“A loud house, is a happy house” – Anon

The above statement was said to me during a parents evening at work. A parent who also works as a TA in my school came to my desk and sat down with a smile on her face, she asked me how I was and how was my baby boy at home (I have recently gone back to work after maternity). I told her he was fine and thanks for asking, she said “You have 3 children now right?” (Yes everyone knows everyones business when you work in a school) I politely replied yes and said its very noisy at home. She then said “A loud house is a happy house, cherish it because it gets quiet when they all leave, I only have my one daughter left at home as the others are in university in another country”. As she was saying that I told her thanks for the advice, because I actually never thought about the stage when you become an empty nester. My oldest child is 4 years old so I’ve just been living in the moment. As I was thanking her I could see her eyes begin to well up, I asked her if she was ok and she immediately burst into tears. I didn’t know what to say so I just touched her hand and let her speak. She told me that her house is quiet now and that she doesn’t see her older two children as much as she would like. She didn’t go into much detail but I could sense a genuine sadness that provoked me to write this.

A friend of mine asked me if I could write about motherhood and well, the above conversation was the perfect starting point. I have only been a mum for 4 years, it has been a true whirlwind as I’ve gone from 1 to 3 in a very short space of time. I’ve gone from not knowing what to do to instantly knowing why my baby is crying or fussing. I remember when I had my first child and she was sick so I gave her some medicine, but I put too much in her mouth she ended up choking, and I thought the medicine was stuck in her throat so my husband and I called the ambulance to come out, they were super fast to reach the house but by the time that they got there she was ok and we felt like idiots for calling them. However they reassured us that they get these type of call outs all the time. I say all this to say that motherhood is definitely a journey of stages and we always want to rush each stage;

• I cant wait till they can walk…then they walk and cause chaos
• I cant wait until they can talk…then they talk and they won’t shut up!
• I can’t wait until they go to school. Then they cry because they don’t want to leave you and then they grow up and they don’t even want to be seen with you…well I’m hoping that ain’t the case with my children. I’m still hoping to be “HOT” mum in my 60s.

I’m really learning to enjoy each stage, my 3 children are all at different stages of development and they are all fascinating to behold. My 4 year old is going on 14 and is into fashion and music. My 1 year old, she loves food and Cocomelon. My baby boy at 4 months is very active and already trying to crawl. If someone told me this would be my life just 5 years ago I wouldn’t have believed them. Motherhood can be tiring, frustrating and worrisome and at the same time fulfilling, beautiful and full of love and laughter. I can honestly say I’m grateful for it all and my take away from the conversation I had with the parent above is to enjoy each stage that you are in, because these are the best days of your life