Diary of a FIFO swing

The day he leaves - I can do this. The house is tidy, I'm on top of the washing, I'll tidy up every night, do the dishes every morning and it'll be fine. This is going to be the best swing ever. Chai's at school full time so getting things done will be heaps easier, I'm going to be so organised.
See a cockroach on the roof. FFS. Never see cockroaches on the roof when Tiger is home. Deal with horrible cockroach. Yuck.

Day 1 - Had a crap sleep last night, I'm so tired. Not a good start to the swing but that's okay, I'll go to bed early tonight. Forgot to pick up my coffee machine yesterday, crap. Both kids spent the morning fighting, crying and Eljay threw constant tantrums. That's okay, it's been a stressful morning but I can deal with it. Left the house for the school run with the breakfast dishes and remnants all over the lounge room. We were very nearly late for school. Oh well.

Day 2 - Right, I'm onto this. It's going to be a good, positive day. Gave the kids breakfast (yoghurt which they asked for). They don't eat it. Eljay smears it all over the place. No problem. Give them breakfast number two which they eat. The boys play happily together whilst I prepare Chai's lunch and get us all ready. We're just about to walk out the door when Chai smashes Eljay in the face with his skateboard. FFS! I yell at Chai, he gets upset. Crap. Spend five minutes calming him down so he's not upset at school. 
Go home, do the housework and play with Eljay. He spends a good portion of the day throwing himself on the ground crying. He asks me to chase him, I chase him, he starts crying. We're reading a book, he starts crying. We're playing and I'm tickling him, he starts crying. I can't win today. 
Playing with the boys after school, Chai gets frustrated when Eljay picks up the toy that I had, so he hits me really hard on my sore knee. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I'm over this shit. Why does this shit only happen when Tiger is away? I know, it's because the boys are upset because they miss him. I can't fill that void for them, no matter how hard I try. Put them both to bed early.
Deep breaths. Tomorrow will be better.  

Day 3 -  Eljay wakes me up by throwing a tantrum. Great. Then the boys have a fight, we haven't even been awake two minutes. No problem, I can be calm. Calm green ocean, calm green ocean. I turn my calm music on. It's not working. They go outside to play, have a fight and both start screaming. It's 6.30am. This never happens when Tiger is home. I calm them both down, give them cuddles and try to cheer them up, I'm determined that this is going to be a good day.
I really need to do the dishes. I haven't done them since Tiger left, we've been having a heatwave and it's just been too hot. I'll do them tomorrow when it's cooler. The house is relatively tidy, there is only a little bit of washing I need to put away, I've got this. 

Day 4 to day 7 - It's been crap. I haven't managed to turn the computer on at all. The kids have been fighting non stop, my house is a mess. Oh well.

Day 8 - Time to regroup, I can do this. I'll clean the house, do the dishes and it'll all be awesome. Tomorrow. I'll do that tomorrow. I was out all day today. All the things happen when Tiger is away. Chai had a birthday party after school so we didn't get home until 6.30pm. Now I'm madly racing around trying to get ready for tomorrow.

Day 9 - I'm on the home stretch, not too long until Tiger is home. The end is in sight!  

Day 10 - I'm over Tiger being away. I miss him and want him home. I'm sick of talking to him on the phone, I don't want to talk on the phone, I want to see him and touch him. FIFO sucks. The house is a mess, what's new. Haven't done the dishes for three days, I've been too busy trying to stay awake.