Overall, she had accepted that this was what she had signed up for. Until the children got an understanding about boundaries and privacy and also stopped thinking she was just an extension of them.

The problem with this constant need for her presence was that it was extremely difficult to do anything from start to finish in one sitting. For instance, an activity such as cleaning the house had started to take the whole day rather than an hour’s blitz because just as she started to mop the Kitchen floor, Louise would need a drink or Harry would soil his nappy. So off she would go to deal with these ‘emergencies’ and then she would get everyone settled again and try to get back to doing what she started and something would come up like the need to prepare a meal and so off she would go to do that and on and on, it went.

She spent the latter part of each day looking forward to bed time for the children as then she could get stuck into an activity and also be on her own for a little bit. This need for solitude also meant that she would be awake into the small hours just trying to satisfy her need to think in peace. Remy was not always doing anything important at 1am in the morning but the pleasure of reading a book without interruptions was something she craved so if she had to do it when the family was asleep then so be it!

Of course, this meant she was definitely not running on all cylinders and spent a lot of time feeling worn to a frazzle. This did nothing for her stress levels and Remy felt like a hamster on a wheel going round and round. Yes, Remy was going INSANE…