We’ve had a busy weekend, a great one but I’m definitely pooped out now! We’ve had 2 christenings and the town carnival rolled right past our house last night which was an amazing experience yet again.

The christenings were both lovely and it was so nice to catch up with some of our mummy and daddy friends and for the children to run around together. They were all so well behaved they definitely earnt a few helpings of cake! If my husband left any behind that is!

Polly was in her element of course. She was her usual cheeky self- photobombing pictures, pinching the edible flowers of cakes, trying to order things from the bar….

She also demanded I join her on the soft play and then surrounded me with unicorns when I declined the offer to ride one.

Seb is learning fast and realising that he needs to go all out to match his sister in the ‘being a monkey’ stakes. Today he won. Just at the important bit Henry and I gave each other the look as we’d both heard the familiar sound of our son’s arse. I disappeared as quietly and quickly as I could into the little kitchen area off the entrance only to discover a full scale poonami incident. Perfect time to also realise the nappy bag needs readjusting to be autumn/winter ready. Seb had to make do with a ‘little dude’ onesie and I gave up on the idea of a second family photo shoot to prove that all of us getting dressed up is possible on more than one day of the year.

I mean it doesn’t take much to forgive when you look this cute…

The weather has been the only thing to let the weekend down, yesterday was horrendous so once we got home we got straight into our pjs- well all bar Henry as he sadly had to go back out in the gale as he had work. So when the carnival passed by our front door we must have looked quite a sight particularly as this was Polly’s face through most of it…

Last weekend she also got the treat of a classic car show in the town. She loves her vehicles and usually has one in her hands, even at night. As Henry is also a big formula one fan I shouldn’t be too surprised that my child can recognise her cars better than her colours. She now points out Ferrari’s, Mercedes, Audi’s, saubers, red bulls, Aston martins and her white Porsche is her favourite. One day we’ll get round to learning the difference between red and blue but for now I love the look on people’s faces when she points out ‘oooh Ferrari!’

It’s been a fairly normal week, which is great after the start of the month. The groups are back up and running so the week has a bit more structure to it again, plus I then know what day of the week it actually is! Polly especially is loving seeing all her friends again.

On Saturday I took the children out for a wander which included an impromptu blackberry pick with me using a nappy bag to store them! Polly was helpful in her own way and found out the hard way that the spikey bits don’t taste too great, bless her!

We then made a blackberry and apple crumble which was a bit crap. Mary Berry would not have been impressed at my failure to make a crumble mixture! Good job Henry didn’t marry me for my cooking skills. Polly ate it though which was something.

On Monday afternoon I had enough of CBeebies and got creative- for a moment I was one of those Pinterest mums who makes sensory and educational toys. In reality Polly and I coloured in several pieces of paper, stuck them together and made a racetrack complete with grid girls.

We had lots of fun and Polly made sure all the vehicles got a go- tractors, buses, wind up hoovers- if it had wheels it had a lap.

Seb seems to have grown again and is almost 16 pounds, trying to sit by himself and is now enjoying watching our mealtimes from the high chair.

Yesterday we headed into Exeter to meet Pati and George and had a run around the museum and the library. We all had lots of fun and Polly especially loves being made a fuss off!

Before this we braved a meal out in an actual restaurant which is always a scary risk. Polly was beautifully behaved but sadly the 1 minute cry of a baby as I got a boob ready was too much for the couple behind us who were quite clearly stuck in the fifties. They simply couldn’t take their eyes off our terrible behaviour of bringing 2 young children out into the real world and I topped it by shock horror feeding the littlest one. A little bit of me wanted to give them a piece of mind but then I realised the best thing was to ignore their judgmental stare to show them how stupid they are- not worth my time. We came away smiling after an enjoyable meal, they left muttering looking miserable and I didn’t even have to open my mouth, just my bra.

Henry is trying to dedicate Wednesday as a full day of study which can sometimes be tricky with a Polly in the house, he’s obviously just too much fun to play with!

Finally, I do love giving a little taste of the Mum life every now and then. This came in fine form on Friday night during a group chat with 2 fellow mums. I’m so sorry Hazel and Suzanne but screenshots just sum up our wild late nights chats beautifully as I wouldn’t have done them justice by reciting!

So I’ve really debated with myself about posting this one as it’s quite personal to our little family but at the same time it consumed most of last week so it was a big thing that the blog was designed to document so here goes.

At the end of the week before last I was giving the children a bath when I looked at Polly splashing about with boats and bubbles. They were there again. Bruises on her back. I’d noticed them before but brushed them off as toddler bruising but for some reason that night they bothered me. I vowed to make a doctors appointment. Then my brother came down and he too noticed the little bruises running up her spine, he agreed- they needed to be checked out.

Of course it was bank holiday weekend so I had 3 whole days to do the natural thing of torture myself on google. This did prompt me to check the places that could be responsible- her car seat and booster seat. She’s a belly sleeper so not much point in checking the cot- of course I still did as when the others threw up blanks I was still desperately trying to find a reason for them.

Tuesday finally rolled around and we were at the doctors first thing. Of course by that point the bruising had all but disappeared. The doctor asked to see them as soon as they were back and asked for a urine test while we waited for that to happen.

That afternoon we had it confirmed that she really 100% definitely isn’t ready for potty training and laughed at the doctors belief that getting a sample from a 2 year old would be easy. It was not. Come the morning and the little sample pot was still empty.

By Wednesday afternoon though the bruises were back. I called the doctor and Henry was asked to bring her straight in. He came home with that worried look on his face that he tries to hide sometimes but can’t. Blood tests. This different doctor had gone very quiet and ordered blood tests the following morning. The only consolation was that we didn’t have to worry about the urine test.

Now my minds doing crazy things. I, of course, jumped 6 stages ahead, down the bad route and started imaging all the horrors that might soon be our new future. I wrote a blog post last week that wasn’t very good as I couldn’t concentrate but I needed to think of other things even if I couldn’t type it normally.

Thursday morning we decided we’d all go as I wanted to be there too. The nurse couldn’t get the sample as she wasn’t used to such little arms so they sent us to Exeter. To the hospital. Henry was meant to work at 12 but after a complete meltdown by me he realised that wouldn’t be happening. As I say I’d already jumped 6 stages ahead and told him straight up that if they called me into a room to tell me that Polly was really sick then I couldn’t do that alone, especially with 2 children to look after too.

So we all ventured over to the big hospital for the first time since Seb was born. We were booked in and settled ourselves into the paediatric assessment unit. Flashbacks of Polly’s meningitis scare haunting us as we looked on the same walls again, luckily this time Polly wasn’t actually poorly so she was playing, reading, chatting and generally being her usual cheeky self which helped.

They successfully took blood samples. They checked every inch of her. They asked a thousand questions. They bought us a cup of tea. They told me not to feel guilty at not bringing her in a few weeks ago. They gave Polly 6 stickers for being brave and cheeky. They were brilliant.

Finally after hours of waiting, 2 runs of Thomas the Tank on the little tv, a little lunch in the restaurant, many plays with all the cars on the ward, 2 naps for Seb in the carrier, we finally got that reassuring smile from the doctor. The bloods were fine. The bruises didn’t look suspicious in any way and are just toddler bruising. They aren’t sure why they keep appearing in the same place but I guess that’s up to us to watch her closely for a few weeks and see if we can solve that mystery.

All in all it was not a week that I want to repeat. It was terrifying- that feeling of ‘what if it is…’. Oh and I shouldn’t have to state it but I’m going to- no, not at any point do either of us or any of the 5 different doctors or 5 different nurses think that somebody was responsible for them.

So I shared, even though I didn’t think I would. It’s definitely made us think. It’s the reason why I didn’t completely loose my shit at Polly tonight when she tested my last nerve. Instead I just hugged her a little tighter when I said goodnight. And my thoughts now just go to anyone who is in the situation we thought we were finding ourselves in. Sorry to get all mushy, but these little people carry our hearts round with them. That is the hardest thing about parenting without a shadow of doubt.