Various vents and other things

First, my mom's visit. It was actually a pretty nice visit for the most part. My mom is probably one of the most overbearing, controlling, tactless people you will meet. I've learned to live with it, but most people avoid being around her. She gets along with Mike OK, but not great. Better than she got along with my ex husband. Mike just won't take her shit so when she starts insulting me, our household, our parenting, etc. he will speak up about it. She really has no respect for anybody so I'm surprised there weren't a lot of arguments while she was here. I wish I had a better relationship with my mom. Mike had a great relationship with his mom and took it really really hard when she passed away 6 years ago. My mom just doesn't know how to relax and have a good time unless she's with little kids. She was cleaning the entire time she was here, but also wanted me to clean along with her all. the. time. I didn't want a home renovation, I just wanted her to visit and have a good time! She just isn't happy unless everything is perfect though.

By the end of her visit she was wearing out her welcome. She has no problem insulting people to their face and said pretty much every day how lucky we were that Katie looks like me and not her dad. She also has very clear favorites with my children. Hayley can do no wrong and throws temper tantrums on a regular basis. It's pretty bad... she doesn't DARE do that with me, but when my mom is here she knows it works. She is mean to her sister, always snatching things from her and shoving her into the door or off the bed. My mom says NOTHING about it. When Audrey retaliates, she's the bad child. She is called a brat, mocked and sometimes spanked. Not ok. I got on my mom's case about that so many times, but she just doesn't stop. Audrey is a brat with an attitude problem and Hayley is an angel. It makes me sick, really. Since Katie looks so much like Hayley my mom is just enthralled with her. When the girls stayed with my mom for vacation I had to hear all about how Audrey is such a brat and how she doesn't like to talk and refuses to smile for photos... I haven't had a single problem with any of that since she's been home. I really don't know what to do about her favoritism, but it makes me want to not let her see the kids when it's obviously hurting Audrey.

Next we have men and their inability to deal with stress. I know babies can be frustrating and squirm and wail for no apparent reason, but why do they have to get so stressed out over it? I swear unless the baby is sleeping I can't give her to Mike because he gets all stressed not being able to figure out why she's squawking so he can calm her down. She's difficult to calm down when she's upset as it is, but when he gets stressed it just makes it worse. I don't think he's held her for more than 10 minutes at a time when she's awake. Sure, they nap together sometimes and I think that's great, but I'm getting really burned out being the only person holding her all the time. I want to eat a baby-free meal or just sit at my computer without having to worry about whether or not she needs something. She has successfully taken a bottle finally so I'm no longer necessarily the only food source (I've stocked up a lot of frozen breastmilk), but he seems to have no interest in feeding her. It's like "I don't know what she wants, so... here." I guess there's something to be said for that maternal instinct. She's 5.5 weeks old now and I'm the only one who has ever gotten up with her at night other than maybe 2 diaper changes total.

On the other hand, Mike is too sweet sometimes. He keeps telling me to give him the name of the salon I like so he can look into spa packages for me. We really don't have that kind of money nor do I want him working overtime to get it. I'd rather get something for all of us if he worked OT. He really wants to do something special for me, though. I've tried telling him I don't want or need anything and I love that he's trying to do something nice, but it's just way too expensive of a nice thing. All I really need is about $100 and a trip to the mall alone. Not that I like malls. It just happens to be where they sell the makeup and cleansers and stuff that I use. I don't know how he thinks he would handle the three kids if I went out for a few hours or half a day. Poor guy.

Birthdays are coming up quickly. I ordered a cake and that's about it. I have no ambition or energy to plan a party and we only know a couple kids as it is so it would be kind of pointless if they couldn't come. We're thinking about taking the kids to Splash Town for their birthdays instead of doing a party since they're just swimmy little fish anyway. Mike's birthday isn't until November, but I'm trying to figure out what to get him now... I wasn't able to get him anything last year and he is the hardest person in the entire world to shop for. He doesn't have any hobbies besides the couple of games we play and he doesn't want anything. Whenever he wants something, we get it.

I think that's a lengthy enough post for now. Nobody would make it all the way through this drivel anyhow so I'll be off now.