International Women's Day | THE FUTURE IS FEMALE
Don’t underestimate the power of listening instead of talking. Don’t expect women to stop fighting to level the playing field - we deserve the world and more.
Read MoreNew Year Resolutions + Goals | 2019
It seems to be quite an unpopular idea this year to make new year resolutions.. I’ve noticed a lot of posts floating around social media about bucking the trend for putting any pressure on yourself just because it’s a new year (which I do understand), but I’ve always been a fan of pausing a little at the beginning of the year and setting myself a few targets to set things off in the right way.
Read MoreI turned 30, and it wasn't scary at all..
I’ll admit, I didn’t fully know how I felt about turning 30.. it felt a bit odd in the months beforehand to have this ‘thing’ hanging over me, but when it happened I sailed through and it turned out not to be a ‘thing’ at all. I do miss a little being ‘in my 20s’ but I had nothing huge that I’d hoped for by the time I was 30 that hadn’t actually happened. After I had Vivienne, age 20, I made a little scrapbook of everything I wanted to do before I turned thirty. In it was little things like “go camping” and ”go skiing” (“go skinny dipping was also apparently important to add to my bucket list in my early 20s..), trips like “visit Las Vegas” and bigger things like “buy a house”.. I wasn’t working to the list but somehow pretty much all of it happened?!
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BLOWING KISSES AND HITTING HER SISTER | THE BEGINNING OF THE TODDLER YEARS
Well, Sylvie is definitely not a baby any more. 'Spirited' would be one way of putting it.. 'a loveable little terror' would be another. She refuses to walk, but I'm declaring her a 'toddler'. The baby stage is well and truly over.
She seems to be learning so much so quickly at the moment; everything from trying to copy words that we say, to make-believe playing, to really understanding a few commands, like 'pass me that' or 'take your dummy out'. She has a baby doll which was once Vivienne's which she's taken a particular shining to, trying to feed it and put a nappy on it.. and watching her 'role-playing' is so wonderful. She's gentle with it and cuddles it.. In these moments you'd think she was a considered and kind little thing through and through..
Obviously the toddler years bring frustration and fury for them too as they try to make sense of the world.. she is head-strong, loud.. (I was going to type 'unreasonable' but *obviously*.. she's only 16 months old) Vivienne, hand on heart, was so placid in comparison, whereas Sylvie is not afraid to really make her voice heard.
We are so lucky that Vivienne is so patient as we make our way through this stage of giving kisses, cuddling, then hair pulling, hitting and pinching (those baby pinches really bloody hurt..). It's hard to start introducing discipline when I know she doesn't mean to hurt, or even really know what she's doing. Anyway, we're muddling through this ever-changing day-to-day life with our headstrong little girl.
The blog, recently, has been very heavy with things from mine and Vivienne's Interrail trip, so I thought I would also include a little Sylvie update, for this wonderful but often tiring stage we're currently at. All the little things she does and watching her learn honestly makes up for when she's screaming and attracting attention during 'the big shop'. Sylvie saying 'Mama' and putting her hands up for a cuddle makes all the difficult little moments melt away...
Sylvie at 16 months
Says the words 'Dad', 'Daddy', 'Mum', 'Wav' (for Viv!), "Yessss", "Cock" (for 'look', we hope..) and also, due to her Dad being a huge Boro fan ' Up Bo-o' for 'Up The Boro'.
Eats well on her own; she loves omelettes, lasagne, pasta, cottage pie, fish, vegetables, yoghurt, fruit pouches and chocolate (we're still working on the Easter chocolate!)
Role-plays with her baby doll, giving it her dummy, putting it down to sleep, trying to dress it and change it's nappy.. She tries to draw with a pen (yesterday it was all over the couch), and loves her wooden garage and cars that she got for her birthday.
Has walked four/five steps max, has taken plenty of one/two steps but 99% of the time powers around the house by crawling. She can scale a flight of stairs so quickly.. but no rush to get up on two feet.
Loves playing peek-a-boo behind clothing/sheets, and will hide then surprise you. She loves the swings and the slide, and when you pretend to chase her from room to room.
She's still constantly looking for Vivienne - she follows her around the house and will ask "Wav?" when she's at school.
Dances and shakes her head to music, and loves when we join in.
Also, I can't not mention her hair. Vivienne had hardly any hair until she was two and a half, and it was so curly. Sylvie has a mop of hair that means that she looks like a mix of Ed Sheeran and Boris Johnson if we don't tie it up.. So funny, but we still don't know what to do about it apart from making her look like Pebbles from The Flintstones!
Sleeps well most of the time, she's currently getting back molars in which is loads of fun - full screaming in the middle of the night, but hopefully we'll be out the other side soon.
Loves the bath and loves swimming. Water baby.
EMBRACING WINTER + TAKING IT SLOWLY
I began writing this post back at the end of January, but with the snow and the freezing cold temperatures sticking around it all still applies!
Instead of new year's resolutions and 'New year! New me!' everywhere as soon as the January hit, we sort of.. ignored it. And took 2018 at our own pace. I worked two weddings between Christmas and New Year, Sylvie's birthday was on the 2nd January, we needed to disassemble Christmas in the house, I had weddings to get out and into the post.. the 2018 'New Year' feeling skipped us all at this end; we were busy and then it went quiet.
January dragged and dragged (hurry up, Spring, and bring us some sunshine..) and we were ill in our house, one after the other. It was like a relay race of feeling shit and being unable to move off the couch. I'm rarely ill and it was so bloody frustrating to not be able to function properly (also, no-one pays you when you're self employed and can't work. But this is a rant for another time..) It went on for three, then four, then five weeks, and suddenly we were powering through February and here we are in March, wondering where the time went.
On the flip side, it's been so beautiful and I've absolutely loved the snow. I didn't get bored of it - for the record (for my future self) we had thick, thick snow that lay heavy and fast and it was the stuff that childhood dreams are made of. I'm going to throw all my glorious snow-day photos in a separate post; in short, it was magical.
Anyway, new year, same me. This was the year my baby turned one, and the year I turn 30 (yikes). We have travels booked and started looking for adventures to be had. I eventually made some last half-hearted resolutions (lovely, easy ones, like "take your make up off before bed for god-sakes you're getting too old to be lazy about this stuff. While we're here start moisturising and stuff.") and I got the ball rolling with work and marketing and a ton of other interesting things like that.
And you know what? Easing into a year with no expectations and "this is the year I....." has been lovely. 2018 may be the year I care less and do more. Maybe it's because I'm approaching 30 and maybe because I've run out of fucks to give.. but next new year - start slowly and stay in bed while it's cold. Eat well, take your make up off before bed, and start the year properly a few weeks or months down the line..
Happy 2018. The year of enjoying doing less and living more.
