Chickens in a box

Am now 36. How on earth....? Eddie surpassed himself by giving me the pair of yellow wedges I have been longing for April (see 20/4 blog entry) and I spent a very quiet morning sans enfants relaxing at the gym with Heat and Americano followed by pilates. Then home for cakes, coffee, champagne and children. Great fun and all topped off with a Szechuan feast with the Greens. I couldn't have asked for more. The next day was the Big Day, William and James went to stay with the Greens while Eddie and I headed down to East Dean for Lindsey and Mark's wedding. A beautiful day, very romantic and of course a fabulous party! Food to die for and wine that just kept on coming....then cocktails...and a nightcap... 6.30am the next day and my bodyclock kicks in along with an irresistable pull back to the children. Fortunately I did feel marginally less hideous after a full fry-up, tea and a post-breakfast power nap. We eventually made it home to find that James had surpassed himself, and mad...

Trapped! Grace and Will in the net. Fantastic to see Sarah and the girls after a year in Australia, we both felt quite choked up to see each other again. You cannot put a price on 25 years of friendship. The children have all grown so much and it was wonderful to have us all sitting round the table together for the first time. Roll on next year when they're back home and we'll be able to spend more happy summer days together. The Fatboy rocks. The only way to eat rasberries. In the meantime the weather has taken a turn for the worse and I'm praying that the summer isn't over already. Will has broken up from pre-school and the boys are both throwing marbles round the house while I rack my brains thinking of things to do. To be honest it's often better just to let them get on with it. Idle parenting - love it. Mattie loses one of his audience. And always the spectre of swine flu now lurks in the background. I'm just hoping that if we're going to get it, it...

I am on a ROLL! Talk about life being like a bus stop, you wait forever and then 3 come along at once (is that right?) So.....I have a night out with the NCT ladieees, dinner a glass of wine and monster gossip, putting the world to rights. Then....Bjorn again at the race course. ABBA-tastic. Every single song a winner and despite the rain we belted out every one at the top of our voices. I loved it. And finally....Lindsey's hen in Brighton on the Saturday. Great fun and I never want to see a glass of Rose as long as I live. On 3 hours sleep to say that Sunday was a struggle is an understatement, but somehow we made it home and after a long soak in the bath with 'The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous,' I was safely tucked up and fast asleep by 9.30pm. We oldies have a tough time keeping up!

The weather is unbelievable, temperatures in the 30s everyday, sticky and hot at night. A true sun worshipper even I'm struggling, feeling so tired, lethargic and scratchy. The boys are brilliant but I am swimming in treacle. It doesn't help that I wake up at 4am most mornings. Today it went like this: 4am - Molly pukes at top of the stairs (she came in especially) 4.20am - finish clearing up sick 4.30am - birds start tweeting at full volume 5.00am - James throws water cup out of bed, howls until I get it back for him 5.30am - ask Eddie if he awake. 'No', says Eddie. 5.32am - sleep 7.00am - woken by irate Will pointing out I should stop sleeping and wipe his bottom