I won’t do this kind of entry again I don’t think, it’s been pretty had keeping up with everything, but it’s astonishing looking back over a day to see what I actually did achieve! I forget most of it, I don’t acknowledge half of it, and a lot of it just doesn’t occur to me as noteworthy. But here is today. A fairly average day.

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Get up

Get dressed

Check ash levels in the furnace

Empty grate

Take ash out

Feed the cats

Crunchy outside today, frozen slush. Only just at 0C though.

Set fire up

Light fire

Wash hands

Put coffee on

Check blood sugar: 7.9

Take insulin (6u, assuming I will eat something at some point fairly soon)

Have a chocolate because that’s what I actually really wanted

Upload sugar data

Discuss breakfast options with kids

Put some wood on the fire

Check mouse’s favouritest place in the house (under the toaster)

Check bread levels

Put porridge on for Ben and Erika

Transfer coffee to thermos, switch machine off

DRINK COFFEEEE

Read pointless rubbish online while stirring porridge

Ben is on Minecraft, figuring out how to make a new redstone circuit work.

Charley is curled up watching some minecraft stuff on youtube.

Check cheesecake batter (made it last Thursday) and debate whether it’s still ok to bake with. Smells fine. It’s not intended as gifts this time either anyway. Charley wants to help me bake today.

Put more wood on the fire

Contemplate life while making sure the fire is burning at the right ferocity

Porridge is cooked

Cook toast for Charley

Consider what to have for my own breakfast (I’ve not made overnight oats in over a fortnight, not deliberately though, and I’m amazed how quickly those two weeks have gone and how quickly you can fall out of a habit)

Deliver kids’ breakfasts

Check on the tiny sleeping beauty who isn’t keen on getting up this morning

Deliver drinks to the kids

Contemplate my own breakfast again. It’s gonna be coffee and a syrup waffle isn’t it, may as well accept it and move on without guilt.

Pour coffee, get waffle melting

Write today’s To Do list

Take a moment. Enjoy coffee and waffle. Listen to Ben telling me about the improvements he’s making to his village in Minecraft.

Welcome the sleepyhead, who is VERY happy to see there’s a perfect bowl of porridge waiting for her – shall we call her Goldilocks?!

Look at lego sets with the kids while they eat, and consider how we could figure out a way to afford a particularly huge one for us all to play with…

Fire time

Erika is helping Ben with his Minecrafting, and shouting along with Charley who is burning off some energy galloping up and down being a cowboy on an invisible horse – he’s riding one-handed, brandishing a katana with the other hand!

Need to throw a child into the shower. Somehow have to choose one. Yesterday they both shouted that they wanted the first shower but now they are both very involved in what they are doing.

Sort laundry, throw Ben into the shower.

Get laundry ready to go.

Half an hour before Trine calls…

Clear away all the breakfast things

Empty dishwasher

COFFEE

Feed the sourdough. Under its crust it’s actually starting to look a bit lively at last!

Check sugars: 9.7

Rescue the bedtime storybook from Erika and replace bookmark

Console Erika by asking her to put last night’s soggy nappy in the bin

Empty nappy bin

Bring mail in

And there’s 3 hours done and gone and I’m ready for Trine to call about my sugar data!

Played some Minecraft

Ben finished his shower

Nursed Erika

Set the laundry going

Put more wood on the fire

Checked sugar: 8.8

40 mins later, still waiting for a phonecall…

Life is on hold while I wait for this call. I can’t find her contact details to call or message her, and everything that needs doing this afternoon requires me to be available pretty much the whole time so starting anything new is risky.

Charley is creating a new home on one of my Minecraft worlds on the laptop.

Ben is replicating lego minecraft sets on pocket edition.

Erika is eating crisps and watching Dinopaws, and making rounds to check on her brothers.

Took down my beautiful new grad aran cakes of yarn to have a play with but the one crochet hook I can’t find is the one I need. How can that be?! I don’t even have any projects on the go that use that size hook!

Hour and a half after the phone appointment time. Give up. Can only assume she’s not calling.

Wood on the fire

Oven on for lunch

Check sugars: 8.8, stable despite being fed crisps by Erika

Insulin: 6u, again assuming I’m going to eat something fairly soon once I’ve figured out what I want.

Falling asleep on my feet tired

Pølsehorn in the oven

Milk warming for bread, yeast crumbled, better make sure Charley is okay with me starting without him…

He’s actually happily building. And there’s other stuff he can help bake later anyway.

Start mixing yeast into milk.

Oven timer beeps, and Charley appears!

Quick whisk yeasty milk, turn pølsehorn over, remember the fire needs feeding…

Tell Charley to wash his hands. The tap running makes him dance. Hmm.

He can retrieve his stool after he’s been to the toilet.

Stool retrieved, Charley spots the chocolate muffins! Muffins before pølsehorn, fine. Takes one for Ben and Erika. Chocolate chops.

Bread dough made and in a bowl to prove. 3pm when I need to return to that.

Ooh I can have soup!

Fetch tin of soup from stable storeroom. Check fire on the way back – boiler water finally almost up to temperature! Shower days are fun…

Bingeley bingeley beep. Washing machine sings to tell me it has finished. Good good. Soup first.

Wash up while the soup heats up

Soup is ready

Charley wants sausages: put kettle on to heat them up

Put wood on fire. Poke fire. Wake up fire.

Sausages are heating up.

I NEED TO EAT.

Eat. Play mindless games on phone.

Erika comes and takes advantage, says “a-door?” meaning she wants to go through the door for a sleepy cuddle.

Need to get Charley his sausages first and knead the dough to leave it for its second prove. Was late getting to it so it’ll be 4pm now when I need to check it next.

Blood sugars: 5.3

Fire check time. Don’t think Charley’s going to get his shower before Erika goes to sleep so it’s temperature maintenance time, briquettes and a closed vent, for a while now. 3 briquettes per hour keeps things ticking over on normal usage at the moment.

Realise in horror that because Erika’s not done a poo (and therefore not been stinky) that I’ve not changed her nappy yet. Change nappy, get her dressed. (This is not a normal occurrence btw.)

Attempt to snuggle nurse her down for a nap

Give up, and throw Charley in the shower instead

Charley all clean

Check sugars: 9.4

Fire feeding time

Knead dough again with Charley’s help, put it in its tin for its final prove. Push, fold, turn. Push, fold, turn. He’s pretty good at it. Dough feels lovely and silky smooth.

Drink. Juice.

Lego time for the boys, upstairs and out of the way! Jumpers and socks on, it’s cold up there.

“That’s Not My…” time for me and Erika. Instead of comparing the textures with daddy’s beard, she’s comparing textures with my fuzzy head.

Check times and existence of buses home for Steve

Fire feeding time

Bread in the oven: 35 mins on the clock

Steve starts his journey home via the shops, only slightly delayed by a small asthma attack

Insulin: 6u as usual, seems to be about right for snacking plus bringing the levels down

Biscuits, and Sarah & Duck time for me with Erika, who appears to have decided a nap was unnecessary today

Duplo and cars for the not very sleepy duck, and bus tracker / clock watching for me, waiting for the bread to be cooked and the husband to get home

Check bus location

Bread out and brushed with butter

Check bus location (only slightly obsessed with it)

Track bus til it’s due, wait in kitchen with Erika – cheer when we see the bus!

Run to living room, Erika shouts hiya dada as he walks up from the bus stop

Climb (Erika, not me) up to the front window to shout hiya as he turns into the drive

Run (Erika, not me) to the back window to shout some more

Daddy’s home!

Erika helps unload the shopping, shouting with happiness at each thing she pulls out of the bag

Hug

Arrange roses in a vase

Wrap loaf in a teacloth to cool

Take a break!

Fire check and feed

Laundry out / drying

What’s for tea?

Erika still needs a bath

Dry laundry away (from two days ago at least)

Feed the cats and sit in the porch while they both come in to eat – that’s progress again

Sit with Erika as she tries to get her snowboots on. Once they’re on, she doesn’t want them on any more.

Discuss Minecraft Storymode with Ben – problems he’s been having. He’s inspired to try it again but now might not be the best time for it.

Fire feeding time

Check sugars: 3.8. Didn’t snack as much as expected… ah well, there’s chocolate.

Slice up the bread for tea: marmite and cheddar for me and Steve, chocolate spread for Charley (and probably Erika), cereal (by request) for Ben.

Boo! time with Erika. Stomach hurts from laughing as Erika and Steve jump out at each other from behind the fridge!

Fire feeding time

Boys playing together on Minecraft, exploring a cave system together

Pyjamas for a very much over-tired Erika who keeps crashing into stuff. More tickles and giggles to try to keep her in one place while I get her into pyjamas. Jumping on my tummy and squealing and laughing, falling over and bumping, showing off jumping.

Exhausted.

Delegate changing batteries in the timer lanterns

Boys into pyjamas (explain to boys that even if they don’t feel calm, can they try to pretend: Erika has lost her off switch and if they can pretend to be calm it might help her to slow down a bit and find her off switch too)

Try to keep going, nearly the boys’ bedtime

Second load of laundry out to dry

Cut and peel apple for Charley

Delegate fire feeding time

Continue with laundry

Cut and peel apple for Ben

Finish hanging laundry

Get pyjamas on

Supervise teeth cleaning

Snuggles

Swap with Steve, he reads to the boys as they fall asleep, and I go to stay with Erika as she finds her off switch.

Erika’s off switch is proving elusive. That said she’s got the tired munchies earlier than usual and is on her second bowl of pepperoni slices and frozen raspberries, watching Charlie & Lola. With any luck the fast she’s sitting still to eat and watch will help her off switch to be located sooner rather than later!

Watched a gritter go past.

Watcher the gritter go back the other way, in what looked like rain.

Turned on the yard light to see what the rain had done to the remaining snow to discover….. more snow!! Awesome!!

Check sourdough starter to give it a mix before bed – ooh it’s suddenly sprung into life! Better give it a bigger bowl or there’ll be a sticky floury mess on the floor in the morning!

Extra long life batteries for Erika tonight, apparently.

Washing up

Bin emptied

Dishwasher set

Many biscuits gathered

Colander returned to the kitchen again

Tears (from her, because of the colander)

Cuddles

Bunny fetched

More cuddles

Broken nail on Erika discovered. Ouch.

Dealt with broken nail

BOOKS!

Four books later (my presence was not required to read them to her) she collected Bunny on her way to my lap, found her milk, and was finally mercifully out like a light.

Watched two tractors with snow ploughs fitted thunder past. It’s gone midnight, they aren’t usually out this late. Expecting another heavy snowfall, I wonder? Glad I brought a shovel into the workshop!

I-port time, and bedtime insulin

Check sugars: 5.8. Good. I can have another small piece of bread or something without having to inject.

All jobs are done so I’ll sit and do some more on Erika’s newest jumper for a bit before my eyes lose focus. Or maybe I’ll just sit and watch the snow for a few minutes.

****

The boys might not have done any sitting at the table with workbooks today, and very little of it looks like what we think learning should look like. But. Ben has been learning redstone circuitry in Minecraft and, through that, electronics design concepts and implementation, logic, problem solving, engineering concepts. Charley has been building railways, building houses, and watching Ben play in Minecraft. Architecture. Design. They’ve also played together in “survival” mode (on the peaceful setting) and learned more about cooperation and communication as they have had to share resources and tools depending on who needed what. Interpersonal skills. Charley has also helped bake today’s bread, seeing what ingredients are needed, smelling things, feeling things, helping to stir the mixture and then knead the dough (“push, fold, turn”) and butter the tin. Home economics, food technology, chemistry. Lego play! Building, designing, engineering, fine motor skills, cooperation. They have learned so much today, just by being. But every day IS different. Some days are less full than others. Some things have to happen every day regardless. Life is evolving and changing and adapting, and so are we, to it.