Slowing things down

I sometimes find this merry go round of life can build so much momentum that we miss things in the blur of speed.  This last week or two I've found that my good optimistic mood has been threatened by missing out on the beauty of every day things as they blend together in the mixture of colour light and darkness as a result of that speed.

The solution,, to slow things down.  Take a day or two of just the bare minimum.  Basics, feeding bathing, hoovering, playing, walking, Loving.

Loving a surprise invite out of the blue from old colleagues for some spicy chicken and chat.

Loving Archi-bum un-prompted snuggling Max.

Loving wrapping Max up like like a teddy bear against the cold mornings.

Loving the 99p gloves found in a friends local shop just the right shade of blue to put a smile on Molly's face as wide as the sky.

Loving that I turned thirty last year and was spoiled with the ultimate coat and snuggly Ugg boots keeping me toasty in the recent cold snap.

Heart singing with pride with both babies achieving something new in the same day, Molly swimming her first 10 meters with  a back stoke worthy of a club swimmer (well in my opinion ;-) Max putting a ball in and out of a basket and then showing off to his Physio therapist all the things he can do since they last met.

Loving a spur of the moment decision to book a last minute haircut , amazing how a half hour appointment can lift and lighten a dark mood.

Refuelling with a weekend spent visiting family, celebrating a milestone birthday of a cousin with fancy dress, laughter and dance.   

My favourite part of the weekend the next day, an early start with excited kids having been woken by slobbery licks from the dog, a relaxed breakfast followed by chilling on the sofa and may be 40 winks or two. Max the centre of attention adored by all his cousins.

 Molly idolising her older girl cousin chatting on the trampoline in between stunt like bouncing.

Loving Max getting into the spirit of his Dad's music helping him choose the next track.  

I'll jump back on that merry go round very soon but for now I'm enjoying just sitting back and slowing things downn. xx

Oh and for those having trouble commenting on this blog I have adjusted the settings so hopefully you should find it easier now xxx  Happy Half Term xxx

Nothing and Everything

Some days like one recently I feel like a Goddess of all domesticity,  Husband packed off to work in fresh clean (non-damp) clothes with a substantial lunch made having been woken in bed with his breakfast and a cup of tea ready for an early start..

Number one child fed, washed, dressed, hair done even time to write a note to a friend accepting an invitation to tea, painstakingly copied out all ready to be sent of to school in a relaxed mood with a kiss and a smile.

Number two child's snotty nose chiseled clean, bottle and snuggle given, nose wiped, down for a little play, nose wiped breakfast, nose wiped  more play then back into bed to catch up on a broken nights sleep.

Me cup of tea, breakfast, load of washing on, hoovered, mopped, tidied, dog fed, poo collected from the garden and a lovely hot soak while the baby slept, all before 9am!

Then there are the days that I barely manage to get dressed before lunch, where the simplest of tasks seem to be the biggest of challenges and I find myself in the middle of a supermarket trying to think what we want or need but unable to string two thoughts together feeling utterly over whelmed and the urge to burst into tears almost unbearable.

This last week or so since my last post as been a mixture of both these types of days. Nothing major going on but then all the more significant for that.  Enjoying the simple things like having a couple of days at home where Max can just play and be comfortable in our space.

Hearing from Molly's teacher how well she is doing not only in her learning but her sense of self, comfortable, confidant and always surrounded by friends.

The adoration that Max always looks at Molly with.  How much they enjoy a jammied snuggle

Shopping with my Mum and her inability to resist giving Max Iggle Piggle instead of waiting and adding it to the Christmas pile.  Of course Molly then had to be given something too, a hopping eating weeing Rabbit called Bramble should do!   I won't make too many noises though as there was also a rather interesting book purchased to share between me and my mum however you won't need three guesses who got to bring it home.

Snuggles with their dad, both my babies finding their little nook warm and scrubbed after their bath ready for bed, all on the reclining chair.

Meeting with new friends again, this time being welcomed into their home and sanctuary.  What was meant to be morning coffee turning into lunch.  Max and Sarah sizing each other up, comfortable enough in each others company to have a little shout and a poke.  I sense an important friendship building there.  Not just with the babe's but their mum's too, we met because we both have babies with special needs and seeked others to share experience and challenges with, but I feel we connected because we already share many similar outlooks but also differences, we spent a morning discussing our special babies all four of them! Schools, houses, food, biscuits and much more.  We agree that,,

"We are all the same because we are different"

I think my favourite of all the 'nothing but everything' moments this week or so past must be the weekend, the novelty of having weekends has not yet passed and the last one was extra special because of it.  An impromptu decision to eat out, giving friends a last minute phone call "we're going to eat" on the off chance they felt like joining us which of course they did.  Good food followed with a decamp to their beautiful new/old home for an evening of x-factor and good company.  The chuckle muscle got it's usual work out that night.  A new tradition forming perhaps now that bumcow brunches have had to go with Simon's new working hours.  Date made for the next morning and a mooch round the local boot sale including... yep you guessed it more food!

We are all there Max and Archi just hidden next to their Dad's

Early Mornings and Rainy Days

My baby likes to start his day as soon as he can, we thought it was the light of the early rising sun at first but on holiday with only material between us and the new day he would stay a'snoozing til after breakfast time.  In fact I threatened to pitch a tent in the garden when we got back if it meant I could sleep til the last possible moment before the alarm.   He continued to be kinder to me in the mornings for a while after our holiday, good job really because we left the tent in a bin bag in north Devon so would have struggled to put it up out back.  However gradually those beautiful blue eyes have begun opening at the crack or even before dawn again, it is still dark now so the light can not be blamed.

I have spent many of these early mornings trying to persuade him that he in fact is still tired, gently plied him with a bottle in the dark and snuggled down in the big bed occasionally able to grab an extra 20 min snooze but more often 20 minutes of frustrated lullaby's in turn disturbing the sleeping Daddy.  The two of us each then facing our own working day with heavy eyes and a little bad tempered.

So this week I tried a new tact and wow I would never have thought it, I actually like mornings.  I like that there is time to sit and drink a cup of tea whilst watching Max alert and comforted by milk enjoying his toys in the front room, funnily enough he prefers the noisy ones first thing! I like that there is time for all the things that need doing to get us out the door in the mornings and then some extras.  I can leave the house tidy and not the bombsite that the family whirlwind creates at breakfast, I can even run the hoover round so I don't have to swim through hair when I get home from the school run or whatever other appointments I so often have to keep.   I like that Daddy appreciates his extra undisturbed sleep.  I love hearing the pad pad pad of Molly's footfalls as she sleepily makes her way down for breakfast of her own accord with out having had to be dragged out of bed.  Everything so much more relaxed all just from going with the flow instead of fighting it.

It's been a miserable week weather wise and that can sometimes make days miserable in other ways.  Everyday tasks are so much more difficult in the wet, having to handle a sopping buggy in and out of the car, growing extra muscles on the arm that pushes as the other is occupied fighting with the wind for the shelter of the brolly.  The car windows steaming up so much more quickly because of the damp we all bring to the inside.  The muck on the floor that no matter how much everyone wipes their feet or removes their shoes still appears, especially when there are a thousand bags of shopping to bring in from the car, guaranteed that there are no spaces outside the front of the house.

In all this though I have surprised myself in my out look and I find I am taking more pleasures!  I hate to sound all preachy and make out that I never feel bad anymore I do of course I do,  But I never seem to forget even in my worst moods how fundamentally happy I am and grateful and blessed.

Rainy days this last week have bought with them mornings spent drinking tea snuggling sleeping babies whilst watching a good film.  Taking shelter at a friends sharing lunch and catching up, with max proving me right and working his new boots impressing the ladies already.

Therapy sessions full of advice and tools on how to help Max develop communicativly, watching him with his therapist and seeing how far he's come and I hadn't even realised.

Welcoming new friends into our home and life to share the joys and challenges of family life with an extra chromosome, bringing with them light on a dark and dismal day.

Huddling under the umbrella in the playground, pausing to accept invitations from school for parents evening and to an assembly to celebrate Molly's achievements already this term.

Walking the dog on these wet days is never a chore I relish the thought of but once out it becomes much less of a chore and more of a pleasure that I would never have shared with the children if it wasn't for the dog.  I would have balked at the idea of getting wellied up and walking to the park if I'm honest, but what we would have missed out on is an absolute adventure.

Splashing in puddles is so much fun,

as is digging in mud and scientifically testing the worthiness of the trees shelter. 

Woody is just as keen as on a dry day not seeming to be bothered in the slightest by the drizzle or the soaking wet ground laying in wait as usual.  Although it is quite funny how he can be sopping wet having rolled through marsh like fields in stunt Frisbee catches and yet on the lead walk home avoiding every single puddle, jumping some skirting round the edges of others.  He is a strange dog ha ha. 

 Max wrapped up and cocooned under the rain cover sleeping as soundly as he would of at home in his cot.

Molly and I just had to try each others brolly's out.

All this so easily missed if I was to have followed my instinct and battened down the hatches snuggling up on the sofa with books and a bit of TV . Closing the blinds to the darkness of the day and munched on biscuits washed down with warm drinks.   Although now I think on it there is something to be said for all that too ........

Balance is the key.  A rainy walk here, coffee and biscuits there.  An early start and a busy morning here and a long lay in with a PJ day there..