Let’s start with the milestones.

We have a 4 year old!

We have an 11 month old!

Aidan has 5 teeth!

What a week!

We’ve been to: Sweaty Mama, Little Lancashire Play Village (our favourite!), up and down the drive many times on Sophia’s new bike, the shops, the church hall for Sophia’s pink and green party, ASSF for Sunday worship, the Hub, Aidan’s new childminder and Little Pegs in Ince.

The party was really quite something, I have to say. Glinda surpassed all my expectations, as did Sophia, who stood dressed as a witch, microphone in hand, singing Wicked songs word-for-word for about twenty minutes.

People have said how much they enjoyed the party. I am pleased because there will never be one as good again because I will never have so much time and headspace again. For example, I don’t usually have the capacity to trawl around Formby, looking in charity shops for stuffed toy monkeys for party favours.

It’s important to say that although I might have had the vision for the party, I did not do it on my own! Team Sophia was out in force to help make it happen, and I’m so very grateful.

Food: This is not so much about what the kids ate, but I made Sophia’s birthday cake (oh yes I did!). It was in the shape of a number 4, covered in green and pink icing and the hole was stuffed with sweets. So stuffed in fact that it actually collapsed slightly, as you can see in the photo above!

Sleep. Too much excitement, too much teething, too much I can’t lie down anymore because I’ve learned to sit up and that’s all I want to do, for much good sleep. That being said, I did solo bedtime tonight and they were both asleep by 7.14, Sophia completely on her own. Mind you, they are shattered, grumpy, overstimulated and very, very tired.

What Sophia said. I watched her face as Glinda walked into her party and Soph spotted her. She knew Glinda was coming, but her little jaw dropped nevertheless as she mouthed ‘Glinda’!

She also wanted to go back and visit the hall on Sunday afternoon to see if there were any balloons remaining (there was one). She asked me ‘where is everyone? Can they all come back for another party now?’.

Er, not right this moment, no!

Another funny thing Sophia said was on her birthday itself. After she’d been outside with Nathan on her new bike for ten minutes or so, utterly delighted, she grinned ‘Mummy, I bumped into your car!’ No damage done, thankfully!

Anyway, dearest gentle reader, I have a question for you.

It’s Two Tuesday 48, and it’s coming up to the end of my maternity leave. I’ve really enjoyed writing these blogs and I’m so pleased I’ve got a record of such an extraordinary year. People seem to like reading them, too, so I’m wondering what to do next.

I used to do a Weekly Check-in about all things ministry, but the problem with blogging about ministry when you’re not incognito, as it were, is that it can get very samey. There’s not a lot of juicy ministry stuff I can share because it’s often confidential. Years down the line, I could share anonymous anecdotes, perhaps, but it’s not exactly appropriate to share a lot of what’s going on when it’s happening, which I think made those blogs a bit tame.

So, would you please tell me, what do you like reading about? Which bits are working? Which aren’t? Which bits of ministry/mum life do you want to hear about?

I’ve got some ideas, but for the first time ever, I’m asking for feedback (yikes!). Send me a message or post a comment with your thoughts.

More next time x