Mostly missing...

The week has been mostly quiet, too quiet. We are into that phase of the holiday where the girls are off doing various activities, and for this week (and most of next), it doesn't involve us. Abi went off to Angie's on Sunday - happy as anything - merrily wishing me goodbye and saying "you don't need to ring me too often!" With Izzy joining her on Tuesday morning, her first time away somewhere that's neither family or friends, staying 2 nights and also loving it, I feel like that's going to be a habit that's hard to break.

While I love the fact that we've produced these confident little girls who are happy to go and experience new things, I do miss them when they are gone. Not just the noise, the fighting, the mess and so on - clearly I miss all of this (!), but more then anything else I miss the contact and cuddles. I forget just how lovely it is to have small arms around me, holding me tight and whispering "I love you mummy" at bedtime. It makes me realise just how much we have to hold on to this time and appreciate these little things before it's gone and replaced by the next phase. It also made me realise why becoming a grandparent must be so special - you get to experience it again, just with less mess maybe!

The other thing that reinforced just how precious our children are is the news this week that one of Abi's classmates is seriously ill with a brain tumour. She's been unwell for sometime and undergoing tests, the unfortunate result of which last week was the confirmation that she will need immediate surgery to remove the tumour. The doctors are upbeat about the prognosis and she is apparently showing amazing positivity but it's every parent's worst nightmare. We'll be thinking about her tomorrow when she goes into hospital.

So after just a few days at home they are off again tomorrow to Somerset for a few nights before we then go to Port Lympne Safari Park for a belated anniversary treat. We also had a day at the Countryfile Live Show today which was lovely if unbelievably busy. They did make me laugh with the animals "Izzy we don't need to do sheep, we can do those at FiFi and Grumps next week" says Abi. "We should do pigs, they won't have those!" While Abi was confident and leading on the animal front, Izzy was out front with the fairground rides and public speaking. We went to the live audience with some of the Countryfile presenters and when it came to the Q&A Izzy was straight in with her question for Jon Hammand about how he knows what the weather is going to do. He was honest and admitted while they try, they still don't get it right. After this it was back to the fairground and after one refusal Abi was persuaded by Izzy onto the swing ride. True to form once she realised it wasn't as bad as she thought they pleaded for another go - daylight robbery! I was pleased for once not to be the bad parent hanging their head in shame. This time it was the mother of a little boy who was desperate to go on and then as soon as the ride started promptly burst into tears and screamed "Mummy, get me off" the whole way round!

So Somerset for the girls, work for me and another week will fly by. I'm thinking of trying to bottle some cuddles to keep me going though - nothing else quite hits the mark the same way.