Summer 2018 has been pretty life changing… I even altered the blog name!!
But first…
June marked the end of our first year in our new home. In fact it was when it really started to feel like home too. The carpets went down and the lighting was finished. The upstairs of our house is exactly as we want it now, you know the reason for the improvements now! Just the small matter of a downstairs extension and a new kitchen to consider next… But we are saving that joy for after weaning! June was also the month that a patch of soil at the end of the garden…
…became Mr P’s incredible first go at growing vegetables! We haven’t been that brave this year – just potatoes, tomatoes, sunflowers and herbs… But I think he has green fingers – he planted 50 tomato plants and they all grew, 6 potatoes that have all become plants and 30 sunflowers that all grew! The veg patch is also in a lush spot at the end of the garden and watering the plants morning and night really is rather relaxing and stunning in itself!
It’s amazing how quickly they grow! And let me tell you, eating produce from your own garden is a real treat! Even if 100 potatoes do arrive at the same time! Why is it again that the packets don’t recommend how many you plant per size of family… We know for next year now!
Now we’ve been here a year we have found ourselves something of a house tradition. Thursday night fish, chips and fizz (note the fizz is non-alcoholic)! At our local station once a week the fish and chip van sets up shop. We’d only stopped once or twice in all of the rest of the year, but since it has been warm enough in the garden for supper we’ve stopped by more regularly. It is a real treat for us because where we live is too remote to get a take-away delivery!
June was a home month and what a perfect month of weather it was to be kicking around in Hampshire. Although I was over the heatwave pretty quickly, ugh! We had a few hospital appointments in Winchester and made the most of grabbing a drink from Coffee Lab (they also do fab vegan cakes) and strolling around the cathedral and water meadows. Sleepy and beautiful.
Closer to home with the fields almost ready for harvest we had some lovely evening walks. We still pinch ourselves that we can hop off the train from London and with a quick change of clothes be walking in the fields ten minutes later. It still feels like taking a holiday at home, perfect respite from a busy day at work!
We had a mini break to the Cotswolds that Mr P arranged as a final treat ahead of the impending arrival!.. The Lygon Arms is now beautifully run by our friends from the Chewton Glen and Cliveden House and it was lovely to see how they’ve turned something that was a bit stuffy and tired into something charming and relaxing. And relax we did!
It’s also a stunning bit of the world. In a heatwave the best place to head is the hill that Broadway Tower sits atop. Such a great breeze, and the views aren’t bad either!
We also stumbled across the Cotswold lavender fields which really are stunning – in scent and sight. I’ve not paid to walk around a field before, but it was worth the pennies. Especially since they were on another exposed and breezy hillside!
As the seemingly never-ending heatwave rumbled on (not that it did rumble, we could really have done with some thunder to break it) we noticed that the cows were watching our vegetable patch antics carefully… They’d spotted the hosepipe. And they wanted watering. As a result watering the plants took on a slight more interesting angle.
At one point when Mr P dared to turn away and stop providing water, he actually got a lick to nudge him back into action. Delightful!
The end of June also marked the end of work for me. As is now obvious from the blog, maternity leave was upon me! So yes I enjoyed the heatwave with a bump… and with a newborn… For years to come people will know just how tough that was, now that summer 2018 has been confirmed as hottest on record!!
When I started maternity leave I realised just how lucky I am to have colleagues and bosses that I am so fond of spending time with. The first couple of weeks after finishing felt pretty empty as a result, and that I had passed my job onto two other people to do instead of me!
Then Baby P arrived a week early and the rest is history. In fact the first sunflower bloomed on his due date. He needs me, all the time, and I love it! Mr P has 6 weeks paid paternity leave and so pretty much from day 1 at home we made the most of being a new little family, taking little trips here and there. Somehow I bounced back within 24 hours of giving birth! I guess I had to get lucky somewhere after many years of the journey!
We are loving cuddles with Baby P and even feeding him in the small hours is rewarding. He has his moments that’s for sure, and the extreme heat wasn’t helpful. The light evenings and early sunrises mean a summer baby’s hours aren’t so bad on the body clock… Watching the sunrise as he feeds is heart melting and beautiful!
Time doesn’t stand still. Suddenly he was a week old. Then 2, 3, 4, 5, 6… We have thousands of photos (and memories) of these first 6 weeks! Aside from a trip to Cowes, Highclere and countless walks near home (I love my Ergobaby carrier!), I really can’t tell you where the time went. July blurred into August and now it is (well and truly) September. What I can say is time was well used and much loved!
I’ve been thinking about what is next for my blog. Clearly I added ‘and baby’ to the name already! Of course we will continue to travel, his passport has arrived and Vienna beckons this winter. So there will be more travel – perhaps slightly different and no doubt more UK or Europe based! I have already learnt and laughed so much as a mother that I have plenty of anecdotes to share, they’ll be coming to the blog too. I do also want to share something of the last 4 years now that we’ve got to a happy place, as we learnt a lot. And of course there will be a a pregnancy and birth story. Varied but interesting and part of documenting life which is what this little space on the internet has always been for.
PP&Bxx
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beautiful summer, and how nice that your baby arrived at the same time as the blooming of the sunflowers..your baby is your sunshine, right?:)
Tanja/The Red Phone Box travels recently posted…(My ) London
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Quite uncanny!! He very much is our sunshine ☀️
Those fish and chips look like a such a treat! Reminds me when we would farm vegetables with my dad on our farm. Real huge heavy cabbages and huge capsicum.
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Can’t beat home grown but fish and chips is a good second!