The end is nigh. Come Friday, my darling, delightful children are back at school (pre-school in Luke's case, he is only 3 after all). I've been reading lots of posts about people feeling a bit nostalgic and teary about the start of school. I keep on talking to people who hate this time of year. Readers, fellow parents, I have to admit to something. I am not one of these people.
For me the end of the summer holidays cannot come a day too soon. Apart from the fact that they start back on a Friday which just seems plain daft, it will be a day of relief in the Pants household. Please don't infer that I don't love my kids or that I don't enjoy spending time with them. We've had a lovely time this summer. We've been on holiday to France and galivanted around the Isle of Wight. We've spent lots of time with Grannies and old friends. We've even had some marvellous afternoons with a few other bloggers (Island Mum of 2 (3 if you count their Dad), Nappy Valley Girl, Home Office Mum and BabyRambles all gamely stepping up to the plate). Adam's learnt how to bike without stabilisers and swim without armbands. Luke's learnt to bike with stabilisers and swim with armbands. Cakes have been made, blackberries picked, football played, drawings drawn, glitter glued and climbing frames climbed.
It is just that I have spent an awful lot of time with them. Since they broke up, I have been with them every single waking moment that they have had bar one 2 hour stint when I looked so awful (and was behaving so badly) that my ever loving husband put me to bed. Given that neither of them nap in the afternoon that is a lot of hours of the day. Hours when I long for a volume button somewhere on at least one of them, for just 20 minutes. Hours when I feel jealous of professional sports referees, to only have to keep control for 90 minutes (or 80 if you are playing in rubgy which is probably more accurate for this household). It would be an exaggeration to say that they have fought constantly this summer, but not much of one.
So yes, I'm longing for a bit of time to myself. I want to be able to do an hour of work. I want to sit down for a cup of tea and still be sitting when I finish it. I want to get my head around that in about 8 weeks there'll be another baby here. I'd like to find the pram, crib and some of his baby clothes before he gets here. But most of all I want to enjoy some complete, total and utter silence.
And then I'll miss the chaos.