The funny thing was, when Mimi was pregnant she’d assumed Callie was going to be the one helping out and that maybe Tara might act out a bit because she’d been replaced as the baby of the family. But instead Callie had been more and more withdrawn lately, spending increasing amounts of time locked away in her bedroom, while Tara seemed to have matured five years in the space of a month. Of course it was to be expected that Callie would go through a teenage stage like this, but it was still a shock because right up until this year, Mimi had thought Callie had somehow skipped the scary teen stage. They’d remained close, right through the start of high school and through Callie getting her first period and pimples and awkward growth spurts. Callie had kept confiding in her and joking with her. But now, along with retreating to her room all the time, she’d become snappy and irritable. It was as if she was a different person.

Meanwhile, Tara was so helpful that Mimi needed to be careful she didn’t start to lean on her too much. She was eight, for goodness sake! She still needed to be a kid and have fun and not take on the burden of motherhood. She needed to enjoy being the big sister. Her responsibilities shouldn’t extend beyond keeping her room tidy, doing her homework, helping out with some family chores.

On more than one occasion Mimi had been slow to rouse herself and climb out of bed in the night when the twins had woken for a feed, only to find Tara already in their room, scooping one out of the cot to comfort her, an expert arm reaching in to give the other a tender pat while she waited for her mother.

And the temptation was there for Mimi to accept her help, to allow Tara to hold James while she picked up Elliot and started warming the bottles. But she stopped herself and sent Tara back to bed. The only one helping her should be Pete. Tara was a child; she needed her sleep. Thankfully, on her way back to bed, Tara always snuck into her parents’ bedroom and nudged her dad awake so he’d know Mimi needed the help.

Mimi picked her pencil back up and had another go at the sketch she’d been working on, but she wasn’t feeling inspired. She was meant to be creating a cute little monkey for a jungle scene and the little bugger wouldn’t sit right in the trees for her. She checked the time. Was it too early for a glass of wine? Often just one glass helped her to relax and get her creativity flowing. It wasn’t even midday. Maybe she could have one later with lunch. That was the upside of bottle-feeding — she was allowed alcohol again.