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Before I start prattling on about myself, I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who read and supported my November blog. Opening up about my depression, and about how I’ve been coping, or not coping as the case may be, was really hard to do but I’m so glad I did now.

So thank you!

And with that, onto December. The entire month was focused on Santa and his elves – and I have to say it was, mostly, a great month!

The reason I say mostly is because, once again, we were struck down with illness after illness.

First off, Jamie ended up in the out of hours Doctor needing to be put on a nebuliser as a result of croup. He was perfect going to bed but within an hour he had the unmistakable barking cough and he could barely draw a breath between coughing fits.

Three days of steroids saw him right but the cough remained, and still remains now several weeks later.

Will received his MMR vaccine on December 19th. Reports from his teacher inform me he was brilliant and didn’t shed a single tear, though many were expected as he can be very sensitive and more than a little dramatic (I wonder where on earth he could have came by that particular little trait….)

Following on from the vaccine he had a mild temperature and appeared a little out of sorts but in general, he was well. Then about a week later his face, and in particular his eyes, swelled up. A call to my GP put my mind at ease that it was indeed just an unwanted side effect of the vaccine and could present itself like a mild case of measles but wouldn’t be contagious. Oh, joy!

Jamie paid another visit to the out of hours doctor late on St Stephen’s Day. He came out in a rash that looked like nettle sting all over his face, arms and legs. We gave him an anti-histamine and it came down but needed to get him checked out regardless. They confirmed we had done the right thing but both he and Will had that same rash several times over the next couple of days and it ended up being a viral infection.

Will was seen by our own GP a few days later with an ear infection though despite being prescribed anti-biotics his body was able to fight the infection on its own.

And then there’s Ben. He didn’t escape the onslaught of viruses either. Firstly he was at our GP with viral bronchiolitis which just had to run its course. And most recently he was seen again for conjunctivitis in both eyes!

Seriously! If I didn’t have bad luck I’d have no luck at all!

However, I am thankful to say I handled the stress much better than I would have done several weeks ago before having seen my doctor and being put on medication for my depression.

We had our annual visit to Santa in early December. And we quickly got the boys to nail down their “must-have” gifts by writing our letters to Santa that same day. Will was old enough to remember from previous years to put them by the chimney before bed where they would be collected by Elf Mail in the middle of the night (in actual fact I keep their Santa letters in their memory boxes. I know I probably should post them but I can’t bring myself to part with the innocence of these early letters.) Their faces were a picture when the letters had disappeared “by magic” the next morning!

Our Elf on the Shelf, Happy, arrived shortly thereafter. Upon his arrival, he was a very well behaved little elf leaving notes of encouragement for the boys or little treats in their stockings which by this stage were hanging in wait on the mantle. However by the last week of his sojourn he had become super naughty, much to the delight of the boys. One night he decorated our landing, staircase and Christmas tree with toilet paper hanging himself amongst the decorations. Another night he emptied flour onto our countertop and made “flour angels” in it (and let me assure you this was NOT one of my finer ideas. The clean-up was nasty!)

Let’s just say the craic was mighty for that week in particular! I think Happy might be more naughty than nice next Christmas after the reception he received this year!!

Christmas itself was nice and quiet. The boys were spoiled within an inch of their lives but honestly, every single thing they received has been played with or worn or read umpteen times already.

Happy the Elf even left them a shared gift of The Game of Life Junior which gets played at least once or twice daily. It was probably the best-received gift due to the gift giver being their new best friend!!

We rang in the New Year in true parents-of-small-kids style: sleeping! I’m thrilled to report I got to wish Ben a happy New Year earlier than the older two as I saw him about 5 times between midnight and 7 am! He has my heart broken with the lack of sleep at the minute but being utterly enamored of him means I don’t mind all that much really!

It really is hard to believe this time last year I was in the throes of morning sickness and now the culprit is here and it’s hard to remember what life was like before him!

It makes me wonder what will life look like this time next year! And I’m glad to say I can’t wait to see what 2017 brings.

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