A City Under Attack?

I have sometimes been accused of over-analyzing things, but when people ask me the perennial (and possibly perfunctory) question "how are you?" I feel compelled to answer thoughtfully. I find myself searching for that one perfect word that will sum it all up and illustrate the complexity of my feelings. The word I've hooked onto recently is "besieged." According to an on-line dictionary it means:
1. to lay siege to.
2. to crowd around; crowd in upon; surround.
3. to assail or ply, as with requests or demands.

Whether through persistent crying or carefully chosen words punctuated with an exaggerated "pleeeeeeeeeeease," my darling off-spring make their urgent needs known. Often. Loudly. With two children, ages 2 years and 7 months, I am indeed a city under attack, cut off from food and other provisions, limited in my communications with other adults, my resistance slowly being worn down. My husband often describes parenting as "relentless" and so it is.

And as he says of me, so too of the children: "If you weren't so darned cute, I'd have dumped you long ago." How could such sweetie-pies cause so much chaos?