How time flies!

So we've just got back from our visit to the husbands parents. Three weeks of relative relaxation, the operative word being "relative" of course (no pun intended). Still it's good to be back. After a certain point you miss the comfort that familiarity offers. Your own bed, your pillow that's slightly wonky in it's own special way, your favourite mug, and coffee just the way you like it.

Having said that (I'm now going to say this! - I love Seinfeld, obviously!), Wales was a lot of fun. Baby was thrilled to be there. His grandparents were overjoyed to have him and it was very special and beautiful to watch them bond. And even though the weather was atrocious almost all the time we were there, and we couldn't do half the things we'd planned to do, it was still great.

And now we're back. Baby was actually pleased to be back. We said elaborate "hellos' and "we missed yous" to almost all our favourite toys. Even then it took longer than a week to get back into some semblance of a routine. And what do you know it's already the end of January! Christmas has come and gone, hell the new years come and gone it seems, and I'm as usual struggling to make my peace with how quickly time passes. Baby is all set to turn two in a few days. Imagine that! My little new born baby! Two years old! A proper little boy!  It's enough to make me laugh and cry (and misuse the poor old exclamation marks!!).

The other day at his play-group, this lady who's son is about a year younger said to me, "I always worry about the older kids crashing into him"; and I said, "yeah so do I". She looked at me for a while and then said, "You do realise that your boy is one of the older kids?" My turn to look at her for a while, and then smile and shrug. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone. (Though of course if you'd asked me at 3 in the morning today, after days and nights of no sleep, I'd tell you I've felt every single second of the last two years!).

The last two years have been great. And so hard. I don't think I've ever felt more than I have in the last two years. I've never felt such joy, such despair. My relationship with husband has never felt more meaningful, problematic, more tender, more fraught. It's so easy to underestimate the effect having a baby has on your relationship. To be fair, our relationship has never been placid. We are both too passionate for that to happen. Baby just added another layer of complexity to already complicated dynamics. But I digress.

So to sum up,  baby turns two soon. A far as I can tell 2012 is almost over, and before I know it he'll be off to university, screening my calls. In other words, I'm old and wondering where my life went. Okay, maybe that's a bit extreme, but you get what I'm saying, right?


Today is the first day in over a month that I've been able to get a couple of hours just to myself. That's another thing I missed about London when we were away, the ability to just take off.

Oh and did I mention that we're still teething? (Hah. Bet you thought you'd escaped my constant moaning about teeth this time. Gotcha!). Canines now. The worst so far. The way I look at it, it can only get better from here. The other day, after a long hard teething day (would not let me out of his sight and cried at the smallest things, and all this after paracetamol), I looked at him and said, "Your teeth!", before I could finish he chimed in, "Teeth! Naughty little monkeys!"

But hey I think we're on the home stretch now. 12 out, 2 canines have cut through, two more are imminent. Then there's just the four big molars. Almost done!

Wonder what the next big thing will be.