Insta memories…

It’s nearly here…my little guy is nearly a whole number, only 8 days to go until Ted reaches his first birthday.

As I’m sure you’ve gathered by now, I love photos so naturally I love Instagram – although I have to be honest, over these past 12 months I’ve become quite the baby bore! Tonight I sat down and did something I don’t very often do, I scrolled through My Instagram, my own personal account and relived the memories I’ve posted.

I looked at our carefree, frequently wine fuelled days, I looked at weddings (ours and those of friends) and honeymoon adventures, I saw us journey from bikini to bulging baby belly and then the arrival of this gorgeous growing ball of smiles who completely took over, as the focus of our pictures and our lives – I smiled, ear to ear through them all.

I know our generation spends too much time on phones and social media, we try and record too much and sometimes we need to put everything down and live in the moment but other than people, few things in life give me as much pleasure as reliving things that made me happy. One picture can bring back smells and emotions and trigger other wonderful memories too. I love that pictures start discussions and reminiscing amongst friends and that there will be lasting evidence of Ted’s childhood to share with him as he grows.

I love being nosy, gaining inspiration and finding inspiring accounts to follow on Insta but maybe one of the most rewarding things we can do is to take time to remember, relive and appreciate our own memories. I know I’ve got it good but it only took a few minutes to be reminded just how lucky I really am! 🙂

I clearly couldn’t end this post without a little photographic update…

The birthday celebrations started early with a cake smash with our NCT friends, Ted embraced every last second (and crumb!) Yum!

Off to plot more exciting birthday plans now…see you on the other side of 0!

xxx

Celebrate!

We have had a fantastic weekend, months ago we decided that just because we’re not religious, Ted shouldn’t miss out on a celebration of him, simply being him so we set about planning a ‘Welcome to the World’ party!

When we sent the invitations out in the spring, we had no idea we’d be in a different house and not quite recovered or straight from said move…However,  it was the perfect kick up the backside to get everything in line!

I am extremely fortunate that one of my best friends Midge (it’s a long story…she’s really called Sarah) is a very talented event stylist so we managed to have everything looking Ted centred (well, aside from the copious amount of pimms, the wine fridge and giant beer cool box) but adult friendly too.

Primary colours, fire truck cupcakes (as a nod to Rich’s job) and big happy sunflowers were the name of the game!

We were sooo fortunate with the weather, a scare shower at 9 am had me thinking the worst but within an hour all the clouds had disappeared and we were very grateful for the awning keeping all the babies cool!

The BBQ went down a treat, we picked up supplies from a local butchers the day before and had way too much for the 50+ people who joined us once it was teamed with the goodies that were generously added by friends and family…

My friend Gemma created this triumph of a cake – even featuring the man himself and Ted was most upset that mean Mummy didn’t think this cake
from my friend Claire was the next step on his baby led weaning journey…

It was such a lovely opportunity for us to spend time with people who are special to us, was amazing to see them fight over Ted cuddles and showed just how much our little guy has captured the hearts of not only us but our nearest and dearest too.

We were over whelmed by the amazingly thoughtful gifts he received and his savings account certainly looks healthier than ours now!

It was a busy, happy day that wound down to coincide with the World Cup Final, some rather bleary eyed boys watched / snored through Germany’s victory…Ted however, legend that he is, managed to last 40 minutes past his normal bed time then was snoozing away until morning despite the rather noisier than normal surroundings!

Now, we best get planning his 1st birthday party…a January garden party doesn’t sound quite so appealing though…time to call on Midge again!!

Missing out…

Rich and I celebrate our first wedding anniversary this week and we were lucky enough to receive the gift of time from my parents, they not only treated us to a wonderful couples massage but they also looked after the little guy overnight so we could have a bank holiday night out.

We had been looking forward to this for ages and during pregnancy set firm rules for ‘our time’ when we managed to have some again… ‘no baby talk’ being high on the agenda – oh how naive we were!

We had it all planned out, meal, sparkling conversation about important world issues to show we’re still in touch, wine, cocktails, a romantic stroll back home, more wine, candles, lighting, seduction.

The reality was quite different, order a drink…

(quickly text mum to make sure all ok, stare gormlessly at the gummy smiley face gracing my screen saver for a few seconds)

…relax, drinks going down well and enjoying time together, conversation more Daily Mail than Guardian but hey, there comes a time when you just have to accept the sidebar of doom has sucked you in and this is fine, as long as you always start any reference to what you’ve read with “admittedly it was on daily mail online but…”

(quickly check phone, no reply…oh god! Check message time, 17.34 and current time 17.43. 9 minutes. Why hasn’t she replied yet? Maybe he’s hurt, maybe they’re in hospital, there’s never any reception in hospitals??)

Drink and laugh at myself with Rich, obviously they’re just playing and not seen message!

(17.45 “All fine, off for a walk before bathtime xx”)

Hahaha, of course all is fine, I knew that, wasn’t worried at all!

Dinner continued without concern, plenty of bogof cocktails lubricating our systems and making us those charismatic, charming, hilarious people we used to be pre baby. It was amazing to concentrate on one another and not be bouncing a little person or loosing our train of thought mid sentence when one or other of us started agoooing at Ted but it was also strange!

(18.25 “sending goodnight kisses to the little guy xx”)

Our afternoon/evening was punctuated with thoughts of what Ted would normally be up to and we wondered if he was doing ok (he was), if he missed us (probably not) and if he settled like normal (he did).

(19.20 “Ted bathed, fed and asleep xx” 19.21″Excellent, all ok? Did he settle ok? xx”
19.22 “No problems, now leave me alone and enjoy your evening xx”)

We talked about everything and had an amazing time but our baby boy was never far from our thoughts, we chatted about the times we love at the moment, looked at pictures and marvelled at how much he’s grown already, listed our favourite things he does (who knew looking, grabbing and cooing could be assembled into a hierarchy?!) and our hopes and plans for the future. Everything was about us, the new us, the us that now has three parts. We laughed about our pre parenthood rules, we made no apologies for our deviations though.

My pregnant self was terrified of missing out on the things that made me happy but the things that make me happy now are just different. Happiness is baby grins at 5am, making me feel more loved than I ever thought possible,  it’s watching Rich throw Ted into the air and hearing him squeal with delight, his eyes willing Daddy to do it again, it’s sitting on the floor watching the little guy try with all his might to pull the bee off of his play mat, teetering on the brink of rolling as he wrestles with it. Missing out isn’t an issue now, feeling so content at home means I never really feel I’m missing out because everything I need is here…

Except right now it’s not, it’s having a sleepover at Nanna and Grandad’s…it’s 2am,  candles, wine and seduction are all over and I have no bubba to spy on – I miss him, even though he’ll be fast asleep now, it’s a weird feeling and I can’t wait to collect him already (is it ok to call and ask to listen to him snuffle? No?…OK!)

What a year!

Today is my birthday and therefore a natural point of reflection…a year is a relatively long time so it’s only natural that life alters somewhat between one birthday and another, however this year more than any previous, has seen my life change in a monumental way.

Just 12 months ago I was waking up hungover, in my little flat as a Miss, having just celebrated my 30th birthday to excess over the previous two weeks, in London, Paris and at home with my amazing fiancé, family and friends. We drank copious amounts of bubbles, laughed, danced and sang… little did we know, in the midst of said celebrations we also made a baby!!

Watching my gorgeous 14 week old bundle of giggles, kick and grab under his playmat this morning it seems impossible that this time last year he was an unknown dot inside me, ready to turn our world on its head!

Fast forward to now, I was woken at 5.30am by Ted in our new family home, now a wife and Mummy and I honestly wouldn’t change a thing (ok, well maybe a post Vegas conception if we had a magic lamp!)…Our little guy was so worth the tears and hormones, he was worth my wedding dress being slightly too tight and he was well worth a sober Route 66 honeymoon!

When I sat drinking my coffee this time last year, I probably pictured us in some exotic, exciting location celebrating today but life surprises you and there’s nowhere on earth I’d choose to be right now other than with my boys on my special day – everything happens for a reason, I trust in my path and am enjoying the journey!