TGIF

This has been a rough week. I've lost my temper (badly) on the daughter almost every morning. I feel so terribly guilty as I write this. She refuses to co-operate and does not wake up, get ready, eat breakfast, get out of the door for school every morning. She had her appointment with the pediatrician today (yearly checkup, nothing unusual) and I expressed my concerns to her doc....came back terribly disappointed by her recommendations and opinions (she talked about making my child feel humiliated which I would never do intentionally).

The Syrian crises has constantly been on my mind. I've looked at local resettlement agencies to volunteer at. Maya Angelou is on my mind:

The manager had to take an unexpected week off due to family illness, so work has been stressful in terms of responsibility (but thankfully, not in terms of time). 

I'm realizing that a change is necessary - either my job, or my routine (less work hours, more hours for kids), more exercise (I have worked out three times this week, but maybe it's not enough?), more quiet/meditation time (this one routinely takes a backseat), picking up a new hobby for myself (I bought some adult coloring books and primacolor pencils and I'm going to start working on them this long weekend) - something has to change. I'm tired, bored, frustrated with this routine!

Hubby and I have not gotten along at all this week - this is rare. We usually parent well together. But this week has tested both our boundaries. Hoping the long weekend fixes that.

All this makes me wonder: Do I have very high expectations of myself and my family? Do I need to slow down and scale back? How would that play out in the long run? I'm generally good at living in the moment and keeping the pace of our lives fairly slow compared to others around us. Maybe I need to rebalance and regroup and set the priorities right again!

On the positive side (and this outweighs all the lows above) - I get to spend the next few days with my mommy and daddy, with my sister and my little 1-year old nephew! They sure will take me out of my funk and restore me to normalcy!!!!

Here's to a relaxing and fun long weekend!