The inevitable cry of the stay-at-home mom

Charley, 1 week old

So, I've been having a bit of a rough time with Charley lately.  I'm not sure what's going on with him these days.  I'm obviously way too close to the situation to assess the issues clearly, but he's really not acting like the boy I know.

Is he having his terrible two's late?  Is he mad for some reason?  Early puberty?  Moody-itis?  I wish I knew the answer.

This sometimes leads me to think, especially in the wee hours of the sleepless morning, that I'm not doing a good job as a stay-at-home mom.  This isn't a call for sympathy and comfort, by the way.  Just imagine it this way:  You're working on a project at work really hard... like 12 hours a day, 7 days a week.  I mean, it's your whole life.  Now imagine that instead of seeing gains from your hard work, the whole project is starting to fall apart and get worse.  It would suck, right? 

In my lowest points this week, I said that I just wanted to go back to work and let someone else do the day-time child-rearing. 

I think if I look at the situation logically, I would see that a number of events are contributing to my state of mind:   a week parenting solo, selling our house, not having a new house to move into yet, Chris being up to his eyeballs with work, the boys getting up pre-6 a.m. the last week, etc.

I'm sure in a few months I'll look back and say 'hey, yeah!  that was a rough stage', but being in the middle of it and having no idea how to get out is a tough place to be. 

So, there's my mood today.  If anyone has a miracle cure for the angry, crabby, bossy, whiny and pushy 4 year old send it along.

Otherwise, just hang in there.  I'm sure the next post will be more chipper and feature some of the usual shenanigans... it's inevitable, right?