project 366 week 44.

Sunday: The Girls and I leave Daddy working in the Man Cave and head to Hyde Park to catch up with old school friends I haven’t seen since my wedding. Our four girls had a ball. I wish we’d had longer to catch up. Historic moment when- for the first time in the four and a half years I have been a parent- my trip to London did not involve carrying a pushchair down the stairs at the station. We used the newly installed lift. I may have gone up and down in it again just for the hell of it. Carved out our pumpkins when we came home again. My hands ached at bedtime.

Monday: The Girls and I went to Bromley to pick up DH’s Robin costume. We made last-minute purchases for The Girls when we realised that their Witch costumes were at The Beach House. They immediately put them on and wore them for the next three days, so we got good value from the 50% off sale at Clinton’s. A birthday party in the afternoon was the perfect way to wear them out, and they slept very well. This 2-week half-term is starting to be hard work.

Tuesday: Poor Dimples: after a long night I left her asleep with DH who was working from home, and dropped LBG at her friend’s house. When I came home Dimples was standing naked at the top of the stairs sobbing: she thought she was all alone and hadn’t thought to check for Daddy in his Man Cave. I calmed her down but, for the rest of the day she was clingy and looked terrible, which I attributed to her crying, as I’d no idea how long she’d been there when I got home. Our Pumpkin Party was a great hit and everyone had a fabulous time, but I was exhausted afterwards and Dimples still seemed off colour. Unsurprisingly her temperature when I took it at bedtime was 102.

Wednesday: Dimples ended up in my bed, as she woke regularly through the night. I’m incredibly glad we have the guest room for DH to retreat to and sleep. So we had a day of managing illness. Whilst LBG got to attend a Halloween party and go trick-or-treating with Daddy, I stayed home with Dimples. When well, we made fireworks pictures and when ill, she crashed next to me on the sofa. So I have no pictures of DH in his spectacular Robin get-up, together with his friend in Batman costume.

Thursday: during the night Dimples temperature hit 104 and she vomited. I gave her a bath, called NHS Direct and fell asleep with her on my lap. I didn’t need duvet: she was so warm it was like cuddling a hot-water bottle. So instead of a Poppy Cat event in London, we went to the doctor. Who said that we needn’t have bothered, it was a virus and we just needed to wait it out. The rational part of me accepts that, but when the thermometer hits 104 my panic button goes and I like to be reassured by a medical professional. As we were in Bromley, we went for lunch and saw that all the shops had transformed overnight from ghoulish Halloween shopfronts to Christmas-is-coming.

Friday: The planner came for a meeting with our Architects at the house and it seems unlikely that our building plans will be approved in two weeks. So we’ll have to redesign and reapply. Frustrating as we had hoped to break ground in January. The house seems to know this: bit have started leaking and breaking and I can’t help but be annoyed by how tatty everything is, but what’s the point in decorating when you have big build works in your future and the house will get ruined? Another arty day, crafting our #pigsbykids: we have so loved using the wonderful art supplies.

Saturday: rather than go to the Beach House we stayed close to home. DH has a hectic work schedule with a trial coming up and it’s somehow easier to be here when I am single-parenting. We all headed to Frankie and Benny’s for brunch so DH could take a break, and came up with a brilliant plan for our first Center Parcs challenge. That afternoon we finally finished our pigs, had a man fix our computers and wifi extender, made biscuits, played games and went swimming. The fireworks rendered the WH a gibbering wreck and it was nearly midnight when the madness stopped. For the first night Dimples slept through.