Grown Boys & an Outnumbered Mama

Here is a guest post I wrote for @cheltenhammaman – Kate is fab and her blog is award winning! – you can find her here
Sally @gsdih is a lifestyle and interiors blogger, she lives in leafy surrey, has been married to Gav for 22 years and she has 3 boys.
And a pink front door that she painted when no one was looking

You can find her on Facebook & Instagram @gettingstuffdoneinheels

Hello! I am Sally and I am delighted to be here on Kate’s blog! I was really chuffed to be asked, especially as my children are much older than most of the Mum-bloggers that I love to follow.

same spot, ten years apart

Which – in turn makes me a few million years older, too! (I am 46 ..and a half)
I have three fab boys age 13, 18 and 19. There are so many amazing Mum-Bloggers out there, and I love following them. They are all beautiful and their kids are ADORABLE and really photogenic…..mine are adorable, but 2/3 of them are at College/Uni so hardly ever here for a photo opportunity, and even if they were, they don’t fancy having their picture taken very often. I have to take it where I can get it!! Even the dog doesn’t pose nicely. Even the dog. Rolls eyes dog.
‘Smile nicely – please don’t gurn, BOYS PLEASE! ohhh never mind’
I look at all the images as I scroll along my feed, and feel wistful that my boys’ ‘smallness’ has long gone. The fluffy haired, chubby handed, threesome are now all 6ft tall and..well, they are men I guess!

But – if you are reading this thinking ‘At least she gets a full night’s sleep’ ha – not always so!! The oldest two, STILL have me up in the night – texting at 3am to say ‘don’t worry Mum, on my way home’ or ‘Can you come and get me?’ (URGHHH yes of course I can, but URGHHH) I STILL sleep with that Mum sort of half sleep, dozing with half an ear open, when they are off out for the evening. Not really sleeping properly until I hear the key in the door.

Gav, as usual, snoring away next to me. haha – nothing much has changed in nearly 20 years!
Wistful about missing their small ness I may be – but oh WOW how we LOVE their bigness! Toby is almost 14, is 6ft and towers over me and the other two are always in competition over who is tallest, There is only 20 months between them.
When we are all out as a 5, I feel like I am surrounded by body guards. They are such good company! We were all at a family do a couple of months ago, and we had such a ball with them. Right up until me & Gav decided to sit on the floor and introduce them to Oops Up Side Your Head. THEN the generation gap may have showed a bit lol. Three pair of eyes were rolling at their ridiculous parents. haha – well, it’s our job to embarass them sometimes !
It’s also quite liberating to know we don’t need baby sitters any more! YAY! AND we have two drivers now, so it’s their turn to ferry us about if we need collecting from a night out!
They can all cook (I say cook….basically I mean raid the fridge so they don’t starve, or call for a takeaway) And the two big ones do look after the ‘smallest’ one. If they aren’t all killing each other, they generally get on really well and I learned, long ago, to stay out of the ‘banter’
I don’t miss the days of toddler tantrums, of not being able to leave the house without someone needing a poo, or by totally ruining their WHOLE lives, by giving them the wrong shaped sandwich, or the by cutting up the potato dinosaur in a different way than was expected.. I do miss the fact that we were their world, and now I check out their world by looking at snap chat!
I savour who they were and I savour who they are. And, as a Mum I do know I am still their world really, just in a different way – The flurry of WhatsApp messages – Mum can you email my homework, Mum did I leave ‘blah’ at home, Mum can I stay after school, Mum don’t forget I am working tonight can you wash my uniform, Mum can you make sure the dog doesn’t eat my shoes’ And so it goes on, I am literally  a PA. lol I could sit at a desk with three screens, awaiting instructions. (I imagine I am stroking a big white fluffy cat, and wearing a huge diamond ring whilst awaiting one of the screens to beep. Mwhaaaaa – haaa – haaaaa)
One thing I don’t miss AT ALL is helping with homework – that ended at some point during year 7.  Not because I don’t want to, omg it’s WAY beyond me and my braincell. Gav hung on in there with maths until maybe year 9, but that was about the outer reach. They’re so darn clever, kids these days. And anyway, they are BORN knowing how to create a Minecraft account, aren’t they?!
When I tell people I have three boys, they suck their breathe in and say ‘oooh a hat trick , you have your hands full’ or ‘ ahh too late for another go?’ Yeah, I’d have loved a daughter, but the trail of girlfriends more than makes up for it. They are so lovely to have around. And they don’t nick my stuff, they ASK! HA! And they tidy up!
They boys can all put their hand under their arm and make a farting noise. Proud Mama.  I think one has mastered it with his leg. And I have learned to burp loudly. It’s only cool when I am with them, not cool at dinner parties NOT COOL. AT ALL. (although quite funny..) 
One thing that hasn’t changed is their love of hugs. I can’t lift them up any more (I wonder when that stopped? when was the last time I hoisted them on to my hip? I’m glad I didn’t realise when ever that last time was, that that would be the last time, wahhhh) Anyway – if they wanted to they could ALL lift me up now! And instead of them looking up at me, I bury my head in their chests and breathe in their aftershave. And I stay there for as long as they let me. As long as no one is looking haha
I saw something similar to this, somewhere and it made me laugh
‘A friend asked me what it was like to live in a house full of boys. So I peed on her floor. Farted. Ate all the food in the fridge. Washed it down with a big swig of juice straight out of the carton. Left a general trail of mess behind me and never ever plumped a cushion. In fact I made it obvious I thought her scatter cushions were pointless. Then, just as she was about to kill me, I threw my arms round her, told her I loved her and said she looks pretty’
That sort of sums it up and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

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5 Thoughts on Grown Boys & an Outnumbered Mama
    Anna Bowden
    5 Jul 2017
    8:57pm

    So lovely! I can’t bear to think of the last time I will carry my girly on my hip!

    Sarah
    6 Jul 2017
    3:02pm

    I love this! I have two boys, 15 and 18, and absolutely love being the only girl in the house. Mine too are taller than me now but they do pick me up just to show they can! It’s a different dynamic I suppose having all boys but it’s lovely, wouldn’t change it for the world.x

    Helen
    7 Jul 2017
    9:24am

    What a lovely blog! I only have one boy {so far } I’m convinced I’ll end up with 3 boys though. Reading this is so lovely, exactly what I hope my kids will be like with me when they’re bigger x

    Claire king
    27 Jul 2017
    5:05pm

    Love love love this! As a mum to 2 teenage boys I can so relate to it all. Boys rock

      Sally
      27 Jul 2017
      5:12pm

      Don’t they just ❤️ xxxx

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