Savannah and me enjoying the evening sun.

When you have been married for a few years (well five and a half) and been together nearly ten years (gulp) it can become all too easy to fall into a mundane routine or take each other for granted. We are all guilty of it. It doesn't mean that we love our partners any less it is just that after that initial haze in the first two years where you can't live without eachother, that 'fire' that kept you together has gone and you have to put work in.

Do we always put 100% into our relationships every single day? No, of course we don't.

While the first part of a relationship is wonderful I much prefer the part where you are comfortable with each other enough to clip your toe nails or wax your tache in front of them. It means you have formed such a strong bond with another human being that you feel you can relax and lower your guard with them. Be the real you. Not the 'you' that you put out there to the rest of the world.

You trust and love them and become one with them.

While that is a bloody beautiful thing it can also be an ugly thing. Cue no inhibitions about farting in front of one another or going weeks without shaving your legs. Cue throwing up in front of your beloved because of an awful hangover or dirty washing being left all over the place to be picked up by anyone else other than the actual owner of said dirty washing. It can be a pretty rocky road out there in the land of long term romance guys.

It is hard work. Many of us forget that.

Lately, our circumstances have changed majorly and hubby now works away in the week and is only home at weekends. I, in turn, work at weekends so as you can imagine our time together has now become extremely precious. The nice thing about that is some of the annoying bits about life together such as a messy house actually gets pushed aside because that isn't important when you only have a certain amount of family time a week. The house in the week is pretty clean and tidy, it isn't perfect but I have a three year old to entertain and work to do. It is however presentable should someone turn up unannounced. Over the weekend it is a hole; bags and general crap everywhere, I am never quite sure how it happens and while yes, it annoys me slightly it doesn't annoy me as much as it would were Patrick home all of the time. I know he is making the most of the one on one time he has at the weekend with Savannah. He wants to take her out, he wants to do activities with her and make memories with her and I totally understand that. The main reason I get all of the housework and washing done in the week and don't even think about any of it again until Monday is because I don't want to waste what little family time we have together.

Living this way isn't ideal but it is how it has to be at this moment in time. The way we see it is it is what we need to do right now and we are setting ourselves up for a better future.

After I finished work on Sunday the three of us went straight out for a walk so I could enjoy some of the gorgeous weather and so we could spend time together as a family. We had a walk in some fields and woods near where we live and then finished up at the park where Savannah played for a while before we had to get home and start dinner.

It's lovely now the lighter evenings are here because the days feel longer and finishing work at 4pm when it is still light and the sun is still shining and gloriously warm feels like I have finished work in the middle of the day and that there is a long evening ahead of us. It goes quickly of course and before we know it we are both snoring on the sofa whilst trying to catch up on all of the TV shows we usually watch together. The main thing is we spend that time together enjoying each others company and not doing washing and cleaning.

This routine really makes you realise what is important here and now and what can wait until tomorrow. Whilst I will always be a bit of perfectionist when it comes to the presentation of the house and will always wish it was a bit cleaner and tidier, I have learnt that no one else gives a shit and actually neither do I because in the future it will be the adventures with my family I will cherish in my memory not having everything done indoors.