I want to be a crazy cat woman!

There are days when I love being a mum, when I see every little thing they do as a little miracle! Then there are the days like today.....I want to cash in my chips and start again with a litter of kittens!

Today is much like any other day, the baby is cranky, his teeth are killing him but at 4 months there's not too much I can do for him! My little princess is narky, I think she's over tired, she's just had a row with her best friend (It's practice for the teenage years isn't it? I think girls best friend friendships are so intense even at a young age cos they are preparing for the boyfriend years) And my nine year old boy is going mad upstairs with his friend.

The noise.....oh God! The constant screaming, shouting and laughing! I know I should be delighted that they are all so happy (except for the baby who is crying cos his teeth won't break through his gums) and they are most definitely happy and full of life, but on days like today as I try to drink a cold cup of coffee and take two paracetamol tablets to blunt the pain in my head I wonder what life would have been like if I'd ( sorry George) turned a different corner?

I'd definitely be a cat lady....two or three at least, all queens ( I don't like Toms) they'd be called taibshe, puca and lolly, one black, one grey and one crazy tortoiseshell. The only noise when I arrived home to my clutter free apartment (yes apartment...no grass to cut) would be the cats gentle meowing! Then it would be Sheba for the cat's and a goats cheese salad (or some other food that kids can't stand) and a bottle of wine for me, reading, phone calls, TV, maybe even a night out, before slipping out of my non vomit stained expensive, dry clean only clothes and into the power shower, then with nothing but some fresh perfume and expensive moisturiser I would slip between the freshly laundered sheets of my lovely queen size bed, followed by an uninterrupted nights sleep! Blisstopia!

So do it you say, leave your family, go live the dream (I'm sure reality would be a lot different)! I do have moments where I think about it, but even as I wrote the fantasy above it lost it's appeal, I'm aware of all the negatives that go with those positives! Anyway my hubby and I have babysitting tonight so it's three or four hours of child free fun! Yippee! And the best bit? When we come home they are all tucked up in bed and only the frazzled look on the babysitters face hints at the trauma of the bedtime routine!