When you have a baby, your life can quite easily slip into revolving around them. You like to be home for sleep time, be somewhere convenient for feed time… and before you know it you find yourself housebound.
I tend to go a bit crazy when that happens to me. I get mopey and over it – especially if the weather is foul like it has been so often lately! I need to talk to big humans, and to be out, having a life. This week I’ve been making more of an effort to do that. I’ve been walking into town, exploring parts of of it that I haven’t before, and enjoying the fresh air and exercise.
Today, I got really brave. I decided to take the two kids off to the beach (and for a spot of shopping) on my own for the day. Eeek!
I let Reuben have his morning sleep nap at home, then off we set. First we went to a shop that my sister discovered a few weeks ago, that sells all types of bulk food.. grains, bread mixes, flours, dried fruits, nuts, lollies…. it’s all kinds of great. I loved looking at everything, even if I was slightly distracted by the baby strapped to the front of me sleeping (see we don’t have to be at home after all!), and the three year old who wanted to touch everything. The bribe promise of the beach was enough to keep her going, and before too long we were off!
It was such a beautiful sunshiny day today. Mayana was insistent that it was a warm summer day, but the water definitely reassured us all that it’s still definitely winter.
We sat on the grass near the sand, and Mayana ran on the beach and collected shells and built “tainer castles” (with her container, since we left her bucket at home), and chased the ducks (who were actually seagulls) and had the time of her life.
After a feed, Reuben laid happily on his blanket, in the shade of his pram and enjoyed the feeling of grass and sand between his toes for the first time ever. My poor winter baby has very rarely been barefooted, and he seemed quite happy to be sock-free for a while!
Mayana came back for the occasional snuggle, and to tell ‘Reubsi-Cubes’ that when he got a big boy he could play in the sand with her too!
Reuben didn’t seem to bothered by the fact that he was confined to his blanket though.
While Mayana played, he got uninterrupted Mama time.
Before we left, Reuben and I wandered down onto the sand so Mayana could show us some highlights. These included a large piece of driftwood that Mayana was convinced was the tail of a big huge whale. It did in fact look quite whale-tail like.
Reuben loved poking his toes into the warm sand, and cried when I picked him up.
Mayana gathered her spoils, and I told her that she could choose three pieces to take home with us to add to the incredibly large amount of shells that she already owns.
I had such a lovely time with my favourite kids today, and I’m going to keep my eyes and mind on the memories of the beach… and not the scream-fest that happened when we got home. This was the second afternoon in a row that I’ve ended up with half an hour of two screaming crying children who desperately need to sleep and yet refuse to. But. I’m not going to think about that. I’m going to think about sun and sand and waves crashing and smiling babies with happy toes and carefree three year olds laughing and twirling and running.
It’s a much prettier picture.
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Thank you!!