Nothing beats a bit of father/son quality time doing arts and crafts. Actually impressed with what they created!
#SnapHappyBritMums Day 2 ‘Nature’
Wedding Series: A Big Surprise
With my hen party exactly a week away I’ve been getting more and more excited. However, the more excited I get the more sad I feel about those who can’t make it. One person in particular being my sister in law to be, my best friend and my bridesmaid Alice, who has been living in Australia for 2 years and is coming home after the hen party.
Well, that was until a couple of hours ago when I had the surprise of my life!
Like most weekends we arranged to go to Joes parents for dinner and stay the night with Little Lamb. Around 10 minutes after arriving Alice Skyped us ‘from Australia’. We spent five minutes comparing our teeth (we are both having Invisalign treatment) and then suddenly she said “say hi to my friend.” At which point my husband to be appeared on the screen and said “g’day mate!”.
My face dropped. How was Joe with Alice?! I ran around the house shouting “where is she?!”. We met on the stairs, I was in tears, her knees shaking.
My family and friends had pulled off the biggest surprise of my life, have worked hard to make my hen party the best it can be and have made me a very, very happy bride to be… And I haven’t even had my hen party yet!
Well girls, you’ve set the bar high… 😉
Alex x
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Thinking about baby number 2
A question that goes through most parents minds is “when should we try for another?” Well, it certainly goes through my mind. Lamb is 18 months and by now a lot of new mums are pregnant with their second baby, or may already have a second child. Not us. We are really scared about having another. Not because we don’t enjoy being parents, not because we don’t love having Lamb, but because of the financial implications, and the time needed to raise 2 children.
Since Jaxson came along we have completely exhausted our savings. There’s nothing left. Nothing. I work part time, and Joe works nights. I’m not going to lie, we struggle. But who doesn’t? Joe earns a decent wage. He covers the mortgage and the bills. I cover everything from groceries to clothes and nappies for Lamb, but we still have little money left at the end of the month, certainly nothing to save. So what will we use when I’m on maternity leave again? This scares me.
We live in a small(ish) 2 bed semi, so we certainly don’t have the bedroom space for another. This is a key factor for us when deciding on baby number 2. We want to be settled in a home we know is big enough for our whole family (whenever we decided to expand it). Ideally I would like a 4 bedroom house. But now I’m working part-time, I’m not sure we will get a big enough mortgage. So our second option is extending. We have to space to extend, but do we really want to live on a building site with a toddler? Ugh.
A second baby is definitely in our future, we are just not sure how soon. I always said I would try when my first is around 2 years old, but parenting has hit me harder than I thought it would, making my decision to have another a bit scary.
Lamb is amazing. He’s so funny and caring, he’s shy but polite and comes out of his shell eventually. But he can be quite difficult. He doesn’t eat. He’s a huge fussy eater, and now he won’t sleep. This has thrown a spanner in the works. The thought of having a newborn up late, plus a toddler refusing to go to bed put shivers down my spine. I want to give Jaxson my full attention, and crack down on his eating and sleeping, before he has to share me with a younger sibling. He deserves that.
However, with all that said, Joe and I both had the “let’s try for another” thought yesterday. Separately. Which shows we are on the same page.
We have both agreed we don’t want to leave it too long before trying. We want Jaxson to be young enough to bond with his sibling and be able to eventually share the same things.
If you have read my previous blog posts, you will know I’m getting married in December. This gives us a couple of months free of “baby no.2.” Basically, no thinking about when to start trying can happen until next year (I have a very tight dress to fit into!)
After the wedding we can sit down and really think about the pros and cons to trying for another baby. When the right time is for us, although is there really a right time to try?
Are we going to look at moving into a bigger house early next year? This would make me feel more comfortable about trying for another baby.
Or, by next year will Lambs fussy eating have improved, and will he be sleeping in his own room again?
Personally, I feel one of these should happen before we have another baby.
I’d love to know your thoughts on trying for another baby. Did you sit and think things through like me? Or was it something that just came naturally at the right time?
Alex x
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Lamb’s first trip to London
This week we took Lamb to London for the first time. I know, you’re probably thinking i’m mad, but it really wasn’t that bad. I did a little research before going. Kerry over at Oh So Amelia has a couple of useful posts on trips to London, and these really put my mind to rest about the trip.
We decided to drive to Blackhorse Road tube station and park (which only costs £5 for the whole day!) Living in Essex gives me the option of either driving, or getting a train, both taking around 1 hour, so we have really easy access to the capital.
We left around 8:15am which didn’t feel too early at all. Little Lamb even managed a little nap in the car, which meant he wouldn’t be grizzly when we arrived. Phew.
Lambs first time on a tube was perfect. He wasn’t scared at all. We really thought the noises might freak him out a bit, but all he did was wave as the tubes left the platform! So cute!
The reason for going to London wasn’t for a day out, we were actually heading to the Passport Office to fast track Jaxson’s first passport! But decided to make a day of it and have a family day out. While we were waiting for our appointment we let Jaxson run around in Grosvenor Gardens, which he loved. Although, he has no sense of personal space and decided to run around all the people napping in the park. I still can’t believe he didn’t wake anyone up!
My first tip would be to make sure you have plenty of snacks and drinks with you. We had around an hour to wait for our appointment, plus while Joe was at the Passport Office, Jax and I had to wait around as only one person could be in the meeting. We took with us Organix Oaty Bars
While we were waiting for Daddy, I found the time to do a little shopping! Bliss!
For lunch we only had one place in mind. The Hard Rock Cafe! Joe and I have a tradition of eating there whenever we are in a city with one, anywhere in the world. So far we have been to London (a handful of times), New York (twice), Phuket, Barcelona, and Gran Canaria. Not that many but we are aiming to tick a few more off the list! We were so excited to take Jaxson there for the first time, especially as he’s recently got into dancing when he hears music!
After lunch we headed over to Hyde Park (opposite The Hard Rock Cafe), to let Lamb run around some more. We had a lovely walk in the sunshine and took some lovely photographs of our afternoon. We thought about taking him to the aquarium, or the zoo, but we didn’t need to. He was more than happy playing in the park, and didn’t need dragging around on the tubes anymore (plus mummy and daddy were exhausted by this point!)
We didn’t take many toys with us to keep Lamb occupied. We knew one of us would be carrying Jaxson, and the other would carry the pram on the tubes, so took as little as possible. Luckily we have an amazing buggy which folds really easy. The Baby Jogger City Mini
Overall, we had an amazing time in London. Jaxson was really well behaved (apart from the times when he refused to hold our hand when walking around). He didn’t fuss on the tubes, in the restaurant, or most importantly while I was shopping! I just wish we had more time to take him to some of the bigger attractions, like the London Eye, or The Natural History Museum. But as our trip was so successful, I know we can start taking him more regularly.
Have you taken your little one to London? I’d love to hear about our family days out.
Alex xx
