Barrybran IV - Three Years Forward, 30 Years Back

[Barrybran]

Journaling:

This "weekend" hasn't really gone to plan. Yesterday, I had a list of things I wanted to achieve and I didn't even get close to completing them. My wife threw some things at me that I hadn't banked on, not that it's a problem as I had the day off and she was at work, and I had my two girls at home for the day. Working around everyone's needs slowed me down and it got harder to start back up each time. I was drained by the end of the day and thankfully my kids were good and went to sleep quickly. My wife arrived home as the kids were heading to bed and we watched a TV show we'd been watching together, made some small talk and she went to bed.

Through the night, my two eldest kids were sick from what I suspect was food poisoning from my cooking. I was up with my son for 2.5 hours while my wife was up with my daughter for the same time and neither went to school/daycare today. We were all drained this morning but my youngest decided to pick up the slack and became a right handful throughout the morning. My wife asked if I wanted her to call the babysitter and I agreed as I was tired and still wanted to get some things done around the house. By the time the babysitter arrived, I was losing patience with the kids and desperately needed some alone time.

The babysitter took my kids away and I pottered around getting some things done but I just didn't have the energy. I fell asleep on the couch for a while but not nearly long enough. I've enjoyed my alone time today and it got me thinking, with how my days off had gone, that I might need to call the babysitter in on one of my days off so I can get things done and have regular alone time.

With the kids around, not only did I not get much done yesterday, I wasn't able to go to the gym either. I'm enjoying the gym but I've always seen it as my responsibility to look after my kids on my days off rather than palming them off to someone else. This afternoon has made me realise that I need to suck it up, let someone else take care of them and use a day to take care of myself and the house. I'll still have a whole other day to look after the kids and hopefully I'll have more energy, interest and patience with them having taken care of myself too.