Thank goodness for nights out with mummy friends

Family life

It’s been a looong and challenging week!

Little Miss E, my seven year old daughter, started the week being off school with what we thought was an ear infection but turned out to be tonsillitis. Little Man O, her four-year-old brother was not happy having to go to school when she was at home. Her youngest brother, the very energetic three-year-old Toddler Boy I, was not too impressed at being cooped up in the house.

And then just when I thought we were safe to enter the world again, Little Man got sent home from school with a temperature and was sick overnight. For four days this week I’ve not left the house and the cabin fever certainly set in.

Typically, work has been extra busy this week. I love self-employment but the feast and famine of freelance life means that often all the work will come in one go and you’ll be wondering if there’s a way to magic up some extra hours to get it all done on time.

Late nights at my desk working, coupled with looking after the kids at night (Cardiff Daddy did his fair share too, I should add), have left me exhausted. Being housebound, along with the fact that Cardiff Daddy has had a couple of evenings this week where he’s had after-work events and not been home until late, has starved me of proper adult conversation pretty much all week.

Like I said, it’s been a long week! We all know it’s part and parcel of parenting, I’m sure you’ve all been there. But when you are in the thick of it, it can be tough going.

But tonight…. tonight is ladies’ night and I can’t tell you how excited I am to be going out for a long-overdue catch up with a group of mummy friends who I don’t see nearly as often as I should. 

I am wearing heels and I don’t have to worry about running after kids. 

I have on big dangly earrings and I don’t have to worry about anyone yanking on them.

I have a pretty, sparkly handbag and I don’t have to worry about taking out a great big practical bag filled with snacks and drinks, toys, wipes, spare clothes and all of that stuff.

I can start conversations and actually finish them with no interruptions from tantrums, sudden toilet trips, or a child running off somewhere.

I can talk about things that are inappropriate for young ears without having to whisper or imply, or be asked for an explanation when someone overhears.

I can order what I want and not have to share it. 

I can talk freely without the toddler group leader or the birthday party entertainer giving me evils for disturbing the kids.

It seems very fitting that tonight is Mother’s Day Eve… the night before Mothering Sunday, I’m totally making it a thing. The ladies I am going out with all have young children, so for most of us there won’t be long lie-ins and lavish spa days in the morning. Some of us will start tomorrow with early morning swimming, rugby or football. Others will be up in the night with breast feeding babies. Others have said they won’t be drinking much because they know their kids and other halves have made special plans for the day and they don’t want to spend the day hungover.

As I wrote last week, most of us mummies doubt our parenting at times but tonight will be a reminder that we are all truly awesome mums who deserve some time to remember who we are away from the kids. A bit of time out to recharge our batteries, which will equip us for the demands of parenting. To relax and switch off and laugh. A reminder of the vital support network that comes from other mum friends who get what you are going through because they are going through to it too.

So while tomorrow is about our children appreciating everything we do for them, and us appreciating our own mums, tonight is a celebration of the vital support network that our mummy friends give to us. The friends who keep us sane when times get tough and demanding, and who remind us that we are not just somebody’s mum. We are fun, we are glam,we are sophisticated, we are interesting, we have things to talk about other than our kids, and we still have it in us to stay up late rather than falling asleep in front of Netflix at 9,30pm. 

And that, my dears, is something to truly celebrate!

Now, where’s the Prosecco?! 

Do share with the mummy friends who keep you sane and then come hang out with loads of other fab mummies on the Cardiff Mummy Says Facebook page, or tweet me on @cardiffmummy

7 Comments to Thank goodness for nights out with mummy friends

  1. My week sounds like what the beginning of yours was like! It’s so hard when the illnesses creep in and then the cabin fever but I’m glad you enjoyed your well deserved night out with your friends! xx

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