Playground

Today we visited the playground for the first time. It was a beautiful Spring morning, slightly chilly but a gorgeous blue sky, a few wispy white clouds and bright sunshine. C-bear immediately fell asleep, so we walked around the lake and had lunch at the park cafe. After his nap we went to the playground and let C try out the roundabout, swings and climbable dinosaur. His favourite was the dino!

Toy box

Reading again

OK, time to get some book reviews back into this blog. Since returning to work I've been reading like crazy! Lots of proof copies were waiting for me and with my 3 train commute I'm getting through them fast! Here are some thoughts on what I've read in the past month.

When God Was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman

Quirky fiction about a brother and sister growing up in the 70s. Following their slightly crazy family as they move from the suburbs to Cornwall and then when they are grown up as world events hit them hard. I loved the easy to read writing style and some of the characters were fantastic - Jenny Penny in particular.

22 Britannia Road by Amanda Hodgkinson

A book that fits easily into wartime fiction. This looks at a Polish couple and their baby who are separated by the war and try to put their lives together again by moving to Britain. The 'twist' was pretty obvious, but a real easy read and you just wanted to find out exactly what happened in the woods.

Gillespie and I by Kate Harris

I loved loved loved this book, definitely the best I've read in a long long time. Dark and humorous, this brings to live 19th century Glasgow as seen though the eyes of English Harriet. I loved the fact that you're never sure whether to trust the narrator or not, some things just don't add up and when she's charged with murder... well you'd better read the book!

The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe
Again, another fantastic read. This was actually written by Rona in the 1958 and follows 4 girls working for a New York publisher. The 50s are brought to life and you really connect with the girls - sometimes I wanted to shout 'what are you doing' as they have to follow the conventions of the time. But I thoroughly recommend!

Friday again

Gosh this week has flown by. Work is really busy, it feels like I've never been away. Charlie is still not sleeping through the nights, he wakes up 3 or 4 times. But I seem to be coping with the lack of sleep, I even got to go out to an author event on Tuesday - stimulating conversation, 3 course French meal and wine - it was lovely. Came home to my two boys who had coped through the evening without me.

Friday Blanks

It's Friday and time to fill in the blanks. Thanks Lauren at The Little Things We Do for some great questions!

1. I am a Mummy, a fiance, a working girl, a 30-something, a Londoner, a friend, a sister, a cousin, a booklover.

2. The bravest thing I've ever done was give birth with only gas and air.
3. I feel prettiest when I am laughing with my baby.
4. Something that keeps me awake at night is night-time worries - bills, work deadlines, etc.
5. My favorite meal in the entire world is vegetarian lasagne and chips.
6. The way to my heart is through quality time and nice surprises.
7. I would like to sign up for a pilates class, there's one I've been looking at, I just need to make a decision on whether I have enough me-time and money to go.

Mama

Charlie called me Mama for the first time yesterday! He's been able to say mumumumum for a while, but has never used it to name me. Yesterday evening he called me it twice! I was so excited, it's the best feeling in the world.

Bucket baby!

This is currently the wallpaper on my work PC, I love the questioning look in his eye 'Mummy why are you taking yet another photo of me?'

A month back at work

So I haven't posted for a while, why? Maternity leave has ended and I'm back at work. I can't believe a month, a whole month has passed by and I've been too busy to notice. I love being back at work, it's so normal after the whole brand new adventure of mummyhood, don't get me wrong, if I could I'd drop it all and become a stay-at-home Mum, but it's nice to know exactly what I'm doing again!

My commute is a nightmare, a min of an hour and a half and 3 trains, but it does mean I can read again, I've read 4 yes 4 whole novels in the last 4 weeks - yay. I'm working flexi hours, which means 2 days a week leaving the house at 6am to leave work in time to collect C-bear before 6pm (we get fined £1 a min for every min we're late after 6pm). Then 2 days a week taking C to nursery so working late to make up the time missed in the morning. I do have Friday's off which is amazing. I love my Friday Mummy and Charlie time, it's wonderful.

Charlie has developed sooo much in the past month, he's now 9 months old and is learning so much. He can crawl and is really nippy, he's also learning to stand and will take steps holding onto my hands or the Vtech baby walker. We've babyproofed the flat, the TV is now on the wall, we have more shelves and everything dangerous is off the floor.

So work is fun, being with the baby is fun, commutes are not and neither's working late. I'm learning to be super organised. All in all a v busy month but we're all settling into our new routine and looking forward to the next few months.