Friday 21 August 2009

Summer holidays... am I surviving??! (she says whilst frisking herself to make sure she is still all intact!)

I took a very big deep breath at the beginning of the school holidays as with three children all 6 and under, I knew I needed to pool all the energy and patience that I could muster for the next 6 weeks. And at the beginning of the summer 6 weeks felt like a looooooooooooooong time!

But my goodness – here we are almost at the end of the hols and I am still alive... still (vaguely) sane, and still managing to sit here and write a blog. Woohoo!

I always find it amazing how being a mum changes every step of the way. Last summer with a five, three and one year old was tricky. I remember enjoying it (sort of), but the weather was rubbish and so finding rainy day stuff to do all the time was quite trying and I kind of collapsed over the finishing line in September happily packing the older two back off to school and playgroup with a BIG smile!

This year though has been so different. The lazy starts (the oldest two are old enough to enjoy a bit of TV in the mornings so I can get a lie-in), the days on the beach (two year olds don’t seem to want to eat sand which is progress), even the occasional rainy day (a good film, or even the occasional emptying of the recycling bin to do some making) have on the whole been great J
And next week as a grand finale we are feeling brave enough to attempt a four night family camping trip. I might be eating my words, but the site has an indoor swimming pool and there is a load to do in the local area and so even if the weather isn’t kind to us I think it’s going to be great.

Wow, and then it will be over. And I kind of need to remind myself of the bits about the normal routine that I can look forward to, because at the moment, getting everybody up and to school for 9am is not feeling like a benefit!

So here I go, my personal top ten things to look forward to as I say goodbye to the summer holidays....

1) Time alone with my 2 year old. This is a first really, with number 2 starting school it will just be me and my girl at home during the day. Excited about doing stuff with her that I’ve not done so far.

2) Exciting phase of my business. Haven’t done as much as I would like over the summer so will be nice to give my fourth baby a bit more attention too.

3) Training for my 10k race in October. I’ve got lots of free vouchers for using various gyms so am looking forward to putting those to good use too (or is it the steam room after that I’m looking forward to?!)

4) Cleaning the house (Might make me sound like a weirdo but summer hols don’t go well with housework, so just need one big fix of getting it back in order and I will be happy!)

5) Lunch with my husband with only 1 child with us... we might actually get to have a conversation over lunch... Wooohoo

6) Seeing all the mums again that I haven’t managed to catch up with over the summer.

7) Getting some of my income back... with number 2 starting school less nursery fees = more cash to have fun with :-)

8) Picking them up from school. I will miss them so will be refreshed and ready for after school fun.

9) That Friday feeling! Not complaining obviously, but Friday’s don’t feel the same in the summer hols.

10) O yeah.... and all the funny looks I get when I scoot my son’s scooter back home from school. It so makes me feel like a kid again :-)

So, I’m going to put this list on my bedside table, and make sure I look at it on that first day back to make sure I don’t wallow too much... onwards and upwards (but secretly really looking forward to half term... and Christmas... and Easter!)

What are you looking forward to?