In the blink of an eye

I've been pretty quiet recently. We have been feeling very normal and just getting on with life. Then, even more recently, I have been too upset to post: Emily and Charlotte's baby cousin has been in hospital with severe burns. To his face.

I can barely bear to write about it and yet, I can't bear not to. I want to tell you to hug your kids tight and stroke their perfect, tender skin. Kiss them all over their sweet faces (until they push you away!). Smell their hair, savour them in all their perfection.

And baby-proof your house! I am aware of how slack we have been in this area. We have uncovered nappy buckets standing in the bathtub, hot water that comes on way too hot, an oven that is an endless attraction and many, many unsafe toys that belong to the older one that were not in existence when we only had one child. We've not moved house or anything but for some reason our house is not at all well baby proofed.

Poor little cousin, he is only 10 months old and he pulled a cup of freshly-poured tea down on to himself. He has been in intensive care and is still in hospital. They are talking plastic surgery. We just hope and pray that he is going to be fine, that he will make a full recovery, that this will not scar him physically or emotionally, for life. We don't really know, no-one can tell how he is going to heal. We haven't seen him, they live a long way away from us, the other side of the country.

I feel so, so afraid. Afraid that something else terrible is going to befall our family. I lie awake at night, worrying about Emily. She is the only grandchild that Mr's mother has who is not disabled or disfigured - what's going to happen to her?