The summer holidays are drawing to an end

I have to admit I have always enjoyed the summer holidays, its good not to have to race out of bed every day to sort packed lunches and sort children off to school and the spend the day keeping an eye on the clock. Summer holidays give time and space to actually enjoy time with my children...or at least that's what it used to be like.

Once DS2 arrived summer holidays became harder as he struggles to cope with any breaks in his routine and while he used to find school readily hard he can be hard to keep occupied at home. Still we used to get out for days to do stuff and holidays were still lots of fun. This year is not proving to be quite as much fun as I'd hoped. For a start its been going on for ages...DS2 finished school in early June and DS1 came home from Uni before the end of June. DS2 is madly keen to start College, once he'd had his taster days he fell totally in love with the place...'how had we KNOWN he would like the College so much'...so he is getting to be a bit bored at still being off. DS1 is kind of coping with being home from Uni but has really grown away from life here and will be happier once he gets back to his real life, luckily he still has friends here but its not the same and he finds coping with DD, DS2 and DP really hard.

The main problem this summer though has been DD's health. She has deteriorated at a steady pace ever since she became ill but this summer her decline has been precipitous and its getting scary for her...and the rest of us. She is having to give up football...a real shame as she felt doing powerchair football made her illness worth it, she is struggling to maintain her blog even once a week, she was doing it every day not that long since and she is almost totally housebound. Having DS2 at home all the time is hard for her as he is so loud and does suck energy out of everyone. DS1 also makes life hard for DD as he won't DO all the stuff he thinks he should...after all he has the energy and is going to actually get to leave. (As a big sister she has always had a tendency to micromanage her brothers life).

Not sure what the future holds for DD but its not going to be pleasant or pretty. We are hoping to manage a couple of outings before the end of the holidays but they will be DD's last trips out unless a miracle happens. It also looks as though I will not be able to leave her, even with her brother to look after her as she needs more support than she can take from him. I went to see my parents on Sunday with DP and DS2...totally a duty visit...and DD struggled. Then yesterday I had to leave her for most of the day as DS1 needed taking to Middlesbrough to get his first tattoo....DD coped but only just and I can't justify leaving her.

I still like summer holidays but I don't think I'll be looking forward to them quite as much in the future.