In our house no two weeks are ever the same so we try to manage our hectic schedules on a week-by-week basis – with the aim of getting through the week as best as we can! It is always a careful juggling act of completing the daily school and nursery runs, remembering school timetables and extra curricular activities, and – when the kids are dealt with – getting ourselves to work. There’s no time for either of us to get sick, which happened this week when I came down with a migraine.

There is nothing quite like trying to function in the morning – getting two children dressed, fed and out of the door – when all you want to do is go back to bed! I don’t know how I did it but I managed to drop Ben with a friend to be taken the rest of the way to school, and then delivered Molly safely to nursery. After stopping to get some medicine on the way home I retreated to bed.

At the end of the day I had to rely on a good friend (yet again!) to get Ben to and from his gym club. Being ill also meant that I was unable to do a quick shop – we were short of food in the house and Ben needed a pair of dressing up glasses for his Harry Potter fancy dress costume (for Book Week at school the kids had to come dressed as their favourite character – in the end two pipe cleaners did the trick!).

Being sick didn’t just affect the kids, when you work a reduced week being ill makes it even more difficult. I have enough work to do in 4 days without missing a day through illness, so it was pretty full on when I got back in the office.

Despite this there were a couple of proud moments for me this week – Molly has started to walk unaided with confidence and Ben was awarded player of the day at his Saturday morning football… so it wasn’t such a bad week after all!

Benjamin in his Harry Potter costume ready for book week at school:

It has been a long week for me at work in the terms of the hours spent out of the house trying to get all my work done. 12 to 13 hours out of the house, I think, is a long day when you have a young family.

Many mums who work a reduced week often find themselves working longer so that they can have time at home later in the week. Guilt often comes into play - you feel guilty when you have to leave the office while colleagues are still working, or guilty when you have to put work before family on occasion.

If I need to stay late at work it is hubby who needs to manage everything at home. This involves collecting from school and nursery, making tea and feeding, getting the kids bathed, reading bedtime stories and starting to prepare for the next day, all while making dinner for us! This is a tall order for anyone after a full day’s work. My husband does this with ease and is happy to do so. I know many husbands who would not be able to do this, either due to work commitments, or because they just do not have the capability to do it or the desire to!

For us this set up works well. The children get to see both of us throughout the week, Benjamin sees a good role model in his dad, and it allows me to keep a career going as well as having time to be just Mum.

I really appreciated my two days at home this week. I enjoyed doing the school run and chatting to other mums. Molly and I spent a lovely day relaxing at home, out meeting with NCT friends, shopping and walking through the park in the sunshine. What a shock it was when the sunshine turned to snow at the weekend – Benjamin loved playing in it though.

I enjoy working because no two days in my week are ever the same for me. It makes me appreciate my time at home and it affords us as a family other luxuries. I have come to realise more than ever that quality time at home is more important than anything else.  I could not achieve this without our ‘Fab Dad!’

Benjamin in the snow in April!

Molly chilling out on a Friday with a magazine!

Molly and her NCT friends

Bliss! First night away for hubby and I since June 07 – not that I’m counting!

My sister’s birthday was a good excuse to let our hair down, have a few vodka cocktails and stay up late! We are of course well practised in lack of sleep; however drinking large amounts of alcohol is another matter! The much awaited lie in was not quite the same with a hangover!

Our night out was thanks to Grandma and Grandad staying over and minding the fort! It took quite a bit of pre planning before we walked away for our evening! Things that are second nature to us – such as using the satellite TV and microwave, making up and warming milk bottles had to explained and ‘routines’ written out.

We of course rang to check up on progress at the start of the evening and 1st thing in the morning. Molly had been a pickle – up several times, apparently thinking it was play time, resulting in Grandad having to sleep on the sofa and Grandma walking her around!

Despite not needing to rush back home the next day we were already missing them both and anxious to get back. As is often the case they were quite often the topic of conversation between us! Everywhere we looked on the return journey were families and all seemed to look or be the same age as our two!

Minutes through the door and it was back to normal family life!

I would not change being a mum for anything, but it does make you feel more human to have a little ‘time off’ every now and again!  Thanks Grandma and Grandad!

Grandma and Grandad take the kids to the park

Grandma and her little angel

I did my first ‘long’ week back at work this week since returning after having Molly. With a few early starts, late finishes and continued disturbed nights’ sleep due to Molly’s teething, husband and I are both worn out!

The ironing pile has reached mountain proportions and works on a strict iron-as-you-need-it basis! The vacuum cleaner has gone into hiding and the freezer is fast being depleted of food! I need to find time to do some bulk cooking and freezing. I can really recommend cooking fresh meals, doubling up on recipes and then freezing in pots ready for defrosting when needed. If I didn’t do this, on weeknights we would risk living off omelettes, fish fingers or beans on toast!

Benjamin is starting to question why he has to go ‘again’ to after school club, but he seems to love it while he’s there and still bounds into and out of school! Molly is struggling to sleep in a cot at nursery and therefore doesn’t sleep for as long as she should during the day. This makes putting her to bed at 7pm difficult, as by this point she is completely over tired. Gosh, does she have a pair of lungs on her! I am convinced even at this age she thinks she’s missing out on something if she goes to sleep!

At the end of a long day I’m starting to find that keeping to my rule of no alcohol Monday to Thursday is very hard to keep to! Rather aptly, I was sent one of those ‘thought of the day’ type emails this week, which ended with: 'Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical check-ups. Take your spouse out to dinner… There will always be time to clean the house. Take care of the things that really matter.'

Wise words – think I’ll leave the vacuum cleaner in hiding, and Ben and I can play spot the cobwebs!

Moment of peace! Bubble machine in action!

My Mother’s Day cards!

Molly settled into nursery, Benjamin testing out after school club and hubby all briefed on his days of drop offs and pickups – all systems go!

I on the other hand had to be practically kicked out the door at 6.45 am in the morning! I felt so emotional at leaving Molly. She had just woken up and was smiling up at me, completely unaware that I was off for the day. Benjamin was still asleep, so I had to make do with a quick kiss so as not to wake him up.

One day in the office and it felt like I had never been away, let alone had seven months off. As I sat in traffic on the way home I wondered if I had fully appreciated my time off? Hardly ‘time off’ though is it when you have a new born baby to look after!

When I got back home I was nearly ‘bowled over’ by an excited muddy rugby playing four year old! Molly was beaming away, chatting and very alert for after 6pm! (She has started sleeping through since starting the excitement of nursery – horray!)

The ability to work from home the next day allowed me to take Ben to school, and Molly to nursery, and to find time at the end of the day to make pancakes for Shrove Tuesday. This allowed hubby to do a full day’s work in his office and I continued with my work once the kids are asleep.

Early days, but so far the children seem ok with it all.  We’ll soon see if we have the right work/life balance!