Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Baby days

These days, the weeks just whiz by. Ellie is seven and although she started Primary 1 just half a year ago it seems as if she has been in Primary school for longer than that. Caitlin is five going on six. When all three girls play in their room together ask that they be left alone,  I realise my babies are not babies anymore. Of course there is Kristen, two and a half going on thirteen, who thinks she is a big girl, acts like a big girl and is going through a particularly wilful, I-want-to-do-things-my-way stage of her life.

So while it seems like it is pure madness most days (mostly when I am trying to get the older girls to do their work for the day while Kristen whines for attention), other days seem surprisingly easy (when they all decide to play on their own and not want mama).

Sometimes I look at the older girls in Ellie's school when I pick her up and it hits me that in a very short time MY girls will be these older girls. All independent, all grown up, self assured. When I am chasing Kristen to get her clothes on,  thinking of ways to cajole her into brushing her teeth, getting up to get one more thing from the fridge I wish the girls would grow up a little bit quicker. But I know that one day I will look back a realise that the baby days are what I miss most. 

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Kristen starts school

Kristen, two and a half, started school on Monday. My baby has grown up! After almost seven years with a child or children in tow I was really looking forward to some me time everyday.

Finally, some time to get long overdue tasks off my to-do list and maybe some time for a little bit of pampering- a weekly massage, shopping, an hour of Pilates? As it turned out, I now have barely an hour to myself in between all the chauffeuring on most days, and maybe slightly more on the days Ellie gets off school later. Even though Kristen settled really well into school. ( I left her half an hour after getting to school on the first day, without her crying), having to do the school runs meant that I probably only had enough time to do one small task off my list, in between getting the groceries and running errands.

So it definitely was wishful thinking to have imagined that I could start getting my foot back into some form of work when Kristen started school.