Battling colds, tantrums, and depression

So far my girls have had three colds for the season. I have been getting used to the routine. First sniffle brings out the humidifier. Big runny noses bring out the automatic suction...a must have for any parent with a kid who cannot blow their own noses. And aside from appropriate doses of noodle soup and medicine, lot's of TLC in between. Fortunately the girls have wonderful immune systems and after a couple days are good to go. The baby is especially resistant. I feel this is because she was breast fed. Never mind the fact that I do not need to vacuum because she is always picking up the tiniest atom and putting it in her mouth. A battle a choose to wage war against at whim as it is never ending.

Sarah on the other hand is becoming more and more willful. She has the nastiest tantrums whenever she does not get her way. I have to find creative ways of redirecting her and distracting her. Also the visits to the naughty wall are met with much resistance. The key for me is to keep her busy so that she does not find time to commit punishable offenses. She goes to playgroup as often as I can take her, visits with her cousins at least once a week, and I purchased a plethora of preschool activities to keep her busy for hours. She especially enjoys coloring and painting. I especially abhor the mess!

During all this I have found it necessary for me to go back on antidepressants. This is the part of being a stay at home mom that not many people tell you about. I am so busy from 7am to 9pm caring for these kids that I have no time for myself. Most days I feel drained and run down. Their dad works away from home and is hardly here to share his burden of the work. When he is here I do get some relief but the fine tuned parenting is always left up to me. Dauntingly simple tasks such as picking outfits that MATCH...or combing their hair or clipping nails is always left up to me. Not to mention the never ending laundry being put away in the right places. Anyway I was getting to a point where I was shutting down and decided that I needed more help and also that I needed to be on the meds. I think I get depressed more during the fall and winter. I am an island gal and I need lots of sunlight. We usually take a trip down south during the winter so I am looking forward to that.

Until then I can only do what I am doing now and that is loving myself as much as I love my family.