Rediscovering You

eight

13th February 2023 - one year and three weeks old.

Lying in bed, Leah can't help but smile as she gazes down at Rory who is fast asleep in the centre of the bed. Their first night at camp always seems to be a bit of a struggle, Leah puts it down to being a bit our of routine and their normal surroundings but after the first night or two things thankfully tend to get a bit easier. It's a little after 8am and they're not due to meet downstairs until 10:30am, giving her a little more time to let the one-year-old sleep after their rough night. Life as a solo mum hasn't been easy, not that she can bring herself to admit that to anyone else because after all she did choose this life, but especially in the early days when she was determined to do it all on her own. Many times she was rocking up to training on two or three hours sleep, absolutely exhausted and somehow still making it through.

'Mama...' Rory babbles sleepily, her little eyes beginning to flutter open causing Leah to smile as she tilts her head to the side.

'Morning, baby girl... Did you sleep good, hmm? When you eventually went to sleep that is?' Leah says softly, her finger gently running down Rory's cheek as her little hand scrunches up into a fist and rubs against her eyes.

'Wawa.' Rory babbles.

'Auntie Wawa isn't here, bubs. She's away with her team but we'll see her in a few weeks, yeah? We're going to go downstairs and see all the girls in a little bit.' Leah says softly as she watches Rory push herself into a sitting position.

'G?' Rory asks causing the blonde to gasp.

'What? Who are we going to go see?' Leah asks, a small grin appearing on Rory's face as she uses the blonde's side to steady herself as she pushes herself to her feet.

'G.' Rory repeats and Leah nods her head.

'There's mumma's clever girl, ey? We'll go see Auntie G in a little bit. We need to let everyone wake up first.' Leah says smiling.

****

Picking up a slice of toast with one hand, she uses the other to gently rock the pram containing a sleeping Rory, who is unsurprisingly still absolutely shattered after their lack of sleep.

'She looks so peaceful...' Chloe says softly as she peeks in the pram at the sleeping toddler causing Leah to groan.

'Mm... She wasn't peaceful at two this morning or three or four for that matter.' Leah replies causing the blonde to smile sympathetically.

'Rough night?' Alex asks and Leah nods her head.

'The roughest we've had in a while.' Leah admits.

'You've got some time before training starts... Why don't you go back upstairs and get an hour or so? We can keep an eye on Rory for you?' Alex suggests.

'It's fine. I'll probably feel worse if I go to sleep just now. I'll go for a lie down after training.' Leah replies glancing up as Georgia walks towards the table.

'Morning...' Georgia says pulling a chair out and sitting opposite the blonde.

'Morning... So guess who said your name this morning?' Leah asks.

'Who?' Georgia asks and Leah gestures to the sleeping toddler in the pram.

'Shut up! She did not!' Georgia says causing Leah to smile.

'Mm-hmm... She was asking for Wally and I said she was away with her team and that we'd come downstairs and see the girls in a bit, and suddenly she was just like G and I was like what? And she repeated it for me with this huge grin on her face.' Leah replies.