Hello,
I've been lurking on this board for just a few days and it's a relief to find somewhere where parents chat that's not just a casual excuse for a mum-bashing bitchfest.
At the risk of appearing like a boring cliché from the very outset, I could use some helpful advice about my MIL.
Right, so after a good few years, I have made peace with the gap between the type of mother I wanted and thought I would be and the mother I am. The biggest gap being that state of the bloody house. I get the operational stuff done that allows for generally decent living standards and then I call it quits and play with the kids (ages 4 & 2) and/or read a book or anything else.
MIL, who lives abroad, will be staying for a few weeks and dh will be in hiding (working). I already have knots in my stomach. She is a complete Type A personality, never sits down, always perfect, she takes housework VERY seriously. I'm a disappointment to her. Last time she came she phoned home to say she had 'gone native' and hadn't ironed her clothes, this provoked hilarity from whoever was at the end of the phone.
I'm not normally such a bloody wimp, honestly. I'm torn. On the one hand, I'm tempted to hire cleaners to do a deep clean before she comes, get the laundrette to iron all the clothes, get my hair and nails done and then swan around like it's all a breeze and send her packing with some good pr. I don't want to be their family joke. On the other, I think I've come a long way to not indulge my anxieties about needing to be perfect. I think I might be fuelling this idea that I'm not good enough and that I have to fake it.
I know it's trivia. I had a crap night's sleep with my littlest.