Emotions

Granddad Russell left today, he flew to Toronto where's he's staying for a week before heading back to England. Hayden understood, and was gracious at saying goodbye at the airport.
But later tonight before bed, he threw a complete wobbly, Marilyn Manson style warbling, throwing himself on the floor - it was terrible. After he finally calmed down and we got him into bed, it became apparent that the realisation that he was not going to see Grandad for a long time had hit him hard.
He said 'I don't know why Grandad has to go back to England, he could stay in his home in Canada...' He said he was sad and then starting crying as he gave me a hug.
Bad times.
It was great to see Dad and have him here but it has not been an ideal time all round.
With Dad and Kath's parents here virtually 24/7 for the past 4 weeks Taryn has not settled well at all. She's not able to sleep for long and is quite demanding. The house and environment has just been way too hectic.
Hayden's up and about at 7:30, Kath's then rushing around getting breakfast for us whilst I get get ready for work. Dad's here and Hayden's singing loud and playing with him, come 9:00am Marg and Lee arrive and Hayden starts on the piano and then that's it a house full until 10pm, they're either going out, or packing, or shopping, and the whole day is hectic as hell.
I'm not part of it because I leave to go to work, but when I get back from work at 6 generally, the house is sometimes like a madhouse, Hayden charging about playing light sabres and mad rush to make dinner. People talking, chatting, 2 way conversations, misunderstandings. We've eaten out quite a bit also and then the nights have slipped away.

Now we're at the real pinnacle of the heightened emotions. Kath's not had much sleep since she was in her 7th month of pregnancy. With Taryn not settling, due to the hectic nature of the household since her birth, Kath's starting to get real tired and real snappy.
At the moment the house is choc full of boxes, stuff out everywhere, and now Marg and Lee are staying with us for their final week and have nicked our bed! :)

Taryn's just drank an entire bottle and been screaming for more. She's had so much handling during her short life that she requires body warmth and is far less independent than Hayden was. Therefore she is now on our small inflatable mattress with Kath. There's no room for me, so I sit here blogging. I'll probably sleep on the sofa - it makes sense, but that will probably be taken the wrong way and there'll be huge emotional uproar over it.

I had really hoped to have some extra time off work to at last see Dad, and the 4 weeks have just disappeared. All I've managed to do is get some drinks in at Dooly's a couple of times and have a meal. The weather has been rubbish and everything else has been shared time with everyone involved. There's been some very unfortunate things at work and on the project that has meant it was impossible for me to have even a day off. His stay has flown by, but it was also too long in some respects. With Marg and Lee here also, coinciding, it's really been difficult for us... nay impossible, to sort any routine and start Taryn off correctly. As a result both me and Kath are very strung out. We can't blame Taz, it was always going to be different with another baby and trying to balance Hayden but we had thought the Grandparents would offset a lot of the 'burden' with Hayden and he'd not be so bothered about us spending time on Taz, as he'd be distracted. But it hasn't really worked out that way, he's still needed us just as much and has not substituted the Grandparents for us.

We have Remembrance Day tomorrow, another public holiday, so that's great, but a shame Dad's now gone. At least we can get this packing done and try to return some calm to the household.
Oooh, there goes Hayden crying now... the two of them are like a tag team at the moment!
We need to move and get Hayden a nice room that's all his with his posters and toys in, and Taz into her own room with a cot so she can start getting used to being away from the body.
I might go sleep with the boy actually rather than down here on the sofa.

Roll on Saturday, wish I could have the rest of the week off - ha, the first time I've actually wanted AND needed time off work since I started... and I can't have it.

Next time we have visitors the scheduling must be worked out very carefully, well in advance.