life lately - a few of my favourite things

A few of my favourite things:

• Lazy days in the garden with Hugo chilling in his tent, not allowing myself to worry too much about the gardening I should be doing! 
• Lazy afternoons in mums garden, thinking how amazingly beautiful it is in comparison to the conifer lined lawn when we moved in, and therefore how beautiful mine could be with a little more effort..
• Going against my sensible self and booking tickets to Bermuda to see my lovely Freya marry her childhood sweetheart, with Hugo and Adi (I'm planning a few posts about this 'have baby, will travel' - more on that to come)
• Escaping Hugo and Adi for a while on my bike around St Aidan's
• Walks in the park, smelling the roses and being a big kid on the swings
• Walks around mums village and bumping into an old school friend - I can't believe it's been ten years!
• Getting into the spirit of the Tour de France in Yorkshire with a crepe at Rivers Meet - my plans to watch it didn't come into fruition but I felt proud to live in such a beautiful county and it inspired me to get out to see more of it!
• Eating strawberries hand-picked from our plot in the corner of the garden, and meeting our resident frog
• Buying flowers to brighten up the home ready for the NCT ladies and babies coming over - I really shouldn't need such an excuse
• Giggles on demand from Hugo, be it because of a bumpy road, silly noises, fake sneezes or funny faces
• Buying a new 50mm lens from a friend so that I can make more of an effort with my photos (I'm sick of my half arsed iphone efforts)
• The loan of a jumperoo from my sister in law which has kept Hugo incredibly happy and occupied
• Seeing more of my nephew and our friends kids - it's so great to be more involved with their life!

*Meanwhile I've never seen so much poo in all my life, albeit baby poo! Hugo's tummy has been poorly, but he's still a very happy boy, apart from an out of character inconsolable crying fit for his auntie and uncle - poor them!

^^ The last two were the first with my new lens. I realise my hand isn't far enough away from the lens on the first, so the focus is wrong, but I've put it up anyway! I can instantly see how good the photos will be with some practice!

(30th June - 9th July)

discovering Yorkshire - Temple Newsam

Auntie Layla came to visit on Sunday and it was a beautiful day so we headed out to Temple Newsam. It's probably the nearest large house and grounds from us, only about a 20 minute drive either up the M1 or through some prettier back roads.

The house itself isn't really much to shout about, (it's pretty industrial as Layla said) but the grounds were beautiful. We didn't manage to explore it all as pushing a pram in the sun is surprisingly hard work, but what we did see was plenty.

We parked (for free which was a bonus) in a shaded area by the lake, ideal for keeping the car cool on a really hot day. Although there was a map, it wasn't very clear so we wandered along the lake in the direction of the house. The most amazing walkway of blossom was in full bloom, with spring colours to the right and autumnal colours to the left (I only captured the spring colours) below.

To save money we had a sandwich from home (can't quite call it a picnic as it was a little pathetic) but we headed to the cafe for something sweet. It's in a lovely courtyard area next to the house which also has a gift shop and plants for sale.

On our walk we passed tree lined gardens, a walled garden, rolling hills of open grass and lots of secluded spaces but there's plenty more to explore next time - even a farm for Hugo to meet the animals when he's a little older!

Considering it was a really hot day it wasn't a problem to park and the grounds didn't feel overcrowded. The only downside of the day was noticing a huge area full of litter on the grass that a group had obviously left behind. A couple of girls had started to clear up and we joined in. It's so frustrating that people would ruin such a beautiful spot for others. Especially somewhere that is free for everyone to enjoy. Hopefully some people saw our combined cleaning up effort and will pass on a good deed.

It was so good to wander around somewhere new and put the world to rights. I'm lucky to have such a spot right on my doorstep. As we were chatting non-stop I didn't take many photos. I really want to start taking more but it's always the way, the more fun you're having the less chance to capture it!

life lately - frustrations, family and friends

When you don't work, weekends and bank holidays don't really matter, the days and weeks just roll into each other. Especially with a husband who works shifts across evenings, weekends and bank holidays. Last week was the first of the two May bank holidays and as Easter was so late this year it's come around fast. 

This bank holiday Monday was possibly the first day that I felt like a proper adult. Forget turning 18, 21, getting married, buying a house or having a baby. This bank holiday wasn't spent nursing a hangover, instead we did a skip run, (the final that we've needed to do since the move, relief!) had the car washed and invited the in-laws over. Adi's mum made a start weeding the garden which in turn got me off my arse and it felt so good to get back to home improvements. The stereotypical bank holiday for a family involves either DIY or a trip to the seaside, so achieving one of these things for some reason made me feel like we'd finally made it! 

I didn't have many plans for the week and thought I'd be on a roll with the garden, but the weather nosedived. Instead I stayed in for two days for the delivery of the wrong cotbed thanks to Argos. So next week I'll have another housebound day when they swap it - joy.

Perhaps I was easily frustrated because of Argos's incompetence, or maybe shopping with a baby, in the rain, is just stressful, but I ended up making two trips to White Rose in order to look half decent for Friday's wedding. I sorted my outfit in the end, opting to recycle an old dress that keeps ripping at the seam with a quick stitch-up and instead spending on heels and a jacket that I can wear again. I also had a couple of sneaky purchases while I was out. I can't keep wearing my beloved maternity jeans as the lack of bump doesn't hold them up, so I needed a bit of a wardrobe revival. I truly will miss my maternity jeans though and am considering a similar design for non-pregnant women, as they hide the muffin top in a way that no other jeans I've found do! Watch this space..  

The week was finished off with a wonderful wedding of one of Adi's school friends and his now wife who I'm happy to call a friend too. Despite missing Hugo more than I ever thought possible, it was a great day. As an atheist I don't usually enjoy church ceremony's, but I really liked the vicars words as they felt more about the couple rather than God. We then enjoyed a magical mystery tour to the reception venue 'Holdsworth House', along minor roads and through a private estate as the roads were gridlocked due to an accident. Thankfully it didn't delay everyone getting to the venue. Each of the speeches were particularly good, but the highlight of the day had to be the best men's speech. They created a video in the style of a news report to dish the dirt on the groom (of which there was plenty), with appearances from all of his friends and family, complete with an introduction from an itv news presenter!

We spent the weekend down in Nottingham for my brother-in-laws birthday bbq. We ended up staying at my parents so they could spend more time with Hugo and had a dossy day at theirs on Sunday before heading for tea at Adi's parents.

I love weekends of family and friends but I can already see how it's going to be difficult to fit everything and everyone in!

(w/c 5th May 2014)