This morning i’m sitting on the sofa, in front of a blazing peat fire, with a blanket, my laptop and a strong cup of coffee. And do you know what the best part is? I feel zero guilt. How did I manage this? Well, I’m not ill… I ran out of home heating oil, and this, unfortunately, is my only option until the oil arrives. Ahh… tis a hard life. My house is like a fridge but I’ll stick it out here, reading blogs and watching dumb morning television (did I mention the blazing fire?) And things just got better – after the room grew dark, I looked up to discover it’s SNOWING outside!! Yeah! Best, snuggliest morning EVER. I hope it lies.The kids will be deeelighted.

Anyway, I was saying..This kind of relaxation minus the guilt is extremely rare in my house at all during the day. If I try to sit when the kids are about, they celebrate by bouncing on me or they try to sit on my lap at the same time and an argument ensues.

I enjoy relaxing so much more when the house is tidy. When the kids go to bed, I run around tidying as quickly as possible so I can enjoy sitting down in my own personal space. I think hope other mums will know what I mean. If I sit down and there’s a pile of lego looking at me from the under the sofa, I have to jump up and throw it in the playroom and rush back to sit down. Don’t get me wrong, i’m definitely not a neat freak, but for some reason, I need to feel like the house is tidy before I can really relax.

The kids have gone to Montessori, despite their protests. As we were about to get out of the car I heard ‘my tummy’s sick’.  A nano-second later I heard a little echo ‘my tummy’s sick too!’ It’s funny to hear them saying things I remember saying myself as a child. I find the best response is to say nothing and swiftly change the subject. If they sense just a moment of hesitation, they will keep playing that card. I know that sounds tough, but a sense of knowing whether they are genuinely ill or not is an integral part of mummy D.N.A. From experience I know those few minutes before they rush into Montessori can be unpredictable. They might spy a little friend and sprint through the door giggling, or, feel intimidated by some of the ‘big daddies’ bringing their kids to school and refuse to budge until they’re off the scene.

Today I said there might be a new display outside their classroom. It worked and away they ran. They didn’t even look for a display as they were so happy to see their little chums.

The fire is dying, the snow has stopped falling and there’s nothing to show, except i’ve had a lovely morning and written a long overdue blog post. I need to collect the kids now.

I hope that oil man comes soon!

Categories: Mummy time

Tags: sick day, twins