Once upon a time

I had a lovely big bedroom with a lovely big ensuite.

Then one day, along came a crib beside my bed. Then along came a baby wanting to sleep every night in my bed, except he's not still a baby, he's on the cusp of 2 and signs and says "Mama's bed" to me every night when he's tired.

I also had a lovely big bath which is now full of trains and trucks and floating letters and numbers.

So I wake up every morning and there he is in beside me, his brother, desperate every night at 730pm to go to bed and happily left in his bed to cuddle blue rabbit and go to sleep all by myself.

"Shower" entices Callum once again.

His trousers and diaper are off and yet today he's so excited, he drops them right by the walk in shower door.

Reuben is there to help and voluntarily picks up the hastily discarded diaper and the trousers and puts each in turn in the right place. My heart skips a little melting beat.

Callum is almost running into the shower with excitement. I wonder if I can get away with not undressing Reuben, that is, undoing what's already been achieved in our day's progress.

Reuben signs "Reuben" meaning what about me? I guess not...

It doesn't seem to matter how much of the water Callum gets whist in the shower, he still wants "more shower please Mama" so I wash my hair and compromise with half rinsed out shampoo and a splodge of conditioner. Oh well, another unkempt day.

Callum is looking sleepy. His daytime naps are almost entirely in the car as we race round LA for Reuben's appointments. As I place him in the crib and give him his milkies which he's asked for "please Mama", I just wonder. Well, does he look tired?

And so begins a week by myself with the night nurse returning on Monday night. So this is hastily put together but will suffice. There's a lot of underlying stress in life right now, worries at every level, grave disappointments, missing(s), and it's a little tough. But...

Right: milk, diapers, action!

PS I sneakily looked at the Unstaged. Oh my word! How uplifting it has been to see the cream of images, two of which I voted for at the time. Fantastic, exciting, moving, inspiring. Thanks Joe and Blipcentral for making it happen, for opening our eyes still further.

PPS The Baltic cruise starts here.... 12 days at sea. All done, feels good.