Skip to main content

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.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Snow!

After a beautiful day of sunshine yesterday, today it snowed... but more of that in a minute. Yesterday actually felt like a day of much progress. Despite Covid we managed to arrange a visit to Taunton School to have a look around with the girls and to meet the Headmaster. This was a massive relief as I had got to the point of thinking we would have to accept a place without ever stepping foot inside the school. In the end we had a very comprehensive, if a little deserted, tour of the school and the kids loved it, as did we. There may even be a small chance they might squeeze us in if we are there by the summer term - that is of course if the kids are back into school by then. The other news was that I managed to speak to Mr &Mrs Tucker - the people buying our house - and we tentatively agreed that we will try and complete during the Easter holidays which could have us moving in the third week of April. This does require everyone to have got all of what they need done, and that of ...

Busy, busy, busy

Full English brunch for these two! Life is VERY busy and I don't feel like we have stopped for weeks (or is that months?) It seems like the 'to-do' list is endless and while I know we don't have to do it all at once, I have taken on the unenviable task of trying to get the Muppet to finish all the work he promised / we have paid for and that has been like pushing a mountain of water up a very steep hill. We've got to the point where I think we have got all of what we are likely to get and the rest we'd rather finish ourselves anyway. The electric gates are clearly a work of his imagination based on the gates / the electric cables he spec'd and the cheapo motor mechanism - there is no way they'll work so we have decided to not bother and source proper gates that do the job and look better as well. Knowing that we are almost at a point where we sever the ties feels very liberating. Looking back this last 6 months has been incredibly stressful and just didn...

Decluttering

Girls buying baby clothes - this could get addictive! It's Easter weekend already and we still haven't completed!! However we have made some progress, most importantly with the paperwork which has not been Steve the Builder's forte throughout this process. Stags finally got their act together and got in touch with the planning office and got an update from the Planning Officer. Apparently she is broadly happy with the application, and is prepared to pass it with only a few minor modifications which we are completely comfortable with. The Building Control Officer also came and did all of what he needed to, which means the final certificate should be issued which allows the warranty to also be issued. On our side we finally tracked down the paperwork (or more correctly got the BC Officer to come out again and do a second assessment) for the outstanding BCC on our windows (which went in 6 years ago but due to an admin error were never registered) - nothing is straightforward i...