Ok, I admit I'm not really keeping up to date with this series, and as I don't seem to post one every week at the moment maybe it should be called something else. But I can still write about what about has made me smile this week, so surely it's still fine! Life feels hectic at the moment, with work and family all keeping us super busy, and there is lots to keep me smiling this week:

• Grandad T – he is finally home! He came out of hospital last week after his stroke on Boxing Day and is doing really well. It will not be an overnight recovery, but his progress is really good, and it is lovely that he is home at last. The NHS community teams are doing lots to support him and aid his recovery, and hopefully he will gradually get stronger and back to his old self in the coming months. I took the girls to visit him yesterday, the first time Sienna has seen him since Christmas Day (as we had decided not to take her into the hospital) so that was really lovely.

• My dad's 70th birthday – it is hard to believe that my dad turned 70 on Saturday! He is brilliant and I am very lucky to have him, he has always been there for me, has come to the rescue far too many times to count and is an amazing Grandad to my kids. To celebrate we all went out for a meal on Sunday with close friends and family, 30 of us in total. Having everyone together was great, and we had a really lovely time, especially as all six of my kids were actually in the same room! It sounds strange, but this happens very very rarely, there is always one missing!! About a million photos were taken, but I'm pretty sure there isn't one where everyone was actually looking at the camera and smiling!We also managed to get one of my mum, dad, sister, me and our families altogether which was lovely! 

• Sienna – the last couple of days have been really good with her, which is definitely something to smile about! She has been hard work lately, getting up at 5am, then being very difficult throughout the day, and bedtimes have been much longer and drawn out than I'd like. This week I decided to implement a rewards system, where she gets points for good behaviour which go towards a treat. We also started using her Gro Clock again, something we haven't needed for ages, and for the past two nights she has gone straight to sleep and in the mornings she didn't get up until almost 7am. I'm sure her bad moods have been at least partly due to over tiredness so fingers crossed this will help (though I am fully aware this may not last but at the moment I'm just happy to take even one good day/night!)

• Spring is on it's way – ok, so someone probably needs to tell the weather, but at least daffodils are out! I love, love, love daffodils, yellow is my favourite colour and they are just so bright and cheery. I always buy them as soon as I see them and my mum recently told me that her mum (who died when I was a baby) also loved daffodils and used to do exactly the same, buy the first ones she saw, so it's nice that I am carrying on that tradition! 

• Being pregnant – I am now 18 weeks and feeling really good, this is absolutely my favourite bit of pregnancy. I have felt the odd little kick (though not really as much as I would like) but I think our busy lives just now mean I am constantly on the go so maybe I'm just not noticing the baby moving! 

• Totsy's speech – I love this age, she is learning something new all the time, understands everything we say and is expanding her vocabulary every day. Although a lot of her speech is still one word at a time, she is adding two and three words together more and more. She uses her manners really well, and it's so cute the way she says please and 'kyoooooo' (thank you). I love it when she asks for a 'cunnel' (cuddle), she just melts my heart with her gruff little voice. It does makes me laugh much more than it should when she shouts 'piss' though – she's asking for crisps!! 

Keep smiling x