2015

2015; a beautiful year. It was settled, it was calm and it was without stress or anxiety. I wasn't pregnant or didn't have a new baby, we didn't move house or job, we were just settled and loved almost every minute (minus cleaning up dog sick, potty training, cleaning the house, being up all night with a non-sleeping child, standing on duplo etc). 

I'm such a home bird, I love nothing more than being home with my boys snuggled up watching TV. I've never had dreams to travel the world, being a wife and mummy were my aims and this year I feel like I've been able to do both of those well and we've made some really beautiful memories.

A few highlights of this year were our podding adventure with friends in February, a trip to Spain with Marmar in May, birthday celebrations for me, a gorgeous summer off with my boy, a wonderful fortnight in Portugal, a very special 2nd birthday, a trip to Peppa Pig World, a weekend in London and so many other lovely Christmas activities before the big day itself.

We aren't the richest people in the world, we don't have a huge house or amazing cars, we don't earn huge amounts of money or go on magnificent holidays, but I go to bed every single night feeling like the luckiest girl in the world and I believe that's the secret to a happy life; not comparing yourself to other people, not being jealous of what others have that you don't, making the most of what you have and focusing on the little things in life: the smell of your baby's head as you kiss him goodnight, the Friday night bottle of Prosecco with your husband after a busy week, a walk on the beach, a long afternoon nap. Life is beautiful and we are all so so excited for 2016.

Christmas books for toddlers

Henry loves story time. We have it without fail before bath time every night, as well as odd stories throughout the day. He goes through favourites that we have to read EVERY day, and then others that we dip in and out of every now and then. For Christmas we've been reading the same set of books and I'll be really sad next week when we have to put them away, he's absolutely loved them this year and we've had a good set that have been perfect for his age; not too long, lovely illustrations and fun stories.

The Gruffalo's Child - Julia Donaldson

This isn't Christmassy really, more wintery and it's been a favourite for well over a year now. He knows every word and just adores this book, as well as the TV adaptation that goes with it. 

Stick Man - Julia Donaldson

Again, not overly Christmassy so we'll get away with reading it in January but Santa does appear at the end. Another of Henry's absolute favourites. We can't wait to watch this on Christmas afternoon this year.

The Snowman - Raymond Briggs

I love that this has no words, it's perfect for all ages really. Henry looks so carefully at every picture and we tell the story between us. The teacher in me knows how important this is as a pre-reading skill and the mummy in me loves telling stories with my little boy.

Father Christmas - Raymond Briggs

Another book with no words and an absolute favourite. We saw this on stage in London last weekend and Henry loves the DVD too. 

Mog's Christmas Calamity - Judith Kerr

The book that goes with the Sainsbury's Christmas advert and sold in aid of children's literacy projects in the UK. A really lovely short story with gorgeous illustrations. Henry spends his time saying "silly Mog" while we read it! 

Nativity Flap Book - Usbourne

Henry got this as a present from one of his baby groups and it's so perfect as an introduction to the Christmas story for little ones. He loves lifting the flaps and looking at the gorgeous illustrations too. A definite winner.

Maisy's Christmas Tree - Lucy Cousins

We got this from a story party we went to at Seven Stories a few weeks ago and it's really short and simple for little ones. He'll probably be too old for this next year but it's perfect now.

Mr Men's Night before Christmas

Another gift from a baby group Santa and he really loves this. It's a nice simple story with cute pictures and longer than some of the other picture books which is nice.

Lucy and Tom's Christmas - Shirley Hughes

As you can see from the picture this is an old book, it was mine as a child and I feel so emotional when we read it together. I remember how much I loved it when I see the gorgeous illustrations and Henry just loves the story too. It's such a lovely book, I'm not sure if it's still in print but if not then it should be. One of my favourite books ever.

The Night Before Christmas

Another one of my old books, it even has a little 'Rebecca Davis' name sticker in the front cover. I absolute love this poem, I remember learning it for our year 2 play at primary school (I was a child, nestled snug in their bed!) and I do it with my own class every year now. Henry loves it too and some of the illustrations are really magical. Henry particularly loves seeing Santa coming down the chimney, he's particularly obsessed with that at the moment; just yesterday he asked me if his friends who were visiting would be coming down the chimney or in the front door!!

And that's it, our little daily pile of books. Like I said, I'm going to be so sad putting them away for another year next week, let's hope Santa brings us a few new ones to read in the meantime.

A few days in London

Last weekend I ran out of school at lunchtime on the Friday to jump on a train with my mum and Henry to go to London for a Christmassy weekend. As it happened we had heavy snow at home all weekend and it was 12 degrees in London, we definitely weren't in the most Christmassy place but it was so lovely nevertheless.

Henry was amazing all weekend, honestly amazing. He slept most of the way down, here he is with very rosy teething cheeks. 2 back molars had appeared that morning! 

After checking into our hotel we met Uncle Simon in Fulham for my first Vagabonds trip for wine and a platter before heading to Byron for a burger.

We were up early on Saturday morning and grabbed an Uber car straight to Holland Park which was just amazing. There were wild squirrels and peacocks everywhere, huge carp in a Japanese pond, black rabbits hopping around and birds everywhere. Henry was in his element and we loved it too. There was a gorgeous toddler play park which would be perfect in the summer and we had a lovely coffee too.

Next we headed to the Kings Road for a spot of shopping and some lunch in Bluebird. I've wanted to go there for absolutely years, I never dreamt that my first time in such a posh place would be with a 2 year old toddler! But he was a dream, we didn't even need to get out a sticker book or colouring pad, he just chatted and looked around, tucked into the bread and taramasalata and waited for his food. I was so so proud of him.

After a lovely long nap back at the hotel we headed to Christmas at Kew where we had dinner, saw the gorgeous lights, toasted gourmet marshmallows, rode a little train and walked for miles. Again, an amazingly behaved toddler and a lovely family evening.

We were up early on Sunday to go to Uncle Simon's theatre to watch Father Christmas. It was honestly totally magical. I could have cried on several occasions watching it and Henry was just captivated. A perfect way to start a Sunday.

We went downstairs for a coffee in the theatre afterwards, this photo makes me laugh because you can see a chubby little hand in the background stealing a chocolate muffin that didn't belong to him!! 

We went back for Sunday lunch and cocktails in Bluebird again on the Sunday because Uncle Simon couldn't come with us the day before. Another super lovely meal and we went back to my brother's for a lazy nap straight after. Later on that afternoon we headed back to Kings Cross to catch our train, all tired, a little weary, but having had a really gorgeous weekend making some lovely memories. 

Another festive weekend

Friday 

Poor Henry had been so poorly all week we thought we might have to cancel all of our plans this week but luckily he perked up at the last minute and we made it out of the house finally! Hurrah!

We'd booked to go to Crook Hall for the Christmas light switch on and to see Santa Claus and it was really lovely, the perfect thing to get us feeling festive. Henry was really shy to begin with and wouldn't even look at the elves but by the end he was decorating the tree with them and helping one to make reindeer food. Santa's grotto was perfect and we finished our afternoon off with mince pies and mulled wine. Delicious. 

Saturday

We left Henry with my mum this afternoon and headed into Newcastle to do some Christmas shopping. We had a lovely lazy lunch in Zizzi, shopped until we dropped and finally stopped for coffee and cake in the new Fenwick's food hall. A really lovely and very productive afternoon! 

Sunday 

To say Henry has been difficult today would be an understatement. It's been a hard parenting type of day, he's been a very typical two year old and beyond grumpy! 

We went to Seven Stories event this morning based around the book 'Maisy's Christmas Tree'. When we got there Henry was so naughty - he was the type of child I usually look at and thank god that he's not mine haha. Well today that naughty child was mine so after about 5 minutes of watching the other children participating and enjoying the story while Henry stropped in front of me, I took him outside. After some firm words about making mummy sad and a threat that we'd leave if his behaviour didn't improve, he was a totally different child. The 'elf' running the session was amazing, she clearly sensed my mummy stress and gave Henry a job to do and he was fine from then on in. Santa arrived and gave all the children a copy of the book we'd been reading and then we headed off to do some Christmas art in the basement. Of course Henry didn't want to do anything I wanted him to and just wanted to glue his hands together, it was just the mood he was in today!! We had a cake and juice in the cafe afterwards and again, Henry wanted my cake and not his. Sigh. All in all not the most relaxing morning out but it could have been worse!!

We came home for a nap (which he fought for a good hour first, crying and moaning) and then got up for lunch. We then headed out for a bit of food shopping and went for some hot chocolate to cheer ourselves up!! We called in to Marmar's quickly and then came home to make dinner. Henry and I made another Christmas cake and then I did my usual Sunday run around, getting all of my jobs done whilst listening to Henry fighting his sleep for his daddy. Joy. He's now still wide awake at past 9pm and I am ironing. Not the end to a lovely festive weekend that I would have liked, but real life!!