Really today has been basically fine. But I'm finding myself extremely irritable and on edge. Everything was going fine until the kids started fighting, and then it all went to hell.
The kids had built a huge mountain out of the couch cushions (I hate it when they do this) and were jumping on them, and of course one of them fell and got a little hurt. He says his sister pushed him, which could easily be true, but I don't know. Once I determined there were no actual injuries I was just mad at both of them for making a mess and for doing something dangerous.
Then my wife discovered a hole in the coffee table where a little wooden plug had been. My son had pried it out and lost it. This made me so angry. (I am still angry, but I'm trying to calm down.)
My wife reminds me that if we're going to leave the kids unsupervised all day while we're working we need to expect that things like these are going to happen. She's right of course, and we're fortunate that our kids are generally well-behaved in the grand scheme of things. I also realize that there are millions of people out there with real problems who would gladly trade them for some lightly damaged furniture.
I know that I'm supposed to be cutting the kids some extra slack because we're all on edge and struggling. I'm really trying but it is very hard. It is tough to manage my own emotional health while trying to look out for theirs, not to mention everything else going on. I'm working on it...