It's obvious he's a Pisces...

...just like his mammy! Finn took his first dip in the swimming pool today; we were prepared for him to hollar after about ten minutes but he lasted a full FORTY and didn't even cry when we got him out to get him changed!

The giant inflatables were also out and both Steve and I went sliding off them in a ridiculous manner. Thankfully there is no photographic evidence of this, though the memory of a six foot four giant ginger man flying off a children's inflatable will be etched in my memory forever!

xxx

Sunday Summary 2

Yesterday (Sunday), we headed up to Steve's parents to spend a few days away from home. They're still in France so it means we have the run of the whole house! 

To start, we headed to Chillingham Castle, apparently the most haunted castle in England (but no, we didn't witness any paranormal activity)!

It was quite interesting reading a recent post by Janine at A Handful of Peanuts, talking about not taking time to enjoy the moment; I'd bought a special offer on Groupon to get half price entry to the castle but when we arrived, they drew my attention to the small print: the offer wasn't valid on that day. We ended up having to pay full price and my excitement of a bargainous family day out was pooped on from a great height. Annoyed is an understatement! Then I stopped. I saw Steve and Ben running round the castle grounds enjoying the sunshine, I looked down at smiley happy Finlay strapped to my chest, I looked at the stunning sunshine that drenched the picturesque castle grounds we were sat in. I was missing the moment entirely. 

Sometimes you need to make sure these beautiful moments aren't lost to sweating the small stuff, that really, when you look back, never really mattered anyway.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend folks.xxx

Sunday Summary 1

On Saturday the weather was glorious, it was frustrating that we spent most of the day having to run yawnsome errands rather than making the most of the beautiful sunshine. However, in the evening we were off to the evening wedding party of friends Clara and Jamie, taking place on a gorgeous farm in the Northumberland countryside.

The whole thing was pretty spectacular, the most amazing part (and saying a lot about how much these two are loved) is that nearly everything was given or made for them, from the real ales, to the HUGE vegetarian banquet to the even huger marque that the dancing took place in- all made just for their special day. 

We did have our 'smart' shoes with us, but after we spotted the bride had swapped her sandals for white trainers, we took our cue from her and grabbed our wellies from the car.

Excuse the lack of decent photos, a certain 13 week old baby decided he didn't want to miss a single second and was pretty much wide awake the whole evening!

{Just after the bouquet thrown... and caught by the 87 year old grandma!}

{Ben and the beautiful bride}

{Ben and the boys}

{Fading light}

{The baby that would not sleep}

{Ben and Alex}

Congratulations guys and enjoy the honeymoon (which they are spending in a lighthouse- how romantic!)xxx

Sunday Summary 2

Once a year, Newcastle comes alive at night (or rather, more so than usual)for The Late Shows. The concept is pretty cool: numerous venues that are normally closed to the public or, at least closed at night, open their doors to everyone. Everyone who attends gets a funky glow stick so people wander round the city illuminated, as though we're all part of some secret society.The best bit? It's all pretty much free of charge. 

In the past, I've attended with friends and was usually accompanied by a cheeky bottle of sloe gin in my bag for top-ups when walking round the venues. This year, we had the boys with us and it added a new, more placid vibe to the night. We began with dinner at a local Lebanese restaurant Albaik.

{Falafel is probably one of my fav foods of all time}

{Amusing how in every photo Finn is eye-balling the food}

We managed to fit in a visit to a pottery, a print works and Seven Stories (the national centre for children's books aka heaven for two English teachers) where they had exhibitions on Enid Blyton and 'How to Train a Dragon'.

{In the story telling chair with my boys}

{Ben trying his hand at being a Viking}

{The Gruffalo and his little friend}

{Handsome boy}

{Funky graffiti}

{Runaway horses above a doorway}

{Ben tries his hand at operating the printing press}

Another lovely weekend, and the best part? Next week it's half-term so Steve and Ben are off for a whole week!

Sunday Summary 1

The North East Children's Cancer Run has been a bit of a family tradition, both for Steve's family, my own and, well, probably most families in Newcastle! 

The aim of the day is to raise as much money as possible for running five miles around the course (or a mile round the children's course). This was the first year that Ben was able to do the full course and, motivated by the free picnic all runners receive at the end, they ignored the mud and came in at a respectable time of one hour three minutes.

{Well done boys, you make me and little Finlay proud} 

Extra special thanks to my parents who sat and kept me and Finn company while the boys ran.

We had a busy weekend so part two will have to wait until tomorrow, until then...Rx

Howick Hall

A rare and beautiful thing happened in England last bank holiday weekend- the sun came out; sunshine over a three day weekend is a seldom witnessed but beautiful creature. We made the most of it by enjoying every last ray while out and about in Northumberland, including our first visit to Howick Hall and Gardens (just past Alnwick).

After a long grey winter, it finally felt like spring had sprung!

{My baby boy}

{So delicate}

{Ben negotiating the map, the grounds were a LOT bigger than we had anticipated}

{Kissed by the sun's rays}

{Blossoms}

{Heavenly scent of Eucalyptus from the sticky sap of pine cones}

{You'd think Finlay was on solids the way he is eyeing up Steve's scone}

The weather justified a picnic, but as we had lunch before we went, we 'made do' with giant slices of cake and scones from the coffee shop. Howick Hall was the home of Earl Grey (as in the tea), so really we should have had some but instead opted for milkshakes!I had the courgette cake which, if you should visit, is a must.

In a totally random aside, I loved that top photo but it highlighted how desperately I need my hair doing; it look less dip-dyed and more like I've just let my roots run wild! I'm getting it cut and dyed tomorrow (with 11 week old baby in tow) so wish me luck! 

Hope you're enjoying a bit of warmth where ever you are,

Rach xxx

So it's been a while... but I have a very adorable excuse!

Introducing the very lovely Finlay Graham Sanderson-Smith

So what can I tell you about this gorgeous young man? He was born three hours after my due date, 03:05 with wide awake blue eyes, red hair and weighing in at a respectable 8lb 5.5 ounces. 

Needless to say he's rocked our world and we're utterly smitten. Though there have already been countless amazing moments being a family of four, the highlight for me is undoubtedly seeing the love between Ben and Finn- it just melts my mammy heart.

Anyway, sorry for being away for so long, I'm sure you didn't even notice but it's good to be back nonetheless! 

Rach xxx

Bumpy bookends!

Yesterday was my lovely mum's 60th birthday! We went to see the fabulous Beautiful Burnout at Northern Stage  in Newcastle. My Dad has been itching to get a photo of his two grandsons 'in transit' and so here is Kim and I with our bumps at the theatre. Kim's 38 weeks and I'm 26 weeks now! How the time flies! Can't wait to snuggle my little nephew.

PS- Taking my mum to Harrogate at the weekend, any suggestions welcome!xxx

Sunday Summary (Life lately)

This isn't strictly restricted to Sunday but hey ho! Here's a summary of our half term escapades:

{A rare date night at a local Lebanese restaurant} 

{Tree climbing}

{Horse riding- how cute are the little ear muffs to keep the flies out? NB- Ben didn't have a helmet on as it was only a short guided walk}}

{A terrifying friendly scarecrow}

{And to think he's the father of my children!}

{On the farm}

Photos taken from both the Lakes and at home. Seriously don't know how the time crept away from us!

Hope you're all enjoyed the holidays if you were lucky enough to have half-term off.xxx

A walk in the clouds...

Literally! We were over 1500 ft above sea level for a walk in the Lakes. As we got to peak, the clouds drew in around and we found ourselves in the middle of a snow storm. There were a couple of hairy moments but we made it back down alive and it'll be one of my best memories of our time in the Lakes.

{Ice with that?}

{The brave explorers}

{Oh so cold! Ben has giant sleeves as he's wearing my jumper on top of his own layers; don't worry about me, I had my bump radiator to keep me warm! Believe it or not I only had a t-shirt under the coat but was still warm}

{Touch the sky! The tiny white pub bellow was where we warmed up in front of a lovely log fire afterwards}

{My boys}

{A little mountain hobbit Ben}

I treasured every moment of this day as I realise the chances are it'll be a couple of years before we'll be doing this again but I'm sure we'll enjoy buba-friendly walks instead!

I've been putting off this post...

...but I really want to update on all the other things that we've been up to, but felt I couldn't without doing this update first as you've al been so lovely.

It was bad news: Gizzy has cancer. We were absolutely devastated and I'm just about coming to terms with it now. It is stage one and it wasn't all removed but, after talking to numerous specialists, we've decided it would be wrong to put a three legged, elderly dog through a serious operation on his other leg (a large amount of muscle would have to be removed, leaving him incapable of walking for weeks)- and there would be no guarantee it won't reappear elsewhere.

Instead, we've decided to leave him be and spoil him rotten- even more than we normally do! We may just have months but the vet said there's also a good chance we could have him longer and he may even leave us through old age.

Strangely, the thing that helped me come to terms with this was when somebody (trying to comfort me) said: "Losing a dog is like losing and child." and, though I didn't say anything, I just thought no, it's not! I know people very close to me who have lost a child and it tears your world apart. Losing a pet is devastating, but simply not comparable. We've had the pleasure of having the wonderful Gizzy for over ten years and he's around twelve now, which is great going for a dog. So, we've tried to make the selfless choice and rather than put him through the trauma of an operation that may not work, just so we can have him longer, we've opted to allow him to be happy and enjoy as long as he's here and pain free. 

So, now that I've got that horrible post out of the way, some lovely posts will follow... I promise!

Feel like it's been forever but I'm sure you can forgive me when I show you the sorry little face I've been looking after:

I say I've been looking after him, he's been looking after me too as I've had a rough couple of weeks but we're both gradually beginning to feel more human/doggy again.

The operation to remove his lump went well and at his first check up the vet was really pleased with the way the stitches were healing. His next check up is Saturday morning when hopefully they will have the test results to let us know what the lump was; I don't think we'll rest peacefully until we know that our hairy first born boy will be okay.

I'm hoping to post more fully towards the end of the week, hope you're all well.xxx

Please send Gizzy your good vibes/ prayers/ happy thoughts

{Giz curled up with some pom poms I'd been making}

Just under two weeks ago Steve was lying on the carpet giving Gizzy a scratch when he found a small pea sized lump at the top of his left leg. I took him to the vets the next day and they reassured me that it could be a whole host of things, to just ignore it for two weeks and then look at it again to see if it had grown/ changed (you shouldn't check daily as it's harder to work out if it's grown).

I checked it today. It's bigger, a lot bigger and very angry looking. I took him straight back to the vets and tomorrow he's having an operation to have it removed. We don't know what it is yet and won't until the results come back from the lab.

If I'm looking for the silver lining, it's that he doesn't have to stay overnight at the vets. Being a cat and dog shelter dog/ dog who spent a lot of time in the vets having operations on the leg he eventually had removed, he's not a dog to enjoy being left in a cage in a strange place overnight.

All good vibes/ prayers/ happy thoughts etc welcome. xxx