Living Arrows 2019: Week Thirteen

Another busy week in our household. I think we’re being held together by sugar, caffeine and pure adrenaline… or is that just parent life?! Work continues to be as busy as ever and juggling the home/office balance is becoming increasingly tricky, not to mention trying to raise two kids at the same time. Most nights I collapse in to bed with piles of clothes and bags everywhere prepped for the next day, mentally running through all of the lists as I will myself to get to sleep. But it’ll calm down soon, right? It has to, surely?!

This week we’ve had another week of celebrations – I feel like I write that every week. I promise we’re not happy-clappy-celebrate-the-opening-of-an-envelope types, it just goes like that doesn’t it? Event after event, followed by nothing! After the Christening last week we still had family down so it’s been wonderful to catch up with them. On Saturday, we celebrated one of the Nan’s 80th birthdays with a big party for Dave’s side of the family. I’d forgotten how filling afternoon tea is… I could barely move after!

Sunday was of course, Mothering Sunday. Woken at 5.20am with a kiss is a tricky pill to swallow; on one hand it’s far too early but on the other it was ridiculously cute. Presents (chocolate and the Pinch Of Nom cookery book – the irony!), followed by a meal cooked by Dave. It was perfect, incredibly stressful to watch him attempt a huge meal solo and trash the kitchen in the meantime, but completely and utterly worth it. I can honestly say I went to bed last night with my heart very full… not to mention my tummy!

Him

Another weekend, another chance to crack out his ‘smart clothes’. I love how proud he gets to put on a shirt and trousers, even if the look is more flamboyant artist than polished gent! He’s had a great week – after a busy weekend before we took things a little slower during the week itself knowing that he’d wear himself out once again this weekend. And he did! He loved partying again, this time with just his older cousin there to play with. Without the distraction of bigger kids the two of them played together wonderfully, leaping off of banks and attempting to jump over tree stumps before spending hours playing with the helium balloons which are now floating around our house! When you’re two (nearly three as he keeps informing me!), your five year old cousin is beyond cool. Trust me.

Sunday he turned in to Mr Helpful; helping his dad cook dinner, helping me wrap a present for my mum. I’ve noticed recently that if you give him specific, easy tasks to do then he takes to them well. He loves getting involved and, providing you have some rice cake shaped bribes to hand, it keeps his attention for a good little while. I love watching bits like that develop a couple of weeks ago he would never have wanted to do as much… now you can barely move without him trying to muscle in and ‘help’!

Her

A nice calm week for this one; she’s mostly spent it snuggling with me and practicing her standing. I can’t tell you how bizarre it is to see her stood up without holding on to anything! This weekend she even managed to crack walking with the push along trolley on our wooden floor. Usually it’s far too quick once she rolls off the carpet but not anymore. My little baby is getting so very very big these days. With the stands and movement come the falls and despite being fairly hardy we’ve had a couple of nasty bangs to her head and to her chest when she’s fallen across things. I’ve never known a child get so caught up in things – the clothes drier, the kitchen stools, the bottom of the coffee table… she’s in it all, the only safe place is to sit her in the highchair where she’s suspended up and out of trouble!

We’re still trying to find our balance and as well as she’s doing at nursery, I think we’re both feeling the impact of the time apart. Due to the days that I work and her sleep pattern, it feels like I don’t see her from Monday bedtime through until Thursday morning. In reality I do, but those snatched moments first thing in the morning and just before bed are fleeting and packed with things to do like dinner, clothes changes and various sorting. I miss her on those days and I can tell from the clinginess that she feels the same way. It’s balance though, isn’t it? We’ll adjust and I know that this is good for both of us. In the meantime, I’ll be snuggling her a little tighter when she wakes in the night and trying to wrestle some quiet moments with just her on our days together.

This post is linking up with the Living Arrows series over at What The RedHead Said. If you’d like to see more of our weekly updates, you can find them here!