Numberthree. Try this line of reasoning: I need to get out of my brain. If only I could get a new brain that would tell me: "relax, everything is completely fine. Your seven year old son is not throwing these weird, unheard-of-before tantrums, he's not hurting and offending you without really knowing he is able to, every afternoon with him when he gets home from school does not have some moments of intensity that make you want to: a. drop everything and run like a madwoman down the sunny street, or b. drink six beers, like the other day."

"Relax", says my new brain. "Your son is not coughing his tonsils out every night since the weather got nicer {he is NOT coughing as you write, although you already gave him medicine}, which makes your husband suggest he stay home for a day to rest. Your husband does not make a deal with your kid about certain things he has to do if he's allowed to stay home, and then is not around to make sure he complies with the deal, leaving you with that responsibility..."

My new brain also tells me things like "of course there is an easy way to make your son stop throwing tantrums when he has never done that in his life!", when the factors that stress him out cannot be removed: like having so many changes in his life in just one year, like the way the school system is designed here, with so little time to socialize, to get rid of energy and to eat; like the way he has to spend so much time doing homework at home when he already spent so much time in school; like the way he has no friends his age, no independent social life like he used to have; like having a new sister that his mom has to spend a lot of time with, like having a graduate student for a father, a father with many time constraints as well...

My brain tells me that all the very carefully thought out, earnest and self sacrificing efforts we have made to make sure he is happy are working, I'm just imagining things when I think they are not. And then my brain says: "relax, you are not getting fatter, your university application was not denied, so you do not have to come up with a new plan for making your life in this country meaningful, exciting and fulfilling for yourself, you guys are not running out of money, you do not have to come up quickly with an illegal/interesting way of making money because your visa does not let you work in this country, and you did not just spend twenty four dollars at a lousy restaurant tonight, trying to relax and not have to cook, only to have the food stink and the baby cry all through dinner. Your husband is not finishing his semester at school, he is not almost breaking down from exhaustion and worry every time you feel bad. He does not tell you, so for sure it is not hard at all for him to concentrate on studying and writing papers and keeping up the A's with everything that is going on at home... but nothing to speak of is going on at home to begin with anyways... So...

...wtf was it we were worried about?"

{Game-show-host voice again} Welllllcome ladiessssss, to your new brains!!! There is one for every line of taste, from whimsical to perky to simple, plain brain-dead. Take your pick. You are welcome to try any of these brains out for a couple of weeks, and if not completely satisfied, you can always switch to another model that will better suit your needs. Whichever one you choose, we can guarantee that it WILL make your housewifing lives onehundredpercent easier, take our word for it, that's onehundredpercent.