Seaviews and Country Parks - The Ordinary Moments

I think one of my favourite places to be is by water. 

I'm not overly bothered by what kind of water - river, lake, sea or a pool. But beside water is where I feel my most relaxed. 

Of course, luckily for me, we live on the South Coast. We've lived in homes where you could literally see water from our window (twice) and have lived within 15 minutes driving of a coastline for the last nine years. 

And I'm glad that we do. Not only for me. But for our kids. 

Henry is already a huge lover of water. Water play is my go-to when I need to entertain Henry in the house. He's been in swimming lessons since he was six months old. He adores splash pads and bath time. And now he loves being by the sea! 

Can you tell he's my kid yet?

For me, nothing beats being by the sea. The glittering sunlight off the water. The cool chill of the splashing waves. The nostalgic memories of summer holidays gone by. The calming sounds. 

Father's Day on the Watercress Line - Ordinary Moments

Review Post*

Nothing beats an adventure on a special occasion. I think it makes that occasion just that little bit more memorable. In fact, trips and travels by far beat physical gifts in my opinion, unless it's something really sentimental. 

Just before Father's Day we were invited along to visit the War on the Line event held by the Watercress Line*, so we went along on the big day to explore steam trains and look around life during the Second World War.

22 little things you can do as a family to be more eco-friendly

I've been working on this post for the last few weeks compiling as big a list as possible of little things you can do as a family to reduce your impact on the environment.

It's something I've become more and more aware of as I've gotten older, and especially so since having Henry and knowing that I need to teach him how to treat our planet. He's already an avid fan of David Attenborough and his wildlife shows (yes, a very proud parent moment when he pointed at the TV saying David!) and adores all animals, so it really is more and more important that we show him the best ways of leaving a good planet behind for future generations.

I'm not saying we do everything in this list, but we're well on our way to doing a good chunk of it, and making progress with others. And I think that's the important thing, that we're at least trying. Every little steps help a little bit.

Laundry Day - The Ordinary Moments

I've recently had a bit of an impromptu blog break, and with most blog breaks you get thinking about what you really want to do with and gain from your blog. And this inevitably leads you to thinking why you even started blogging in the first place. 

For me, my blog started life as a creative outlet after I lost a baby whilst I was in a job I completely hated and had zero creativity to it. 

Jump forever three years and it's a hobby and starting to be a bit of a business. It's where I still channel my creativity after spending a couple of years juggling a career in marketing and communications. It's my online space to share my thoughts and advice, and document a little bit of our family life.

But the whole thing with having a family blog was to write about my family, and what we get up to. 

Unfortunately that content isn't the clicky articles that a lot of people want to read, and I know I don't read many posts in that style unless I really love that blogger (this post by Hannah Gale really summed up a lot of where I also believe blogging is heading), however, after reading this post from Kirsty, I was reminded how much I do love a good rambly ordinary moment post. One that is real. One that is about every day life. 

Because I'm an ordinary mum, with an ordinary toddler, leading a pretty ordinary life. 

Why reading is my favourite self-care therapy

Even since I can remember I've been a bookworm. I've always been the one in our family with my nose in a book. However for some years I kind of lost my reading mojo in favour of hours of mindless scrolling and binge TV watching.

Last year I started to make a real effort to read more, which started well but did slow towards the end of the year. This year, again, I'm trying to continue my reading efforts, and broaden my horizons. With one very important reason behind my decision.

I realised towards the end of the year that reading was part of my own self-care regime, and a really big part of it. I think it really hit me when an old man on my bus stopped to talk to me on his way off the bus to say "you're never alone with a book". And he was right. That's why I find books so important for my personal mental health and wellbeing.

#OneLessWorry How We Get Christmas Ready

My favourite time of year is almost upon us, but I have to admit I usually start my Christmas prep way before December hits.
I like to think I'm a pretty organised person, and that quality seems to go into over-drive when I start planning Christmas.

One of my favourite things about Christmas is actually the present buying. I just love buying gifts, and I really love shopping for them. Searching out that perfect gift just gives me a little buzz, especially when I know they are going to love the gift.

But this means preparing early as one thing I have learnt from becoming a mother is shopping centres, kids and crowds are a cocktail for catastrophe, even if the pushchair does give you ample storage for all those bags.

Thank You Notes #6 - That floral top edition

I actually feel extra motivated with this month's Thank You notes as I've been reading Meik Wiking's new book The Little Book of Lykke* and one of the recommendations is to write down things that have made you happy or grateful to help you remember the little everyday things that make your life good.

So this month has been a pretty strange one. We haven't been overly productive, nor done a great deal, but we also haven't had much in the way of bad days. Just days muddling along. And I'm really okay with days like that.

Thank You Notes #5 - The Woodlands Edition

I can't be the only one who is a little dismayed that the summer is basically over - although I am pretty excited for Autumn, because we know I LOVE autumn! 

This summer has been one of the absolute best though as Henry is walking about and just generally been a pleasure to have around. I feel like we're making the most of our summer weekends which is always a good feeling too. 

So here's to another month of thank you notes....

Thank you Holly Hill Woodland for giving us a new favourite place to visit when we kind of accidentally found you whilst in search of a play-park! You were WAY more than we were expecting and I'm very much looking forward to lots of summers of exploring!

Once in a life time - it might not be enough

This is a post I honestly never thought I would write.

And it's been sat in my drafts for quite a while now.

So I'll jump straight in.
We turned down the opportunity of a life time. A once in life time kind of thing, that we are unlikely even to get close to again. And I'm going to share it with you (be warned, this is going to be a long'un!).

Thank You Notes #3 - the mamarazzi edition

June, you have gone by way too fast!! 

We're now fully over half way through 2017 and it's been quite the year. 

This month has of course been a pretty big one, with us celebrating Henry's birthday!! Plus I've gone back to work. So a big one, with lots of change, which always brings about a little thankfulness. 

So here's my June (or no.3) thank you notes...

A Farm Birthday

So you know we went to the zoo just before Henry's first birthday? Well to continue the animal theme, we decided to take him to Manor Farm for his actual birthday.

Being a Monday we both took the time off work, and after his morning nap, headed out to the farm. As it was during the week and during term time, the farm was really quiet, and in places it genuinely felt like we had the place to ourselves which suited us perfectly.

We loved seeing the range of animals and introducing Henry to different kinds of wildlife. He was quite taken with the baby goats (as was I) and the horse in the main paddock.

The entire place is absolutely perfect for children, with the old farmhouses set out as wartime homes, including a school room (and a taxidermy dog that creeped me out and gave me quite the shock!) as well as animal greeting sessions and a chance to milk a cow (unfortunately Henry was too young, and too tired for us to stick around for this). Plus they have a huge outside play area with sand pits and a mini racetrack, and play equipment. It was so good we went in twice!

Here's a farmload of photos!

A first birthday at the zoo

For Henry's first birthday last weekend, we decided instead of a party, we would go to the zoo with a few friends and family.

With him still being young, and not all of our friends having little's we wanted to do something that everyone would enjoy, especially as we know well how tedious children's parties can be for non-parents, and well parents too.

So last Saturday we packed up a picnic and headed on over to Marwell Wildlife.

Chickens, dogs and garden fun

Although I'm often very sad that we don't live closer to our families (obviously this was our choice by deciding to stay in Southampton) but I take a lot of solace in the fact we don't live too far away and we can make special memories for our family.

With the Easter break and my sisters wedding, we decided to spend the entire long weekend at Dann's parents house. 

It's fast becoming one of our favourite places, and I just know Henry and any future littles are going to make so many memories here.  

On a search for blossoms

It's official, I have become that blogger! Yep spring has sprung (sorry for the cliche) and I am fully obsessed with finding the prettiest blossoms I possibly can, whilst they're around. Of course this has not been helped by my change in Instagram theme, and the colour change from my orange theme on this blog to the pink that it is now rocking! (even if I do say so myself!)

So on Saturday we decided to take an impromptu walk to get some fresh air as we had some sunshine for the afternoon that we were not expecting at all.
Of course I grabbed my camera on my way out the door to get some pretty blossoms!

The first spring blossoms

Get ready for some spring time photo spam...

So at the weekend we took the opportunity of finally getting some sunshine and took a trip into the city. 

We stopped off for pancakes - because this entire household loves pancakes - and then took a walk. 

One of the things I absolutely adore about this city is the amount of green space. We have half a dozen parks all connecting to each other and as you walk through them you forget that you're actually in the middle of a busy city centre. 

We stopped off for a bit in the sun under these gorgeous blossom and magnolia trees (anyone else obsessed with magnolia trees too, cos I am LOVING them!) and grabbed the camera to capture probably some of my absolute favourite photos!! Now I just need to remember to get a photo of the three of us together!!  

Date nights for parents

Being a parent means foregoing quite a few things in favour of your little ones. Hot meals. Hot cups of tea (I miss them the most I think). Using the bathroom in piece. Having clean clothes for an entire day. Eating alone. Going out alone. And going out as a couple alone... well we've gone 8.5 months without going out alone.
It's a sacrifice we were of course willing to make, but man do I miss a good old date night.

We're now at a stage where we feel Henry is in a good enough place with his night time routine that we can leave him with someone else (hoorah!) so that's what we did. Henry's Godparents kindly took over the ropes for the night and allowed us to go out for our very first date night as parents.

Don't bust those purse strings - save money this January

Does anyone else get a little tense around this time after Christmas?
All the festive happiness has dissipated, the Christmas food dwindling, and your waistline has grown three inches at least. And the state of your bank account leaves you reaching for the left over mulled wine.

On top of it all payday feels like it's six weeks away still, and you're rapidly getting into the single digits and on the cusp of eating beans on toast for the remainder of the month. Just as well you put on that extra cheese weight over Christmas, as meals are looking less and less comforting.

Luckily there are a few ways that you can save some money this time of year.

Our Christmas Day photo diary

Is anyone else really missing Christmas already? It can't just be me? 

For a lot of people, today is the return to work, so most definitely the Christmas spirit is on it's way out. 

After a lovely little Christmas period, and some well deserved time off, I finally sat at the computer to look through our Christmas Day photos - sorry it would have been sooner but I got knocked off my feet by a nasty headcold over the New Years period - and I decided I just had to share some of our photos, because even if I do say so myself, they are damn cute!! Plus being our first Christmas as a family of three, I felt it needed to be recorded on the blog! 

Time travel for parents with Lifecake

Since Henry was born I've become a bit of a photo junkie. Ok,well, I've always been a bit of a photo junkie - you only need to look through this blog to see I spam you guys with about 100 photos for every blog post - sorry about that.

But since Henry arrived, my photo addiction has definitely gotten worse. To be fair, he is super cute, and as he's gotten older I've definitely been taking more and more photos (some of this may be down to realising I didn't take as many as I would have liked when he was really little, probably due to life adjustments and lack of sleep, so I'm compensating). And like any self-respecting mother I want to share ALL of the photos. However I'm very aware that not everyone on my Facebook friends lists wants to be inundated with photos of Henry. And I have a set criteria for images for my blog, so a lot of them aren't appropriate.

We also live quite far away from both sets of Grandparents, so they only really see him every couple of months, and through photos.

Recently I was contacted by Lifecake to try out their mobile phone app* which is specifically designed for parents. I'll describe the app the way the team does "parents can upload images and videos of their child, creating a seamless timeline of every moment. They can then privately share them with friends and family". Basically this is absolutely perfect for us. And I'm going to tell you why.

Gingerbread Houses with Friends

I think one of the best things about Christmas has to be the food. Am I right? There's nothing like really good good to get you in the festive spirit.
And the food at Christmas is always so special too. Pigs in blankets, mince pies, chocolate log, Christmas pudding, turkey, candy canes and gingerbread houses.

And I seriously love gingerbread houses. We decorated our own a couple of years back, but as this is the year of starting traditions, it only seemed right to get decorating again.
As Henry is still a little young (OMG next Christmas guys, next Christmas is going to be amazing!!) we decided to have a decorating contest with our friends (and Henry's Godparents) Alice and Arran one Friday night!

Alongside our competition we had Bailey's and Bucks Fizz, pigs in blankets and mince pies of course, to get really Christmassy.

We picked up the houses with lots of decorations and icing from Tesco.
Here's some photos from our evening - we even voted on a fave - but you'll have to wait til the end of the post to see who Twitter crowned as our winner!!