Happy birthday, Rose.
Get well soon, Crem, and have a lovely holiday.
Am very short on time and energy, and dd has, as usual, been throwing googlies aplenty. She will probably move back home soon, but may go back to university next year to try again. 3 hour meeting at her university last Thurs morning. I cba to say anything more about it at the moment, sorry. She actually sounds quite sensible and has a plan, but who knows?
Most of my university sessions are from 5pm to 8pm on Wed evenings. As I get up at 5.30am for work, and have a 1hr 40m drive home after the university session finishes, Wed is a rather long day. Then I am also spending 1 day a week in a primary school in my dm's village (also nearly 30 miles from home - but is near my work school if I need extra resources). And there is lots and lots of study work. I knew this term would be a shocker, so I'm just ploughing on. Shame about the extra probs with dd, though. Last Fri night, ds had 3 friends round for a no-sleep birthday sleepover. Could have done without that as well, but I'm sure I'll stop feeling as though I have a monster hangover from stress and lack of sleep eventually. I am just pacing myself to get through the days.
Re: age gaps - Dh is 18 years older than I am and comes from a completely different background. His first wife was 10 years older than him, and his step-children from that marriage are around my age (and, in one case, older than I am). However, ds is his only natural child. First wife wanted him to have a vasectomy, as she didn't want to have any more dcs. They eventually solved this problem by spending 15 years sleeping in separate bedrooms. The step-children told me they were a horribly mis-matched couple who should have never got married.