How on earth is it almost the end of March 2021?! I feel like March 2020 only finished 5 minutes ago! I have no idea where the first 3 months of this year have gone, they’ve definitely been a bit of a blur. With Polly back in school we’ve been going on a few more challenging walks round the valley- me usually with a baby strapped to me and Henry testing our run around pushchair to the absolute extremes while Seb shouts which direction to go in! Some of these walks we do together but more often we each take a child at different times of day, explore an area then swap different findings then we might go on a family walk altogether that all the children enjoy.

Some highlights have included Clara getting to meet a horse last week when a friend of ours came up the same lane we were trekking up- as a lockdown baby she’s led a bit of a sheltered life so far so she was very excited by this.

Henry took us on a trek the other day that included an explore round a hidden pond, much to Seb’s delight. We found a wobbly bridge that he kept impersonating for the rest of the day!

I came across a little field of lambs the other day so this evening after school we ventured out so the kids could see them- the last year has definitely reminded us that these very simple pleasures actually make up a huge part of life, plus the kids were so happy to see them!

Another feature of walks that involve Polly is flower spotting- the girl absolutely loves flowers. The other day on a simple walk back from the shop I had to lift her up at every garden so she could peek over the walls to see what ones she could spot (just for the record these are raised gardens along a main road that an adult can easily see but a 4 year needs a little boost, I’m not encouraging her to be nosey into peoples property!!).

The love of flowers means that she’s got her own little garden growing in pots in the conservatory at the moment and she could be found at the weekend sitting watching some daffodils coming out like it was a TV show.

A weekend walk had us down on the beach at low tide where the rock pools offered us the sight of several star fish which was a treat. Seb was also an absolute poser for some photos, shouting cheese too!

Clara bear has had a fun week with food this week, she couldn’t get enough of the lasagne on Sunday night so pulled the whole plate onto her lap to enjoy and last night she devoured a bacon bap! She’s definitely putting that one tooth to good use.

The weekend also gave us the job of making an Easter bonnet for Polly to take into school. She had a lot of fun decorating it and covered the room in glitter.

That’s about it really, it’ll be exciting to see what the next few weeks hold now that we can start having some outdoor play dates and catch ups so let’s hope the good weather holds!

A year ago today I finished work at 3 and headed home with the kids not thinking too much about what was going on in the world except that it still felt ‘too far’ away to affect us. Not long after getting home Polly started coughing and Boris started talking and within an hour I was officially off work due to being ‘at risk’ (a.k.a pregnant) and we were put into isolation for 2 weeks. Henry appeared quickly having been sent home to join us in isolation and we watched over the next week or so as the world went a bit mad.

So a year on I’ve written a letter to my past self to let her know what was coming over the next 365 days-

This is scary and there will be some dark days. There will be horror stories that you read about this terrible pandemic that will make you cry. Everyone is in this for the long haul and there will be multiple lockdowns with some dark moments where isolation really gets to you. There will also be some precious moments and they will be the ones that get you through this whole thing.

There will be so many bedtimes that you do together as a family with story-time’s full of laughter and bath times full of joy (and plenty of soaked floors!) that you’ll realise how precious family time is.

Don’t keep fretting about giving birth in a pandemic- women are incredible and they will do their thing, so will you. Women give birth in crazy situations every day so really the fact that you get to go to a hospital with trained midwives (who are superheroes!) and you’ll get you’re third and final pool birth means that you’ve got it a lot better than a lot of other women.

The baby will be ok in our little bubble. She might not get the host of baby groups and play dates that the other 2 got but her cheeky little smile will keep everyone going.

Sadly at 9 months old there will still be plenty of family and friends who haven’t yet met this new rascal but those days full of reunions are now in sight.

The garden will actually get some love and plenty of use.

You’ll be one of those who bakes lots of banana bread.

You’ll have the time to put 2 years worth of baby photos into albums and finally write out a bucket list.

Money will be ok, not ideal, but it will be ok. Stop fretting that the pandemic will cost us our jobs and lead us onto the streets- that won’t happen!

Polly will still start school and she will be amazing at this new transition. You have not escaped homeschooling but even that will be something that has positive moments that make your heart burst with pride. Also your respect for teachers will hit all new heights!

Christmas will be different but it will still be Christmas- full of love, laughter and food.

You’ll find some new YouTube channels to follow and there will be some binge watching of Netflix to keep you entertained- the best one coming curtesy of a Duke and a spoon.

It’s ok to say you’re not ok. Don’t wait on it just admit it.

Overall it will be a year that in some ways will be similar to others as life will still throw the same ups and downs, but at the same time everything will be different. You’ll miss people. You’ll miss baby groups. You’ll miss soft play. You’ll miss going for a cheeky McDonald’s after a day driving round Devon exploring. You’ll miss the birthday celebrations. You’ll miss having a wander round primark. But you’ll have figured out a lot of things in your head that will make you the most content you’ve ever been and you’ll be raring to go with the next 365 days so hang in there and maybe go and make a banana bread to start the year of lockdowns.

Tomorrow is the day! After being out of school since before Christmas, tomorrow Polly will put on her uniform again and head down the road to be taught by a real teacher. I’m still slightly wary of Boris and his plans though so I haven’t actually cleared away the pens, paper and whiteboard from the dining room table yet. Today Polly was keen to play lots of ‘going back to school’ games with her barbies and she’s also told me she is as excited as she was for Christmas!

I’m hoping to have seen the back of phonics for a while too as my brain is even more scrambled than a few weeks ago. On Thursday I actually escaped the house for an eye test and gave my optician a good giggle when I read the sounds on the light up board not just the letters.

I hope that the day goes smoothly for all concerned and am hoping to not get an email about any new language my child is throwing out as she’s going through a phase of calling everyone in the house a ‘bum-flake’ before laughing about it! Not quite sure who started that one but it was probably the very mature man I married.

Said mature man has also enjoyed the wonder of a lockdown birthday finally. The balloons are still creating lots of entertainment- we just had a 20 minute balloon fight to make up for not going on a daily walk today as Polly had requested a pj and my little pony day before school. We did have a lot of fun making a pink chocolate-chip cake for him, with Polly eating as much icing as she was using to decorate!

I’m looking forward to being able to spend some more time with the little 2, I might not get a say in where the daily walks are though as Prince Seb has got to the stage where he has opinions on which path we go on and how long we go out for now. He’s still a bit unsteady on his feet (he’s always been a bit clumsy!) so it’ll be a good chance to get him out the pushchair and walking more independently. He’s also at the stage where he likes to bring a toy along for the walk which had a disastrous (and also slightly hilarious!) outcome yesterday on a family walk in the muddy woods when he threw what was in one hand thinking it was the stone he was holding but it actually turned out to be the train he had in the other hand!

Talking about moving, Clara-bear is so so so nearly there with crawling. She can roll and wriggle her way around the room but hasn’t quite mastered bringing her knees up under herself yet and instead just ends up screaming at the object she’s trying to reach. She did however finally cut her first tooth last week! Polly has found this fascinating and to Clara’s amusement she keeps sticking her pinky finger in her baby sister’s mouth to have a feel!

Well that’s it for now. I’ve written this up before the bedtime carnage instead of at 9 O’clock when I’m struggling to keep my eyes open. Good luck to everyone getting back into school/nursery/work routines with the first signs that we might actually be on the homestretch of this crazy pandemic. 🤞