Hello humpday – holidays, halloween and no more spots

It’s been a busy couple of weeks for us as a family. After almost four weeks of miserable, spotty children we are finally free to roam the streets again and I’m not sure who is more excited about it! The kids have all been very good about being itchy, hot, and confined to the house and we were all definitely due a bit of fun.

Which was good timing, as we kicked off half term with a LeapTV Party thanks to the lovely people at LeapFrog. Wee Man, Bubby D and 7 of their friends spent a happy afternoon exploring phonics, maths and social skills with the specially designed games and their very own console. I think they’d happily have stayed glued to it all week but there were other plans afoot – we were heading off to stay in a caravan in Somerset.

It’s the first time we have had a holiday on our own as a family of five, and it was a lot of fun but it was EXHAUSTING. Not just for the kids, who went to bed worn out and happy every evening; but also for the Other Half and I who followed them to bed not long after. It was lovely to spend some time free from distractions (there was very little in the way of phone reception or internet access) and just enjoy being together. In a way I felt like we needed another week of holiday just to recover from the holiday though…

…which definitely hasn’t happened, because (after a spot of dressing up and heading out trick or treating) this week was back to the school run, never-quite-on-top-of-anything, where ON EARTH ARE THE STUFF AND THINGS I NEED normality.

But a new kind of normality, because first off I had a rare night out to say goodbye to a friend who is moving to New Zealand. We’ve been friends since we met when our first children were just a few weeks old, and we’ve gone on to have other children close in age who have been at nursery together. Somehow, even though we still lived fairly close we never got to meet as much as we should have – time just passes so quickly – but whenever we do it’s that kind of friendship where we can just talk about everything without judgement, and with lots of support. And now suddenly, she and her family are going to be living on the other side of the world! It’s kind of odd, thinking that we’ll possibly never be together again as the same group of postnatal mums. I’m sure it’s a lot more odd and scary for her! But at the same time I’m kind of in awe; moving to New Zealand is something that we have often talked about ourselves but it always seems like that’s all it is – something that is just talked about. Having it actually happen is a little bit amazing.

And secondly, I had a day in the office, being back in work mode – having adult conversation, having more than a minute to myself…the opportunity to consider things outside the world of babies. It was strange, and different to how I expected. It’s thrown a lot of things into turmoil too, because I’m kind of unsure when I’m actually going back and in fact IF I’m actually going back at all. Until I get some answers to the questions that came up I don’t really know what’s going on.

But the big positive is that Little B has handled it all really well. She was happy enough with me being at work, she took her milk from a bottle with no problems and she greeted me when I got home with a big smile and a few pats around my face to check it was really me! It’s a relief to know that she wasn’t upset, although also kind of bittersweet because my little baby is growing up. Already she’s showing a bit of independence and she doesn’t need me so much any more. I forgot how quickly that happens.

So I’m looking forward to a quieter end to this week. Well, until Saturday anyway. Because then I’m off to Blogfest!