It's all about family....

So this week we broke up for half term. Exciting stuff, except that it also marked for me my first few weeks as being not only back in full time employment but also as the first few weeks as being a teacher at the same school at which both my boys attend.

What has also compounded the pressure over these past few weeks is that my mother (granny) was diagnosed with a pretty hideous illness and, whilst the operation has been successful (thank goodness) she does require constant supervision. My sister has been 'working from home' for five days a week and I have been taking the long journey north in order to take my turn in looking after mum for the weekends. And, to add to it all, this week I started back on my open university course, where I'm currently in my fourth year of a psychology degree. I don't want to complain, not when mum is so ill, but it's been a nightmare.

That said, this week sees National Adoption Week coming around again, albeit this time under the leadership of the great team behind First for Adoption, whom I met with last year, after the sudden and shocking demise of BAAF. Surprisingly, that loss has barely been acknowledged.

Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to go this year as the children and I have had to travel north to take care of Granny but hopefully, Papa will attend. He does a lot of work with his company in promoting adoption and fostering, he's much more practical than I.

So we are with granny for the next couple of weeks and, to be honest, I hadn't realised just how much she means to the boys. KC will barely leave her side and TJ is obviously concerned. He even helped me with the weekly shop constantly asking, "Would Granny like these?" Or "Will these make Granny better?".

I think we often forget how much adoptive grandparents mean to our children. In our case Granny is probably the most constant female family member in their lives.

So the strain on my new job and on family life has been much harder than we ever thought it would be... But we keep going and we keep fighting, as a family...

What a difference a month makes...

Can you believe a whole month has gone by since my last post, that's ridiculous!

I don't think I've ever gone so long without writing something but this month is seen a lot of changes in the Williams household. To begin with, I went back to work... What was supposed to be a part time job suddenly became full time at the start of the school term and so off I went one September morning with both boys, who are now in the same school, to work. I'm suddenly a teacher again... 

That seems wierd even to read... To work. I haven't 'worked' for nearly four years... Not including parenting, blogging or writing, of course. But now I am back in gainful employment and paying the tax man a monthly allowance.

My mum, Granny, has also been very ill and was hospitalised for over a month, I won't go into detail, but she is on the mend now. What was surprising was how much her sudden illness effected not only her life, but all of ours as well. The boys were distraught and I hadn't realised how much she meant to them, particularly to TJ who has had a bit of a 'glitch' behaviour wise. But that was to be expected, after all he has just started a new school and he wasn't best pleased when he heard I was going to work there as well. It wasn't the working that bothered him as much as the knowledge that there would be no one at home if he got sick... Or to make his dinner each evening. They are now on school lunches, with a sandwich or beans on toast for tea... Papa doesn't get home from work until around 7.30 and I'm not planning on spending my entire evening cooking for everyone like some one man canteen.

But we are now settling into a routine.

School has been interesting, I'm not sure if the kids have worked out our family dynamic yet, I even had one of my pupils tell me there were children in the junior school with two dads... She was very pleased to tell me about her school's diversity policy. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I already knew. I'll wait and see how long it takes them to work it out. Not that I'm hiding anything, when they ask me I will tell them. But I'm also not going to turn up to work in my best tiara (it's not part of the dress code).

So I shall let the blog go into a new direction.

Being a gay family that not only live together but also spend all day in school together. Let's see how they, the other children and even the teachers react to everything and how we adapt to this new, very open, life.

Another chapter of the blog begins... Who knows it may even become a sequel... Or a second debut... I'm not sure how that would work...