Gosh my friends… here we are day 3 of 2019. The years seem to be going by faster and faster. It is just crazy. I feel like I have blinked and my boys are all grown up.
I worry all the time and often feel so guilty about anything and everything. Well it is time to slap myself and get over it because I think they might be ok. Yes, Tom can actually ride a horse even though I can’t, I mean that kid can do a whole bloody bore run for crying out loud, I have a feeling he is ok and hasn’t been totally mucked up by me.
When they were little the days seemed to go so slowly and I just couldn’t even try to see ahead of that. It was all consuming. I felt like that was it, I didn’t even try to see the big picture. I was stuck in the rut of toddlerville and it truly did my head in. I don’t do under 5’s very well so those days were like groundhog day. Get up, feed the kids, clean up their food from the floor, clean up them, clean up everything, feed kids, clean them up some more, feed them again, answer 10,763 questions every single hour and then feed them again. I wasn’t that Mum who took them outside and did all the station stuff with them in tow, and of course I felt guilty about that – but I think they have come through it ok.
Then just when I thought I was out of toddlerville with both kids out of all things baby, about to give all my baby stuff away I found out I was pregnant with Clancy. So it is no wonder I felt stuck in the biggest trench for so long. I couldn’t seem to claw my way out and I didn’t even try to see past it. But now – well now they seem to be all grown up.
Tom is 14 and can do everything and is such a great kid, he loves to annoy the hell out of his brothers but I am starting to chill out a bit in that department and just let them go, that is what they do isn’t it! Harry is 12 and about to head off to boarding school, so just as I get my shit together they are gone – nice one Dan. Harry is such a happy, easy going and caring kid.
Then there is Clancy – what do we say about Clancy. Life would be very quiet without him, especially this year with Harry leaving. Clancy loves his brothers and even sleeps in with Tom when he is home from Boarding School. He loves to annoy them and because his brothers are so much older than him he know way more than a 7 year old should.
When Tom was Clancy’s age he would not have been allowed to do half the stuff Clancy does. But I guess that is the third child isn’t it. He just cruises along and does what the big boys do.
I often think back to when they were little. Back then Mr Chardy didn’t really have all that much to do with them, he was always out working so it felt like it was just me and the kids most of the time. Not that he wasn’t involved, he was, but that man is ALWAYS working. Of course – I couldn’t see past that part of our lives and I would worry that they weren’t spending time with him. Well now that they are older the tables have turned. He is so great with them and so good at teaching them how to do things on the station. I mean, like I said – Tom can do a whole bore run so he is obviously doing something right.
Why do we worry so much? I guess it is because we love them so much and just want the best for them. So this year I am going to try and stop worrying so much. I need to slash that string that has me so highly strung. They have a good life, parents who love then and great friends. I reckon they are doing ok.
So if you are in the trenches of toddlerville please try and see past it. If I had my time over I would try to be less highly strung, and try to enjoy the kids more. But hindsight is a wonderful thing isn’t it. There is so much to look forward to. I wish I couldn’t have seen the big picture.
I have realised that the time goes by so fast. Soon we will be celebrating Tom’s 18th Birthday and he will be finished school. So I need to enjoy every minute with them (ok maybe that is a stretch because sometime they just really know how to push my buttons). Lets stop trying to be perfect!
Now, could someone please hand me a chill pill or 3.
I will leave you with my favourite saying of late… it is from my gorgeous friend Bec, I laughed so hard when she told me this… but I reckon we could all take something from these wise words of Bec’s…
As you were my friends. Over and out.
I can’t believe how quickly they have grown up Chards, Clancy is going to be a lonely little boy this year. He’ll rapidly become dads right hand man! The worst part of living in the bush is that just when our kids get to an age when they become fun we have to say goodbye and send them away. Thinking of you all x
I am so hearing you Mrs Rumbo! So true, I keep feeling so guilty that yes – they are now really great to be around (gosh doesn’t that sound awful… but you know – don’t have to change nappies, don’t have to strap into car, don’t have to bath them, don’t have to wipe their bums….. you know what I mean) and then they are gone! Bam.