Escaping....

It seems so long since I updated my blog and there's been so much happening I don't know what to omit and what to write about!

I'm sitting here, in my tranquil, quiet, no children zone (aka the lounge!) and watching the rain fall down. It's hard to believe that it's only the beginning of August - it feels more like a late autumn day. For the first time in months, the rain isn't giving me a foreboding, hazy feeling - I think I have finally found peace with all that has happened. This time last year, I was embarking on a road trip around Scotland and back to London on my own with the children - my relationship with my parents had hit rock bottom and I was asked to leave their house, where I'd been staying while my husband managed the renovations on the house. It's been a long and difficult journey to get through the last twelve months but I'm glad to say that I have salvaged my relationship with my parents and I can now call my house a home.

When we embarked on the renovations, one of the key features we planned for was the creation of space that was preserved as child free. So our lounge is generally kept for us to use in the evenings or when we're child free. It becomes our retreat at night once the children have gone to bed, somewhere we relax and escape from the chaos that has taken over the rest of our house.

Talking of escaping, I managed to get away with a friend for a few days in July - it was the first time I'd left the children for a night but if I'm totally honest I was so relaxed I hardly had a chance to miss them. Everyone survived (my parents came and helped out) and I came back feeling like I'd been away for 4 weeks rather than 4 nights. Sadly the feeling hasn't lasted - the day after I returned I was told that James won't be able to start school in September as planned. I have no idea what we're going to do as the LEA has left it too late in the day for us to organise an alternative placement for him. So I am likely to be facing having James at home instead of school for several weeks after the start of term. But more about that in another post....

One of the most stressful problems we're having at the moment is that James has become an escape artist himself - mainly out of his clothes and nappy.. So I've had to invest in dungarees for daytime use and some all-in-one pyjamas that we put on back to front so he can't undress and take his nappy off at night. I had never realised that I could be so creative and resourceful when it comes to solving seemingly impossible problems but I have to stay a step ahead of James at all times. For him, there really is no escape....