It seems like I'm either frustrated with my own mother or my MIL, usually at opposite times so that I'm frustrated a lot of the time! My mother isn't big on babies, little kids in diapers, kids that get cranky when they need naps, etc. I'm not exactly sure how she raised two kids of her own, but I guess she was fine once we get out of diapers and became self-sufficient, which we did pretty early on. So if I ask her for help, she usually acts as if it is a huge imposition (I've called her out on it and she even admitted it). She doesn't understand what it's like to have high-maintenance GT kids (I was a laid-back GT kind of girl) so she seems a bit overwhelmed with my little ones. Since DD3 is older, DM has been better, but the last time she watched DD-then-6mo, she basically told me she can't watch her again for a long long time. Sigh.
DH and I try not to ask people to watch our kids often, and with the baby's stranger anxiety, I would never hire a babysitter just to put her through hell with a crying baby. Since my MIL watches the kids twice a week, we don't feel comfortable asking her to watch the kids for a little bit while we go to dinner or something.
This kind of adds to our frustration with my MIL... I tried thinking of all the different possibilities that would not involve her having to take DD to preschool. I even said I would take a different lunch-hour, pick up DD at school and drop her off at MIL's house so MIL would only have to drop her off in the morning. But apparently that was no good either. To make matters worse, I briefly talked to one of the girls I worked with about switching our work-days around and now she's not happy about switching days (if MIL doesn't drop off DD, I HAVE to switch my work days so I don't work on the days DD has school -- there's no other choice). After the fiasco with MIL, I almost threw a stapler across the room when my co-worker told me this (keep in mind, last week she told me she'd do anything she had to to make my situation work).
I didn't really throw a stapler; I just got really quiet.
Many times I believe it would be a lot easier living in a cave.
