A Life Update: April 2018

It feels like a long time since I last updated you on our lives. I don’t mean the projects or the big bits, but the day to day stuff that I promised to document as much for myself as anyone else. The last few months have been a hectic blur as ever and whilst I always promise myself that I’ll slow things down, I’ve done the complete opposite. So, as the year ticks on and I realise the more personal side of this blog has been looking a little unloved, I thought it was time for an update of where we are.

You’ll be hard-pressed to miss now that we’re adding another little person to our brood. It’s not something I’ve hugely promoted on social media; I thought I’d want to but to be honest, this poor child is already suffering from second child syndrome. We’ve taken barely any bump shots, talked about it only in snatched moments and can hardly believe that in a few short weeks there’ll be another member of our family. This week I officially went on maternity leave, something that’s hard to process when half the time you forget you’re having a baby!

That’s not to say that this pregnancy has been easy, each week has brought it’s own challenges. Parenting a toddler and growing a baby make for an exhausting combo. There’s little chance to rest, lots of bump bashing from the toddler and my poor joints are shot from hefting the two of them around. I’ve spent nights laid awake worrying about how this new addition is going to fit; scared that, at not even two years old, our son will find it a confusing experience. I’ve worried about losing our bond, about being away from him if we have to go into hospital and about how he’ll adjust. Ultimately I know that’s just part of motherhood. That the guilt that I feel for ‘robbing him of his mum for a bit’ is just my mind playing tricks on me and that I’m giving him a friend for life. But you know what the middle of the night can be like for deep overthinking…

Talking of the toddler, he’s progressed into a real little boy recently. His language is incredible considering his age and he can now form full and fairly lengthy sentences. He’s like a sponge for absorbing things which has meant we’ve had to be careful what we say around him. He’s bossy, independent and has just learnt the art of a good old fashioned toddler sulk. Most recently his moods can flit from happy to sad in mere seconds, neither of which he’ll hide. Yet for every single tantrum, there’s a hug and a ‘little kiss’ and a request for ‘mummy cuddles’ that undoes my frustration at him in moments. He’s actually good fun these days and although we’re about to re-enter the newborn phase again I have to admit that I’m preferring toddlerhood. Even if it does come hand in hand with early mornings and constant demands for snacks.

Our house is finally at a point where I feel we can relax. We decorated the final two bedrooms over the last few months as well as got the garden completed. It’s such a relief to be able to go into the summer and the baby-days knowing that the jobs we have left to do are the little finishing off tasks that don’t have a time frame as such. The next few weeks will be spent sorting out the piles that have appeared during those months and general pottering. Finally, after a lot of imagining, worry and money, we have a home that we truly love.

In other news, things continue to go well. The dog continues to demonstrate limitless amounts of patience at being climbed over. Our jobs are busy but fulfilling and the summer is stretching ahead of us with very little planned at the moment. We’ve talked vaguely about booking a trip away but are yet to commit to any dates and we’ve a couple of big family events that will give us something to look forward to. Mostly though it’s about having a summer of family time and getting some of that chill out time that I so often hear about, not that we expect much of that with two children around!

Finally, this blog continues to grow and develop with some careful nurturing. There have been times where I’ve thought about stopping and have struggled to fit it in to our lives and I know this is only going to continue to be an issue going forwards. So please, bear with me over the next few months as we re-adjust ourselves to life as a family of four. I promise to baby spam you as much as I possibly can in amongst the mayhem.