Blogmas #6 - our festive week in pictures!

Quite frankly this week has been a little bit of write off. After Luke's spectacular vomiting display in the pottery painting shop, a trip to the doctor confirmed a nasty bout of gastroenteritis so we have stayed in most of the week and lounged around in sick stained pyjamas (yummy mummy?!) 

However as promised, this weeks 'week in pictures' is a festive one! 

We had a rather lovely start to the week painting pottery for Christmas gifts and decorating the tree. However our placement of the tree turned out to be a bit of a mistake as Luke is now far more interested in the fairy lights than eating his breakfast. 

We also sent off for this years Christmas cards, with Luke starring as a super cute Santa! We took the photo last week when he wasn't poorly - I'm really pleased with it and can't wait to see how the cards turn out. The photo was so easy to set up and only involved a beanbag, a throw, some baubles and fairy lights! Not as good as a professional but they look the part. 

As some of you may know from my Instagram, Saturday was a bit of a disaster day! After a week of being mummy mattress for a poorly baby, I was extremely sleep deprived so slept through my alarm, threw my breakfast down my self and to top it all off I ripped my favourite Ted Baker skirt when I gracefully fell out of my car...! However a new skirt and Pret's nut roast sandwich cheered me up and the rest of the day wasn't too bad (and ended in watching my all time favourite movie The Holiday and drinking much needed wine!). 

And that brings us to today which has been a slightly desperate yet very fun attempt to finish the last of my Christmas shopping! Luke is also now officially sitting up all on his own, and he is getting really strong! I have to admit it's scaring me slightly as crawling isn't that far off, and that means baby proofing everything and running round like a headless chicken! 

What have you been up to this week? Let me know in the comments :-)

Happy Blogmas! X

Blogmas #5 - The countdown to Christmas

Although I absolutely love Christmas Day, one of my favourite parts is actually the lead up to Christmas. 

I love the decorations, the fairy lights and the carols. The markets, the mulled wine and dressing up for the work Christmas party. The Christmas food, the of buying presents and all in all that general festive feeling. 

But simple as it sounds, one of my favourite traditions in the lead up to Christmas, is opening the Advent calendar.

My parents are religious, so growing up I was never allowed a chocolate advent calendar (it took away from the meaning of Christmas) I had ones with pictures. As a 6 year old, you can imagine how unimpressed I was when all the other children opened their door to find little Santa chocolates and I got a picture of a robin. 

Ironically now I much prefer the picture calendars. You can get such beautiful ones with lovely pictures and (you've guessed it) lots and lots of glitter!

This year, when my Daddy dropped by with an Advent calendar 'for Luke' I wondered, at 8 months old, how interested he would really be. 

On the December 1st while we were having breakfast, I put the calendar in front of Luke and was surprised at how taken in he was. His eyes were like saucers and he had a look of total wonder on his little face. It was the most adorable thing I have ever seen, made all the more special by the fact that the calendar was from Grandad. 

Now we open the calendar every morning at breakfast and Luke is totally entranced. It has made one of my favourite Christmas traditions all the more special and I'm actually going to be quite sad when we get to the last door. 

What is your favourite part about the lead up to Christmas? I'd love to hear your count down traditions. 

Happy Blogmas! X

Blogmas #4 - I want I want I want...

Anyone who knows me will tell you, I am a very materialistic person. I can't help it, I just LOVE stuff! Shoes, bags, clothes, make-up, homeware and don't even get me started on jewellery. So as you can imagine, when Christmas comes round, I am in my element. I already have a rather long Christmas wishlist this year (which I shall be publishing properly in the next few weeks, should any of you wish to get me a present!) But to give you a rough idea, is currently looks a little something like this:

- Lancome mascara
- Yankee candles
- White Company candles
- Estee Lauder lippy
- Ted baker coat
- Riding boots from Dune
- All saints shearling coat
- Whistles bobble hat
- Diamond present necklace from work
- Tiffany bracelet
- New handbag
- Fur bed throw
- Sparkly cushions
- New phone case
- Emma Bridgewater espresso cups

I won't bore you with anymore for the moment, but you get the gist. A lot of the time with me it's want, want, want.

While pottering round town the other day doing some last bits of shopping, I added several things to the ever growing list.
As I walked past Starbucks immersed in my own little world of Christmas and trying to decide between an americano and their rather delicious hot mulled fruit, I spotted a homeless man curled up under a blanket looking cold and suddenly my mental Christmas list seemed a little bit insignificant. I felt horribly selfish that the most important thing to me was making sure I got everything that was on my list when there were people who wouldn't even have dinner or a place to live this Christmas. It got me thinking, it is so easy to get caught up in the materialistic side of Christmas and just want want want, that sometimes we take our lives for granted and forget to just be thankful for what we already have. I am blessed with so many wonderful things that not everyone is lucky enough to have.

I am blessed with a husband who works incredibly hard so I can stay at home with our little boy.

I am blessed with parents who are always there for me at the drop of a hat.

I am blessed with a job that I love.

I am blessed with a happy, healthy, smiley little boy.

I am blessed with a fridge full of food (cliche but true) and a warm home (once the heater gets fixed...)

I am blessed with a dog who gives me cuddles and a cat who brings me socks as presents.

I am blessed with a wardrobe full of lovely clothes.

I am blessed with friends who are there for me, no matter how far away.

I am blessed with people who make me smile when I feel low.

I am blessed to have all my wonderful Grandparents still with me.

I love Christmas and I love giving and receiving presents, seeing my family and sharing delicious food. I am not saying that we shouldn't enjoy these things but maybe while you are writing your Christmas lists this year, think of those less fortunate that you and make a mental list of all the wonderful things you are blessed with.

Happy Blogmas everyone :-) X

Our week in pictures #3

Hello all welcome to another week in pictures! As promised, I did more this week than just sit around in my pyjamas and take selfies! 

We started off our week with a trip to baby gym class with a mummy friend and Luke's best buddy Ted. It is so much fun for the boys, and us mummies had a wail of a time on the trampolines (they're the sort of thing that you find extremely exciting when you're a mummy!) 

They are getting so grown up now, it's hard to imagine they were once tiny newborns with floppy heads! 

I also had quite an emotional week. While writing a blog post on being a preemie mummy, I scrolled back through all my photos of Luke as a newborn. I have to say it hit me harder than I expected and I got all blurry eyed looking at my little boy in an incubator and realising how far he has come. 

Our week has also been filled to the brim with mummy play dates this week.  Although it is mainly so us mummies can keep some degree of sanity and gorge on obscene amounts of chocolate, I also feel it's really lovely for the boys to have some bonding time (and I think they enjoy seeing something other than mummy's boring face!)

Despite the gloomy weather today, our week couldn't have had a more perfect end to it. As my husband has been away a lot this week, we decided to have a family trip into Bath and wonder round the gorgeous Christmas market. I had the most wonderful time, keeping myself toasty with an all important glass of mulled wine and I am now finally getting into the festive spirit! I was also spoiled rotten and my darling hubby got me a new iPhone as an early Christmas present! Mine was rapidly dying and I had been angling after the rose gold one ever since it came out (My wedding ring is rose gold so of course I needed a matching phone!) 

We were cold and damp by the one we arrived home so cooked and devoured a delicious roast - I think I have decided it's my all time favourite meal. Sunday's are the best :-) 

Lastly, we hit a very important milestone this week - exactly one week before he turns 8 months, Luke is sitting up by himself! So I am an extremely proud mummy. 

Be prepared for a very festive 'Our week in pictures' this coming week - we are putting the Christmas tree up, making hand print decorations and blitzing the Christmas shopping! Expect tinsel, baubles and obscene amounts of fairy lights! 

Our first family holiday

Life is just starting to get back to normal after returning from our first ever holiday as a family to Cyprus last week. 

    By the pool on our first family holiday

Our flight left at 7:30 from Gatwick which meant a rather early start (leaving our house at 2am) however this timing worked really well for Luke as it meant he slept for the 2 1/2 hour car journey to the airport. 

I was honestly hugely impressed with both the airport and the airline when it came to being family friendly. 

Gatwick had a special separate family section for going through security, meaning we didn't have to queue and were through and out the other side within about 10 minutes (one of the perks of travelling with a baby - you rarely have to queue!)

We purchased a fold down pram especially for the holiday as we didn't want our iCandy getting ruined in the hold of the aeroplane. We ended up going for the Mamas and papas chevron buggy. I have to say I was hugely impressed with this considering what we paid. It folded down really quickly and easily making things a lot simpler at the airport. It also reclined all the way back which was fab for when Luke was asleep and it was very easy to steer. The only slight criticism I had was the storage underneath - it was baggy and things kept falling out of it. But all in all I was very impressed. 

Luke was an absolute angel on the flight out and I was so proud of him. 4 1/2 hours is a long time to be in one place and he was good as gold. The Easyjet staff were lovely with Luke and the plane itself was really comfy - I was pleasantly surprised! 

Obviously going to Cyprus we were hoping for beautiful sunshine and toasty warm temperatures. The first few days were a bit rubbish weather wise, although the lack of sunshine was made up for my the amazing thunderstorms we had at night. They were unlike anything I've seen in England! 

Thankfully for my pasty pale legs, the sun showed its face a couple of days in and it was divine. We found it that Luke has his daddy's skin, he just has to look at the sun and he gets a gorgeous tan (unlike me who can spend weeks frying myself in the sun and get no more than a slight golden glow) 

    Indulging in a little bit of baby tanning!

I tried to get Luke to have a dip in the pool (which was gorgeous by the way!) but it was a little bit on the chilly side and after tears when his feet were dipped in, I decided it probably wasn't best to go any further! 

The food was amazing and I ate my weight in seafood, had plenty of gin and tonics by the pool and was generally a little over indulgent! We went out for cocktails one night and I had the best Cosmopolitan I think I've ever tried. 

   Seafood feast on the balcony 

We also hit some developmental milestones while we were out there (it's amazing the changes that happen in a mere week!)

Luke rolled over for the first time and... Wait for it... HE SLEPT THROUGH! 

Unfortunately the second victory was short lived and hasn't happened since we got home. Which if you think about it logically, means we really should move to hot, sunny, gin filled Cyprus. For the baby's sake of course...

    Beautiful sunset by the sea

    Bravely holding a nappiless baby! 

    The view from our gorgeous room