Soon after Anna turned 5, her life changed in a dramatic way.
For the first 5 years of Anna's life, she had my undivided attention for 24 hours a day, never having to share my time and I was always able to watch her little 'shows' (my daughter likes to pretend she is on the stage) or read her stories that she had written, as soon as she asked me to.
To suddenly have to share her time and not being the only girl at the centre of my universe, must have come as a huge shock. Not only that but Anna had some very good reasons to resent her little sister before she even arrived. This new baby, that had not even graced us with her presence yet, had made mummy miss Anna's 5th birthday, made mummy late or her birthday party and even made Mummy miss Christmas Day. I was induced on Christmas Eve and gave birth on Christmas Day, staying in hospital until the day after boxing day. I missed the entire Christmas festivities with Anna as well as her birthday.
However, on the whole, Anna has adapted amazingly and hasn't shown any resentment towards her, even after all that and her baby sister's bad timing.
Life for all of us has changed beyond recognition. We had quite comfortably slipped into life with undisturbed sleep, being able to leave the house within 3 minutes whilst just picking up my keys and phone on the way out as Anna picked up cubey, having the luxury of being able to browse the shop shelves finding the perfect card for a family member or friend, sitting down to watch a tv programme or have a cup of tea safe in the knowledge that Anna was able to entertain herself for half an hour or even come and cwtch (welsh word for 'cuddle' that Anna and I say all the time) up to me at the same time, knowing each others unique ways and fitting life around it. Nowadays, sleep seems like a distant memory, leaving the house takes an hour at least, ensuring bottles are sterilised and made up, nappies are stocked up, change of clothes are packed and that all important distraction toy is at hand. Family and friends are extremely lucky to even receive a birthday card at the moment, let alone lovingly hand picked by me (in my haste to get out of the shop the other day, when the other customers were being deafened by a certain baby's cry, I picked up what I thought was a suitable wedding anniversary card for an elderly retired couple celebrating 40 years of marriage, only to discover that I had bought a 'congratulations on your new job' when I came to write it. TV seems accessible only to people who have far too much time on their hands as I can't remember the last TV programme I watched and as for a cup of tea, by the time I manage to drink it, it is stone old and I have forgotten that I even made it 5 hours ago.
However, despite life changing so very much, we wouldn't have it any other way.
So, as Anna continues to get used to and adapt to life as a big sister, I continue to adapt to life whilst continiously learning about being mum of two gorgeous girls as we have exciting adventures as a family of 4. I think it is fitting that a new chapter in Anna's life sees a blog detailing both girls little adventures for them to both hopefully enjoy reading when older.
Home of the new blog will be.....
http://annaandelliemadewithlove.blogspot.co.uk/
The time may have come to start a new blog but I look back at this one with the biggest of smiles on my face, all thanks to Anna!
