Sweating Buckets!

Wow! We’ve moaned for months about the distinct lack of measurable sunshine this summer and the last few days have been exactly that, Phew!  WAY too hot for me and the boys.

I know, typical huh.  We moan about the lack of sunshine then moan that it’s too hot.  Except I didn’t moan about the lack of sun.  I just wanted a few lovely, dry days so we could spend more time outside without getting soggy.

Before I had children I had this idealised picture of how I thought I would be spending my days as a stay-at-home Mum…

Daily strolls with the baby in the pram.  Spend the afternoon in the park reading a book whilst baby slept then when they woke up, they would have a wriggle on the blanket under the shade of an ancient tree, the blue sky peeking through the leaves.

Yeah right!  I didn’t account for the fact that our oldest would be born at the end of the summer so by the time we were venturing out of the house, the nights were drawing in and a cold autumn breeze had replaced any trace of the summer.

I also didn’t account for how quickly babies grow and the fact that they are immobile for far too short a time.  By the time the spring came round, Spud was sitting and shuffling backwards on his bottom.  Not quite fitting in with my little ‘book reading in the park’ image!

Being completely clueless, I had no idea that despite breastfeeding, thus having both hands free whilst nursing, babies find books and the lovely rustling noise they make, VERY distracting.  That put pay to my book reading fantasy (we are still too poor to get a Kindle).

The last nail in my idyllic parenthood coffin was getting, happily yet completely surprisingly, pregnant with Pooh Bear before Spud’s first birthday.

Two little boys under the age of three do NOT keep still for a minute never mind synchronise their sleeping patterns or in fact play nicely together long enough for you to reach the next chapter or at least finish on a nice round page number.

So, what can you do to enjoy the summer weather when you don’t have any shade in your garden past 8am, have two very busy toddlers to entertain and have a million and one books/blogs to read things to do?

You can draft in your Dad who has been a joiner since he left school at 14 to revamp the shed which has a sagging roof, wonky door and is full of all the stuff Scatty Dad can’t be arsed bothered putting away properly.

We went away to Shropshire in June and visited Hoo Farm where they had a fairly large sandpit area with lots of sit on diggers.  We couldn’t drag Spud away and the four of us (Mum, Dad, Pooh Bear and I) had to stand sheltering under a tiny corrogated plastic roof in the hammering rain whilst he pottered about for ages.  It was because of this, Mum had the idea he might like a simple sit on digger (not one of the hugely expensive JCB doodahs) for his birthday and we could put a sandpit in the garage.  Since the garage has needed a thorough sort out since the day we moved in, I had the flash of genius to convert the shed.  Dad said it was doable and with two little helpers trailing his every move, he set to work.

There is still the ventilation to sort out and you can see from the following photo that it has been a bit warm in there the last few days (Spud always gets rosy cheeks and is NOT sunburnt).

Once the windows have been taken out and shutters installed, it will be the absolute perfect little haven for the boys in any weather.

The great thing is, they can spend the afternoon in there and the inside of the house stays toy free for a few blissful hours :D  The down side is that I have found sand in my bra AND belly button just this morning and ice lolly breaks have to take place out of the sandpit and are followed by a thorough wash but apart from that, it’s been a great distraction.

We plan to decorate the inside with a beach theme and perhaps paint some pretty bunting on the outside to make it look more cheerful.  Looking forward to the boys helping me out with that and I will post some photos so you can see how we get on.

How do you keep your little ones busy and happy in the heat?

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