1 Year

Babe! We did it! We have our little bear alive and thriving for 1 whole year!

Its not been the easiest year has it? We have had lockdowns, hospital stays, tongue ties, clicky hips, blocked boobs, hormones, 100s of overtime hours, deaths and well loads of tears (on my part). But with all of those challenges, all of the hardship and struggles we have had so much fun, laughter and made the most amazing memories. Bella has just slotted into our life and it’s like she was always there, she is just a perfect mix of us both.

She is as besotted with you as I am, the joy in her face when she see’s you is just wonderful, you are most definitely her first love and her absolute hero. That week you were apart from us and all the hours you work and I know you feel like you miss out, hasn’t stopped her love for you and your bond is so amazingly strong.

You know the last 12 months were hard and I know I have taken hormones, grief and frustration out on you. You never fail to show up and be there for me every single day, making me feel loved, appreciated and needed. Reminding me that its ok to have a bad day, but to not pack up and live there. Thank you for being my rock and always showing me how loved I am even when I don’t believe its true.

We don’t have a baby anymore, we have a toddler! What the hell! I can’t wait for us to make special memories over the summer and get to watch her experience things for the first time. We have created our family and its just so very special.

Now lets have a drink and celebrate our success!

Love

Woo xxxx

Girl Gang

When I was pregnant I can vividly remember driving to work, talking to my bump (like I always did) as if it was a girl in there. Telling her all the things we would do together as a little girl gang. It never crossed my mind that I could have been carrying a boy, I just knew I had a little mate in there.

Obviously the past year has meant that our girl gang dates have been restricted and few and far between. I am so excited that restrictions are going to slowly start to get lifted and although I am back at work, we can still have some time together just the 2 of us.

It’s silly, but I have already thought in my head one day a week, just the 2 of us are going to go out, we are going to have breakfast or lunch out, we are going to go to farm or the zoo together. Head down to the beach in the summer and play in the arcades, go crabbing and eat candyfloss until all our faces and hands are sticky.

I want to always make sure Bella has Mummy dates and Daddy dates as well as family time. For me it’s important that she has memories more than things, I would love when she is older for her to sit with us and reminisce on a the fun memories she has rather than be proud about how much material items she has.

Don’t get me wrong, she is our first and only child, so its inevitable that she won’t want for anything, but it’s so important to the both of us that she understands the value of things. Whether that’s the value of money or time spent with loved ones. I hope she never takes anything for granted.

So roll on the days where I can sit down with her in a little cafe, me with a coffee, her with a babyccino sharing a big slab of cake. Roll on warmer days when she can be surrounded by people who love her and us in the garden, with her ears filled with the sound of music, laughter and love.

I will have a 1 year old on Sunday and she still has so much of the world to explore. Watch out, because she is going to take us on such a magical journey!

Emma xxx

Outside Haven

If you follow my Instagram or have read previous posts here you will know in 2019 we did massive renovations to our home. We lowered part of our garden, rebuilt our boundary wall, extended to give us a massive kitchen/diner, oh and got pregnant haha!

Honestly 2019 the garden changed, so dramatically, just take a look!

We kinda paused everything in 2020, we had a new baby, but the garden still looked like a builders yard. Building materials were either hard to get hold of or the price had shot up, Matt ended up being quite poorly too, so we just paused. Then Matt said, right this garden is going to be finished for Bella’s first birthday so we can have her little friends over. Well, the government decided like many other lockdown babies, she wouldn’t be having a first birthday party. Lucky Matt! His timeframe moved to when we were allowed people in the garden, only a week or so after the original dead line.

So here we are again, my driveway is always either full of building materials or wood, my garden is just about good enough to hang the washing out BUT we are on the home stretch. Here is where we (Matt) is at now, oh yes, the boundary wall is going higher!

Since 2019, we have had lots of lovely help from friends and family. I know they will all enjoy partying in the garden when its finished, just as much as we will. We are nearly done & I can’t wait to be able to get out there, play with Bella, have BBQs, cocktails in the sun and fun in the paddling pool! This house is built to be a sociable house, so we need to give it what it needs!

Do you want to see some inspiration for our garden? I can’t wait to show you the finished product!

Matt has promised that once this is done that’s it for a few years……we will see! He can never sit still!

Emma x

Travel Buddies

Matt had been my travel buddy now for almost 12 years. We have done city breaks, staycations, beach holidays and everything in between and it has been wonderful. We got into a habit a few years ago of taking each other away for our birthdays, usually a city break or staycation. Matt recently turned 30 and I know we would have gone away either with Bella or just the 2 of us. However, obviously in the current times we are in, it just wasn’t possible, but I did promise Matt I would take him away when we could. It was his destination of choice & he decided he wanted to return back to Budapest.

My lovely friend Emma recently became an independent travel agent, so I messaged her straight away and asked her to look at deals for us in September for Budapest. She found some cracking deals, but with restrictions and vaccinations being needed I decided not to book at the moment. Emma has some wonderful deals available at the moment, if you are searching for a break away then definitely reach out to her, have a look for curiosity_passion_travel on Instagram or Facebook, she offers such a personal service compared to what you get from most travel agents.

As I mentioned above my travel buddy and I have already been to Budapest, you can check out our adventure here. This time though, I would definitely like to revisit some places and explore some new places, so I thought I would share with you what is on the wishlist for our next trip.

More Goulash

Goulash is one of the traditional foods of Hungary and we had some lovely dishes whilst we were there. However I would really like to try some more, perhaps hunt down a small local restaurant to try, I often find if you go to a more touristy restaurant then you don’t get a true taste! So let’s give it another go.

Ruin Bars

We had a little afternoon/evening to a couple of ruin bars, but didn’t really properly experience it. So definitely would like to do that all again, we love a good party and opportunity to let our hair down and definitely will need to do that as ultimately we are there to celebrate a milestone birthday. Maybe even a couple of friends will go out there with us and it will be a proper party!

Another Thermal Spa

When we visited first time we went to Széchenyi Thermal Baths, it was lovely and so relaxing! We picked that spa based on recommendations from friends and well of course the internet haha! However, this time I would like to visit a different one, perhaps Gellért Thermal Bath. It sounds brilliant, 10 different baths including one outdoors, so we would have plenty of choice!

New York Café

I wanted to do this last time, but we just didn’t get time and I recall when we drove past it was really busy. However it looks beautiful inside and is labelled as one of the most beautiful cafe’s in the world. Hopefully we will be able to make it there and perhaps even enjoy a bit of cake!

Market Hall

We loved visiting here last time, but wished we had done upstairs first to try the delights of street food. So that would definitely be where we head first, also to get some little souvenirs too! We are big foodies and always enjoy trying out different food and I seem to remember we had duck scratchings last time we were there and there was tonnes of paprika!

For Sale Pub

We went here for dinner and drinks with a lovely swedish couple we met (and are still in touch with) earlier that afternoon! We were all so, so, drunk and I recall ordering some food, but I don’t remember eating a thing. I do remember the atmosphere being fantastic, it was super busy and just really friendly! So we definitely need to return, this time definitely sober and experience it all again!

Have you been to Budapest? Where would you recommend us visiting?

Emma xxx