Family of 5. Sorry what? We are now a family of five. Three children under 4! Things were insane before, now we are just asking for everything we get!
Now what is even more disturbing, I am now the main responsible carer for these three children as Gary has returned to work. It was inevitable but still a scary prospect. So these last couple of days have almost been like the first days of my new life. I have realised that sometimes even for the most fleeting of moments that I am neither responsible or care that much! There have been highs and lows, both as extreme as each other. These have been blended in with intense narcoleptic episodes, mostly between 3.00 and 4.00 pm.
There has been playing, fighting (Rufus upped it a notch by donning a storm trooper mask and finding his foam sword before assuming a lets go position in the garden, it is not to hectors shame that he was understandably intimidated!), laughing, crying, running, sitting, craft (I am not a fan of craft led by infants, this is partially why they attend nursery!), very little chance to sleep (thus slipping into narcolepsy at times), luckily for me little chance to eat (the children have eaten lots!), music (I swear it wasn't to drown out their voices!), washing, constipation (for my dignity I'll state it was Rufus!), more tears (see previous statement), spiders (everywhere?? Why? Is it seasonal? ). The realisation I need to organise a christening, a hen do, move house and also be a good bridesmaid in the next couple of months. Oh god when is Gary back from work....commence clock watching! There have been some classic statements of 'I don't like it' from Rufus - he hasn't 'liked' yoghurt on his finger, his plate, all of his food/drink, Hector, his car seat, bath time, nappies, spiders, wasps, the sofa, me (I'm pretty sure of this), clothes, shoes (especially shoes), nursery (he loves it once there), bed, the front door, the garden, his hair behind his ears....I won't go on!!
And then there is the absolute abject fascination with the new addition to our household! Evelyn! When Rufus was born Hector was absolutely not interested, in fact i am fairly sure that he didn't really accept him as a permanent feature to our family till he was 1. Even then, I don't think that he started to like him until fairly recently. Things are different this time around, and the amount of fussing, song singing (a manic high pitched rendition of twinkle twinkle) touching, leaning on, the level of enquiry about her is never ending.
If I say one more time, 'leave her whilst she is asleep' or 'not so close to her face', or 'no, no leave her eyeballs alone' or 'no please do not lean on her', my voice may crack and the two boys may realise that Mummy is not thrilled by how much love they have to give their baby sister.
