Or, as our health visitor said 'with second babies you know what you're meant to do, but you know what works for you, so everything's much more straightforward.'

DH and I are working on routines this week, with the idea that the shock won't be too terrible next week when he goes back to work. Central to this is getting to bed by 10. It was 10.30 last night, so not too bad for a first attempt. Other than that the flat is in chaos as we try to redesign the large built-in cupboard in the girl's room to give more storage space. Of course everything has had to come out of it first . . .

Zillah