Missing my right arm

This weekend my parents are looking after my son.

I"m used to leaving him on a daily basis to go to work and I'm also away over night quite frequently, so it's not uncommon for me to go without seeing him for a few days.

But today at lunchtime, on a Friday, aka "Mummy Day", I watched my son be driven away with my parents, not to return until Sunday.  Tears welled in my eyes and I actually had to take quite a deep breath to stop myself blubbing.  My little man, without me, on a Friday?!  I felt like I was missing my right arm.

As I wondered around Kingston, getting more and more frustrated with the search for maternity clothes, I just felt lost and lonely.  Sitting in Starbucks with all the other mothers and children around me, I didn't know what to do with myself; I missed him so much.

The house seems so quiet without him and even though we are taking advantage of the freedom and having a "date night", we have both said how empty our house feels.

Before you have children you think they won't change you life too much.

When you've had one, you can't believe how much your life has changed and you can't remember what life was like before you had children.

Then you have time without them and you realise just how much they enrich your life.  For all the early mornings and sleepless nights, for the frustrations and lack of social life, children make you whole.  They are what life's all about.