Well look how quickly things change. The whole world seems to have been turned upside down since my last post and honestly I’ve really debated with posting anything at all as everyone has so much going on do they really need to hear another voice in the mix? But then I realise how much writing helps me and I’m not forcing anyone to read it so here goes!

This time last week we were plodding along with everyone else, slightly uneasy but still feeling in control of the situation. On Monday afternoon after doing our usual work swap over, the control was taken completely out of our grasp. Polly had stayed off nursery as she’d woken up with a new cough and come the afternoon she was saying she felt “really very poorly”. I was actually checking her temperature (which was 38.5) as Boris was making his big speech that was about to change our situation completely. Within an hour or so Henry was back home and the 4 of us were facing 14 days in isolation together. This might sound a bit shit as none of us are good with being stuck inside unable to live our normal lives but we realised very quickly that we had to look at it from the other perspective. We have now all got a cough of some sorts, each of us feel fine one minute and a bit shit another minute (we don’t know if we have it as they aren’t testing unless they have too- rightly so at this point as there are others who are way ahead in the priority list) but here’s the thing- we could have it! And in a normal climate we would be out there carrying on as normal, potentially passing on something that we might deem a cough and a fever and someone else deems something they don’t recover from (sorry to be dramatic but that’s the reality). So with this in mind I’ve stolen someone else’s outlook on it, we are not in ‘self-isolation’, we have been ‘exiled for the good of the realm.’

I do just want to give a massive shout out to all our wonderful friends and family who have sent messages of love and support and thank you to the wonderful Hazel who dropped off some supplies last night like some strange new version of knock & run! The fact I was about the run out of white chocolate spread was starting to make me feel anxious! Hopefully once our exile is over then we too can help support all of you.

Although that does bring me into the next part of that Monday moment of madness. 12 weeks. 12 weeks of some form of isolation. I know I won’t be the only one currently screaming a bit on the inside at the thought of 3 months not being able to see family/friends, pop into the shop to buy milk (the dickheads might have stopped buying all the toilet roll paper by then though!), go to a toddler group and eat cake with friends or get that bloody Eggs Royale I’ve been craving for 3 weeks! The smack in the face also being it’ll come to an en end the week I’m due so I do literally feel like the women of the dark ages who were put in confinement for the end of pregnancy! Obviously it’s also making me a bit anxious about what happens when baby decides to actually make an appearance into this strange world we’re currently living in. But that’s the only thing that’s a given- it’s got to come out at some point! So I’ve decided that lots of other people in this ‘at risk’ category have much more pressing worries so I just need to put my big girl pants on and realise that this too is for the good of the realm in the long run.

So, what does ‘exile’ actually look and feel like? Well, we’ve lost track of what day it actually is (not that it matters to us anyway!) but we are ok. Yes there has been a bit of shouting, some tears and the cat is fed up of seeing our faces all day but, there has also been laughter, lots of cuddles and lots of decluttering! Henry has also finally got his wish and turned the conservatory into a gym/office! I’ve got a whole list of activities to fall back on for the kids- from nature collecting in the garden to paper boat races in the bath. At the moment Polly is having hours of fun with a water pen book and Seb has turned my bump into a race track. We are mixing it up with a bit of CBeebies, the greatest showman soundtrack and an occasional dose of the news as we try not to rely on the tv too much- Polly has booked in Moana for this afternoon though (good job it’s a good film!). So my point here is that ‘exile’ in these times is not nearly as daunting as having to battle a dragon or defeat an evil lord.

Finally I just want to give a shout out to another little family of ours. Our Duke’s family. The meme going around about feeling like we were the band on Titanic was so accurate. At the weekend we battled crowds of people together, people who wanted one last weekend of normality and we got through it with our usual dose of support and sarcasm. Then together we’ve faced the next phase as the whole hospitality industry plunged into the Atlantic together. This is the bit that actually makes me a bit sad- that our little work family has been put in such a shit situation and all I want to do is see our team together doing what we do with more sarcasm and plenty of hugs! So I’m sending virtual hugs to all our crew, we love you all and we’ll see you on the other side- you’ll hear us coming, “flake flake” will be the rallying cry from the kids!

We’ve had a fairly busy few weeks so I don’t feel too bad about having a quiet afternoon today with Moana, princess dresses and some sweets. 

Henry’s birthday was last week, it actually feels a month ago already! We celebrated by hitting the soft play (Polly taking this too literally after tackling the death slide!), heading to Nanny & Pops’ for sausage sandwiches then finishing off with a cheeky Frankie & Benny’s. The kids got very excited by the other birthdays being celebrated in there and on the second round of the ‘happy birthday’ cake parade they both jumped onto their seats and did a dance, much to the amusement of the tables around us! Safe to say we decided against bringing any more attention to our table so ate our shared sundae quickly without more singing! 

We headed up to Suffolk later in the week for a couple of days. According to my photos all we really did was eat a lot! We did have a good trip and although we’ve probably each gained a stone in weight it was nice to get away for a bit. Seb decided to let us know he’d learnt a new word and shouted ‘chick-en’ every time we drove past a KFC and Polly put on several dance shows to anyone who sat still long enough. Sadly we didn’t get time to see everyone we wanted and are already trying to plan a summer trip up. 

Finally getting his ‘chick-en’ on the journey home!

We did have a slightly eventful trip home that we could have done without! The car obviously quite liked a certain stretch of the M5 so it thought 11pm in the rain was a good time to get acquainted with this bridge and it broke down. The kids were delighted when a tow truck (a.k.a Paw Patrol) turned up to rescue us an hour later. After several phone calls to the R.A.C we then found ourselves being dropped off 40 miles down the road at the most depressing service station known to man, awaiting a second truck to tow us the remaining 40 miles, thinking it would be a short wait. It was not. At 3:30AM they got annoyed with my phone calls trying to find out how low down we now were on the rescue list and they sent a taxi for the kids and I. Henry and Siegfried (the car) turned up back in Sidmouth at around 8AM. So not the best journey home and not surprising that this was the sight in our house on Sunday morning…

Anyway car mended, sleep caught up on and the usual chaos is restored! 

I was really lucky a couple of weeks ago to attend my friend’s (Pirate Laura!) passing out ceremony from the Navy, the weather may have been awful but it was still an amazing experience and a proud moment for all of us who journeyed down to the base. 

Anyway I kind of want to watch the last bit of the film so I’ll sign off now with one final picture of the sight that might greet you if you leave a play date without realising that one child has snuck the other child a chocolate digestive into the car…