There goes my holiday

Just like a friend commented in her blog, a holiday is not a holiday without a maid, especially when you have a few rambunctious kids. Oh well, I have spent the last 3 weeks chasing after my 3 kids, cleaning up after them, teaching them to do a few things by themselves (probably faster to do it for them), getting all stressed up over how things are going to be when school reopens, doing rush jobs at shopping for groceries and going to the market (would be good to have roller skates!) and trying to focus on applying for my scholarship for the masters programme. I am NOT managing well. Barely surviving. I need a real break soon.
The only holiday I really had was the Bangkok trip and the week after. After that it was rushing to get the maid's things in order before she went home and going for the conditioning camp. I feel bad that I was not much of a help during the camp. But Ms Liew had help in the form of the new teachers. And I was also on the phone quite a fair bit to organize the gigs for the cheer girls. Once again, I wish I could have been there. That's the bane of not having reliable help to handle my kids. I guess my my complaint about not having a maid is more to having someone who is able to take care of my kids and see to their needs when I am not around. Or that she can free me to do my own work, or school work. Right now, all I have time and energy for is TV (and the Net) if I'm not entertaining them.I worry about them a lot especially Joel, as they can't take care of themselves yet. And they are so active that you get all stressed out just screaming after them to "don't do that, don't touch this, don't fight, don't ... all sorts of things" and to actually DO something like "wash your cup, put that back, eat your food .... the list is endless". If I were not a working mum, I would worry less because I'm around. But I'll be going back to work, so I am extra worried.
My one and only option now is to let my 2 younger kids stay on in the kindy after hours for full day-care. And then I pick them up only when I finish work or when I am done with things I need to do. It might just be the best option really. At least when Jonathan gets home from school (around 2pm), mum only needs to take care of him - his lunch. He can bathe on his own and go to have a nap after that. I get off work and pick the other 2 at either 3pm or even 6pm (if I have activities after school). That is AFTER school. I just hope that hubby and mum can manage the 2 younger ones for when they have to go to kindy ... in the morning. Jeremy is ok. Joel will take some work. Sigh. Jon ... I will handle him early in the morning as I get ready for work anyway.
So, I guess I should NOT be worried anymore. Okay. That's it.