Beer babies

My husband is obsessed with brewing beer. As I sit here, I know the cupboards to my left which you would expect to be filled with books are actually filled with bottles of beer, the bathroom which we don't really use because Miss 2 is still bathed in the laundry trough (that's another story) has half-brewed beer stacked in it with towels over the top in case of explosion. Next there is the laundry where in amongst baby clothes I regularly come across what at first look like baby wraps but are actually some kind of muslin cloth that the beer is strained through. In the kitchen there are bottles with their labels soaking off and various brewing apperatus drying in the dish rack. It's all very neat and orderly and you may not even notice unless you look carefully but this hobby really is all encompassing. Often when we arrive home from somewhere, as soon as the children are sorted he nips out to the shed to check on the beer - his other babies.

A few weeks before the babies were born, Ed honestly sat me down and told me his efficiency strategies to ensure that the brewing didn't take up too much time and what he was hoping to achieve despite having three children under three. Namely this was to enter a brew in the Royal Show competition and to host several tasting events where his friends come over and literally sit around the table tasting beer and scoring it according to the Australian brewing standards. It all looks very serious until they each end up with a baby on their lap.

I genuinely love that he has a hobby. It's just a shame I don't really like beer. It seems to me that he manages to do most of the work while I'm not around or on sunny afternoons when we're all hanging around outside so still together. I have, however, noticed that the part which seems to take up a lot of time is waiting for water to boil which is neither fun nor interesting. So I've jumped onboard with his quest for efficiency and bought him a 40 litre electric urn for his Birthday. Problem solved! If it doesn't work out, we can just make lots of tea.