5am Second feed of the day done. First nappy changed. Husband is about to leave for work. I’m hoping for some more sleep, although it’s not looking likely…

6am Sleeping...

7am Yes! We managed more sleep! On to feed no.3 of the day, feeling more awake this time. I’ve fed the cats and made myself my first cuppa of the day. 

8am Laundry. Hoping to get two loads done today. Also, vacuuming, ironing, and planting some violas in hanging baskets. We’ll see… (it took me three weeks to get those violas planted!).

9am Giving Socks the Boy Cat some much needed attention. Both cats are a bit neglected on the affection front these days. They seem to have accepted Bub, they only disappear when she really cries, which thankfully isn’t often. 

10am One of us bathed and dressed.

11am Feeding again. I’m still not dressed and have ticked nothing off my to-do list, but I have consumed four cups of tea and a chocolate hobnob. This is alright by me.

12pm Just sat down to feed again after a walk around the garden to see the sunflowers. I want another cuppa but I’ll have to wait.

1pm Husband is working really close to home today so could pop home for lunch and cuddles.

2pm Bub has fallen asleep after her feed and I don’t want to move, so husband has made me another cuppa and left me with a snack before going back to work.

3pm Sleeping...

4pm We both had a nap, now Bub is feeding again. Today’s to-do has gone well and truly out of the window. I doubt I’ll achieve much from this point. I can try again tomorrow…

5pm Busy doing something.

6pm Meal prep. Pasta Bake, again. I'm relying on easy meals, or my stash of batch cooked frozen meals.

7pm Daddy’s home (much earlier than usual for this time of year)

So this was August 21st 2021. 12 nappies changed, 10 cups of tea consumed, 68 pages of my book read, and I lost count of how many times I fed Bub. An ordinary day in our new life as a family.

Thanks To Louisa for hosting. Taking part in Photo An Hour is a lovely way to remember the small details of a specific time in life, I often look back over these posts and enjoy the memories, however ordinary. The next Photo An Hour is 18th September, you can follow my day on Instagram, or I'll post here in the weeks that follow.

I promised myself that I would take part in every single one this year. I knew parenthood would limit my ability to post regularly. I don't want to stop blogging entirely and this is a great way to keep me going.

You'll notice I've slipped quietly back into your comments as if I'd never been away. I've figured out an issue I was having using my phone to comment on blogs, so now I have the ability to read and comment during one of the many feeds I do in a day. It feels good to have that little bit of contact back again.

I hope you are well, and getting some normality back to life after lockdown.

September always seems like the start of something new, a new season, a new school year (even though I left school decades ago the feeling still remains), so I've decided to set an intention for the month.

Since Bub arrived life has been very different. I knew that, no matter what people told me or how much I prepared for life with a baby, I could never really be imagine what life would be like. Those first few weeks went by in a blur as we found our feet. 

I knew I wouldn't be taking on any design work for at least three months, and even as we approach that time frame I'm not convinced I could take on any work even if I wanted to. But what I would like to do is make progress - on anything, on everything. So that's my intention, my word for the month - Progress.

I have so many things to do, projects to finish, projects to start but my time is limited to bite sized chunks that fit around Bub. We're lucky that she's really quite content but even so she takes up a lot of my day (and night). She doesn't sleep much during the day, she has short naps that are already over by the time I decide what to do whilst she sleeps. I'm not complaining she's wonderful, and I love motherhood.

When I was pregnant I read a quote that went something along the lines of 'Looking after a baby is easy, it's trying to do anything else at the same that's hard', and I couldn't agree more. I know that these early baby days are limited and I'm not wishing them away, but at the same time I'm itching to tick things off my to-do list.

These days as I sit and feed her I look around and notice all the things that need doing. Pre-baby I would've just done them, now I have to wait until I have time, which is in short supply. I'm used to being able to devote time to things whether it's housework or craft projects, or work, the garden, but now I have to do things a little bit at a time, a bit here, a bit there. It's taken me a while to get my head around it, I dislike leaving something half done, but this is just how it is now.

My hospital bag still isn't fully unpacked, I need to pack away summer clothes that didn't get worn, and jumpers that I can't wear whilst breastfeeding, and find clothes that will work. I've been wearing the same three tops on rotation since Bub was born. I have maternity clothes to list on ebay and piles of things that need to go to the charity shop. The greenhouse has been neglected, I'd like to tidy it ready for Spring in the hope that I'll have a tiny bit more time then. And I'd really like to plant the violas in my hanging baskets that I purchased three weeks ago...

Whilst pregnant I had the bright idea to simultaneously decorate Bub's room (which was my office), and my new office (which was the spare room), and although the actual decorating has been done there's still a lot of stuff that needs sorting, curtains need to be chosen and hung, furniture needs to be bought, shelves need to be put up. I have piles of stuff on the landing and in the hallway just waiting for my attention. I'll do it bit by bit. This drip feed way of doing things is the only way it's going to get done.

As long as I can make even a tiny bit of progress each day, whilst taking care of Bub, and myself, I'll be happy.

There's nothing to do but to do it.

So, um, yeah, I had a baby. Back in June but Bub didn't make an appearance on social media until Photo An Hour on July 17th, at almost a month old. This is how the day went...

6am. Morning feed with Bub. Not the first feed this morning but the first one I’m properly awake for…

7am. Quick (and I really do mean quick) bath before husband heads off to work.

8am. Current view. Another feed. 

Also, mostly happy, always cute. 

Also, wondering at what point you have to stop calling them a newborn?

9am. Bub is zonked so I’m wandering around the house pottering - emptying bins, loading the dishwasher, doing laundry… until Bub wakes.

At least I managed a bath and got dressed before midday today.

10am. Another feed, that ended in a vomiting incident that resulted in a new bodysuit and blanket for Bub, and new top and bra for me. 

Also, how the heck do I cut those fingernails!? 

11am. The weather is rather pleasant, a good day for drying ridiculously cute and tiny clothes.

From this point the day became a blur of feeding, nappy changes, and cuddles. Keeping up with posting these to Instagram every hour became difficult.

Grandma came to spend some time with us, she, like all our family, is completely besotted with Bub. I honestly wasn't prepared for how much they would love her, and how instant that love would be.

We had lunch in shifts as Bub wouldn't settle, and spent time wandering around outside trying to lull her to sleep in her pram.

5pm. She naps in short burst, waking again before you know it.

6pm. Ice cold drinks required (and a sneaky chocolate biscuit). We were sitting outside in the shade listening to the sounds of a sleeping infant. 

I went for a quick restorative nap at some point in the early evening, and husband was home just after 8pm. He heated the lasagne Grandma had cooked for us, we ate (in shifts), and we all retired to bed. Bub fed and cat-napped until midnight at which point she finally slept for a few solid hours.

Parenthood is everything and nothing like I expected. I knew I couldn't truly prepare myself for it - no one can - some things seem a doddle, others things continue to perplex me. But we're figuring it out, taking each day as it comes. One thing I have learnt is that just because something happened / worked yesterday it doesn't mean it'll happen / work today. 

But I'm besotted and I'm loving it.

Thanks to Louisa for hosting Photo An Hour.

12th June 2021

8am I decided to ease into the day with an hour of reading before getting up. Andy had already gone to work, feeding the cats before he left, so with no fixed plans for the day and nothing meowing at me, I had no pressing reason to get out of bed.

9am During my garden potterings (watering container pots and hanging baskets, and deadheading flowers) I discovered some rogue strawberries. They must've escaped from the troughs I had last year, I doubt I'll get to eat them before the wildlife but finding roaming plants make me smile.

10am It felt like time for another cuppa. I'd hung some washing on the line, flattened three mole hills, topped up the bird feeders, and cleaned the bathroom. I realised the day was turning into one where I'd float about the house doing this and that, lost in my own thoughts, and at the end of the day I'd wonder where the time went.

11am I took the time to really enjoy my tea, and sat daydreaming in my bedroom with Tinker the Girl Cat. An hour wasted? Nah...

12pm I pottered around the bedroom for a while, tidying this and that, organising a few bits. Then, showered, dressed and gave my fringe an impromptu trim. Surely it's a logical thing to do right before lunch on a Saturday?

1pm Fringe cut, lunch eaten (quiche, salad, apple), husband was home for as long as it took him to eat before heading back to work. I'd made myself a cuppa but had yet to decide what to do next...

2pm I indulged in some more garden pottering. When the sun is out I'm just drawn outside and everything in the house gets forgotten. Tinker followed me around, occasionally scampering off in a random direction for no apparent reason, only to return with a 'nothing to see here' attitude.

3pm With the garden reaching it's pampering limit for the day, I turned my attention to watering the pot plants inside. I also mended the hem on the one of the lounge curtains (it had been in need of repair for months), filled the salt in the dishwasher, flattened two more moles hills that had appeared since flattening three earlier, and wiped down the kitchen surfaces. Fun times!

4pm Back in the garden, this time with my current read, the last of my Parma violet lolly stash (soon to be replenished), and Socks the Boy Cat doing his best to distract me. He succeeded.

5pm Still in the garden, enjoying the sun, this time being distracted from my reading by Tinker the Girl Cat and her swishy tail.

6pm Still reading, but now indoors.

7pm Book finished. I started this on Wednesday, it was an easy and enjoyable read. My thoughts turned to what to have for supper.

8pm Of coursed I faffed around a bit before deciding on what to cook. Andy arrived home just in time to eat.

9pm Ben & Jerry's Phish Food ice cream was the perfect way to end a warm Saturday.

10pm Bedtime. I selected an Elly Griffiths novel, only the second book of hers I've read that isn't part of the Ruth Galloway series (I've read every book in the series so far), but it's every bit as good.

11pm Still reading, it was too warm to sleep.

Thanks to Louisa for hosting, if you fancy taking part the next Photo An Hour is July 17th, see you then?

May 22nd 2021

6am Morning! Tinker the girl cat was slightly miffed at me interrupting her early morning interactions with the biggest hoomin.

7am My Mate. To be honest all I'd done since my last post was finish my cup of tea and make toast. I hoped the rest of my day would be slightly more productive…

8am My glamorous life. This spray bottle has now been reused about six times. I started using Ocean Saver sachets (I get them from Peace With The Wild) a while ago and don't think I'll ever go back.

9am New carpet in my office. It’s really satisfying to vacuum an empty square room. The light on the front is referred to in the marketing blurb as a ‘dust tracker’, which made me laugh at first but actually it really does help (and highlights just how grubby my carpets get!).

10am Curtains back up and it already felt more finished despite having no furniture.

11am Felt a little eleven o’clockish. These own brand chocolate oaties are actually better than chocolate HobNobs in my opinion. Well done Morrisons.

12pm Got stuck in to painting the spare room. If you ever think that decorating two rooms simultaneously is a good idea, let me tell you it isn’t. It does not cut down on the disruption in the least! The only upside is that it feels marvelous when both rooms are finished (which neither is, as yet...).

1pm Lunch. Cheese on toast - layer of ketchup, lots of cheese, sprinkling of oregano - perfection!

2pm Rollering (aka the best bit) almost done.

3pm Apparently there's an unwritten rule that when I sit down for a rest and a cuppa, Tinker the Girl Cat gets to have a rest too (she'd been asleep all morning).

4pm With as much DIY done as we could do, it was on to the more boring adult stuff, made more bearable by an audio book…

5pm Small snack and another cuppa

6pm Listen Hoomin, it MUST be dinner time by now?! I feed him and then I ventured into the garden to water, well, everything.

7pm Husband came home from work and cooked supper #win

8pm PJs, tea, feet up, Eurovision

9pm Enough Eurovision, bath, then bed. To be honest I find Eurovision a bit dull after the first hour, I still don't know who won this year. The only times I've ever watched it from start to finish was when friends and alcohol were involved - that's how Eurovision should be enjoyed. Stupid pandemic.

10pm Still working my way through this, bit by bit. I've since finished it and it'll be staying on my bookshelf to dip in and out of, it's a really interesting read.

11pm Lights out.

Thanks to Louisa for hosting, next Photo An Hour is June 12th, see you then?