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D-day minus 17 and the kids have one more week left in school. I say kids, I mean one of the kids - the other one is too young for school and far prefers to spend her time hanging from my leg and howling 'drink!'

The structural engineer's report is back. We had a meeting with our builder on Monday evening, who turned a shade of pale when he saw the amount of steel that's been recommended for the roof. All I could think was that I'd never get a sodding mobile phone reception again once that lot goes in.

Of course, these things are never straighforward - the engineer has forgotten we're having bi-fold doors, so now he's had to revise his drawing and a new (and ambiguous) recommendation has arrived in the post just as were were about to order the doors - it's not that we can't order them, it's just we're no longer clear what size they will be - another thing to check out when we get a minute.

Today we have two windows being fitted - the living room and bedroom 2. Bedroom 2 had to be fitted now because there will be a single storey extension underneath it, which we rightly assumed would make the eventual task of replacing the window much more difficult. The living room window had to be replaced because we can't ventilate the room without opening the sliding doors, which not only provide a convenient escape route for our toddler but also strike me as decidedly dodgy and probably have 15 more slides left in them until they die completely. Needless to say, we're about to order new ones.

I wouldn't recommend having workmen in your house when your toddler's at home because the two just don't mix. Your toddler's sole purpose in life is to find new and exciting ways to kill themselves, the workmen's main purpose is to leave as many hazardous tools lying on the floor and never to close the front door behind them, not even when they're working in the attic. As you can probably imagine, I was kicking myself for having arranged for the windows to be replaced on a Friday and kicking myself even harder when I remembered that I'd forgotten to get the travel cot down from the attic and that the morning nap would have to be delayed until the window in Alex's room was fully installed.

The window guys weren't too happy about climbing over the stairgate. I wasn't too happy about the stanley knife they left on the telephone table in the hall.

'Can't you just put her in there?' they asked, nodding towards the playroom. 'You could put this stairgate across the door and she couldn't get out.'

'She's feisty' I replied. 'She wouldn't appreciate being locked in a room for the next four hours. Neither would I.'

Next time, we'll be prepared.