Get a Grip Woman!

I am stressed at the moment. It's a word I actually don't like but hear it every day, not just from my mouth but from friends and colleagues and my husband.

It's a word I'd never use when talking to my mum, or anyone else from her generation actually. It would be a bit like telling someone who'd climbed Everest that you had trouble getting your ass up a step-ladder.


At the moment the most stressful place is at home, which is ridiculous because it's my favourite place to be. I know it's at home because I took this scientific test.


Why am I stressed at home? Here's a moment that escalated into me wanting to get on a boat to China today:

About 2am this morning Jack cried out just once, but I woke up as usual because the second his mouth opens my eyelids fly open like a ninja. He went immediately back to sleep but I couldn't, so I trotted off to the loo, so then Cody comes clip-clopping through the house. His nails making huge noise on the wood floors that threaten to re-awaken Jack. Then he stands outside Jack's door and has a good shake, I mean really gets a good rattle going with his collar jingling and tinkling for good measure. At this point I'm lying in bed thinking "I'm going to build a dog house in the garden and relegate that flea-bitten hound to outdoor living". Then, as usual, and for a reason only known to this cat, Frank starts his night howling. Every single night, since Jack was born, he howls near Jack's bedroom door. The howl is a low, scary, loud howl and there's no reason for it, other than to make me feel murderous. By now I am muttering profanitities and calling the cat names that would make a sailor blush. In summary, Cody's now asleep on my legs, Craig's snoring, Jack's murmuring (will he wake up?), Frank's howling and I've got pains in my chest with stress. Fat chance of sleeping.

I know this is ridiculous and I need to get a grip as there's a lot more going on in the world than noisy animals. It's probably because I've got so much other stuff going on, or maybe my age, or maybe I'm just not adept at dealing with multi-tasking like I used to be? "Multi-tasking" - there's another new, silly word that my mum would have a better description for. She'd probably call it "life".