Friday Focus 24/08/18 – Flying solo for the first time with Thomas

Hubby’s away working on an event this week so I’ve been flying solo for the first time since Thomas arrived. It’s been a tough week emotionally so overall things have been quite challenging. Thomas is a cuddle monster which is lovely in many ways but does make it quite hard to get essential household chores done when he objects quite quickly to being put down anywhere.

 

A picture of the word "solo" with a biplane

 

That said he did have a nice long nap the other day which helped me get a few things done and I’ve managed to keep him and Sophie fed, clothed and generally happy so I’ll take that as a win.

 

I could have really done without hubby being away yesterday when I got a puncture thanks to a pothole. Thankfully I had renewed my AA cover the day before (it had expired at the end of July and hadn’t auto-renewed as my card details needed updating). I needed a new tyre and my car has no spare. The AA man would have gone to a local garage to get one for me but none of them would take a card payment over the phone. I couldn’t go with him to get it because I had Sophie and Thomas with me and there were only two seats in the AA van. My in-laws who live down the road were away on holiday and I wasn’t sure who I could call on for help.

 

Thankfully a school mum friend of mine happened to appear at that very moment. She took Sophie back to her house and Thomas and I headed off with the AA man to get a tyre. Sophie had a lovely time playing at my friend’s house until my car was fixed and I could collect her. Best of all, I got to have a lovely catch-up with my friend afterwards over a cuppa and she got to meet Thomas.

 

We might have managed to get through the week in the end but I shall be very thankful to see hubby at the weekend! He’s working away again next week too though – hopefully it will be a less eventful one.

 

Things that have made me smile this week

  • Going to a craft session at Iver Environment Centre with Sophie and making a fairy garden.

 

Sophie with her fairy garden

 

  • Seeing the two books that I wrote and illustrated to help other children prepare for heart surgery in print. They are both based on the one that I made for Jessica although there were some little details included in Jessica’s book that made it unique to her that I took out when I did these ones.

 

My books - "Jack has a heart operation" and "Jessica has a heart operation"

 

 

  • A day out hunting for the Gromit Unleashed 2 sculptures in Bristol.

 

Me, hubby, Sophie and Thomas with a photo of Jessica at one of the Gromit sculptures

 

  • Managing to feed Thomas while walking around with him in the sling. It’s only taken me three babies to work out how to do that!

 

Me feeding Thomas while he was in the sling

 

  • A visit from hubby’s dad’s cousin and her grandchildren. Sophie had fun playing with her cousins.

 

  • Sophie making up a song and singing “you’re my brother, you’re my best friend” to Thomas.

 

Sophie with Thomas in the swing

 

  • A morning at the park with a friend, watching her two older children having fun entertaining Sophie.

 

Sophie with three of her soft toys on the swing at the park

 

  • Watching Sophie have fun at soft play with other children from the child bereavement group she goes to.

 

  • Sophie picking up some big leaves, holding them with her arms outstretched and dropping them one by one telling me “look, I’m an autumn tree!”

 

The Reading Residence

20 thoughts on “Friday Focus 24/08/18 – Flying solo for the first time with Thomas

  1. What a week you’ve had ! Thank goodness your friend was driving by at the right time. That photo of Sophie & Thomas is just adorable, what a fantastic sister she is. Hope you can relax a little with your husband back this weekend x

    1. It was such a relief to see her – perfect timing. Sophie is adorable with Thomas, it is lovely to see what a wonderful big sister she is x

  2. What a week! Thank goodness your friend was there to help out. It must be amazing, but bittersweet, to see your books out in the world. My heart just melted at Sophie’s song for Thomas!

    1. She sings a lot to him and I love hearing her make up songs. She really is such a wonderful big sister. It was lovely to see the books out at last, but yes very bittersweet too. Jessica knew that they were going to come out to help other children and was quite excited about it. She would have be proud to have seen them x

  3. I love those Gromit statues, they look like so much fun. What a nightmare with the puncture, but it sounds like your friend came along at the perfect moment and saved the day! Oh, my son was such a cuddle monster (still is!) never wanted to be put down, always wanted to snooze on me. Makes it tricky to get things done, but it is adorable x Thanks for sharing with #WotW

  4. You’ve definitely been tested this week haven’t you! Puncture always come along at the worst time, thank goodness for your AA renewal! It sounds to me like you’ve done an amazing job 🙂 #WotW

  5. I think you definitely won this week, even with the puncture! that was very good timing on your friend’s part 🙂 congratulations on seeing your books in print 😀

  6. Such positivivity. And as ever you have an eye for a good photo. Love to reading of your adventures. Love to you all.

  7. So sorry you have had a tough week….It sounds like you did well though. Keeping the kids fed and happy is all that matters.
    Ugh! Stupid pothole. A puncture sounds like the last thing you needed. Hooray for the school mum appearing. What a hero.
    You must be so proud to see the books printed. You did great. x

  8. That first solo week is so tough isnt it, Chris used to work away a lot when Joe was a baby and its all a huge juggling act isnt it? Blooming potholes drive me mad they are slow fixing them in our area, but they drive me mad and are so dangerous. Congratulations on your books too what a wonderful thing to do this will really help so many people x

    1. It is tough even having been used to flying solo with two children. I forgot how hard it was juggling with a newborn though!

  9. It’s my first time here and I am so glad to have found you. It’s amazing the number of outings and errands you can pack into one week. You handled it with grace.

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