It's been a long time since I last sat down to write (actually, just since I last sat down…) and now that I’m here my brain is making this strange whirring sensation as though it’s starting up its engine which is very exciting and yet at the same time I can feel its empty void as the tumbleweed rolls.

The summer was its usual mix of unwinding from the daily school routine and the wonderfully relaxed start to each day followed shortly by choruses of I’m Bored and thinking When Do They Go Back? We enjoyed some fabulous trips out, some hilarious days in (thankfully with paddling pool and water guns) and some “head-banging, stressed out, no time to think, I’ve managed to dye my hair some weird purple colour because I couldn’t concentrate in the shop with the children around me and I need a break” sort of days. And no sooner had we all learnt the new routines and how to be kind and helpful and then you’ll get rewards that they’re back at school and another academic year has started.

As with every new term I am desperately trying to get organised and keep on top of all the forms that are being dropped on me about after-school clubs, school trips, music lessons, cub camps but I’m drowning in the paperwork. I open my emails to immediately shut them down again because there are just too many. All those red flagged ones that are urgent, I feel like waving a white flag – please stop! I surrender, let me live in a cave. The notifications keep beeping on the phone shouting “Me, me! Answer me!” The baby, now a toddler at 21 months, says “mama, mama, mama” for the entire day unless a tractor happens to pass, “dac-dac”. Noise, so much noise.

When did life get so hectic? Oh yes, when I had kids! And isn’t it funny how one short sentence can change the whole day? When I woke up this morning I was feeling drained and grumpy but hearing the words, “I signed up for the Liturgy club and went to choir today at lunchtime” replaced the “How can it take you TWO hours of torture to do such a simple piece of homework?” to “My darling, saintly child, let me kiss you all over!”

I will have been a mother for 10 years on Monday. I didn’t know there were so many highs and lows even possible in this short life but for every morning that I’d rather stay in bed there’s an evening I want to last for ever.

To recover from this rollercoaster summer and start of term I shall be heading to the Beauty and Pampering section on the website and indulging in something relaxing...Actually, that's what I'm dreaming of doing, but a girl can dream...