Not sure if anyone noticed the recent full moon last week. I was commenting on how I hadn't seen a full moon in so long and remarking at the beauty of it when suddenly I found myself completely annoyed at my husband. Not sure why, he was simply remarking on how we are now having the driver and ayi move with us down to Shenzhen and rather than see the blessing of this, but I suddenly became irate and somewhat out of control. "What!?!?!?" I screamed, "This changes everything!!! I can't believe you would change the plan without telling me and now you've thrown everything off. We have to find a bigger apartment and change our move dates all over again! I can't believe YOU!"

Stunned as I'm sure he was he was completely taken aback by my outburst. Sadly I thought I was the only one in this world feeling this way, and obviously I must have the worst marriage ever, and how I could imagine spending the rest of my life with this person who doesn't seem to understand me at all! However, turns out after talking to my girlfriends I also ran across this great article aptly titled "Mad at Dad" on Parenting.com. Guess I'm not the only one who feels this way. We all love our husbands so much and of course they are the bestest daddies to our children, yet why are we mad at them for what seems like ALL THE TIME?!

The article has some great points and I would love to hear what people think about this. I completely agree that for mothers, our lives do change a lot more than our husbands do by having children. Not only do we go through all the physical changes of pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding, and the horrid after effects of all of that, but the mental changes as well. All of a sudden we become this "walking encyclopedia" (as the article states) of family facts. We know each kid's shoe size, clothes size, what time they eat, sleep, what they ate or will eat, when they last pooped or will poop right down to the color and consistency! Our brain is so full with all the worries of what has happened, what is happening, and what will happen to our children that we are constant stress cases. I often say, ask me about Tanner's poo and I can tell you every last minute detail, but ask me where my keys are -- forget about it.

Also for many of us mothers today, we used to be these working professionals and were pretty good at our jobs. We had the great outfit that matched the great pumps that matched the great crocodile skin briefcase that matched our tiny, skinny belt that went around our tiny skinny waists. Now we are probably in gray flannel pants all day with shirts that have a wide array of spit up, spilt fruit juice, thrown spaghetti sauce and snot from runny noses on the sleeves. This can be a huge change for lots of women and when we see our husbands walk in that door, plop down on the sofa and say "whew what a day -- what's for dinner honey?" it can be enough to make you want to throw yourself off the balcony!

Luckily for us in Shanghai we have domestic help. So this gives us a lot more free time and can save us from the problems of housework, chores, dinner, etc. However it doesn't take away the mental stress and mental tiredness we still have as mothers. I often find that my husband can shut himself off to thinking about Tanner and I. He can truly take a long nap while Tanner is playing beside him. As soon as I hear Tanner's voice, I'm up and no matter how tired I am I can find a way to play with him and maybe even teach him a new word.

In the end, the truth is that men really are from Mars and women really are from Venus. Sure you may think you can find another man to replace this one and maybe get a better version; however, at the end of the day it’ll be the same problem. Realizing the stresses of being a parent and acknowledging this with your partner can help you to understand each other so that hopefully the next full moon, the werewolf will stay in its cave.