What's been occuring...

This has been the last weekend of my two week paternity leave. It's been a lovely weekend of parental triumphs and memories revisited told here in pictures. The two weeks has been lovely in parts but emotionally draining in others. Waiting and anticipating something so big, for so long builds up like an invisible boil which then bursts making a great big emotional mess of relief, joy, stress, exhaustion and even a little emptiness. It's taken two weeks to recover my equilibrium and now I'm faced with going back to work tomorrow.

So to the weekend...

The boys have been asking to go swimming for ages so I promised them a trip to Horsham pool on Friday after school. The powers that be say I can't look after three of my children in the pool at the same time so I had to just take the oldest two. When it came to it I wasn't looking forward to this outing as I ached from a bike ride in the Park the day before and a late night at the curry house and then watching the election results come in. Cadan and Ben enjoyed it hugely though and this gave me the usual feeling of achievement and satisfaction so was well worth the effort

I also promised the three eldest a day in the woods building a camp and lighting a fire. A big ask I know. Fortunately (and unknowingly) I had prepared for this event twenty years ago by spending a good deal of my teenage years on similar activities. I hoped to find my old 'camp' but wasn't sure what would be left. I was amazed to find that it was still there complete with fence, shelter and fire place. The boys had previously found these woods scary and Eron did have a wobbly moment when we arrived because he thought foxes might eat us! Once we'd made the place ours and got the fire going they all became calm and tranquil. The fire cracked, the birds sang and sausages sizzled! Proper boys own stuff.

After these two adventurous outings some time to relax at home was needed. With church out of the way this morning the afternoon was spent mooching at home. Just what the doctor ordered. And what a lovely, God-given home it is. Having watched the Grand Prix, played with Eron, watched Ray Mears track Wolves and uploaded photos, we cooked roast ham. Yum!

As well as little Reuben the house and garden are full of new life of a more horticultural kind. We are growing veg again this year. The BBC sent us carrots, courgettes, beans and salad free of charge! We've not had huge success in the past but despite my temptation to be cynical about our chances this time, I can't help but smile at these new shoots.