Functioning Dysfunciality

Functioning dysfunctionality is my husbands new term for our family and I think it fits really well...




 Functioning....

- my house is always tidy, if I have to clean 50 x a day it will be tidy... just in case you never know who will come knocking.
- the kids are always fed, clean and clothed
-we follow a strict routine
- my kids are healthy and eat healthily
- we appear relatively normal to most outsiders
-my kids are good kids.. scratch that they are great kids
-my kids attend a great school, they are hardly absent and get good results
- our boys spend equal time between their dads and us, both sides are remarried and in happy stable relationships.
-we survive

Dysfunctioning...

- sometimes tidy means shoving things in a cupboard until later (if I don't see it it helps the ocd... just a little)
- no sooner than my kids are fed they are hungry again and wailing about starvation
- getting them to stay clean requires a daily 2 loads of washing and a constant supply of wet wipes and cat and mouse in order to keep faces clean and hands unsullied
- clothes are sometimes changed 2 or 3 times a day, Gabriel especially loves to wipe everything on his clothes, often clean school clothes means changing on the way out the door
- the routine is strict but sometimes requires bribery, begging or both but it works in the end
- there is constant noise, activity and someone wailing about something being unfair, or one child having something the other one wants
-the kids are on strict diets but sometimes its hard not to give in and just let them lose, even if it means a crazy sugar high and an awful sugar crash after
-Lo and G love to fight and argue, sometimes we just let them fight it out
- Both my older kids have disorders- sometimes this results in tantrums and meltdowns, sometimes it involves putting them into time out 30 times before they stay there or holding them while they kick and scream at you, with your other kids demanding attention at the same time...
- getting chores done can involve much nagging and bribary
- we live from pay day to pay day and there are days when I get to bed not knowing how I will get to work the next day but we always manage
- we have more doctors and therapists than a psyc ward and enough disorders between us to write a self help book.
-the 2 households thing can be very frustrating and difficult at times its hard to get along sometimes and not scream or go mad at the other side

All in all our life is pretty much a constant flurry of activity and mayhem, but its an organized chaos that just fits, I wouldn't have it any other day, I really wouldn't even on the bad days when I fall into bed un-showered still wearing my clothes and make up at 11 after being up since 5, the school rush, working, rushing  through dinner, baths, school lunches and bedtime, while my kids pull at my skirts demanding attention or start a fit over something ridiculously trivial and end up wailing from an injury self caused.... when I put them to bed and I kiss them goodnight when I walk away and see them smile softly in their sleep... this makes it worth while and I know that we are at least getting something right....

Call it organized chaos, dysfunctiality... whatever... I call it love