word of the week

It has been tricky trying to sum up the recent days in a single word, and in the end I have opted for "change".

Since I last blogged, maternity leave has kicked in and there has been a real change of pace! Funnily enough, having never been a morning person, I am suddenly up with The Husband as he heads to work and pottering around the house from quite early in the day. Not, unfortunately doing anything overly productive, the nesting instinct has been stronger in The Husband who is cleaning and sorting things at an alarming rate, but it has been nice to make the most of the mornings, with the radio and the dog for company.

There have been some lovely days with family and friends, including a surprise spa day with my best friend just over a week ago, a fabulous afternoon tea with my Grandad, and a few trips out to garden centres. After the spa day, I also got the courage to visit the local pool this week, and really enjoyed swimming a few lengths and being in the water after so long. I've also got back into the habit of planning meals, enjoying stocking up the freezer and trying some different recipes, like the onion bhajis I shared on instagram. Tonight there will be toad in the hole, with Grandad joining us, and potatoes from my parents allotment - it's all very domesticated around here isn't it!

I also treated myself to a new radio and bluetooth speaker for the conservatory, and once that arrived I splashed out on some new storage baskets which I have been meaning to buy for years! It is one of my favourite rooms, especially in the summer, and it is lovely to sit in there with Millie and enjoy the peace and quiet.

There have been a few unwanted changes too, like this time last week when our food-obsessed beagle suddenly stopped eating and starting being sick. We were having a lovely day celebrating my mum's birthday, with presents, a family meal, and a successful attempt at an eton mess cake creation, but she definitely wasn't quite herself. After lots of watching and waiting, we finally succumbed to a trip to the emergency vets late on Sunday, and after some injections (and giving thanks that The Husband is on the ball with pet insurance, because I definitely am not) we were sent home with a rather lethargic dog to look after. After a few days of rice and some paste from the vets which she seemed to adore, she is entirely back to normal. It's funny that we spend so much time telling her not to jump, lick, bark, and so on, but when she stops doing all those things we desperately want her back to her mischievous self!

Then on Friday, when I was already having a day fretting about whether the baby was moving enough, I inadvertently wiped my whole phone. Despite The Husband's extensive efforts on Friday night, the photos and messages were not retrievable, and I learnt the hard way about making sure you regularly back up. I was pretty devastated on Friday, there were (perhaps a slightly disproportionate amount of) tears, and I generally was feeling rather sorry for myself, especially to think I had lost the pictures from the last eight months, particularly with it having been my 30th celebrations, and the duration of the pregnancy. Gradually though, The Husband and my mum set about sending me photos that I had shared with them, and pictures they had, and there have been more than enough to fill the void! It was also lovely to look back over them all and reminisce about so many happy occasions, and realise how many wonderful memories there have been. In that spirit, the picture above is one from the collection I have re-acquired in the past few days, taken from the birthday meal my parents treated us to at Northcote.

So, while not all of the changes this week were particularly planned, and in some cases, weren't that positive, I'm glad to say I end the week feeling very happy indeed, with our beautiful beagle, as giddy as she can be, with the wonderful memories we have made over the last year, with the fabulous family we have, the new addition that will soon be joining us, and for tonight, with the prospect of toad in the hole and good company!