What a day! or 3...

Oh my god, what a day or 3...

It all started on Friday night. Noelie had her last bottle and went to bed as usual. She is very good and actually enjoys going to bed. She gets really excited and kicks and screams (in a good way) whenever we put her in her sleeping bag.

However, by the time we went to bed, she had started whinging. She woke up every hour. I checked her, she was not wet, nor dirty, nor too hot, nor too cold. She did not have a fever, she was even smiling whenever I approached her cot. She was just awake and whinging. Maybe her teeth, maybe a pain somewhere, I don't know and probably never will.

By 7h30, she was crying, so we got up and gave her her breakfast. There was no consoling her, she took her bottle but kept crying big crocodile tears. Neither Daddy nor Mummy could do a thing to stop her. I gave her some paracetamol, as I was convinced she had a pain somewhere. She fell asleep in my arms around 8h15. I put her down in her cot. She woke up 20 minutes later, her usual self, smiling and screaming and kicking.. She has been in great form ever since. Was it her teeth? Was she overtired from not having slept well? We don't know what was wrong with her and never will.

Saturday was a busy day. Dropped Marie off to her father's.(although she refers to him as Daddy, my fiance is not her biological dad). Had words with him for having forgotten her at school earlier on during the week (but apparently 'these things happen !?!?'). Went off with Daddy and Noelie. Dropped presents off for his nephew and niece, then went hunting for a dress for me and trousers for him for a party we were going to that night. Found a simple black dress. Went home. Fell asleep on the couch while Daddy was looking after Noelie. Woke up. Had to get ready. Shower, get dressed, do the hair. Make up would have to wait until Marie was collected. Went to collect Marie, had more words (still on the same subject. My point: no matter what you're doing, you do not forget your child at school). Went home. Did the make up, trying to perfect the smoky eye. Ended up looking like a panda. Did it again. Acceptable. Babysitter arrived. Changed Noelie into her pjs. She decided to dirty her nappy straight after. Need to go because we were running late. Got to the party. Had a good time, wasn't too tired thanks to the aforementioned nap. Got home quite late. Thanked the baby sitter. Got into bed.

Noelie did not wake up until 8h30 Sunday morning. Thank god. Got up with her and gave her her breakfast. Marie had a great time with the baby sitter but went to bed late so she did not get up until 10h00. Put Noelie down for her morning nap. Gave Marie her breakfast. Then we had one of those great moments. Marie, who had seen me writing here, wanted to write a story. So we sat down, in our pjs, me with a nice cup of coffee and her with her notepad. And we came up with a nice story. She loves reading and her writing is coming along really well. I decided to write her story on the computer and she was so proud to see her story in black and white. We decided to go into town and spend the afternoon there, grab a bite to eat, walk around looking at the shop windows and see all the lights. We managed to grab a few presents too. She went off with Daddy to get my presents while Noelie stayed with me (mental note: buggy and busy shops full to the brim with Christmas shoppers not to be repeated). Collected the car and went home. Spoke to my mum on the phone for 30 minutes. By the time, the girls went to bed , both of us were exhausted.

I was looking forward to the new week being less hectic than the week end until I got home after the school run. After a lovely week end (although quite tiring) I realized that:
- The washing machine also took the week end off and about 3 loads of washing were staring at me from various corners of the house. (Would not be too bad in itself if only we had a drier!)
- The sitting room, kitchen and bedrooms looked like a bomb hit them.
- The Christmas cards for my family in France so beautifully written by Marie were still on the table waiting for me to erase the pencil lines (Marie wanted to write straight!), the addresses still to be written on them, the stamps still needed to be bought and a post box still needed to be found.
- A pile of masterfully hidden presents needed to be wrapped, but before they could be, wrapping paper needed to be bought.
- I had used the last of the ham and bread for Marie's lunch and the fridge needed to be replenished.
- I opened the freezer only to realize that we had finished all of Noelie's food and more needed to be cooked.

So off I went to do some shopping, stopping by the post office on the way. Got home to cook some food for Noelie while the first load was being washed. Gave her her lunch. Sat down for the first time with a coffee while she went for her nap, erased the pencil lines, wrote the addresses and stamped the Christmas cards. Then proceeded to wrap some 12 or 13 presents. By the time, I was finished, it was time to collect Marie from school who announced to me on the way home that she had to make some Christmas decorations for the school tree for tomorrow. Got home, gave her her lunch, helped with the homework and got her changed out of her uniform. Started on making some 'pate a sel' (a mix of flour, salt and water that is similar to play dough but gets put in the oven to harden). Gave Noelie her bottle. Daddy got home from work with a muffin for me, and I realized that I hadn't eaten since breakfast. Daddy finished feeding Noelie while I was finishing the hopefully prize winning decorations with Marie and put them in the oven. And now, I finally get to sit down, for the 2nd time today, with a nice coffee and a muffin . And the kitchen and the sitting room look like a bomb hit them (again), and 2 loads of washing are staring at me (from the kitchen this time), and our dinner needs to be cooked (at least Noelie's is made) and Marie needs to be brought over to her dance class. A woman's work is never done! But it's not for lack of trying.

I am now looking forward to going to bed (not for another few hours though) and start all over again tomorrow!!