The big and small of it.

Do you remember having to use a cold wet cloth on your newborns head to keep them awake while feeding? I do, on both my babies; The first few months were obviously as tiring for them as it was for me, and in order to establish the feeding and get into some sort of routine with them I needed them to stay awake and get a decent feed in their bellies. I remember feeling so cruel at the time.

Yesterday I was reminded of this little ritual as I was feeding Ollie his dinner one mouthful at a time while giving him a bath in pretty much cold water so he wouldn't dose off with a full mouth of mash potato and stew. You see Tuesdays are his full day at kindy. That's 9 to 3 which is a very long day for a boy that still likes the odd mid day nap. It means I have to be super organised and have dinner ready by 4.30 and him in bed by 5.30pm. Yesterday I wasn't and he fell asleep on the couch watching Dora while I was preparing dinner, so then it was this crazy dance of trying to wake him up and get him fed.

Most normal people I'm sure would have flagged dinner and bath and simply placed the sleeping toddler in his bed at 4.30pm and dealt with it the next day. But due to the whole newborn example I have this need to send them to bed with a full belly so as to keep the routine in place and my own ever precious sleep pattern in balance. It's completely selfish I realise while writing this. No way was I going to be woken at 4am by a hungry and dirty toddler ready for his new day to begin.

And here is why I wasn't organised yesterday, I had spent the afternoon visiting the school where Lucy will start as a 5 year old next March. I even brought home various sizes of the uniform to try on her to get sorted. Trying them on her, thinking of my first born off to school was quite emotional. Every one warns you it goes fast but as each day with toddlers is so long you never believe the years could be so short.

So today was spent washing newborn clothes and getting the nursery ready for the third and last Smith baby. Ironically I had put Lucy's new uniform for next year in the nursery out of the way and it was a very good reminder not to rush these days, these evenings, these nights but to enjoy each moment of them because my little girl is almost school age and my baby Ollie is now a feisty toddler (admittedly still not toilet trained and still sucks a dummy) but a toddler none the less. Thank goodness I've been blessed with this one last baby and I intend to slow the time down and relish it. Time goes so quick.