The Family Invasion

I am not what you would call a typical family man, sure I have a family, and in my own way I love each and every one of them. However, after living on my own for such a long time, I now find my parents to be a massive hindrance to my existance, and it doesnt help that we live out in the country and I can't drive so the chance to get out doesnt come by often.

Now that is just my parents, but I have siblings too, A grown up brother and sister who are both 10 years older than me and have families of their own. Now my brother and his soon to be wife and daughter live here too, there is a good deal of activity going on at all times. But now we have a new set of mouths to feed.

In the process of moving house my sister and her husband and their two kids have moved in too. So right now we are all stacked in a little too tightly in my parents house, and I silently thank god we have two bathrooms or I think I would loose my mind.

Like I said I love my family, but usually that love comes from knowing I dont need to be near them that often, now for the first time in years we are all under the same roof, and the stress is definately showing. Everyone is a little bit quick to anger and irritable right now, myself included.

Last night was a perfect example of underlying stress, My mum was looking after my sisters daughter, which unfortunately meant that dinner got burnt because she was attending to her every time she dropped her dolly out of the highchair. The dog (which is a Massive Alaskan Malamute) kept trying to eat the baby and when we let him out he refused to come in from the garden. My mother at this point was getting a bad back from bending over to pick up said dolly. Then my nephew starts whining because he wants to watch Ben10, so my sister starts yelling at him to stop whining. My Brother in law hurt his back moving boxes so he needs to stay as still as possible (conveniant injust I know), and my dad by that point is making sure my nephew doesnt spill his crisps on the floor. Meanwhile I help out here and there with the odd bit of child minding, which usually involves me being hit with something made of styrophome.

By the end of it there was a lot of wine after the kids had gone to bed. To be honest I dont blame them at all. But tempers are strained. Thank god its only for a week. I do seriously miss living on my own now, life was so much more simple then.