This too shall pass

TTSP!! Say it with me parents of the world TTSP!!! As you raise your groggy heads from your pillows and stare bleary eyed into the darkness, say "TTSP!" (but not too loud, you don't want to wake the other child) TTSP! As you stagger into the hall and smack into the bathroom door because you can't find your glasses TTSP! TTSP! TTSP! Now whisper it quietly as you lift your bawling infant into your arms, check the vital signs (teeth, forehead, nappy) TTSP! As you clamber back into bed TTSP! as you sing a lullabye (or listen as Daddy does, Twinkle twinkle little, round and round the garden, stars, teddy bears) TTSP TTSP TTSP This too shall pass!!!

but be warned parents of the world, as you peek through the doorway to see your child fast asleep, curled in a ball, blissful, dry, asleep, gums relaxed and forehead exactly 36.4 (or whatever it's supposed to be ) This too shall pass!

Auntie Lee: master Jazz will sleep through the night again!
Auntie Laura: Miss P will get through it all and become a strong, vital, dynamic being because of it.
Auntie Rose: You are a miracle maker everyday and if spoiling your baby gives you joy then go for it - because as with everything, Baby's babyhood: this too shall pass.

I wake up early. It is still dark. I look across my bed. Some nights it's empty, some nights it's Bax and Izzie both fast asleep curled in a ball together with the kitten at their feet and Mummy and Daddy clinging like cliff-hanging bookends on either side.

TTSP! As I sneak from the room and head off to work TTSP as I drive away. And moments like that, when it's quiet and our big bed could be a raft on an endless ocean and we'd all be alright, I wish that I didn't know so well and for certian that this too will pass.