Apologies for being a bit lax on the blogging front- we’ve had a busy few days, I was going to write last night but got distracted by bake off! My brother was down over the weekend staying with my sister so we’ve had a fun filled bank holiday. The red arrows came to town on Friday evening despite the rain and Polly as expected got a bit over excited!

We then had a trip to Darts farm on Saturday which included a little picnic and a play in the park there. Darts farm is basically a huge farm shop that sells everything from cider to cakes to cheese to tents and it even has an aga shop. It’s my mums favourite shop in the world and a great place to get some free samples too, I just have to keep tabs on Henry in the cider section!

Sunday was a wet day spent in Exeter at Georgia and Gyan’s with a bubble machine keeping the toddler contained. Once the rain eased up we ventured to our favourite run around- ikea! Henry joined us and Polly got up to her usual mischief including hosting a tea party with some on the spot friends.

Henry had to be back at work so we popped in to KFC to grab a quick bite to eat. Polly hadn’t napped and we had to leave before she was finished which resulted in this…

On Monday we ventured up onto Dartmoor and found ourselves being blown up Haytor for a picnic. Had to laugh at my sister bringing a bloody chopping board and knife!

Polly surprised us all with how much she wanted to walk and made friends with the ponies.

We then had our usual trip to Henry’s nanny and pops’ yesterday afternoon where Polly had her usual bowl of ice cream.

She’s started associating different people with different things- my parents on FaceTime equals ‘cat cat’, my brother on FaceTime equals ‘amunat’ after hearing a couple of ambulances going past, Henry’s Dad on FaceTime equals ‘mr monkey’ as he gets a cuddly monkey to chat to her which makes her laugh her head off! Anyway yesterday when we pulled up outside their house she asked for- ice cream!

Yesterday Polly also had her first go on a scooter. She’s not quite got the swing of it yet but she enjoyed taking it for a walk along the seafront!

And just to finish here’s an amusing snapshot of parenting. I always tag Henry in the memes and cartoons about the joys of a toddler winding up in bed with you at 6AM. Well I caught this gem yesterday morning when she did just that…

Another week has flown by and I’m left asking the question of where time is going yet again! Since having Seb it’s actually sped up even more, I didn’t think that was possible but sadly it is. He’s currently in front of me in his bouncer refusing to nap- again. He was a bit unsettled for a couple of days after his jabs last week (last ones for a while thank god!) then we went to bumps & babies on Friday and again he wouldn’t settle so we went through all the usual baby saddeners (yup I just made that word up)- teeth, jabs, tired etc, then I finished by saying he probably just needed a good poo. Last night he seemed a lot happier, the 4 epic poo’s he managed since Friday midday probably helped that. Sadly I do think we’ve slipped into 4 month sleep regression territory though as naps are becoming an issue, but as I just said to one of our Dad friends when I bumped into him- as long as he sleeps at night I feel like we can survive this!

Polly surprised us yesterday when Henry was getting her ready to go out. She wandered into the living room to say bye when I realised her wellies were on the wrong feet.

Conversation that followed:

Me- “can you put them on the right way please?”

Henry- “I didn’t put them on her.”

Me- “well I didn’t put them on her either!”

Henry- “who put them on her then?”

Both of us turn to look at our suddenly grown up child. Yup Polly put them on herself. I mean a couple of hours later Henry sent me a video of her actually driving a tractor, like a real full size tractor! This is just another example of time going too quick as she went from putting her own wellies on the driving a tractor in 2 hours!

Henry is cracking on with his course as he’s basically had enough of us being poor, well we both have! This means I’ve been taking the children out for a few extra walks to give him a quiet house to study in.

This week I’ve also been cracking on with organising a certain person’s christening. This included writing out the invitations- something I should probably be doing right now instead of writing this! It’s taken me 3 sittings and I’m still not finished, plus Polly took to the stack with her crayons so I apologise to those of you who find random blue streaks on theirs- she honestly thought she was helping!

I’m finishing today with a confession and a ‘what would you have done, did I make the right decision’ type question. This morning we went for a walk along the seafront and Polly was out the pushchair getting very excited at seeing the tractor in the sea getting the lifeboat in. She then pulled a carrier bag out the pushchair and waved it about, I told her to keep tight hold of it, she of course chucked it down onto the beach. I’m really crap with judging distances but we were half way between 2 sets of steps onto the beach, both a fair walk when you have 2 little people and a pushchair. So I didn’t go onto the beach to retrieve it. Hear me out, here are the options that were left to me:

1. Drag Polly and the pushchair along the stones to pick up the bag to reinforce the point to her that we don’t chuck litter on the floor. This would have been pretty impossible by myself with Seb strapped to my chest as the pushchair won’t push along the stones.

2. Leave the pushchair with a stranger by the stairs and force Polly to walk along the beach to get the bag. Sorry to the public but I don’t fancy leaving my pushchair with all the belongings in the hand of a stranger and I know my child- she would have thrown a fit and I would have had to carry her kicking and screaming back with Seb strapped to my chest.

3. Option 2 but I just take Polly, but this would have meant waking Seb up and leaving him with a stranger too. No thank you.

4. Tell Polly off and leave the seafront hoping to god nobody filmed us or took a picture of us ready to Mum shame me on social media later, while feeling awful for this bit of litter as I really really hate litter and have even been on beach cleans myself as I know it’s a terrible problem. Still feel bad about it 3 hours later.

I chose option 4. Genuinely intrigued to know if I made the right choice here as I’m really fighting not texting Henry telling him to go down to the beach when his shift finishes to see if it’s still there!

It’s raining again, this makes me a bit sad really. I know we need it but I’d been used to just loading up the pushchair and venturing out without too much thought and now I’m having to think of all the rainy day activities to occupy Polly and I’m struggling already! Yesterday I did take her to the shop and attempted a welly walk in the puddles but she got bored when she realised that despite all the rain there were actually that many puddles!

Instead we wound up having an impromptu play date as we bumped into her friend Eva (with her Mum obviously!) and the rain started again washing away our run around the park idea- amazing how you bump into other mums doing exactly the same thing as you! So anyway we invited them round for a half hour play instead which meant we could have a cup of tea and biscuits too.

I shouldn’t complain too much as we have had a great week. The towns folk festival went on from Friday to Friday and provided hours of free entertainment. Polly loved the music and was keen to join in. We decided to treat the week like a mini summer holiday. This included a spontaneous trip to the beach Sunday evening. We made Henry a sausage bap and a cup of tea and picked him up from work with his shorts ready. Polly thought it was great fun and loved pouring sand over Seb’s feet to make him laugh.

We also ventured out on Wednesday evening to see the samba band performing on the seafront. We had a quick drink in Duke’s beforehand where Polly enjoyed the performer there.

Henry has had a slightly different week with it being the busiest week of the year at work, but he did manage to enjoy some of the fun too.

We then had a nice evening on Friday when our friend Soph came round with her new boyfriend Sam. Lots of laughing like usual and a wild half naked toddler making herself centre of attention as expected!

I’ve also decided this week that parents should get milestone cards too, much like when your baby laughs for the first time I think there are some highlights in the parenting world that need documenting. I had one this week that I wasn’t prepared for. Picking up an actual human poo off the living room floor. Yup the other morning Polly did a poo into a slightly full nappy while wearing a vest onesie and I couldn’t get to her straight away as I was feeding Seb. And it just sort of fell out while she was playing. Quite a moment that one, although I’m sure there’ll be much worse when we start potty training!

After that delightful image I’ll leave you with a cute couple of Seb who we’ve decided is actually teething already (big sad face).

And here’s a little taster of what folk week is all about!

Polly, you really are quite something. I remember someone saying to me when you were a baby that girls were so laid back and calm. I think it took about 6 months to realise this was crap.

You are an absolute whirlwind. But guess what? I wouldn’t have you any other way!

You make me laugh, you make me proud, you make me want to tear my hair out but you also make me so excited to see your future. People like to comment on how wild you can be, somethings negatively but mainly positively. I know you have your moments but I also see how much love you have to give and how you just want to have fun all the time. Your zest for life is what puts a smile back on my face after I’ve had to tell you to not run off for the 12th time.

I love how you want to chat to everyone and engage with anyone and I’m so sorry that not everyone engages back- honestly how grumpy have you got to be to ignore a 2 year old saying hi. I hope you never let this attitude hold you back- as Taylor would say, the haters are gonna hate.

I love how much you love the things you love. Cars. Puzzles. Bubbles (except when you insist on holding the pot and tip them on the floor). Lions. Rockets. The sea. Music. Babbits (rabbit’s!). The Go Jetters. Fire (not in a sinister way! You love shouting ‘fire’ ‘crash’ when the cars crash in formula one). The stick song. Cake. Buses. Water.

I love how inquisitive you are and always have been. I love your little surprised face where you make a perfect ‘o’ with your mouth and then give a cheeky smile. I love how you say hello and goodbye to anything- the river, the sea, trees, our car, the list goes on!

There’s currently an advert on tv with the caption- ‘holiday like you’re 7’, well you my little munchkin are the advert for ‘live life like you’re 2’.

So really just keep being you.

Love your very proud mama xxx