life lately - a silent month

I didn't mean for the last month to be such a quiet one. I put the blog on hiatus while I was concentrating on a job application and three interviews to follow. After that Hugo's been poorly and I haven't had much time or brain capacity!

Blogging is a funny thing. I'm generally an all or nothing kind of person, doing things half arsed doesn't work for me. But to blog properly takes time, and a real investment. Not just time when you think about it, but time while you're thinking about other things, in order to be able to document it.

It's a fine balance between living life and writing about it or capturing it in film or photo. 

I'm struggling to find that balance. I see and read other beautifully crafted blogs (notably my friend Freya's who inspired me to start blogging) and I really dream of having an online space like that. But it's such a commitment! 

So for now, this will have to do! Here's a dozen highlights from the last month (and I'll try not to leave it so long next time):

1. Vegan baking! I made a second attempt at vegan choc-chip banana bread and it was definitely better than my first. I considerably reduced the quantity of cinnamon, but it was still a little powerful. I then made my mums recipe chocolate chip cookies and managed to adapt them for a vegan batch. To me the vegan ones tasted awful, but they were eaten, so can't have been too bad to someone only able to eat vegan!

2. Hugo's first girly sleepover down in St Albans with the Brooke girls. It was also his first stay somewhere other than our house or his second home at my parents. Considering he was in a house full of (not the quietest) girls he was so good! Although he was amazing, I could tell he wasn't his normal self and I think the car journey was a bit too long with not enough breaks. I've realised that while I can continue to enjoy the things I enjoyed before, I do need to consider Hugo a little more and adapt for him. If only I lived closer to the girls...

3. Typically while down south I wanted to fit in as much as possible, so I headed to a friends on the Saturday to see her new house. In hindsight, turning up slightly hungover with a baby in tow wasn't the kindest to my friend, but it was great to stop by and laze about all the same!

4. Film nights with Adi. My favourites have been In Time and Wolf of Wall Street. One of Adi's favourite things to do is plan our future lottery win. I usually refrain, but I'd make damn sure I was more wise than Jordan Belfort.

5. A walk to our friends local and a leisurely Sunday lunch by the river. I think this is pretty much my ideal Sunday - light exercise, chat, good food and drink in a pretty setting. Next Sunday anyone?

6. Late night chats with Adi. We always talk the most in bed, but quite often we'll leave it too late to go to bed to have a proper chat. While he enjoyed a few days off there was less pressure for me to get a good nights sleep, so we've enjoyed chatting about all sorts. 

7. Mid-week BBQ with some of our friends, apparently a very middle class thing to do. Our farm shop does a family BBQ deal so I ended up cooking things I wouldn't have normally. I definitely need to try some fish next time.

8. Job application and interviews. Okay, this wouldn't have fit in to the good bits of the last month if it was for securing the role and getting a really good vibe from my soon to be colleagues, more of that in another post.

9. Catching up with a friend from college, although sadly not seeing her little man as it was his nap time!

10. Introducing Hugo to my friends mum and sister. Living in different countries means it isn't very often I see her, so I thought I'd at least introduce Hugo to her family. He was on good behaviour right up until we were leaving when he peed everywhere, which made us all squeal, in turn making him cry! It sort of put an abrupt end to the afternoon!

11. Hugo having naked time on his great-grandfather. I'd so have loved for it to end up the way we feared, but miraculously he was naked for about an hour and didn't pee!

12. Hugo taking a handful of my chilli while having Sunday lunch with mum, Joe and Sophie. I decided to save my white top rather than capture the moment, but it was impressive all the same.

This takes us up to the day before Hugo got ill, which should really lead to another post.

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)

life lately - fourteen loves of the last fortnight

Sometimes I just don't feel like writing and at other times I can't stop myself. I have all the time in the world at the moment, but having all that time with a baby can seem like no time at all! It's been an exhausting couple of weeks because Hugo is rolling and needs constant attention. He doesn't like being on his back, rolls to his front, doesn't like being on his front and so on. He loves to be stood or sat up, so it's a bit of an awkward transition stage while he builds his strength (and I build mine). I'm borrowing a jumperoo soon so that will hopefully be a breakthrough!

Because Adi is working quite a few weekend days and that's when most people spend time with their spouses, I've had a few days where I've felt a bit fed up. Most of the people I know up here are friends of Adi's, so it's odd trying to create a life when Adi's at work and I'm the one with the free time. I'm really trying to make more of an effort to get out of the house so that's my plan for the coming week.

Here are the best bits from the last fortnight:

1. Seeing Hugo roll over again and again and again and get very frustrated apart from the odd occasion when he rolls back
2. Watching the live screening of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'
3. A visit from my Auntie Christine who hadn't seen Hugo since he was a tiny newborn
4. Discovering the canal and it's lock in the next village to us on a walk with an NCT friend and her new baby
5. Hugo not crying during his second jabs! I had written off a good few days but he didn't react at all like he had for the first jabs
6. Surprising my mums year 10 class and walking in with a baby! (Don't blame me when there is an increase in teen pregnancies in the year group). It was good for my mum to be a proud Nanna at work and show him around
7. Seeing both my Nanna and Grandma on our trip to Nottingham
8. Taking Hugo swimming for the first time with my dad to the pool where I went growing up. He was unsure at first but loved being in his float. Then taking him swimming for the second time and daring to dunk him under! 
9. Saying a quick happy birthday to Adi's friend's daughter at her 1st birthday party. They live 10 minutes from us yet we've only seen them once since moving back up here, and we've only met Quinn twice in her first year! We must sort something out.
10. Meeting all of the babies at our NCT reunion and realising just how much Hugo has grown compared to the younger ones!
11. A walk around Nostell Priory on Adi's day off. We try to get out on his midweek days off and it was wonderful to have a national trust property all to ourselves without the weekend crowds!
12. A visit from Adi's friend Jen who I haven't seen in a good few years!
13. Putting Hugo in his bumbo seat at the dinner table with Auntie Layla and Uncle Rich and seeing him a little bemused
14. Going to the new cafe in Rothwell Park twice, just because it's in such a good location and somewhere I will frequent lots while walking with Hugo