{The Ordinary Moments #19} Fun with the family

Yesterday we visited my sister and brother in law at their caravan with my in-law's. We had been looking forward to it all week, but in true British style, the weather took a turn for the worst and it was pouring down on the way. Not to be deterred by the weather, we decided we would still go and make the most of it... and I'm so glad we did. We had such a lovely few hours.

For once, all the kids played nicely - usually Alfie is the one being dramatic or throwing a tantrum as three year old's do, but yesterday he was in a great mood and so well behaved. When we arrived, it had just started to rain, so we stayed in the caravan for a drink and lunch in hope that it'd stop raining. Thankfully, it did, so we headed out to Morcambe. As soon as we got there, Alfie was insistent that he was going on the beach! It's such a shame that the weather was so bad because the beach was lovely. We let Alfie and Jack run along it for a few minutes, which seemed to pacify Alfie.

Next up, we stopped off at the arcade's. It's Alfie's first time in one and he absolutely loved it. There's just something about sitting there putting 2p after 2p in a machine and watching with excitement to see if you are going to win anything. It doesn't even matter that you might spend £3 worth of coppers just to get a drop of 10p - it's just such a thrill of winning. Even the adults joined in (Michael especially loved it) and all three kids won a prize. We were only there about 20 minutes but it was such fun.

After we'd spent all our money on the slot machines, we had a walk to the most lovely little cafe where my Mother in law used to go when she was a child. It's called Brucciani's and has been there since 1939. It was really lovely for my MIL to go somewhere with her own kids and grand-kids that she's got such fond memories of from her own childhood. The ice cream was absolutely gorgeous!

Sadly, after we'd left there, the weather had taken a turn for the worst and in true British style, a lot of us were dressed for Summer in shorts and t-shirts and sandals and the umbrella's we had weren't really cutting it, so we headed back to the car!

My MIL in law very kindly gave us some money for Alfie, so we bought him the England hoody in the picture below. I'd seen it on the Aldi website a couple of weeks ago and when we arrived yesterday, Jack had on one and I think it looks fab and it's such good quality, so on the way back to the caravan, we stopped off at Aldi to pick one up for Alfie.  I think they look so cute in their matching hoodie's! The kids played so well together for the first time in a long time - usually, one of them has got in on them and it's usually Alfie, but I think the excitement of being in the caravan helped him behave all day, which made for such a great day.

It did dry up a little bit and Alfie and Holly played on the field in front of the caravan. I don't think there is anything better than listening to the joy of kids playing. I watched them for ages! When they all play nicely together, it's so lovely to watch. They're a real little gang. Alfie is probably closer to Holly as there is only 3 years in them, whereas there's  7 years between him and Alfie. However, Jack really does look after Alfie and I often see him being quite protective over him. It makes me feel so proud that Alfie is growing up with such lovely cousins.

I'm looking forward to hopefully having lots more adventures over the Summer with these 3!

* Linking up with Katie at Mummy Daddy and me makes three for The Ordinary Moments

Me and Mine - May 2016

WOW!

What a month May has been - definitely our busiest month of the year so far as we just had so much planned for my 30th Birthday!!

I have been counting down to this month all year as not only was it my birthday, but we had a whole 10 days off together, which included a weekend away. Despite us having so much family time, we've rarely taken any pictures together. It very much depends on Alfie's mood and how much I can bribe him to have a picture ;)

We went away the weekend before my birthday for 3 days and night and the only family picture we got was one right before Alfie's bedtime one night, whilst he was having supper. I really just wanted to be in the moment whilst we were away and not constantly thinking about the next photo, or having to persuade the boys to have a family picture taken. We had a totally chilled out time and it was much needed relaxation time!

On the way home from our weekend away, we drove past so, so many yellow fields, but Michael could never find anywhere to stop... Until we finally found one with a lay by next to it. He pulled over and we all jumped out, only for me to realise there was nowhere for me to set my mini tripod up and we'd actually have to stand on nettles to be in front of the field. The finished result is such an epic fail - but it made me laugh! I ended up standing on a nettle, so couldn't go back to re-do it as my foot was so sore and Alfie was getting restless! Oops!

I had an absolutely amazing time celebrating my birthday - we went out for afternoon tea and a meal on the day, had a spa day, a family meal with my auntie's and uncle's and a family party at home to end the week. 

So I'm going to share some pictures of my extended family because this crazy bunch are my family and I love them all to bits! 

My fabulous in - law's! 

All the ladies at the party - sister in law and niece, Sister and Mum, Mother in law, my best friend and my cousin

I also went out for a family meal with my side of the family and we had such a fantastic night!

Me, my cousin and my three great Auntie's 

My auntie, my nan, three great aunties and my cousin

With my grandparents 

All my fab family who came to my birthday meal - Three lots of great auntie's and uncles, my grandparents, my auntie and uncle, three cousins and my cousins boyfriend 

With all the auntie's and uncles

With my gorgeous cousins 

This evening, I took some last minute ones of the three of us in the garden and I actually love them! 

Overally, May has been a faboulous month and I have loved being able to spend time with my extended family - I can't remember the last time we were all together, so I will really treasure these photo's. 

June - we are ready for you! 

10 Weeks Pregnant - Baby Number 2.

Due Date: 

Still 01 November 2016

Symptoms:

To be honest, this week hasn't been too bad. On Monday, I was sick before work and I felt pretty rubbish all day, well in to the evening. Alfie had been poorly with a cough and cold and had been up quite a lot in the night and ended up in our bed, so I was extremely tired, which I think made the sickness worse.

I'm still feeling really tired and I'm totally off food still, but I'm just relieved not to have suffered too badly with sickness this week and having a few days with no sickness has been a welcome break.

How is baby?

The baby's heart is now fully formed and it's heart will be beating two or three times faster than mine. The jaw is also starting to form, with all the milk teeth, which we won't start to see until around 6 months old. Fingers and toes are no longer webbed and the baby can move it's arms from the wrist and will be able to make little jerky movements. Amazing.


How I'm feeling?

Honestly? Not great. I remember reading a post by my lovely blogging friend Charlotte, before I was pregnant, where she talks about how grateful she is to be pregnant, but how hard she's finding it (you can read the post here) and I can totally relate to how she was feeling.

Pregnancy is the most wonderful thing in the world. To grow your baby inside of you for nine months and have this unbreakable bond with someone you haven't even met, well, it's just incredible. That's not to say it's not hard though. I've found this time round so much more difficult. I don't know if it's because I'm older, because I have a three year old to look after whilst I'm not feeling my best, or if it's just been a more difficult pregnancy, but I'm finding it hard. So much harder than I thought I would. I'm consumed by guilt at the moment. I'm not spending enough quality time with Alfie, I'm not able to pick him up when he asks. I'm very aware of lifting heavy things in these early weeks and sadly that also means Alfie too. On the whole, he's understood in his own little way, but it's also meant that Michael has also been picking up a lot of the slack whilst I've not felt up to it.

I feel like I'm failing at being a wife as well as a Mummy. I see the pressure Michael is under - he's working all week, sometimes driving four hours a day if he's working at the other site, he's then coming home and taking over with Alfie straight away, which includes making tea for them both and sometimes me too, he's also doing the bed time routine, which he's always done, but after getting in and having to make tea, it's meant he's not been sitting down till 9pm some nights, from 7am in the morning. I feel like I've neglected him and it has caused tears on occasions  (mine not his, I might add).

I'm incredibly lucky that he's been so understanding and has never once moaned or complained about having to do so much around the house and with Alfie, or the fact that his tea isn't on the table when he gets in after a long day. I'm so blessed to have him by my side supporting me through this journey.

Hopefully it won't be long until I'm over the sickness / tiredness and I can start to enjoy this pregnancy.

I also had my second midwife appointment this week, but there's nothing really to report as I was only in there about five minutes whilst she did a quick blood test. I get the results back at my scan in a couple of weeks.

9 Weeks Pregnant - Baby Number 2

Due Date: 

01 November 2016

Symptoms?

I started off the week feeling pretty symptom free! I had very little sickness or heaving in a morning and didn't feel as tired. I told Michael that it was a relief not to be being sick / heaving every morning but that I didn't want to count my chickens just yet as I knew it may well return... and it did by the end of the week. On Friday, it was my day off and I had my 1st midwife appointment and I was so ill before it. It was the first time that I've been sick and had Alfie there and I felt so bad that he had to see me being sick... he kept popping his head in the bathroom asking if I was ok and telling me he would wait for me, bless him. It was quite a bad episode, but as soon as I was finished, I pretty much instantly felt better and I even managed to eat breakfast before we had to leave the house! I also started with a mild cold this week, so I feel that took it out of me a little bit, but thankfully it didn't develop into a full blown cold.


How's Baby?

The baby is approximately the size of an olive and this week will transform into the feotal period, from the embryonic period. The heart is already beating strong, but I won't feel this. The ears are starting to form and the eyelids are developed, but will remain closed until much later on.


How I'm feeling?

Excited  and exhausted! As mentioned above, I had my first midwife appointment this week and it was so lovely to have one this early. Last time, there was a mix up with my so I ended up on missing quite a few appointments, so I was relieved that this didn't happen this time. The midwife was lovely and she started all my notes, which in itself made me excited as I still have my notes from when I was pregnant with Alfie. Seeing the midwife made it feel much more real. There's nothing much to report from the midwife as that first appointment was basically just a form filling exercise. My in-laws very kindly took me to my appointment, then had Alfie for a few hours for me, so I could go home and rest. I must admit, as much as I missed him, I was really grateful that I was able to go home and rest after feeling so terrible this morning. I feel like the weeks are going quite fast but that's probably because I'm sleeping so, so much! Gone are the days where I would stay up till past midnight and beyond. I feel like I've spent the past few weeks with me head in a toilet or asleep!

One thing I haven't mentioned yet are the vivid dreams I've been having. More or less since finding out, I have been having the craziest dreams! I usually remember my dreams anyway, but my dreams lately seem all the more vivid.

I'm still not managing to eat much except boring bland food and it's getting me down a bit because I'm so desperate eat proper food, but I can't stomach it, nor have I got the energy to cook it!

{The Ordinary Moments #1} Cousins

For the last couple of years, I've been taking pictures of my little family as part of the Me & Mine project, which was created by Lucy. Without this, I wouldn't have captured two years of photo's of me and my boys every month. So when Lucy created the siblings linky, it made me really excited to have another baby so I wouldn't finally be able to join in. 

Somewhere  along the way, I decided that although I couldn't do 'sibling' pictures, I could do 'cousin' pictures. I spoke to my sister in law about it, to see if she was up for me photographing Alfie and my niece and nephew every month and at the end of the year, we would put all the pictures of the three of them together as a Christmas present for my mother and father in law. Luckily, she was really on board with it. 

When I was growing up, I was really close to all of my cousins but two in particular. Gemma is 3 months younger than me and Anthony is a year younger. I have such fond memories of the three of us all playing together and having sleep overs when we were kids. I'm still really close to them now - so much so that they were bridesmaid and usher at our wedding in 2014 and are also Alfie's godparents. 

I'm very lucky that Alfie and his two cousins also have a great relationship. Holly, at 6, is the closest in age to Alfie and Jack is the eldest of the three at 10. I feel very lucky that Alfie gets to grow up with Jack and Holly as he's got two ready made friends in them and they really are the best big cousins we could wish for. Very often, I'll see Jack putting a protective arm round Alfie if they're at soft play or playing in the garden and Holly will very often adapt to doing what Alfie wants when they're playing together. Just yesterday, we were at my in-laws and Holly was building a tower which Alfie knocked over a couple of times, (which we told him to stop doing). Rather than getting upset of falling out about it, Holly very kindly built another tower for him and made a big fuss over him when he knocked it down, as he'd wanted. It's little things that like that which make me realise what great kids they are and how much they put up with from Alfie. (He's going through a not sharing stage and finds it difficult to share his toys sometimes).

Every month last year, we managed to get together and get a picture of them. Some months were harder than others as some days one or the other didn't want their picture taking (it was usually Alfie), but overall I'm so proud that I've captured these pictures of them all for a whole year. It was wonderful to be able to frame them all for my inlaws to give to them on Christmas day. 

I'm really proud of this bunch of photo's, but more than that, I'm proud of the three great kids in them. They're growing up to be such good friends and I'm so excited to continue watching them grow and change over the next year.

I love how something as ordinary as taking a picture, can bring so much happiness to people and capture so many memories. I can't wait for them all to be older and we can look back on these pictures together. 

*linking up with Katie over at Mummy Daddy and me makes three