VIVIENNE IS TURNING 8

Oh Vivienne, how are you going to be eight years old tomorrow? It feels like a few months ago that you were two or three and as cute as a button, chatting away and you were the age that we could pop out for the day together for ice creams and hot chocolates.. I can't believe it's been a whole eight years since those difficult days bringing you into the world. So much has happened and changed since 2009 in our little family and you've been there all the way through.

Now you're a wonderful 'middle aged' child (your words!); full of beans, stubborn, beautiful.. you love your friends, tennis, reading books, writing stories (you tell everyone you're going to be an author and illustrator when you're older).. you're outdoorsy and love nothing more than mucking about outside, cartwheeling, and wearing full activewear. Wherever we go you want to wear leggings, t-shirts, hoodie and a cap - we call this look 'Sporty Viv'. You say you feel most comfortable wearing 'tomboy' clothes - we seem to be constantly buying you leggings and throwing holed, worn out pairs away! You're amazing on your bike and flicker and we love going on bike rides, especially in the Autumn when we go conker hunting. You're a great little swimmer and love taking Sylvie to the baths now too. You love to bake (inspired when GBBO was on the TV) and I can now more or less leave you to it in the kitchen and wait and see what you come up with. You're such a kind girl, generous and often we think you're so wise in your own way. 

It's been absolutely wonderful to watch you blossom and turn into the most amazing big sister. I don't know how we'd do it without you. You're an amazing help and you're so caring, patient and loving with Sylvie. She adores you - no-one makes her laugh like you do. You change nappies, get her ready, entertain her, give her the best cuddles - you're wonderful with her and she's so lucky to have you.

Me and your Dad are so, so proud of you. I can't wait to see what this next year brings. 

PLANNING THE SUMMER HOLIDAYS

This post should probably be called "Childcare and help in the holidays is an absolute godsend". 

I don't like to get all moany because I really do love working for myself but *bloody hell* it's difficult being a seasonal worker when the Summer holidays hit. I absolutely love spending special days with Viv (and now Sylvie too) when school's out but this year I've had to really give in to the fact that I'll need proper and arranged-in-advance help with the girls so I can work too. It's so true that parenting often feels like doing a million things at once and doing none of those things particularly well. This year I wanted to manage my time working quite strictly so that on days off with the girls I can 100% be present and do some memorable holiday things.

One thing we decided to book in was Deershed festival. I made an active decision to keep that weekend free so we could have at last one family weekend together in the holidays. I also forced myself to be less proud and "I can do it all myself" and accept very kind offers of childcare from my mother in law and my mum. The diary is chocka with dots for dates with who has the girls which days, days I'm working at weddings and I've made sure there are a few blank days too (*and* a few things for Dav and I to do as a couple.. hello, The Libertines 💛).

I asked Vivienne to make a list of holiday things for us to tick off over the next few weeks and the activities she wants to do are such lovely simple things that make me so glad that we can take time to do things a little slower. The list includes things like going to the park, doing a reading challenge through the local library, making slime (don't ask.. it's some kid craze I think..), going swimming, going for ice cream and making YouTube videos. 

When we've had help with the girls they've been getting up to some lovely things too; as much as I'd love to be there for them every day I do feel that this planning this year is giving both of them a really full and exciting few weeks of being off. So far they've spent lots of time with cousins, been baking and making dens, planning tree houses and Vivienne's had a mini party for her cousins ahead of her birthday on Monday.  

From my point of view I'm getting so much done in these work windows that it's taken a huge weight off my shoulders. Everything still feels stressful but I can't imagine what it would be like without the support around us these holidays. It really does take a village to raise a child.   

SUMMER'S HERE + WE LOVE THE LAKES

Oh the Lake District is just heaven isn't it? I realised about a week or so before that I had a full free weekend after a Thursday wedding and suggested we four went to my Grandma's caravan in the Lakes for the weekend to do a whole lot of not very much. The sun shone and it was just bliss. On the first day we took a few hours' walk (Viv did pretty well and baby was in the carrier) and then got the boat back across the other half of Derwentwater, went for food, played Boggle, put the kids to bed, drank wine.. On the second day we went a bit further, ate more food.. sunbathed on the grass.. 

Viv's old enough now that we feel comfortable with her playing at the top of the hill at the play area and she just came back to 'check in' every so often. I remember playing in the same places, paddling in the same rivers and exploring the same patches of woodland so it's really special to see her enjoying the simpler things and not just asking to watch things on YouTube.. I definitely hope to get back for a simple trip away before the weather gets colder again this year. Summer feels close enough that we can just about touch it..

11 WEEKS | FAMILY SHOOT

My lovely photographer friend Hannah put a family shoot offer up a few weeks ago and I jumped at the chance to have her come and visit and take some pictures now we are a family of four. We wanted some beautiful but *normal* pictures of us all at home, doing what we do naturally in our own setting. Here are some absolutely favourites.. I've just spent so long planning which ones to print too <3

All photos taken by and copyright of Camera Hannah.

36 WEEKS | LAST CHRISTMAS

We were pretty keen to have a really quiet and special last Christmas just as the three of us. We deliberately did't 'book' lots of things in and kept lots of days free to spend at home. Vivienne and I spent lots of days in bed eating chocolate and watching Netflix (turns out she loves Outnumbered so we powered through the episodes in our PJs pretty quickly), and did lots of walking, baking and popping out for lunch here and there too.

Baby bump is pretty big now, and I'm feeling tired but not exhausted, and still feel I can function pretty normally. The only downside is not having much room to eat the amazing Christmas food on offer. On Christmas Day I couldn't manage a big plateful, as much as I wanted to, but I'm sure I'll make up for it in January when Baby is here. I'm also not missing drinking as much as I thought I would over Christmas.

What I did feel pang of longing for, though, was a proper Christmas night out. Usually there's a night where people head out in the freezing cold and go out between Christmas and New Year and go dancing but I guess it'll all just have to wait. I did manage to see a band at the Empire a few days before Christmas day - standing in a nightclub where David and I met at 8 months pregnant wasn't how I expected the year to end!