A very rare Monday off

After swapping around my shifts at work this week, I was left with a whole day off which never happens. In fact, since going back nearly a year ago, it's the first whole day I've had off with my little one during term time.

We had such a perfect day together, I'm so sad it's almost over and I have to work all day tomorrow, I could cry just thinking about it, must be hormonal. Anyway, here are a few photos of our day...

A very rare breakfast together. He eats at my mum's during the week and I lie in on a weekend so Daddy is usually on breakfast duty. I loved our lazy breakfast today.

Morning at the farm. The look of sheer delight on his face is just gorgeous.

Tractor time! 

Gorgeous baby lambs having a snuggle!! Henry wasn't remotely interested and when I took this photo he was charging off towards the swings. 

After a lunchtime nap (for us both) we had some gorgeous cuddles on the sofa.

Being cheeky at the swimming baths. He loved his swim again today.

He loves snack time at the swimming baths just as much as the actual swim itself!! 

After dinner cuddles and silliness. I love him so much.

Henry at 18 months

My baby is 18 months old today, a proper little toddler with his own quirks and personality. I love him more than I ever knew it was possible to love anyone and am beyond thankful that I'm his mummy. I can't believe he is now closer to his second birthday than he is to his first, which honestly feels like it was only a few weeks ago. I thought I'd do a little 18 month update to remind us of Henry at this age and also to remind us of those quirks and milestones that are so easy to forget.

Weight: Henry was weighed at his allergist appointment a few weeks ago and he now weighs 24lb 4oz. He's bang on the 50th centile for weight and height which is crazy when he was on the 91st centile this time last year. He's definitely not a chubby little baby anymore, he's now a busy toddler who never sits down, so no wonder he's not putting weight on quite so quickly. 

Routine: Henry has one nap around lunchtime, usually for around 2 hours. He then goes to bed about 7:30 after his bath with daddy. He now only has milk on morning and last thing before bed and we're planning to totally wean when he's around 2.

Food: We definitely didn't get a 'sleeper', but we did get a bloody amazing eater. He's yet to have a fussy phase, I live in dread that this may happen but so far, so good! He will eat anything: strong fish, any fruit or vegetable, all meat, sauces, you name it. There's nothing he won't eat and he goes through phases of eating SO much food too, obviously when he's having a growth spurt. The only time he won't eat is when he's under the weather and then he hardly eats a thing until he's feeling better. His favourites are beef casserole, tomatoey spaghetti, watermelon, grapes, toast, Marmar's homemade bread, milky orange jelly and of course any sweet treats.

Sleep: We still have good nights and bad nights but generally his sleep his improving. He often does a 6 hour stretch now which is probably classed as 'sleeping through' but I'd much prefer 8 hours!! I deal with the sleepless nights much better than I did before and we still often nap together on an afternoon if I'm not working. 

Sizes: Henry is in 18-24 month clothes mainly, although quite a few 12-18 month things do still fit. He wears size 5 nappies and his feet are a size 5G. 

Milestones/personality quirks 

• Henry's speech is coming along and he understands everything that we say to him. He communicates exactly what he wants to do or what he wants, but doesn't always use words exactly!! When he wants a drink he asks for 'guh guh' and if he wants to make a smoothie he says 'guh guh' and makes a round and round action with his hands. He is constantly saying 'Mama' and pointing to things that he wants, he really makes us laugh. He says a handful of words well, but the rest are still just sounds.

• He absolutely adores Peppa Pig, she's his absolute favourite. A normal conversation in our house goes like this:

Me: What shall we watch on telly?

Henry: Peppa

Me: Shall we watch Balamory?

Henry: Peppa!!

Me: What about Waybuloo?

Henry: PEPPA!!!

We know every bloody word to every episode and he'd sit and watch it all day long if we let him. He also loves Waybuloo, Postman Pat, Thomas the Tank Engine, Zingzillas and Balamory. 

• He still has 12 teeth, but has 4 little canines almost through. 

• He loves baking and cooking at the moment. My mum bakes bread with him every morning and he just adores it; it's the first thing he wants to do when he's through the door at 7am and it's the first thing he wants to show me when I pick him up later in the day. He makes cakes at home with me and every afternoon we make milky smoothies together with Koko milk, bananas, berries and kale (amazing for topping up our calcium!!). 

• He loves singing and can do so many actions to songs now. He loves Head, shoulders, knees and toes, Wind the bobbin up, Row row row your boat and The Hokey Kokey. He also loves a random song about a little green frog which he is constantly asking us to sing with him; he was shouting at us to do it all round Tesco earlier. You know you've lost all dignity and self respect as a parent when you're walking round Tesco on a Saturday morning singing a song about a frog and sticking your tongue out and making daft noises in the chorus! 

• He absolutely loves animals. He says Baa and Rahhhh for a sheep and a lion and does a cute little horse action when he sees a horse or wants Marmar to take him down the road to feed the horses. I went to pick him up the other day and the first thing he did was his little horse action, as if he wanted to tell me that he'd just been down the road to see them. So cute.

• I've started taking him swimming once a week which he's absolutely loving and we also go to baby gym every week too. He goes to 3 different baby groups with my mum and is constantly out for coffee and to play with Marmar and Parpar on a morning and Mummy on an afternoon; he has such a lovely little life and is one very lucky boy! 

Absolute perfection

I'm still searching desperately for that pause button on our life. Life is just whizzing by and I feel like I'm wishing the days away every time I utter the words "I can't wait for the summer!".

Life is so lovely and easy at the moment; we're settled and happy and I don't want that to change. In the past few years we were planning a wedding, got married, bought a house, moved 300 miles away, both started new jobs, planned a baby, got pregnant, had a baby, enjoyed maternity leave knowing it wasn't forever, adjusted back to work, this time as working mummy...and here we are, just settled with nothing huge on the horizon for the foreseeable future and it's honestly the first time in years. That's not to say that the last few years haven't been fantastic, they just haven't been settled the way things are now. 

I'm in no rush to have another baby, despite the crazy broodiness. If anything, I feel as though I want to wait longer as time goes on. I love how easy Henry is now. I can have a bath at night, watch TV once he's in bed, go out with my friends and leave him with Daddy, go out with Daddy and leave him with Marmar, take him out for relaxing dinners out, out for day trips and on holiday, we sleep longer than we have in over a year, he eats anything, is no longer hugely clingy, can help me cook, help me clean and watch Peppa Pig should I need to get something done. The list is endless. He's just so so easy. I love my job, I love being a wife and mummy, we have no major worries and I love that. 

I have adored being a mummy from day one and I'm actually terrified that our next baby will be super fussy, a terrible eater, or, like their brother, a terrible sleeper!! I'm worried that it'll ruin our easy, happy little existence. I recognise that this is absolutely ridiculous, especially for someone who would like 5 children!! I'm sure I'll change my mind eventually or the broodiness will invade the sane part of my brain, but for now I am just loving being a family of three. I'm looking forward to 2 lovely holidays this summer, day trips out and some sunshine, and for the first time in years, we have no huge changes ahead. Now, if only I could slow down time just a tiny bit.

Our Mothers' Day - In Pictures

Sleepy snuggles last night. Well one of us was comfortable at least! 

Breakfast in bed, presents, a Peppa card and some artwork. Perfect 

A morning nap snuggled up with Mummy

4 generations

Getting so big 

Off to feed the horsies 

Walking with Marmar

Love him so much

Being your mummy is the greatest pleasure

There is so much negativity surrounding parenting young children; blogs that talk about hating the early days of having a baby, hating the lack of independence and changes having a child inevitably brings. People start sentences with 'just you wait...' when talking to their newly pregnant friends and are quick to share stories of sleepless nights, sick stained clothes and mummy guilt. Today my Facebook feed is full of the usual declarations of love for our mothers, which is lovely, but there's also a few statuses saying that the best gift for Mothers' Day would be peace or time alone and I find that so sad. Yes, being a mummy is intense. Yes, sometimes I'd love some peace and quiet. But today the feeling I have is overwhelmingly just how lucky I am to have such a wonderful mum and how fortunate I am to have a happy and healthy little boy. I can't think of anything worse than spending today on my own, no matter how peaceful it may be. I imagine my mum would say the same. We spent the day together with my Gran too, all of us out for lunch together, feeling lucky to have our loved ones around us. Today isn't a day for a peaceful spa break or time alone. It's a day to be spoilt by loved ones, to spoil our own mums and grandmothers and to feel lucky.

I wake up every day feeling so lucky to be a mummy. There are so many people that don't have it that easy, some that have to battle for years to conceive, some that can never have babies at all. I'm lucky that I have an amazing mum myself, my best friend and the best Marmar I could ever imagine for my baby. I have friends that have lost their mums and the pain I imagine they feel today is indescribable and my heart aches for them today more than ever. 

Henry, being your mummy is an absolute pleasure, not just today, but every day.  I love you so much, little one. Thank you for making me such a happy mummy xxx

Some serious quality time

We've had such a lovely few days spending some quality time together. I'm making a real effort to get out and about and do lovely things with Henry when I'm not at work; it's so easy to just nap with him on an afternoon and then stay in our PJs and chill out all weekend after an exhausting week. I then feel ridiculously guilty and the time just seems to pass so quickly, so recently we've been getting out and about lots and it's been so lovely. Here's what we've been up to over the weekend and today. 

Saturday 

On Saturday morning Henry and I tried a new baby group which was great. It was all singing based and Henry really loved it. The one downside to working mornings is I miss out on taking him to groups so I really enjoyed being a proper mummy for once! Afterwards we went home for a nap and ended up all in bed together: Mummy, Daddy and Henry at the top and George at the bottom!! When we got up we took Henry to a little soft play and had a coffee too, that's the benefit of having Daddy with us on a weekend, we can take turns to play so we both can have a sit down and relaxing cup of coffee too. Afterwards we did some shopping and had tea at Wagamama. Henry was an absolute angel while we ate, we were both so incredibly proud of him. He sat so well waiting for food and then demolished his plate of fish and noodles and plenty of my chicken and rice too. Once he was in bed later on, we cracked open a bottle of red and had a lovely relaxing evening.

Sunday 

We started Sunday off with a chilly walk with the dog along the old railway path. We then went to the farm shop where Henry discovered free samples on the counter!! He absolutely loved the corned beef and was really cross that I wouldn't let him have more. We ended up buying him a slice for his lunch because he loved it so much and because we felt so guilty that he'd eaten so many of the samples!! We then went home for a nap and played at home for a bit before going to the garden centre down the road for a coffee and for Henry to play in the play tunnel. 

Monday

I rushed out of work today to get home to pick Henry up and take him swimming. The only afternoon swimming session I've been able to find for us is on a Monday and it's the one day that I usually work all day.  I've recently swapped my afternoons though, so we made the most of it today and went swimming for the afternoon. Henry was so happy splashing around and giggling away, he was just gorgeous. It's obligatory to have snack time after swimming so we went to the cafe and discovered their amazing range of free from goodies!! I treated myself to a gorgeous chocolate orange tart and got Henry a few treats and some juice. We sat together and 'chatted' (one way conversation!!) and had a really lovely time. It sounds ridiculous but he's such good company and I just love spending time with him. We then came home and after a short sleep in the car (him, not me), we are now snuggled up under a blanket watching Postman Pat. 

Tomorrow afternoon we are off to baby gym with some friends and then later in the week we're going for coffee and to a lovely play centre in the city centre. I'm really loving all this quality time with my little one.

Smoothie Time

Today when Henry woke up from his nap the first thing he asked for was a smoothie. He knows the routine, we make smoothies for his snack as soon as he wakes up and so today he did a 'round and round' action with his hand - his sign for the blender. I love that he can now 'ask' for what he wants with a mixture of hand signs, sounds and words; it makes life so much easier and much less frustrating for him. He absolutely loves the blender, whenever he sees it he does his little action and we now just call it the 'round and round' in our house! 

Because Henry only has 2 breastfeeds a day, I'm really conscious that he needs calcium from other sources too and the dietician told me to get him to drink cups of coconut milk, which is fine in theory, but he absolutely refuses to drink it. He'll sip at it, but never drinks much so it's a total waste of time. That's where the smoothies started. I tried blending some Koko milk with some kale (also full of calcium), spinach and berries and he absolutely loved it, so we now do that every day for afternoon snack time. Obviously I'd prefer to just be able to pour him a glass of milk, but he's getting fruit and green leafy veg at the same time so I'm really not too fussed for the time being. He always insists that it goes in his Peppa Pig mug too, he shouts "Peppa!" at me if I dare try anything else, he really makes us laugh.

A few photos from our smoothie making sessions. 

Dear Henry - March 2015

My Little One,

I haven't written to you for months, I keep meaning to but never seem to sit down for long enough; you certainly keep us on our toes. You are now 17 months old and you are just a little delight. You are growing up faster than ever and are now a proper little boy, not a baby anymore.

You still go to Marmar's house every morning and you absolutely adore her and Parpar. You go to all kinds of baby groups with Marmar and love them but your favourite thing to do with her is to make bread! It's the first thing you want to do on a morning before I've even left you and when I pick you up you can't wait to show me what you've made. You love baking with Mummy at home and making smoothies too, I love that you enjoy it so much and love having a little helper in the kitchen.

You still eat SO well, there's nothing you won't have and you eat so much too. You still love beef the best: casserole, meatballs, bolognaise etc. You also love jelly and fruit for your pudding and corn on the cob is also a hit! When you're teething or poorly you go off your food, but apart from that you're just so easy to feed. You still don't have any milk or eggs but we're off to the hospital tomorrow for an appointment so hopefully we might be able to start reintroducing those soon. I still breastfeed you on a night time and you love it so much and so do I. Your little face lights up when I ask if you want milkies and you come running over. We'll probably  stop when you're around two, hopefully you'll be ready then and you'll be able to have some dairy for calcium too.

You are chatting lots now and understand so much of what we say to you. I really love your little personality that's starting to shine through and although you're starting to have little tantrums if you don't get your own way, you're generally so laid back and easy going, very like Daddy! Everyone still says you look like him and you love spending time with your Daddy. He baths you every night and takes you out if Mummy is out or having a lie in. We try to do things as a family on a weekend when we aren't working and love taking you out with us.

Unfortunately you're still not a bit fan of sleeping! You'll probably read this when you're a teenager and I'll probably spend all of my life nagging you to get out of bed, but at the moment it's the opposite!! To be fair you're much better and you do have some nights where you sleep through....but not very often!! I do secretly love the snuggles we have on a night though and I wouldn't change you for the world....I just hope your future brothers or sisters sleep better than you do!

I adore being your mummy, little one. I love spending time with you so much. Today after work we had a nap together and then we went to the farm to see the animals before going to the park. It was bitterly cold but we wrapped up warm and you were just so happy toddling around having fun. We then met Daddy for coffee (juice for you) at Starbucks and you played while we drank our coffees and chatted. We don't do anything particularly exciting, but we have so much fun together. Last week was half term and we went on a little adventure to Norfolk with Holly, Tom and Jessica. You loved Jess and could say her name and you both enjoyed having a little friend to play with. You mostly enjoyed chasing the wild cats and feeding the ducks by our little pods in the forest. I just love making memories with you and our little family.

You are my best friend, little one. I don't just love being a mummy, I love being your mummy and you brighten up our days so much. I can't imagine life without you now and you're just so precious to us. We have so many adventures ahead of us, life is just so exciting. Don't grow up too fast though, little one. You will always be my baby but it's scary how quickly the time is passing.

I love you to the moon and back my beautiful boy. I promise to write to you again soon.

Mummy xxx

Stop Growing Up

I so wish I could pause time at the moment, my little one is growing up faster than ever. He suddenly seems like a proper little boy, I don't think I'll be able to call him a baby for much longer.

My mum said at baby group earlier he seemed so much older than he was just a few weeks ago. He fell over at one point and she rushed over to him but he'd already got up, dusted himself off and was busy playing again. He was once clingy while we were out and would constantly be watching what we were doing or wanting us to play with him, but yesterday, at soft play, he was just off on his own having fun. I'm so glad that he's growing in confidence and he's happy, but it does make me sad that he's growing up every day and each day he needs me that tiny bit less than he did the day before.

This afternoon after work I took him shopping and he loved toddling around holding my hand, pressing the button on the lift, sitting in all the 'rides' we passed (the rubbish things you pay £1 for to bribe children to be good in the shops), playing at the kids' table in the cafe and exploring the little soft play area. He asked for juice when he was thirsty, had a snack when he was hungry and was just so grown up and gorgeous.

We then came home and baked together which is one of his favourite things to do at the moment. I'd bought a little Peppa Pig cakes set which I'd never usually buy but he loves Peppa, they're so easy to make and a massive bonus was that they were dairy free! He absolutely loved every second and was just thrilled when we took them out of the oven and could ice them. They were the worst things I've ever baked but he loved them so we'll definitely be making them again soon.

I'm so proud of the big boy that he's growing up to be with all of his new tricks and quirks. I really really love being his mummy.

Our weekend, in pictures

Clockwise from top left:

Making smoothies with Mummy

Finally got his appetite back!

Sleepy cuddles

Falling asleep in to his lunch!

Quiet lunch for Mummy

Eating lunch in his PJs; a proper lazy Sunday.

Soft play fun

Greeting Daddy and George at the door 

More cuddles...

...and kisses for Mummy 

Sunday night takeaway with friends 

All in all, a bloody lovely weekend with my favourite little one in the world.