Busy doing nothing

It’s been ages since I’ve written anything, and I can’t give an excuse as to why! I feel like I’ve been busy doing nothing. I’ve had two colds and a colonoscopy. Don’t worry, they’re not connected. I wouldn’t recommend a colonoscopy as a cold remedy. I have Crohn’s Disease and I stopped my treatment last year to have the boys with the plan of restarting it if my symptoms returned. Well, they started to return. I’m now on a new treatment and so far so good. Think I need to be more careful about my diet though, which is no bad thing!!! Now I’m getting more sleep and have more time during the day, there is no excuse for my bad eating habits.

We also had our first trip away with the twins. We went up to the north of Scotland to see their grandparents, uncle and cousin. It was great to get a change of scenery and my family just loved having time with the boys. The babies took the car journey in their stride and actually acknowledged each other for the first time while being fed in the front seat of the car. It was such a monumental moment, my husband and I were practically in tears. The one thing we did realise however, is that the babies were quite

First holiday in Burghead

quickly overwhelmed. Different house, new faces, unfamiliar people holding them and talking to them. I never thought of them as having a ‘routine’ as such, until the first evening we were away. They hadn’t had their afternoon nap and they became so cranky, we’d never seen anything like it!!!! They eventually exhausted themselves which was heartbreaking but lesson learned.

And then I put my back out! Oh my god. It was agony. I remember thinking as I was crawling along the floor to try and get myself into bed if it was more painful than labour? Then I thought, who gives a c**p which is more painful, just make it go away! The doctor came out and prescribed me some lovely strong painkillers. I was pretty much off my face for a few days. In the time before kids that would have been lovely. Instead I felt unable to look after them properly so I ordered a support belt from Amazon and took the painkillers at night so I could sleep comfortably. My mum came down and helped me with the twins when my husband was at work as I couldn’t lift them. You don’t realise how much lifting, bending and twisting you do with babies. And you certainly don’t put into practice all the manual handling training you received at work. If that was the case, then you wouldn’t be able to put a car seat into a car. You can’t hold the load close to you, you have to twist at the waist and bend forward simultaneously. It’s ridiculous!!!! And you can’t phone in sick. Ever.

On the upside, I had a week of doing proper nothing. No baby classes, no socialising. Just me and the babies chilling out at home. And it was great. They’re 19 weeks corrected age now and they are having a ball. They have discovered their voices and spend ages singing and shouting, and more recently, ‘talking’ to each other. It’s hilarious. I’ve put dangly toys in their cots and when they wake up they like to play with them. To me it sounds like they’re ringing a bell for their breakfast.

That’s the other thing – I’ve left the nursery. We are no longer co-sleeping. And can I tell you, it was so much harder than I thought it would be to leave them!! If you’d asked me three months ago I would have given anything to be able to sleep back in my own room. Now, I found myself missing them. Then I reminded myself that they are now strong, healthy, happy babies and this is a progressive step. Get over yourself. And of course we have the monitors!!

I also got a chance to catch up on my TV viewing during this sabbatical. It was wonderful. Thank you Shonda Rhimes for creating lots of must see TV. I mean Scandal!!!!

Cyrus didn’t kill the president!!? Then who did?!?

Come on!!! I’m literally on the edge of my seat!! And then I discovered Downton Abbey on box sets!!!?! I must be the only person left who has never seen it.

So, now I’ve recovered from the colds, the colonoscopy and the bad back, it’s time to get my backside off the couch and return to normal life. After the Easter holidays, it’s back to Jo Jingles (can’t wait). I’m going to give Bookbugs a go at the local library. I love books and am looking forward to introducing the boys to them. And it’s free!!

Which reminds me, I have an apology to make. I was chatting to another mum at baby massage last week, and she said that she was impressed at how I managed to go to all these classes with the twins. She felt bad as she ‘only’ had one baby to look after and there I was going running with twins. Well, can I put the record straight and say I have only made it once to Mums on the Run. My reasons for not making it since are being ill (see above), it was raining, it was cold, and general laziness. Also, I have the help and support of my wonderful husband. He misses the boys so much when he’s at work that he can’t wait to get home and be with them. Two people changing, bathing and feeding twins is so much easier and quicker, you actually end up with time to do other things. I really am very fortunate.

So make no mistake. I’m no super-mum harbouring the secret to making it look easy. I really enjoyed having a week at home but only took that time off after hurting myself!!! It was heaven for us to all laze around in our pyjamas, watch TV and eat chocolate. I took time to play with the babies, finding myself amazed by their ever developing skills. And it made me appreciate the time I have with them because boy, they are growing up so fast.

Growing up so fast