I was thinking back today about when J was younger and I worked in town. I would say goodbye to the family and hubby would drop J off with his mum on his own way to work. I would sit and read on the commute and then get on with the daily grind. I would spend my journey home reading too. I didn't realise back then just how lovely it was to just sit and read - one of the many things I took for granted, like having the time to clean your teeth and shower at will! I'd get home and it'd be a mad rush to get dinner cooked and J to bed so that we could sit down and have a bit of an evening before turning in and starting it all over again the following day.
At the weekend, I'd spend the first half of pretty much every Saturday catching up with housework and doing countless loads of laundry.
We'd then have the rest of the day to ourselves as a family and most of Sunday too. By the time Sunday evening came around, I would have a pile of ironing to do before being able to turn in for the night (I find it quite amusing remembering how huge that pile of ironing used to seem to me!), and then the grind would start again first thing on Monday morning.
I never truly felt able to even enjoy annual leave as there would be this timer counting down in my head to my next train journey back into work. Ugh, it really wasn't a pleasant time of my life. All I wanted was to stay at home and have more babies!
So, fast forward seven years and here I am. I'm living my dream. I always secretly believed that I harboured this ideal due to a deep seeded laziness and the thought of having countless hours to myself at home was oh-so-appealing... Mwahahahahahahaha!!!! Niaivity's a bitch :P
So, up for the day at 5.35am. E has a nice long nursing session as we sit together for the next 15 minutes on the rocker in her bedroom. S&M (done gone did it again :P) somehow know that we're awake and come bunding into the room to play with E's toys and her hands and feet while she continues to nurse. Being that she's nearly nine months old, her sisters' presence now means that rather than just nurse, she bobs on and off taking frequent breaks to investigate what they are up to.
I get the older girls downstairs and pop the tele on - primarily to increase my chances of actually getting the kettle on and tea made before the tirades of "mummy I want breakfast NOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and "I want water mummy, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze" start - at this point I NEED caffeine!
Pop some bread in the toaster while the tea is brewing in a pre-emptive manner. S then comes in with "No Mummy, I want cereal". So out come the bowls. S, M & E sitting at the table nicely eating their breakfast and me with much needed cuppa - so far, so good!
Run upstairs to force the boy from his deep slumber and hang around long enough to be confident that he's not just going to lie back down and go back to sleep. Back into the kitchen to make lunch.
The boy comes down and joins the girls for breakfast while I check with him that he has what's needed for his school day ahead. Girls all require more food and this is where the toast comes in handy (not just a pretty face ;-) ). Drinks topped up and food replenished and on to straightening the boy's hair. I then get the girls cleaned up while the boy cleans his teeth. I rush upstairs, chuck some clothes on while DH, just having gotten out of bed inquires if I might like him to take the boy to the station instead this morning. I confirm that yes, actually, that'd be nice, thanks so much sweetie.
Downstairs it is. I stop on the first floor to collect items of clothing for S, M & E. S gets herself dressed and I get M dressed. I do their hair and then stop to make myself a bite to eat. Kiss hubbie and boy goodbye and I put E to bed for her first nap and then go and feed the chickens. Am a little concerned to note that Miss Mabel is still in the nest box (day two now) and is looking broodier and broodier by the day. She's plucked most of her breast feathers out and is currently sitting on two of yesterdays and all of todays eggs. Hmm. A flutter of excitement runs through me in the hopes that hubbie may actually consider letting me get some fertilized eggs and I try and quosh this thought as my rational mind is telling me: NOT BLOODY LIKELY LUV! Collect the eggs that aren't covered by said chicken and return indoors.
Fill up jug with water and water the hanging baskets and melon plants in hall. I chug down the last of my now cold tea. Clean the table and pick up the breakfast that failed to make it into mouths and instead now occupies the floor. I sweep up, load dishwasher and hang the washing out and put another load on. I then sit down to check what's occurring on line. Not a lot :P Look up at the time and it's now 8.30am. I go to get the moby on to find that the boy has hidden it - almost certainly just to get me in a fluster ;-) After searching for the moby in all the likely places (and becoming more and more aware that time is running out, and more and more convinced that the boy is living the secret life of a sadist), I phone the boy who tells how he shoved it behind the chair in the lounge - of course! Why on Earth didn't I think to look there??? Moby on, baby woken and deposited in said moby. Shoes on girls and the school run commences.
S's South Africa assembly is today and the parents are invited to join so we hang around the school after kissing S goodbye. In we go. Assembly was of course amazing and S was definitely the star of the show (the fact that none of the other parents probably even noticed her was neither here nor there :P). One of the other mums asks if we can go back to mine for a coffee as it's not that long before we've got to pick the kids up. So, after congratulating S for her unrivalled outstanding performance, off we traipse back to the mad house.
Coffee made and chit-chat accomplished. M plays with my friend's little girl L and E goes to bed. I show off my latest batch of brownies and we try to stop the two older girls from decapitating one another! Time for school run arrives, moby comes out, shoes on feet and away we go. Walk to the school, walk back and on with the lunch.
Change E's bum, get the pre-nap milk warmed for S and M. Take them all up to bed and tuck them in for their afternoon nap. E isn't having any of it so I bring her downstairs and play with her for another 20 minutes and then take her up and try again. Success and peace at last :)
Out into the garden for some much needed weeding. Thought to myself "I'll just pop out and get rid of those weeds..." Nearly 1.5 hours later, the weeding is finally done (well, as done as I can be bothered with). Come in and grab myself some toast and sit down to eat it with a cuppa. Just swallow my last bite and the baby wakes - pretty good nap for her! All the girls seem to wake up at once these days so they all come down and we spend the next hr and a bit playing kerplunk and some other floor games. J gives me the "three ring" signal that he's soon going to need picking up so I get shoes on and bundle the girls into the car. Off we go to pick J up.
I get home and J watches the girls for me while I "just check something online" and I have 20 mins to myself (naughty mummy!). I then go and chop veggies and make gravy and grill sausages for the sausage casserole. Bung it all together and plop it in the oven. I then run round like a lunatic picking up toys, cups and glasses that have accumulated throughout the day and put everything back in it's rightful place. I vacuum and clean the downstairs toilet. S&M are playing in the garden and clean the kitchen and lay the table for dinner. I fold the washing from the line and hang the next load out, hoping that it doesn't rain tonight!
Hubbie comes in just as I've sat down with the laptop again and gives me that "you've had a busy day then..." expression
Get everyone drinks for dinner and them to the table and we all sit down to eat dinner. 35mins later and it's clean up time. I get the girls cleaned up and deposited in the lounge while I go out and water the plants in the garden. I then take the girls upstairs and get their pjs on, clean their teeth, give them their milk and tuck them in.
I take E into her room and commence my attempt at nursing her to sleep. Her settling of an evening is becoming increasingly difficult. 25 minutes later and she's looking pretty asleep but experience has taught me not to trust it! I very carefully place her in bed and leave the room as quietly and carefully as possible. I just make it to the bottom of the stairs when I hear that all familiar "waaaaaaaaaaaaa" yay. Up the stairs I go and try again. It's been pretty hot so I give her some water and try nursing her again. After a further 20 minutes, she seems pretty soundo. I come downstairs and actually get to the point of sitting down this time before she's crying again. Argh! After yet another failed attempt, I tell hubbie it's his turn and he goes up. He comes down ten minutes later and she's quiet! She starts moaning a little but it doesn't last long and this time she stays asleep. Send the boy to bed having checked that he's done all necessary homework etc and then hubbie and I watch some TV while on our laptops. About an hour of "us" time and baby starts fussing again - right around the time we were planning on going to bed ourselves. Hubby settles her and we both turn in.
Not the quiet lazy life I had in mind all those years ago lol! But boy does it beat the daily rat race I was living back then!
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