My day

Tonight as I looked at my watch and realised it was 6pm, I felt a sense of relief that I only had another hour to survive before putting the girls to bed. It ended up being one of those I'm-just-so-exhausted-I-need-a-break days that most parents have more often than we choose to remember.

The girls had been doing really well with their toilet training up until today. Breakfast consisted of pouring juice onto their cereal and slopping it backwards and forwards from the cup to the bowl, with most of it ending up all over the table and the floor. Then, to top it off, Sarah did a lovely big wee on her chair and the floor. What would I do without floorboards!?! That was just the beginning of the downward spiral.

While I was on the phone to Anne, I stepped in a puddle, oh noooooooooooo - yes, the puddle was a big one. I think that was about the fourth wee (on the floor) for the day. The joys of toilet training.

On a positive note, this afternoon Sarah helped me make lemon-meringue pie. We recently discovered that the big tree beside the clothes-line at our new house has limes (at least I'm pretty sure they're limes - the first one we picked was shaped more like an orange, but smelt like a lime). So I thought we'd test one in a pie. Sarah and I enjoyed licking the bowl - a big scoop of the filling (with only a little of the fresh lime and some lemon juice, I don't like lemon much) and meringue, scrumptious!

As I went to cut the pie it didn't seem to cut the way it normally does. When I bit into it I realised that I'd forgotten to cook the pastry before adding the filling - whoops! Dad commented that he thought it tasted like it wasn't too overcooked, almost raw, which is the way he loves it. Yeah, that's because it was completely raw. I don't mind a bit of the raw pastry, but that combined with the lemon meringue was a bit much. Still, Dad didn't mind it, so he said he'd gradually eat it over the next few days. Maybe I'll just eat the top layer and leave the base?

I'm very thankful the girls have been so much better going to bed this week. Mum and Dad helped me work out a more manageable plan after I lost it one night - Sarah goes to bed in a different room now so they don't egg each other on and jump on the beds, and I have a better 'routine' worked out, which Anne also helped me think about last year but I hadn't really had the strength to stick with until now. It seems to be working well. They've both been asleep by 7.30pm most nights this week. I feel like a new person!