Last Sunday we took the kids and dogs with us and met up with some friends for a morning walk in the woods. One of our mates had even brought the equipment to build a little rope swing for the kids! I am very impressed by the preparedness! The kids loved it of course, and think the swing was also tested by some of the “grown-ups”.

It finally feels like proper autumn now that October has arrived! Every month that goes by takes me by surprise it seems. That probably means I have to get out more often, right?

With the autumn’s arrival there’s also the token First Autumn Cold. We are currently three out of four down. Me and the girls. It’s only a question of time before we have a full house. I wish I had appreciated how chill it used to be, pre-kids. Having a cold before the miniatures joined the scene used to mean laying on the sofa for 12 hours straight, wallowing in self pity, only ever getting up to go to the bathroom or to get biscuits from the cupboard.

Now it means still having to breastfeed a bunged up infant (not fun for either party) while you own nose is starting to resemble that of a severe sunburn victim at the same time as trying to sort out the Ghostbuster slimer sneeze the toddler has produced, with the one free hand available. Scattered mugs of stale tea, because let’s face it, you never get to finish your tea. I still wallow in self pity though, just in a slightly less horizontal way, and there is still biscuit consumption, except now it’s done at speed hiding from the toddler behind the cupboard door. When they demand ask if they can have some, you reply with fury “we don’t have any left!” as the crumbs spray fall from the corners of your mouth and you frantically chuck the packet back in and slam the door. I swear they can hear a packet being opened from a hundred miles away! Eventually you give in, and it’s biscuits for lunch. Hashtag mumoftheyear.

But there’s always the hope that the kids will realise that they are ill and will want to sit under a blanket with you on the sofa and watch a film in piece and quiet. They never do.