Just a quick post to catch up with my Photo an Hour days. I missed February entirely, but I did manage some of the day in January (21st), not a great start to the Photo an Hour challenge of 2023!

9am. Just remembered it’s Photo An Hour day! We’re starting the day with a pom pom bath. No plans today, we’re making it up as we go along.

We'd been up since 7am, but it wasn't until I opened Instagram that I realised it was Photo an Hour! The first photo of the day might look like I'm living an Instagrammable life, but before the bath was over Bub had pooped. In the bath. With the pom poms.

Nothing says 'real life' like fishing poop and pom poms out of your bath with a jug!

11am. Painting. It’ll take longer to clean up than we spend doing it but it’s so much fun!

1pm. She sleeps

3pm. Snack time. Bub learned the word 'nak' quite early on, and now she stands at the cupboard and rattles the door (thank goodness for childproof door locks).

The rest of the day followed a familiar path. Teatime at 5:30pm, some playtime and cBeebies until 7pm, then up to bed for teeth cleaning, a nappy change, some bedtime stories (One Ted Falls Out of Bed being a particular favourite), and then the lights are dimmed to drift off to sleep. At which point I get ready for bed, potter about for a whilst chatting to Andy, tidying, updating my grocery shopping order, adding to my meal plan etc, before going to bed myself to read, only to fall asleep before I finish a page.

Hello, I’ve been pondering how to start a blog post after such a long absence, and I decided to just start.

So here I am, back again. With good intentions of posting at least a few times a month.

All that’s left is for me to decide what I’ll be posting about. I used to witter on about my wardrobe, or rather the clothes in it and the outfits I made from it, and share to-do lists that never got entirely ticked off.

But these days I don’t have the time to write a to-do list much less tick things off. And my outfits are few and functional.

So I’ll be just writing. Capturing thoughts and ideas, memories and moments. My blog has never followed a schedule so perhaps it won’t feel all that different?

I’ve missed my blog, and the blogs I used to regularly read. They both feel like old friendships that I’ve been neglecting, much like some of my real life friendships (and my poor cats)! I hope to be more present here, and IRL.

What have I been up to? Everything and nothing. There’s almost too much to share. Too much time has passed. Let’s just say parenthood has been all consuming in the best possible way, but it has paused a lot of what made up my life pre-Bub.

The housework, DIY, and garden have all been put on the back burner, in fact I feel that I should probably be ironing or something similar instead of sitting here typing but I felt the need to do something just for me. So here I am, it feels good to be back.

I hope you're well, take care, more soon.

xx

Another Photo An Hour post, albeit an incomplete one. October 22nd was the chosen day, thanks as ever to Louisa for hosting, I may not keep up to date with them but I do enjoy taking part.

6:30am small bed invader. Not sure what the day holds but it’s time to get the day underway.

7:30am another small bed invader. Bub is downstairs with Dada (as she currently calls him), I’m enjoying a hot cup of tea. Really should get up and make porridge for the little one to smear about the place…

9:30am dressed. If you point that camera at me, I’m going to point at you. We’re breakfasted, bathed, dressed, and now it’s time for some mischief and bed bouncing.

10:30am climbing? This is not a good development…

11:30am little one is zonked out, I’m wondering why the heck I didn’t make myself a cuppa before I sat down. Rookie mistake!

12:30pm lunch.

1:30pm want to keep a toddler quiet for 10 minutes? Put a box on the floor.

4:30pm back from visiting a friend for a cuppa, trying to organise my office, not achieving much.

I missed a few months of Photo An Hour. In May I forgot, only remembering at lunchtime, and in June we decided to have Bub’s 1st birthday party on the chosen PAH day. There was just too much going on to take part.

The 23rd was the day chosen for July.

7am. Morning cuddles. And, if I am interpreting the sounds from the kitchen correctly, a cup of tea is on its way.

8am. We've breakfasted and played outside. Now for some supervised book time.

(Book time has to be supervised so that we can prevent Bub from destroying all the books. She likes to chew on them, peel off the covers, and reduce them to single pages and use them as stepping stones - and this is just board books, what she does to paperbacks is criminal! She really enjoys her books so I spend a lot of time with her and her books everyday, which I love!)

9am. Bathed, dressed, now playing with post-its and books. I’m trying to get dressed whilst preventing the bedroom (and books) getting trashed by the tiny person.

10am. Whilst Bub is having fun exploring our bedroom, I’m sorting out bits and pieces. It’s mutually agreeable.

11am. It sleeps. And while it does I’m pottering about undoing all the destruction it created this morning. There is a lot of tidying in motherhood.

1pm. Went to see husband at work. The agricultural education is underway.

2pm. A walk and then a bit of a sit. Must stay hydrated.

3pm. A quick stop at the yard to pressure wash the car.

4pm. Home and in the garden

6pm. Peeking. Trying to keep the lounge cool by closing the curtains. And trying to stop this one climbing into the back of the sofa.

7pm. Just popping the tractor in the garage for the night.

Thanks to Louisa for hosting. See you soon.

7am Morning cuddles.

8am A slow morning so far. It feels more like a Sunday. Husband has taken Bub downstairs and is experiencing his first ‘morning after’ with a little, after going to a gig last night. His first night out since before the pandemic! I have two cups of tea because he didn’t realise I’d made one already (this is not an issue, you can never have too much tea!), and I have two cats on my bed, one on my lap. I should get up and feed Bub some porridge but I feel a few more minutes of feline time is in order. They’re a little under loved these days.

9am We’ve porridged. I’ve dressed. Now feed and then, hopefully, a nap for Bub. Husband has claimed the sofa for a nap of his own, and I intend to read.

10am Bath time.

1pm Missed a few hours… Lunch is done, and now I’m being given a tour of the living room, taking in such sights as the tv, the toy box, and the pile of cushions that should be arranged nicely on the sofa but are actually strewn across the floor.

2pm Relaxing with a cuppa. Husband is keeping Bub entertained.

3pm Nap.

6pm I’ve just said ‘I’ll deal with the [cat] vomit, and then I’ll deal with the [baby] poop’. I’m done.

Thanks to Louisa for hosting. I'll be back soon with another Photo An Hour.

Take care

March 19th 2022 was Photo An Hour day.

6am Morning snuggles with the little while A makes the first cuppa of the day. Things I already love about today - A is going to be working close to home, the sun is going to be out, and I’ve already made food for this evening. Oh, and the chocolate biscuit stash was replenished yesterday.

7am Showered, dressed, cuppa no.2

8am Popped Bub in the carrier to go and see Daddy at work. It's a lovely day!

9am Nap in progress. I'm reading and enjoying a hot cuppa 

10am All the toys we have and Bub likes the placemats and coasters!

11am A bit of quiet time on the sofa with some CBeebies. She’s teething and feeling out of sorts. Calpol has been administered. Thank goodness for Calpol!! 

12pm Another nap. More reading time for me. Lunch is definitely going to be late today.

1pm Still napping / reading. I'm hungry!

2pm Lunch. Finally. 

3pm Outside in new shoes exploring the pot plants. I think they'll survive! (the plants and the shoes)

4pm Empty the box. Play with the box. 

5pm Final nap of the day, slightly later than usual. Might backfire.

6pm Supper.

Thanks to Louisa for hosting. I'll be back soon with another Photo An Hour.

Take care
xx

February 19th was the day selected for Photo An Hour.

6.30am and we're awake. Husband brought me a cup of tea in bed and took Bub downstairs to play.  I finished my tea, put a load of washing on, tidied the kitchen, and made toast.

8am. Bub and I are having breakfast. Husband is doing an LFT, and the cats are venturing outside after being locked in for Storm Eunice. The plan now is to get Bub dressed, and tidy away all the candles after a power cut last night.

9am. Bub is dressed. Those socks will stay on for approximately 6 minutes. Now to nap.

10am. While the baby naps, I read. I just got to a good bit a Bub woke up! Husband came home with tales of fallen trees. Next I'll sweep and wash the kitchen floor and then it's playtime!

11am. Can’t sit down to a feed without our phones.

12pm. Time to make lunch. No idea what I’m going to concoct today… (turning the hob on usually helps when cooking <insert eye roll emoji here>).

1pm. Time for some Daddy bashing before he heads out to deal with some more of the storm damage. While he got bashed I wiped down the kitchen door frames and cupboard fronts. I have to fit my housework into every small window of opportunity these days!

2pm. Eat, sleep, repeat. I updated my grocery order, and did some pointless scrolling for new sofa cushions that I knew I wasn't really going to buy before my phone battery died.

(For some reason my 3pm photo wouldn't upload)

3pm. So here we are, Bub still napping. I’m out of tea. I’m very near the end of my book but I didn’t pick it up to read because I thought ‘she won’t sleep for long’. I could’ve finished it. It’s getting good, all is about to be revealed. Now I’ll have to wait until bedtime.

It’s windy again and the rain is hammering the windows. Husband is out there dealing with fallen trees and dangerous branches. He’ll be drenched, and cold, and he’s still feeling a bit sh*t thanks to Covid (day 11 so he’s allowed to be out, not that he’ll see anyone). He seems to have a day of feeling good and then a day of feeling really drained. Anyone else had this?

4pm. Finally awake and standing aided by her high chair straps. She’s well rested and full of beans!! I've plugged in my phone, nipped to the loo, made tea, changed a nappy, had a snack, turned up the heating and found my slippers. I also stretched a bit. Then I vacuumed most of downstairs, chopped onions, had a quick FaceTime conversation with husband, cleaned the hob, folded laundry and wondered when I could sit down again...

And that is where my photos for the day ended.

Thanks to Louisa for hosting.