Oh, Yeah. Wine.

You know what I hate most about blogging?  When you've typed out something kinda lengthy and in one mis-keystroke, you wipe out the whole thing.  Let me try this again.

I love my kids.  I chose to have them.  They're mine.  At the same time, sometimes I want to be more than just their mom.  I want to be me, too.  And that's sometimes really damn hard.  There's nothing special about having more kids.  I don't know that my job is harder or easier than anyone else's.  There's no prize for motherhood (though there probably should be). So, I'm not angling for one here.  I'm just expressing what I think most of us feel from time to time.

We all can get overwhelmed, frustrated, or touched-out.  There's only so many times a day that someone can pee on my floor before I start plotting my escape to someplace tropical...like Ireland.  Only, then how would I get all my cuddles?  So, I stay and hope that the next day is better and I feel refreshed.  Sometimes, that even happens.

One of the best new things I've found for helping to preserve my tenuous grip on sanity, is a new friend.  I have a new neighbor across the street.  A single mom with two kids whom my kids adore, she has a great sense of humor and almost always a bottle of wine.  Wine is good.  Friendship, even better.

Over the years I've done a lot of things to connect to other women and other moms, since we no longer live in the kind of communities that foster that, and Dominic doesn't want to move to any commune that doesn't have wifi.  I've joined message boards, found playgroups, had knitting dates with my girlfriends, and the occasional sushi lunch.  However you have to do it, do it.  Whatever you can.  Find the women who will help you stay sane and remind you that there will come a day when you're not covered in spit-up and breaking up fights.  It's worth it, I promise.