Saturday Selections 18.09.15

Watching: Fear the Walking Dead - only watched one episode so far, it's good...but frustrating. I feel like it's happening in current times yet no one seems to know what a zombie is...EVERYONE knows what a zombie is!!!

Listening: Podcasts, a whole buncha different ones, but Grace Helbig is always a good idea!
  
Reading: Emails - clearing out my personal inbox has proved to be a total nightmare. Who needs an email from the GAP from 2012? Apparently I do.

Wishing: For a new phone, mine is donezo. Thought by taking all my pics off it would sort itself out, turns out it hates everything still! Do I get an iPhone? I dunno. I need something that works though.

Loving: My hubs! together for SEVEN YEARS. Which feels like basically forever.

Doing: Going to the Rugby today in Cardiff - GO CANADA!!!

Making: Labels and space we bought clear boxes and we have a mission to start getting the loft organised.

Eating: As many meals together as a fam as much as possible...it's not easy and not as relaxing as having adult dinners - but I valued this time with my family as a child and as I'm home earlier now we have the opportunity to do this which is really lucky!

a xxx

See you soons vs. good-byes

You know when you have those people enter your life…in a weird way or unexpectedly and circumstances align just so – and then all of a sudden you can’t remember what life was like before they were around?

I have a few of those. But notably, and for the case of this mini essay one fam jam in particular.

I met T in a breastfeeding support group (yes they exist, no I didn’t EVER think I would go to one). I was 10 days in to being a Momma and we were terrible at breastfeeding. Like the worst. And I was determined (by guilt mostly) to not give up so soon…so off we went to this room in a community centre where there was a circle of Mommas with their boobs out, most crying, all sleep deprived and all desperate to feed their baby.

It was a few weeks before we got to know each other but once the hang outs started happening outside of that room the friendship was quickly cemented on our North American roots, love of day drinking and new mom status.

It helped that our littles got on so well and are so close in age – so as long baby naps at the pub turned in to running after them at the park we were always in just about the same phase, which made our time together SO easy.

I went back to work, but days off were spent having play dates and bitching about things (literally anything), shopping, drinking coffee and wine and letting the two littles entertain each other.

Two and a half years later and we’re doing the same. Adding in weekends away, nights out without the littles, sleepovers, lots of wine and gin and about a trillion WhatsApp messages from evenings and bad days…and she’s leaving me, they’re leaving us.

The three of them are off on their next adventure, returning to their homeland (although not the home state!) and while I’m excited for them – my heart is breaking just a little (ok a LOT).

The tiny human said goodbye to one of his best buddies on Sunday, and he had no idea what kind of goodbye it was. They didn’t get down our street before I was sobbing. And while we know we’ll see each other in less than a year, and there is SKYPE and FaceTime and good old fashion snail mail it won’t be the same. Not to mention every time he’s talked about her this week I’ve had to hold my emosh mess together…this will get worse as time goes on. Time zones and international moves don’t mean much to a two year old!

In my heart I know that they’ll always be a part of our lives, and we’ll have more adventures and sleep overs, the littles will chase each other around, share meals and bath times together – I also can’t help but mourn the loss of the proximity of the friendship. How easy it’s been, and how lucky we are to have these incredibly generous, loving and hilarious people 20 minutes away.

So I wish them nothing but luck and love on their next chapter – the three of them deserve all the happiness in the world.

…and thank everything for technology or I think I might actually be stopping the plane on Saturday.

a xxx

Centre Parcs weekend of fun

This is a proper ESSAY. I’ve put in random pics to break it up a bit! But get some snacks.

Having never been, and not really knowing what to expect AT ALL – we did our massive Ocado order, loaded up the car with all the things and headed to Woburn for a weekend of fun with some of our bestest. 

The M25 was typically terrible and the journey was longer than we wanted…even though we left work early to get there, so when we pulled in we were all a little bit ready to just BE somewhere. We were greeted by a lovely lady and checked in, given our stylish wrist bands and map and sent on our way…where we immediately took a wrong turn and ended up in the deepest depths of the park (well not really, but who were we to know?) and turns out, also driving down a footpath. Haynes’ for the win. 

We turned ourselves around (I ran in to the spa to use the loo…let’s be real it had been hours!!!) and finally found our way to the cabin where we would be for the weekend. 

I say cabin, really it was a lovely house – two stories with two bedrooms and ensuites downstairs and upstairs had two bedrooms and ensuites, a games room (pool table, xbox, games!), an open plan living space (lounge, dining table and kitchen) as well as a lovely outdoor space with a bbq set up, a sauna and another balcony at the front. 

We got to unloading the car – first thing first was loading up the wine fridge – obvs.

I had read a lot about what was actually in the kitchens, so we brought a few bits which actually I was really happy we did (sharp knives, big serving bowls, a big pan for ‘family cooking’ a whisk, kitchen roll, cling film and aluminium foil) – there were things I didn’t bring and wish I did…dishtowels and a jug for Pimms! 

We got settled in – gave the tiny human his supper and let him run around like a maniac – he was LOVING it. And because it was all open plan he could be outside when I was unpacking stuff in the kitchen and I could still see him…made me want to get our reno sorted ASAP!

The rest of the crew arrived later, put their little to bed and we had a pizza party in the kitchen – with lots of wine. 

The next day was for boating and eating and napping and drinking…lots of adventures and mini golf and general exploring. The weather was lovely a bit of wind and cloud, but enough sunshine that we were able to have lots and lots of outside time. 

We were equal distance from the swimming bit and the lake and indoor bit – and no hills! The reviews online for this location are often about how hilly it is, we really really lucked out with the location of our casa. 

We didn’t make it to the pool on day one – SO much fun doing everything else. 

Day two we had a craft thingy booked in for the littles in the morning – which they loved!! I also managed to get covered in paint, but it was hilarious and really well organised. Then it was all about the pool. 

All weekend I was constantly amazed as to the organisation of EVERYTHING – there was nothing (it seemed) they hadn’t thought of – one way systems for the changing rooms, using your wrist bands to lock and unlock the lockers – a checker to see which locker yours was (they need to do this in underground car parks, honest to goodness, so brilliant!) 

We entered the pool area…the map made it look huge and full of lazy rivers and all sorts – but nothing could have prepared me for what we were walking in to. 

There was a pool that was perfect for the tiny human, up to his chest at its deepest, with a water play area, three mini waterslides and warm water…a separate ‘water park’ area was a giant pirate ship with four more slightly more advanced water slides, but still good for a two year old…climbing frames and all sorts. Then there was a wave pool and a lazy river, both of which he loved as well but had to do with an adult. 

There were big kid waterslides, an outdoor rapid river and a ton of stuff we didn’t even make it to – a café for food and lots of chairs and out of water chill out areas for food breaks. 

We did pool time until the kids could barely function, then fed them as they tried to keep their eyes open, and home for naps! 

Another lovely evening of exploring and fun playing and eating and drinking – everyone (the littles and the bigs) pouring themselves to bed at the end of the day totally exhausted in the best way possible. 

Monday we all planned to pile in the cars around nap time – so there was only one thing for the morning, besides packing up the cars…the pool! We got the cars loaded and the guys took them back to the car park while we went to collect the littles masterpieces from the day before. 

A few hours in the pool and lunch at the pool café and we were off to get in the cars and make the drive home. 

All in all it was a brilliant weekend away, there was this underlying feeling of Stepford Wives perfection which at times was a bit unnerving – but we didn’t do that many ‘organised’ events, and still had a blast! 

I’m glad we brought our own food, as it gave us flexibility with mealtimes and there was no waiting for food as the littles had some hangry moments for sure! 

The only meal all weekend that the littles weren’t half asleep for was breakfast – that’s the sign of a successful weekend! 

 We’d defo return – too much fun not to, and so perfect for our little man. 

axxx

A good Mom night

Last night was a good Mom night. 

Usually on my ‘single parent’ nights (when A is working late, or out) I rush around trying to get stuff done and organised, stick to a schedule and I always, ALWAYS end up stressed and frazzled and the poor tiny human does too. 

Last night was a beautiful spring evening – the sun was shining it was warm and lovely. We played in the garden and when we were done the tiny human had a long extra bubbly bath, even though it was an hour before ‘bath time’ – the bags remained unpacked, the dishes in the drying rack and toys out.

I didn’t check my emails when he was bathing, instead I took pictures of his adorable face and played with him…and when the grime and dirt of his very busy day was washed off and the bubbles were gone we got out and put on our PJ’s snuggled up on the sofa and watched Toy Story had bananas and milk and ALL THE CUDDLES. 

He happily went up to bed half an hour early and I managed to get all the ‘important’ stuff done once he settled down. 

I didn’t have to do one time out – there were no raised voices, just laughter and cuddles and good times. 

He is such a good reminder to me to slow down, and let go. Yes dishes in the sink stress me out – but they’ll get done eventually. And let’s be real, the Queen isn’t popping round any time soon. 

This tiny human of mine won’t be tiny for long, so here’s to more nights like last night. 

Less dishes and more cuddles. 

ax

Saturday Selections

Watching: The Christmas movies have started...love actually, the holiday, the grinch etc etc - YAY!

Listening: Christmas music all the way! Buble is a fav

Reading: Emails and Christmas cards - there has been ZERO time for books!

Wishing: That I can maintain the 'not getting stressed and enjoying fun things' - it's getting harder!

Loving: Christmas lights - and really to be honest the entirety of England in the festive season. I LOVE IT!

Doing: Last minute everything, wrapping up at work, wrapping presents, baking, cooking, shopping...busy busy but loving it.

Making: Mostly food at this point...I have a few homemade gifts to finish up but more or less getting the baking and Christmas food prep tied down so I can be blissfully chilled out on Christmas Day.
 
Eating: All the time it feels like - had a super fun dinner with the girls this week, ate so much drank so much and laughed so much...

Hope you have a lovely weekend!!

a xxx

On floods and things

So we found out last night we’re officially on ‘flood alert’. What this means in itself is unclear but it got us talking about our plans should the worst happen.

When we were looking at moving all the irreplaceable stuff like photos, memory books etc. upstairs I wanted to start moving everything…the hubs said (and I quote) ‘not to worry about the rest of the junk’ – I immediately got really offended…does he seriously think the rest of our carefully curated dining set, crystal stuff we got for wedding presents, heirlooms from grand, and great grandparents, and you know all our books and things are all JUNK. GAH! That’s not junk, to me that’s the story of us, it documents our life together, and our life before ‘us’ was a thing. I’d be devastated to lose the stuff.  

This obviously got us talking about what is important and why…I’ve always thought I was fairly separated from my material things, you know, sure I love a good pair of shoes, or something sparkly but I’m not attached to these things…am I?

He has a really clear, really defined line between the ‘junk’ and the rest. Turns out I do not. I was thinking how terrible it would be to find all the gorgeous china we were gifted for our wedding and would never be able to afford to replace was floating around or smashed to bits, or how sad it would be for me to have nothing to pass down to my tiny human and his tiny humans from their great great grandparents. That these things do matter and are important.

And I sat there stewing and I looked for the reasons why we saw this so differently (the why is VERY important to me) and why I bothered having nice things if they were regarded as ‘junk’ by the person who should be enjoying them with me.

Then it clicked. They are just things. You don’t enjoy the things, you enjoy the experiences while you use the things maybe. Things can be replaced. Maybe we won’t be able to have the exact china we got as gifts for our wedding, but that’s ok, we’ve had awesome dinner parties and great get-togethers using them and the memories from those times are what is important. And those things didn’t happen, nor were they great because of the dishes. They were great because of the family and friends and people that we shared them with. And maybe it would be sad for the tiny human to not inherit his great great grandpas decanter but actually what is important are the stories and pictures and memories passed down to him.

So you know, if we do have flood waters lapping at our door…if the sewage does start to seep (EW!) we’ll have all the irreplaceable pictures stored safely. But the most important thing is that the three of us will be safe and sound and we’ll be able to share stories and spend time with people who help us make the memories and have the experiences that do truly matter.

a xxx