Once again I am late with posting this so it’s more a fortnight of smiles! Lately it has been all about routine as the summer holidays now seem like a distant memory and we are fully back into the swing of school runs, homework and counting down to the weekend. There has though of course still been a lot to smile about.

• Potty training – Totsy is currently potty training which is probably my most hated parenting task so it’s a bit surprising that it has made it into this list! However, she’s doing amazingly well bless her. Over the last few weeks we gradually introduced the potty and had quite a few nappy free sessions at home with quite a good success rate so last week we decided to just go for it. She got the hang of it straight away, and we have only had a few little accidents, much less than expected. She’s so pleased with herself, and jumps off the potty shouting ‘Ta-dah!’ which always make me laugh. It’s only been a couple of weeks so it’s still a bit of a work in progress, and even though I said I wasn’t going to use pull-ups I tend to put them on her if we are going out and I think she will fall asleep (she loves her naps still!) but she is usually dry even after a nap which is fantastic.
• Jess – I had a lovely day with Jess the other day, she had the day off work so we went out for afternoon tea and did some shopping. We had the littlest two with us but they were very well behaved and managed to have very well timed naps so they both slept through our afternoon tea (result!) It was so lovely to have some quality time just the two of us which is super rare!
• Lunch with a friend – one of my friends is undergoing breast cancer treatment and with Luna’s arrival it’s been a while since I’ve seen her, so it was great to be able to meet up for lunch and have a proper catch up. She is doing amazing, obviously cancer treatment is horrible and it’s so tough, but she is just getting on with it, with her big smile firmly in place and looking forward to getting on with life.
• Autumn – although every season has its plus points Autumn is absolutely my favourite season. The colours, wearing comfy warm clothes, cosy evenings snuggling together on the sofa under a blanket, roast dinners and slow cooker meals, pumpkin spice lattes, candles – what’s not to love? No more worrying about suncream and sweating!! Of course I do love summer too with the sunshine and the holidays, especially this year which brought our beautiful little Luna Grey, my very first summer baby but Autumn makes saying goodbye to summer that bit easier.
• Nathan – he wasn’t able to make it for my birthday a couple of weeks ago so he sent a parcel in the post, but I wasn’t in when it arrived and for various reasons it took almost a week before I managed to pick it up from the post office on the other side of town. The words in his card were so lovely they made me cry! I really miss him since he started working in Spain and I know he is pretty homesick too now, I think we are both counting down the days until his return in a few weeks!
• Losing weight – since I gave up chocolate and biscuits about three weeks ago I have lost about 7lbs which I am really happy about! I haven’t made any other changes to what I eat as my meals are usually pretty healthy anyway and I’m still enjoying the odd treat as I haven’t banned myself from eating cake (but unlike with my previous chocolate habit I don’t have it every day) so I’m really pleased that I am seeing a difference. I’ve been walking to school a lot too (which is an hour round trip) and even managed a 3km run the other day, my first since having Luna, so I’m sure that’s helping too. Just being fitter and healthier is my focus and losing the baby weight is an inevitable side effect of that.
• My blog turned one! – Last week marked a whole year since I first hit publish and it’s so nice to have captured so many memories. For me blogging has always just been about keeping a record of our lives, I’ve only ever seen it as a hobby, I would hate for it to feel like work or a chore and I have never made any attempts to be a ‘successful’ blogger – let’s face it, I’ve been blogging for a year, and I’m only up to number 31 in this ‘weekly’ series, rubbish blogger, right there! I do enjoy it though and I have definitely taken more photographs since I started. I just hope it will be something the kids enjoy looking back on when they are older.
• Calke Abbey – last Sunday we took a picnic to our local National Trust house. We took a picnic, explored the gardens, played on the park and got plenty of fresh air. Yes it rained (of course it rained, it’s England in September!) but there was lots of sunshine too. Grandma and Grandad joined us and it was a lovely family afternoon. The annual Calke Abbey 10k run was taking place when we arrived so Mr T and I decided we will run it next year!
• New hair – I decided it was time for a change so I got my long hair cut into a bob! About half of my hair was chopped off which some people might find really nerve wracking but I wasn’t worried at all, it’s only hair and if I hated it then it grows back doesn’t it (and mine grows super fast!) I have to say I really like it though and it’s so much quicker to wash and dry which is great when every precious minute counts on a busy school morning or when Luna is desperate for a feed!

Keep smiling xx