Alyssa is regressing with potty training, which she had pretty much mastered by the first week of September, with the exception of a few accidents here or there when she would be playing or otherwise dawdling and not get to the bathroom in time. Not a big enough accident to break out the mop or wring out soaking wet pants, but enough to have Alyssa change clothes. Anyway, since my brothers have been here (exactly four weeks as of tomorrow), and with all of the stress and upset going on, she is wetting herself rather frequently. Today, twice. Yesterday, four times. Sunday took the cake with SIX times. And by wetting herself I don’t mean a little leakage… I mean the whole she-bang.
Combine her regression and my brother’s near daily bed wetting problems, and I am finding myself doing laundry every single fucking day, multiple times a day. Let’s add in an upset cat who feels the need to remind us of his feelings by urinating AND defecating on not one but ALL of the beds (four, six if you count the air mattresses) in the house at different times. So you can imagine my distress and outright panic when my washer wasn’t spinning and draining. Thankfully, Dan fiddled around with various tubes and such, and now my washer is working as it should. Thank God!
On a totally unrelated note, I want this. My mom has a larger sized one, which I love. But I want the smaller one because I don’t have as much counter space.
I’m so fucking stressed. There aren’t enough strong words in the English language to express my stress and frustration right now. No lie – on the morning of Alyssa’s birthday, as I was leaving the house to go pick up her cake and balloons, I couldn’t help but think about how far away I could get on a full tank of gas and $70.
I just want to run away. But I can’t. Arghhhhhhhhhh.
Not sure if it’ll help your situation, but when I was working at petsmart, I had multiple customers swear by a cat litter called ‘Cat Attract’. It’s supposed to work for cats that develop those types of bad habits, as well as older cats.. it’s supposed to have an enzyme or chemical or WHATEVER in it that attracts the cat to use the litter box. Might be worth a shot..
I don’t have kids YET, but I can tell you I have considered many times how far I could get on the gas that I’ve got.. lol. Wondering if I could make it to Oregon to be with my mom or back to Texas with my friends.
Hey, you should drive here to Colorado and keep me company!
My parents bought the Kenmore version of the foodsaver, and WHEN it worked, it was wonderful. But it stopped working after about 6 months, and they’re too lazy to take it in and utilize their LIFETIME WARRANTY. I dunno. lol.
As for the stress, can your mom take both Alyssa AND Ryan for a couple nights so you only have to worry about two kids? And maybe keep the cats out of the way for a while so they don’t get so aggravated?
You need a vacation. Away from all the kids. I’d have lost my mind by now with all the bed wetting. Although the potty training regression is completely normal, especially during stress. Don’t fret that one. Your brother though, I don’t know. Make him clean it up himself. You know you can’t do it all, all the time. You’ll lose it.
Wow, I don’t know how you are handling that situation. It would totally stress me out.
Jenn – I wonder if I can get to Colorado on a full tank of gas?
Ranee – I’m already starting to lose it. Then my mother accuses me of being bitchy. Well, GEE, considering I have four kids in my care and am getting rather shitastic sleep for weeks on end, I would imagine I would be a little bitchy!
Just curious but why are you keeping your brother’s for such a long period of time? I may have missed it from a different entry if you posted the reason, just wondering since it’s already a hand full having your own two to take care of and now your brothers, that’s an awful lot. If you’re becoming so stressed out, perhaps they should go back home. I understand you’re wanting to help your mom and such whenever you can as she helps you with Ryan and Alyssa at times but it still isn’t your full responsability ya know? Let her know…because you do need a break before you crack
Yikes, hopefully your brothers will be back at your mom’s house soon, then I am pretty sure that Alyssa will just fall back into where she was before the boys showed up.
With your brothers problem, get him to clean it up. Show him how to turn on the washing machine, and get new sheets and where the clean ones are kept. Though hopefully they will be out of your place soon!
Also with the lack of sleep thing, I know it sounds stupid but it is the simplest solution. Go to bed earlier. Schedule washing and dryings for mid-day, you can vacuum and clean while a wash load is on, or play with your little ones. Then start dinner early, or even cook two dinners at one time and save the other one so you can have more time the next day to do other things. Trying to get to bed before midnight, or even 11:20pm would help you alot. Even if you go to sleep with the dryer running, you can fold in the morning. Bleh, don’t take anything rudly, I’m sure everything will be sorted out soon enough so you can get back to your regular daily life.
try putting a litter tray in the room your kitty goes pee on the bed alot. ( or in all rooms it goes in, if you can) they usually just go back to where it smells the most. hope things settle down soon!
Oh Jenn, it sounds like you need a break! Can you make it to Canada on a full tank of gas?
I bet Alyssa is regressing because your brothers are there. Maybe she feels she’s not getting enough “Mommy” time and knows you spend time with her after she has an accident? I would tell your Mom that you need some time and that you can’t take care of four children all together, or she needs to help you take care of her sons. Some kind of thing!
I use a product called “Mimi Litter.” It works very well.
Oh, hun, I’m sorry things are so frustrating. *hugs* You know you can always lean on me, if you need to.
Is the cat spayed or neutered? My cat would “spray” (I guess they call it), and as soon as I got her fixed, she stopped. She used to do it on my couch, and I had to throw it away.
I know what you mean about wanting to run away. Not that I have much to run away from, but it seems like a good idea sometimes. I always think “I only have this much money, how far can I get” too.