Friday Five - Long haul holiday destinations

This week I'm linking up with Kat at Living like the Kings for a Friday Five, and this week I've been thinking about holidays and some of my favourite holidays over the last six years.  I'm very lucky, I've been on a lot of holidays and so I had to separate them into short haul (European) and long haul (rest of the world) holidays.

1.  New Zealand!  This is a no-brainer really!  Although NZ is home, going there is a holiday for us at the moment.  I love visiting my family and friends and relaxing in the warmer weather.  

2.  New York!  For Christmas 2009 we we flew to NYC, leaving on Christmas day and returning on New Years Eve, so not much celebrating, but what a holiday!  Hightlights included walking in the snow in Central Park on Christmas day, ice skating, taking a boat to Ellis Island and visiting Brooklyn.

3.  Miami!  I've been to Miami twice now, once for a girly holiday with my friend Michelle in 2008 and again 2009 with Andrew on our honeymoon.  I love the climate, the atmosphere, the shopping, and the mojitos!  Some of the best things Andrew and I did included visiting Viscaya and going to a Florida Marlins baseball game - go Marlins!

4.  The Florida Keys!  Sticking with Florida, we also visited the Keys on our honeymoon, and, as it took quite a while to get there it counts a separate location.  Our first night we stayed in Key Largo and then had two nights in Key West.  It was such a relaxed atmosphere and a place I'd totally recommend!

5.  Egypt!  For Christmas 2007 Andrew and I and nine friends did a two week tour around Egypt.  We had the most amazing trip, seeing the pyramids in Cairo, the Valley of the King

s in Luxor, Abu Simbel, south of Aswan and my most favourite thing visiting the town of Siwa only 50km east of the Libyan border.

I could go on and on about how much fun I've had on these holidays, but that would be showing off!

Seasonal Changes

I have a winter baby, I am used to wrapping her up warm.  

We wear fleece body suits, hats and use the sleeping bag in the pushchair all the time!

There is always a blanket handy.

I am an expert at putting a very reluctant child into a cardigan, and woolly booties!

 We wear a lot of clothes to bed!

But now, well now spring has sprung and today we had a high of 22c! (71f)  that's practically sweltering in England!  I'm not sure what to do with my Chicken, I certainly don't want to roast her, but I'm finding it challenging finding the right balance!  I've found a few things that help us so far.

This pink hoodie vest was a gift from my Auntie Robyn G, thanks!  Its fleece and keeps Chicken warm but not sweltering, the hood also doubles as a hat if it gets breezy.  The sheepskin she's sitting on was a present from my Mum, thanks G!  Sheepskins keep you warm in winter and cool in summer, and they're just comfy!

I've also taking to stripping her off, I mean there is ample padding on those thighs!  Today for example, she was wearing a long sleeve bodysuit and jeans.  I took off the top layer of the sleeping bag in the pushchair and we headed out.  I was wearing 3/4's, a t-shirt and flip-flops/jandals, so it was a warm day!  We get to the children's centre where I was asked to demonstrate breastfeeding for a group of expectant mothers and answer any questions, and she was quite warm so I took off her jeans.  As we got to leave I realise its still too hot for jeans but too cool to be pushed by a power walking mum (well not so fast any more, I'm having to 'wear in' my winter feet again) I dug about in the baby bag and found a muslin cloth.  Perfect - big enough to wrap around her legs but thin enough to keep her cool, and when the sun is in her eyes it drapes nicely over the front of the canopy! 

I'm really looking forward to summer (who isn't!) and have found some funky outfits for her, dresses with cute frilly knickers that cover up the nappy and a denim play-suit, I only hope that the sun comes out for a decent period of time!

Coffee mornings

Meeting up with other mum's at 'coffee mornings' is something that I really enjoy, and hopefully when Chicken is older she will too.  Sharing successes and challenges, getting and giving advice and generally having people around you who are in the same boat makes things a lot easier.  Most weeks I go to a few groups and I'm now starting to make new friends, very exciting!

On Tuesdays I meet up with the seven other girls that I went on my ante-natal course with.  The idea of the course was to prepare us for labour and childbirth so we could make informed decisions and make friends with other people in the same situation as us.  The first baby arrived in early December and the last in early February, with five boys and three girls.  We take turns hosting at our houses and chat and compare notes.  My Chicken for example is one of the worst sleepers, but has no trouble feeding.  The other girls offer some suggestions and generally lend a supportive ear, basically they make you feel like you're not alone, which is really important at 4am when you've been woken for the fourth time that night!  Its also a chance for me to indulge in my baking hobby, which the girls are always grateful for!

On Friday's I have my school coffee group of two.  Alice and I work together and had babies 9 days apart.

This is Robbie, Alice's boy who is staring adoringly at my little madam, while she screams at the top of her lungs!  We usually meet up at a cafe, and have lunch and then go for a walk around a park.  Alice is one of my closest friends in the UK, and its been great to have someone else to go through all of this with.

My final group is a breastfeeding group run by my local children's centre.  I first went to to get some support and the lady who runs the group suggested I kept coming and so I have.  I didn't know anyone there and Eilidh was quite a bit younger than the other babies, but I kept going and now I've started to make friends with some of the other mums.  Today I ran into two of them in town and we had coffee and have made plans to go to a singalong session at the library on Thursday.  I am very excited about this!  These groups don't suit everyone, but I'm enjoying the support and friendship of the other women, and its nice to get out of the house especially when it needs a clean, hehe.

PS Chicken had her month immunisations today and was a real trouper!

Happy Mother's Day part three

And for the final post, we move to my first Mother's Day!  Chicken and I woke up early to Skype my parents to wish Mum a happy UK Mother's Day, and then I handed my girl off to Andrew so he could call his parents.   And what did I do with that spare hour, zzzzzzz, yep that's right I had a glorious sleep in!  After that Andrew baked pastries for my breakfast in bed (please excuse the messy bed hair)

Then Andrew bought me the presents he and 'Eilidh' got me, I've been very spoilt!  Andrew got me a Links of London bracelet like my friend Amy's that I wore as my 'something borrowed' at our wedding.  Eilidh got me some ornaments for the garden that I had been admiring last week at the local garden centre, a gnome, a hedgehog, and a sheep.

 I also got two amazing cards, I am one lucky lady!

After breakfast we went for a long walk to the local car boot sale, and it has to be said, while the walk was really nice, the sale was a waste of time, talk about tat! 

When we got home Andrew started to get my special dinner ready, steak and chips and profiteroles!

I have one amazing husband!  I know I've used the 'a' word a lot today, but its because I feel very spoilt and I'm very thankful.  I'm thankful for Andrew who remembered that I liked this beautiful bracelet and chose it all by himself, and that he was willing to make something as challenging as profiteroles, because I got it into my head that, that was what I wanted! 

I'm also thankful for my lovely little girl, who even though she hasn't gone to bed tonight (and is snoring in Andrew's arms on the couch) is the most beautiful little Chicken in the world!  And, check it out, she's learnt to grab and hold things, and is quite taken by this cuddly.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mums out there!

Happy Mother's Day part two

This is my second Mother's Day post, this one is for Moira my lovely mother-in-law.  This is her and Andrew on our wedding day, they had their photos after the ceremony so they looked much more relaxed!

Moira is a great MIL, and I have a lot to thank her for, and these are the top five reasons that I can (currently) think of:

1.  She taught Andrew to be a well-adjusted man, he cooks, cleans, gardens, and even occasionally bakes (bread) without complaint, we have a true 50-50 partnership which I am very thankful for.

2.  She (along with Graham my FIL) makes amazing apricot jam - just as good as my Nana!

3.  She knits amazing clothes and blankets for Eilidh

4.  She is also a teacher and knows what its like, and doesn't get bored when I talk nothing but 'the kids' when we meet up

5.  She's coming to visit us in May, Chicken will get to meet her Gran and Grandad!

Thanks Moira, Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day part one

Today I'm going to (attempt) three Mother's day posts, starting with the most important person, my mum, AKA Marg G!

This is Mum and I on my wedding day just over two years ago.  This was taken before the ceremony and boy was I nervous, Mum looks great, I'm a wreck, hence the nervous smile!

My mum is amazing, I've known this for a while, you see she organised our whole wedding in NZ and we flew in ten days before to find it all but done.  Mum said it was easy up until when we arrived!  Mum is also amazing because she doesn't mind (too much) that her baby (me) has chosen to live on the other side of the world for the past six years.   She even came to visit me in 2007 and we had a great trip around Ireland, Scotland and Belgium. 

 Cycling in Belgium.

Sampling the goods at the Guinness factory in Dublin.

Standing on the Swilken bridge on the Old Course at St Andrew's (the home of golf!)

On a tour of Wimbledon tennis centre.

 Now I have my little girl, and G has two little girls its a lot harder on both of us, I miss her like crazy!

Mum came to stay with us for three weeks when Chicken was a newborn and it was amazing, she cooked, cleaned, cuddled, read, rocked and generally looked after the both of us. 

Mum and I Skype around three times a week and now Chicken is older and has more strength in her head she can lean against a pillow and 'chat' to her Nana.  And the best thing is that in 22 days I'll get to see her (and Dad) in NZ-that's right I'm taking Chicken home for a visit, thanks Mum!!

The main reason my mum is so amazing is that she has shown me how to be a mum, and if I can be half as good as she is I'll be a great mum too!  Happy Mothers Day G-Dog, love you heaps!

Friday Five

This is another link-up with Kat at Living Like the Kings for a Friday Five!

My favourite early spring outfits!

This week I've bought Chicken some new clothes, some denim dresses and dungarees from eBay and a couple of cheap summer dresses.  These are not them, that will be another Friday Five in a month or two.  To say that I like to shop would be, well an understatement!  I also like a bargain which is why clothes from eBay are a perfect for me, I mean babies don't exactly wear out clothes do they?  Anyway, back to the Friday Five!

1.  The dungarees are hand-me-downs from a friend Nancy, the bodysuit, is from Gap, a present from Scott and the tights are from Boots (I love tights BTW, socks that come off are a pain!)

2. Purple trousers and top from H&M, hand-me-downs from Rebecca, a nice change from the usual girly pink.

3.  T-shirt and dungarees from Sainsburys supermarket.  Girly but not too 'pink'  Its also got easy nappy access with poppers round the inside leg, very handy!

3.  The super girly girl outfit!  Dress, bodysuit and hair band from H&M, tights from Marks and Spencer.  Don't you just love those ruffles on the bum!

5.  My little French girl!  Jeggings from Primark and T-shirt from Sainsburys.  The t-shirt came in a three pack with the pale blue spotty one and a pink one, guess which one doesn't get much use?