A day in the life...

Most of my weekdays look exactly the same:

Kids get up, I get up (yeah, they get up before me...and then they bug me every few minutes until I give in and get up myself), eat, field a million questions, get asked to do a zillion things that they know perfectly well how to do themselves, pick up after a never ending mess, lose my mind, play a game/read a book/ watch a show that I'm bound to get interrupted every 2-5 minutes on so I get frustrated and quit, figure out what I'm going to make for dinner, do dishes so I can make dinner, feed the troops, pick up after dinner, watch shows with the family or play games, bed time routine that seems to get longer every night, then put the kids to bed and send them back to bed far too many times to count and eventually they pass out.  I game with Jayson or watch the shows I couldn't watch during the day or read until way too late because it's finally quiet and I can actually think and then go to bed and start the process over again.  Weekends vary because Jayson is home with us and it makes my life easier.

The point of this?  I don't get how some moms do it.  How do the ones with more than 2-3 kids handle life?  All the noise, all the extra clutter...how do they not run away to Mexico and live on a beach with a cabana boy to serve them cocktails with little bamboo umbrellas?  That's what I want to do most of the time.  Of course, they hug me or kiss me or tell me they love me and don't ask me for something immediately afterwards and it erases some of the things that were pushing me to the brink of insanity.  Really though, how do these other moms have time to put away all the clothes and keep the house spic and span and do things with their kids?  

I'm the type of mom that puts the people before the housework.  I know my house is messy, I accept it.  I pick up as best I can and I have days that are deeper cleaning days than others to try to catch back up.  I feel like I never get ahead.  Do you other moms feel like this?  I do, a lot.  I feel like I'm in these 4 walls more often than not because going out in the heat with the kids brings up a whole other set of problems that make me want to hole up in my room and never come out.  

Parents:  What drives you freaking batty about being a parent?  What do you do to overcome it?

I've lost patience over the years for things like noise or clutter...these things irk me more and more as the days go by.  What about you all?  What is the big annoyance for you?  Kids, no kids, whatever...what drives you crazy that you encounter often?  Let's put each other at ease with our neurosis.  

Where is my non-judgmental maid service who not only cleans my house, but makes me drinks and cooks and amazing dinner all before Jayson comes home from work?