Birthdays, Book Sales and Bumper Cars
Aug
19
Written by:
19/08/2014 14:24
After the unmitigated mayhem that had been June, I had been anticipating an equally crazy July. Boxing gloves and full body armour at the ready, I charged into the final weeks of school term determined to keep my sanity with the beautiful light of the summer holidays in full view. The weeks flew by at a rate of knots as the two older boys attended a never ending relay of school sports days and end of year shows for parents to enjoy. Despite ticking along with copy edits, news reports and articles, I was able to show full support at all events along with the babies. We even managed the odd balmy afternoon of picnicking with friends and blackberry picking for a teatime crumble as a treat. The babies, now 10 months old, chattering and aware of everything, found all this excitement enormously entertaining and took full advantage of everyone’s attention whilst we were out and about.
The temporary lull, as delicious as it was, couldn’t possibly last though and I knew it only too well. The minute the school holidays started and there were four small people needing attention throughout the day (instead of just the twins), business picked up rapidly and the rollercoaster highs and lows of working from home carried their usual momentum once more. Days, starting at 6.30am and ending at 12.30am, were jam packed with marketing plans, books sales and business calls, frequently peppered with cries of “Mu-um, I’m hunnngry!” and “Can we go out now?” from the older boys , or cries of frustration from the babies as they cruised the furniture and landed face down in a carelessly placed bowl of Wotsits.
This being busy enough, I was consciously aware that we were about to also hit three big family birthdays this month. With a very important birthday for the boys’ Nanna, a birthday for Steve and the grand arrival of age 7 for Joe, I knew I had a lot of parties to prepare for and wondered how on earth I was going to fit in all that organisation around my already crammed days?!
This was the point at which our two elder boys had to turn creative as I enlisted their help and delegated small jobs around the house at any point possible (within reason!). Present wrapping, balloon blowing and card writing were G’s jobs, where room tidying, baby entertaining and sandwich making were left to Joe. In between additional trips out to keep the boys entertained, I continued with my organising and working. Continuing excursions to the funfair with my laptop, trips to the shops with all four kids and lists reaching infinity or with jollies round to friends’ playdates, we managed to pull it all together and three birthdays came and went successfully. Parties were held, presents were opened and cakes were cut. But best of all; the family seemed to survive yet another month of complete mayhem seemingly unscathed. Needing some ‘just us’ time at last, we celebrated our recovery at the beginning of August with a family trip to the Bristol Balloon Fiesta and had fun relaxing before the next wave of craziness started once more.
Next month in The Melting Pot; The Twins’ First Birthday Celebrations.
© Tessa-Lynne Davies 2014