So I’ll start by saying I know my annoyance with MIL is petty, but she just get under my skin sometimes...

Today I had a doctor appt and so she was watching my son for a few hours in the morning while I went there and to a meeting at work. I’m always super grateful when she, or my FIL, are able to help us out.

Besides general, small annoyance that happen with both my in-laws and my family about general parenting, there’s just a few things that really bother me about when she comes over. The main thing is that she always cleans when’s she’s here or finds some type of housework to do. I know what you’re thinking... “boo whooo, that’s the dream”. And what’s worse is I know if someone else, like my mom, were the one doing it, it wouldn’t bother me as much (though I’d still ask her not to).

I think the biggest reason it’s rubs me the wrong way is because she is CONSTANTLY talking crap about my SIL to me- about how dirty her house is and how loud their kids are, and yada, yada. I’ve been to their house, granted it’s not spotless, but it’s well put together and picked up for a house with four kids about 2-10! (My SIL is super sweet/laid back about life in general and doesn’t stress about making sure everything is perfectly dusted all the time and what not bc she’s more about “living in the moment” which I totally respect.)

Anyway, it just makes me think that she’s only cleaning bc she’s so disgusted with how my house looks, even though she says all the time, ‘oh, don’t worry about it’ when I say oh sorry about the mess, like if dishes are in the sink area. I get wanting to do something kind for someone, but it just doesn’t feel that way from her. I may be projecting, but it’s hard to reconcile what she’s saying to me about my SIL and while she’s also cleaning my house. To make the feeling worse, I’m am SUPER picky about things are done in my house. It’s a stress reliever for me to do the cleaning and to have things done my way (which is why I ask people not to help- and have also asked her gently not to do cleaning or laundry folding).

For example, I organize any dirty dishes that need to be hand washed next to the sink by order of how I’d wash them (I’m crazy, I know lol). And I got home today and they were all thrown in the sink on top of each other. And she also watered one of my plants but overwatered it and trimmed it way farther down than it needed to be! I was just like- WHYYY??

Again, I get this is petty and I should just let it go. Thanks for reading if you got here. Feels better to share somewhere.