The first of our Siblings post when we are in lockdown and life is a lot different than in previous posts. It genuinely feels like the world is in a horror film, and my heart is heavy every time I read the news. I am grateful that my family is fortunate enough to be safe in our little bubble. To be able to stay home and hide from the world, to keep the children busy in our fun indoor sanctuary. Though I look out of the window everyday and hope that this horrible virus will stop taking people’s lives away, I have to force myself not to think about it, and that in itself makes me feel guilty. I concentrate on my children, on homeschool and movies and crafting and baking and cooking. Taking photos and sharing for a bit of light relief, to spread some positivity. It’s all a way of coping. We sleep a lot, in the day and in the night. Dreams are vivid, I’m sure because we are hiding our emotions. Pretending everything is okay. Filling our days with laughter for our children, for our own mental health. But they are fine, the children. They are enjoying their life at home – and right now that means I’m doing my job just fine. And so I will share some photos of the siblings in their first month of lockdown. The photos from the first week are in this previous post.

These photos were taken on the 22nd of March, Mother’s Day. It was our last day at my parents’ garden and I had a feeling it would be the last time we could enjoy their garden for a while. Lockdown was announced the day after.

Lily asked me to take this photo of her with the flamingo, and she was saying “Hello Flamingo” in a funny voice her, patting its back.

I think everyone played with Google 3D animals in the first week of lockdown – when you type in an animal into the Google search bar and the animal appears in 3D in your room through your phone’s camera.

Dalgona Coffee – did everyone on Instagram decide to make one of these in the first week? I was whisking the frothy bit while the kids and I watch one of the many movies we’ve been seeing on Disney+.

In the second week of lockdown, the kids hadn’t been outside for a week. Lily and Tyler were getting on each other’s nerves and I had to separate them. I took Tyler for a solo walk along the local canal. He loved it so much that he couldn’t wait to bring Lily the following week.

One Sunday we decided to finally paint our ‘Flamingo’s Amazing Costa’ corner. The kids did the green. I added the chalkboard in the night. The next morning Tyler was already writing on it before I had woke up – the masking tape was still on then.

It was April the 6th and Trolls World Tour was available to rent on Sky Store. We had been waiting for this movie for years, and though it is sad that we were not seeing it at the cinema, we tried to make it as exciting at home. Lily actually put a dress on – this is a miracle, as she had stopped wearing dresses and skirts after summer 2019.

Tyler wore pink too to join in with the dressing up. We got all our Trolls toys out, popcorn in Trolls bowls and we were ready. We watched it 6 times in 48 hours, the children have memorised the songs. It is their new favourite movie, it seriously brought so much laughter and bouncing and dancing.

Another week since the previous walk, and this time Lily and Dada came with us to the canal. And we found a blossom tree, I literally skipped when I saw it. The children ran round and round in circles around this park, after being cooped up for a week. The reason we don’t go outside more often is because they want to stay indoors, sometimes in their pjs all day. And right now, I do feel safer staying indoors so I’m not going to force it.

They had a bath after we came back, and I blow dried Lily’s hair afterwards. She looked so different.

Then she looked in the mirror and realised she wanted it back to normal.

On the Easter bank holiday weekend we moved furniture around to make an indoor den. This was so we could join in the Camp Bestival and their virtual festival. It was absolutely brilliant, we had such a happy weekend. I slept here with Tyler on the first night and it did feel like we were camping, I could hear the birds tweeting in the early morning. And the following night Lily an Tyler slept here. It was so much fun that we are going to do this every weekend while we are on lockdown.

And on to this week, the fourth week of lockdown. To stop there being too much screen time I’ve kept a loose homeschool routine – art is such a calming activity. We’ve been taking part with All The Stations crafting sessions every Wednesday too – making a town map, a moquette pattern and a tube map. As well as that, we are watching classic Disney movies and working on a project about a European country. Tyler has chosen Germany and he will be making a booklet about the country.

And that is a month of lockdown. And I think next month will be another one – but one that will include Dada’s birthday, Tyler’s birthday and Nana’s birthday. Lockdown birthday month. Wow.

I hope your lockdown days have been okay as well, and you are looking after yourself too. Stay safe, stay indoors and keep talking to your loved ones. Video chats will keep you sane. And if you are working out there – thank you, we appreciate you so much.

Sabrina x