The house is quiet this evening; if you listen hard you can hear the girls breathing softly as they sleep. Jessica is in her bedroom down the hall, and Alice is in her noses baske, which she is rapidly outgrowing. If you lean down to kiss her pink little cheek, you will catch the scent of strawberry jam on her breath. Jessica was eating strawberries earlier, and Alice wrestled one away, and lay on her mat devouring it with her whole body. She pinned it down between her little starfish hands and launched at it with her mouth. Juice went everywhere, but oh, she had fun.

 Carl is out at a work dinner, and although I was hungry (lunch was at 2:00, and it was 8:30) I couldn’t work up the enthusiasm to do much for dinner. The diet is starting to become a little monotonous. It should have been 75g chicken, 50g potato, and lots of broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts….but it was just beyond me. I ended up with 75g cold chicken from the fridge, a bowl of green soup (watercress and spring greens this week) and a slice of wholemeal bread. Not an elegant meal but it ticks the required boxes in terms of the diet, and it was easy. Dessert was rather lovely and it is something I do happily serve up post-ok too…75g fat free Greek yogurt, 80g tinned peaches, and a tiny drizzle of a sugar, carb, and calorie free maple flavoured syrup ,(heaven knows what  is actually in it!)

I nearly cried this afternoon. Jessica came home from school with a beautiful invitation she had made me, to go into school for tea and a story to celebrate Mother’s Day. It is the day after my op, and I have been told I may need to stay overnight. I want to go so very much.

We have a free weekend ahead of us, which is getting to be a rarity. We are planting sunflower seeds tomorrow. A gentle, slow Saturday awaits…one of my favourite things.