Coffee, the friend I love to hate.

I remember the day coffee became my best friend. Ok well best friend is probably a strong statement but when I explain why you might get why I am feeling the love for it right now.

Anyone who knew me prior to the twins arrival, is still shocked at my now relationship with caffeine. It all started as a teenager and I discovered Coca Cola. Addiction is a mild term . Litres would be drank, no sooner would my Mam unpack the shopping than she was adding it back to the next shopping list. I never like Diet Coke so it was always full fat Coke too which meant my IBS would often flare too from all the sugar, but it didn’t matter. An ice cold can of Coke and a bag of Tayto Taytos, there was nothing better to my fifteen year old self then that match made in sugar heaven.

I can’t remember when I weaned myself off Coca Cola, but I did full stop, maybe it was when wine came into my life, joke! I probably realised all those pounds were easily lost when I cut the fizzy drinks and started carrying a water bottle everywhere with me.  A few years into married life, Coke Zero was on the scene but quickly cut out when the baby talk started and only occasionally now would I drink fizzy drinks.

Coffee however is a different story.

Sometimes in the past I have genuinely been asked was I in fact really Irish….

Let’s tick a few things off the “Irish qualification list”

1. my face is indeed covered in freckles
2. I am pale and when in the sun my nose always turns a lovely shade of red whilst the rest of me turns into a walking freckle.
3. I have a bad habit of cursing (sorry)
4. I don’t drink tea .

Stop press! I go to a lot of meetings in my day job and the one thing that has never been fully understood was the fact that I didn’t drink tea.I tried valiantly to explain when I would then refuse a coffee as I did not drink that either, that I had never drank either but if pushed I would have a hot chocolate every once in a while. This statement would leave some open-mouthed. I would of course encourage the tea drinker to have their cuppa to settle their nerves at my revelation. In later months I would learn to force myself to slug a few mouthfuls of that milky grey water just so we skipped the whole awkwardness of my admission.

So you can only imagine my delight after five months of being a twin Mammy my body could no longer handle the sleep deprivation. Slugging back the foul Floridax  my Mammy friends swore by wasn’t giving me the energy I craved. No amount of Krill oil or Well woman supplements were getting me through nights of unbroken sleep. so I caved to caffeine once more.

A jar of coffee once lasted so long in our house that when visitors came to drink it, sometimes it had gone hard in the bottom of the jar. So off to the shops I went and suddenly whilst the nights of unbroken sleep stayed the same, the days got easier. Some people check their phone first thing in the morning, for me , the kettle was filled and coffee poured.

I will never forget my first proper coffee from a well-known chain, I phoned my husband in a near panic I was shaking so much from the Americano, these days it would need several shots of Expresso to garner the same effect! Imagine my delight when I opened one of the presents the twins bought me for my first Christmas as a Mammy and I discovered a box full of coffee. The irony didn’t escape me.

Over time my relationship with caffeine has peaked and waned. As the kids settled and outside of leaps ( check out the Wonder weeks app for these little beauties if you are a new Mam and whilst online buy some coffee too!) my now two cups of roasted goodness slipped back to one cup ,I felt I was in a position to say goodbye to caffeine. My IBS has never forgiven me for allowing it back into my body but the ability to function was just too strong. And then wham, sickness would strike through the house. Twins would tag team and as they did the amount of cups would increase. Summer time brought relief, consumption was at an all time low and I was determined I would shrug off the need for my daily cups and did cut back to one single cup a day.

How good a previous night went goes by the amount of cups of coffee consumed the following day. The last nine days have seen my intake treble and some days quadruple from my post Summer commitment of one cup a day. Sickness has landed again and as any busy Mam knows, the toll of those nightly wakings, either going out to work or working in the home and everything else, has meant caffeine level requirements are high and never more so when sleep deprivation takes hold.

Recently during storm Ophelia once I knew I had food cooked and the kids needs were looked after, I discovered my flasks were on the missing list. I will admit to spending too much time wondering how I would boil some water on my sitting room stove for a cuppa. Then I knew I was in for the long haul.

I predict this affair will last, I am reluctant to call it a love affair as I wouldn’t say I overly enjoy all the cups, all the time. However seeings as I have a feeling we are in it for the long haul I am potentially adding a coffee machine to my wish list for my Christmas present from the kids this year.

Picture credit : Pixabay