morning because I woke up late. I get cranky.

I get a case of the Mondays.

So, again, I’ve come to the conclusion that Mondays are rough because Andrew is at work. They get used to him enforcing the rules, and get used to not having to be cooped up in a room.

And we just plain miss him.

But, this too shall pass. Andrew will be home in the afternoon. The kids will sleep tonight, after hugs and kisses and snuggles. We will have our fun moments that will make me forget about the times I want to pull my hair out.

I just have to remember to breathe through the all the “Mondays” in life.