Back To Normal - Almost

The older two kids have been back for less than 24 hours and already the house is a sty! I am still in the rosy stage where I can remember clearly how much I missed them so I am letting it go for now. By the end of the weekend though, the end of my tether will probably be reached.

On collecting them from ex-husband's house (their father), eleven year old son lost no time in telling me about the apparent infestation of various insects at their holiday accommodation. He can be given to exaggeration so in reality there were probably a couple of ants in the bathroom, but son made it sound like he'd spent two weeks in a Thai prison rather than a villa in La Manga. Both kids complained about earwigs in the bedroom and son claimed that he could 'only sleep with a blanket over my head or wearing swimming earplugs in case an earwig crawled in my ear in the night'. They both declared themselves 'glad to be home'. In son's case this meant disappearing to his room for the next 3 hours to update himself on the world of the PS3, while on entering the house and before even putting her bag down nine-year-old daughter insisted on baking a cake. At 4pm with the dinner on and the toddler to feed I felt it better to wait til the next day, but it seems she had spent the whole two weeks planning a cookery session as soon as she was back under our roof and I just didn't have the heart to try and talk her out of it.

Baby daughter was thrilled to see them and was immediately changed into the pink fringed 'La Manga' t-shirt dress they had bought for her. And son presented lovely fiance with a Ferrari keyring so that 'even though you don't have one, people will think you do'. I was amazed at how well the kids know him. Lovely fiance was delighted.

As I write this both the older kids are still in bed and the house is still fairly quiet as I am feeding the small one's current obsession with 'In the Night Garden' while I have a cup of coffee. I am enjoying the calm before the storm as when I mentioned that I'd found the perfect wedding shoes for elder daughter (bit of a heel so she feels grown up, but sensible enough that she still looks like a child rather than a nightclubbing teenager) she requested that we go and try them on today. This can only result in an argument of mega-proportions for which I am bracing myself, as her yardstick for wedding shoes seems to be whether or not they would be worn by Sharpay in High School Musical.

Overall though, as I said to lovely fiance last night, I'm happy because all my babies are back under one roof. It's just a question of how long the parental patience I've built up in their absence will last me!

Family Of 3 Become 5 Again - Hurray!

Today my older two kids are coming home from their two week holiday in Spain with their father. As I write this they are currently airborne. For two weeks lovely fiance and I have only had the baby with us and at the beginning when I dropped the older kids off I was thinking it would be an enjoyable time and we should make the most of being just three. However as each day has gone by I realise more and more clearly how fundamental each of the kids are to our family life.

The small one seems oblivious to their absence and has simply been her normal demanding but delicious self. Lovely fiance I have no doubt has enjoyed the peace and quiet, although he's had to put up with me pining for them both. And I really should have enjoyed having the house tidy for a change and not having to turf eleven-year-old son off my laptop constantly. Nine-year-old daughter is the messiest child in the universe and I should have made the most of not having her raking through my make up and clothes as well as not having to have Disney Channel blaring Hannah Montana out on a loop.

However I have found that without them these things are what I miss most. The things that cause us to interact, admittedly the things that at times drive me up the pole. But the house has seemed quiet and too well-behaved without them and so I am filled with nothing but excitement at the prospect of collecting them later on and I am cooking roast chicken with all the trimmings (lovely fiance rolled his eyes at this as it's the middle of summer and mid-week) because it's their favourite meal and I imagine they must have lived on fried food throughout their holiday.

Give me a week and I will be snarling at them in my normal way when I have to ask son five times to do something before he actually does it, or when I find yet another outfit worn for five minutes then discarded on the floor by elder daughter. But for now let me enjoy this moment of clarity of just how much I love them both to pieces and how our lives are all the richer for their chaos.