thanksgiving/christmas ~ florida/suffolk

We have had quite the busy autumn/winter season here in our household. 

As mentioned in my last post, I started a new job in October. Work has been all-encompassing since then. I now have a team of 8 and I'm in charge of all financial operations at my new company; it has been intense to say the least. 

Surprisingly though, I am enjoying the challenge. My new company is only 10 minutes away from home, instead of 50 minutes at my previous job. This has made all the difference. I am getting nearly 7 hours more every week with my little boy in the commute time-saving alone. And if when I have a long or stressful day in the office, I'm only a few minutes from my family once I leave.   

After the hectic first few weeks at my new job, it was great to be able to have a break in November and go back to Florida. We hadn't been since we visited for Thanksgiving 2 years ago. Back then, I was worried about how to cope with a 4 month old on a flight. 

In hindsight, and with the recent memories of a flight to-and-from Florida with a toddler, flying across the Atlantic with a baby was a breeze!

After some tearful moments and lots of Peppa Pig on the iPad we made it safely to the sunshine state and had a great time with family. 

We arrived back in the UK in early December. Last week, we hosted Christmas dinner at our house for the first time. I was nervous about this but it was better than I thoughts: Mr M and I could both drink freely without worrying who was driving home; we could put Nate down for a nap in his own bed while people were still here; and we had lots of leftovers to nibble on the next few days. 

Now I am on another break from work. My new company closes down for the week between Christmas and New Year and I am enjoying the time with Nate before work starts again... 


FLORIDA TRIP

CHRISTMAS 

Six months later

It's been six months since I last got around to posting an update. Six months is soooooo long and as expected lots has happened and changed here in our world. 

Spring and summer flew by with lots of exciting trips and visitors and now autumn is busy turning the world golden. The clocks changed this weekend and I have started drinking pumpkin spiced lattes, so winter is surely on its way.

This summer was full of adventures. Nate turned 2 (gasp!), my sister and her boyfriend visited from New York, my mom visited from Florida, we attended a 60th birthday party, a dozen toddler parties, a sausage and beer festival, AND we went to Barcelona for a long weekend.  

And on top of everything else, I started a new job this month!

Hopefully I will get around to updating with some more details at a later date..until then I will let these photos tell the story...

At home

auntie Debbie!

Out and about

In Barcelona

Spring time - blog update

Happy Spring everyone! We are really enjoying this time of year, especially in our new house with its bigger garden. The previous owner's of our house were avid gardeners and now that Spring is here we are reaping the benefits of all their effort. 

It has been great for us all to spend time in the garden and of course the dogs are loving it too. 

Now that Nate is a proper walking toddler, we are also extremely pleased to be living close to woodland, parks, family and friends. We regularly throw on our wellies and coats, leash up the dogs, and just start walking. It's amazing how many things we find on our little mini-hikes. 

I am still working 4 days a week. I enjoy the mixture of working hard for 4 days, but still having a long 3-day weekend with Nate.

Fridays are my day off work and the day that Nate and I get to spend together, just the two of us. We usually have a lazy morning, watch the children go to school from our window, still in our pajamas, then we get dressed and go to a local toddler play group in the village hall. We meet up with friends at the group if possible and sometimes we visit Nate's great-grandmother who lives next door to the village hall.

On Fridays there is also library story time (which is a big hit with Nate) and a toddler free play session at the gymnastics center.

Nate is starting to become a goof-ball, I love it! He is still quite sensitive and shy in big groups and takes a while to warm up. But once he does, he is hilarious. 

His favourite thing at moment is running as fast as he can towards me, jumping into my arms, then arching his back, attempting (I think) to do some sort of backwards hand stand. I have no idea where that came from but it is funny - I just have to be careful he doesn't hurt himself.

It's only 3 months until Nate turns 2. I have been thinking of what to get him for his birthday and I'm leaning towards a balance bike, but haven't completely made up my mind. 

And here are some more cute photos from the past 3 months:

Taking a selfie

In the kitchen

A postcard from Nana & Grandad

Trying to block his eyes from the sun

Nate is 18 months

I haven't posted for so long...and I am annoyed with myself for being so slack. But wow, having a walking, running, climbing, laughing, crying toddler, plus working 4 days a week... well, it really makes it hard to do anything else but collapse on the sofa in a heap at the end of every day. 

But here I am, finally, because I want to tell you all that Nate is now 18 months! 

What a great age this is, but also exhausting. 

18 months is a time of extreme emotions for Nate. In one moment he is crying so hard his face turns purple, then the next moment he is laughing hysterically and running up and down the hallway. He is exploring everything: the forbidden objects in the cupboard; the prickly bushes in the garden; the football pitch; the playground; everything is an item of wonder. 

18 months is a time of speech development. In the past 3 months Nate has gone from babbling nonsensically to saying proper words like "ball" and "bike" and short phrases like "he's in there" and "I don't' know". It is also a time of pushing boundaries and defying rules, shoving another child and then hugging her a moment later. 

18 months and Nate is the cusp of toddler-hood. He can't really be called a baby anymore, even though he is still my little baby. I look at him and in the same glimpse I see the baby he was and the school child he will become. 

These past few months have seen huge changes for Nate, but also for our whole family. We have moved into a new home. It is in a different neighborhood in our town and we hope to stay here for a very long time. It is an older house, so there is a lot of work to do, but we are excited to start making this place our own. 

Here are some photos from the last 3 months...