A Family Affair

We went to a family wedding yesterday. It was nice and we had a great time overall. My cousin was a beautiful bride and the whole day was lovely. It was hard work though. As any parent with young children knows, taking them anywhere is like a military operation. In our case we need to pack a change of nappies and clothes for W as a baby. We also need to do this for J; he often needs his nappy changed and this can also mean a change of clothes at times, as well as the chance that he could be sick or tip/smear his food on him meaning new clothes are needed! We need to pack for any eventuality and we look like we are going away for a few days rather than heading out to a party for a few hours.

My in laws came up to look after J during the ceremony, as he doesn’t cope with being hemmed in and can’t last that length of time sitting in one place and being quiet. I think taking an iPad in for him to watch or some noisy trains to play with might be frowned upon! After about 10 minutes of the ceremony I realised I should have left W at home too. She wasn’t upset, just very loud. Shouting for food (even though she was fed her lunch around 10 minutes before we left the house), squealing out and thrashing around. Eventually I had to leave B with my family and take her outside. Mistake number 2 was not taking her buggy and the bag of snacks with me when I left! I headed out the side entrance into a little porch area and tried to stay there as it was raining outside. Soon she was too loud even for there and I had to go out into the doorway and stand.

As the ceremony finished my mother in law dropped J off and he was a bit annoyed that he couldn’t just go straight in to the reception hall. Thankfully it had stopped raining and we could walk around outside. He wailed, whined, stomped around and lay on the ground. The family’s baby was also being baptised at the end of the wedding so I had to make sure he stayed outside the church until it was all over. W had already shouted over part of their wedding, I couldn’t let J stomp and wail over the baptism too. He was really not happy with me for this.

Once we went inside he found my mum and confiscated her phone to watch his videos whilst photos were being taken. After this we made our way to the hall and found our seats. He didn’t want to sit with us to begin with, opting instead to sit at my sister’s table with my niece. Who wouldn’t? She’s much more fun than us. 😂

I was worried about how he would be during the speeches but he did really well. He even joined in with the laughing and clapping; having a great time. W was more hard work at this point. I literally had to feed her all the way through to stop her shouting at us. She has such a big, loud voice! By the time dinner came I was amazed she still had room for some. J didn’t eat much of his. It was very hot in the venue and he had a few snacks while he was waiting, he’s also been a bit unwell lately and he tends to eat less when he is. Again he did well and lasted until dessert time before he got restless and wanted to leave. My dad took him outside for some air and to cool down. He went for a walk round the block and then we called my in laws to see if we could drop them back at our house with them.

A whole family effort followed this with my mum & dad helping to pack up the toys, food, cups, etc we had brought; my neice and nephews wheeling out the buggy and carrying bags, as I held J and my sister carried W out to the car. My sister’s husband pitched in too. After the joint mission we were ready to head home. B wanted to stay for the dancing but he was very tired by this point, so I had to tell a wee fib and say it was cancelled because the dj was sick! To all of my family who were at the wedding: please don’t tell B we had dancing. I will never hear the end of it!

J was happy to be at home with his gran and grandpa, back to his toys and own comforts. He waved bye to me as I left to go back to the reception. B was a bit heartbroken at being left behind but he was too tired and would have needed to come back home soon after anyway.

There was some progress for J today and again I have to look at the positives. Yes I was a bit frazzled and harassed at times but he managed to sit through the speeches and most of the meal, even in the heat. He came back into the hall fairly willingly after being out for his air and walk. On top of this, he was happy for me to leave him at home with someone else looking after him whilst I went back out. Overall a bit of a success I would say! I just need a few days to recover from the trauma and exhaustion of all the other parts 😂

Thank you to all of my family for helping out and my in laws for coming up to look after the kids for us to join the party. Thanks to the bride & groom for having us, we had a great time!  🎉🍾

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