Fresh air and bananas!

Yesterday was a particularly tough day for me. I had a beast of a night previously with Cate and had really only had about 4 hours of non-consecutive poor quality sleep. It was also the first time I was due to spend the whole day by myself with the kids since Cate was born. Typically Cate was really unsettled and spent most of the day screaming and not wanting to be put down. Of course I couldn't tend to Max or myself whilst holding Cate, so most of the day I had her blood-curdling screams ringing in my ears.

At about 4pm my Mum (aka my hero) turned up and offered me some relief! After making sure Cate was well fed, I put Max in the pushchair and set out in the dark for a walk and some badly needed fresh air. We walked along stopping every now and then to look at some passing truck, a dog or some pretty Christmas lights. We popped into the supermarket and had a wander around and looked at all the Christmas stuff they had in. On the way out Max looked up at the sky and pointed to the moon which was so bright and a lovely crescent shape. He looked at me with those big blue eyes and said "banana"! That was the moment I had been needing all day - yes it came a lot later than I would have liked, but it made me laugh and smile and reminded me why we have babies and put ourselves through it all. Of course the great times far outweigh the bad, but in these first few difficult months with a newborn it is hard to see the wood for the trees. I am so grateful for my Mum, for Max, for fresh air and Christmas lights. And of course I am grateful for Cate - she was much more settled last night which was great. I am hoping she has turned a corner!