The Ordinary Moments #2

When I first had Alfie, anyone who was anyone told me that babies love routine. For the 1st few months after having Alfie, we would bath him in his baby bath downstairs, feed him and put him in his moses basket and take him up to bed when we went. This seems crazy when I look back as we would have to creep around and have the tv turned down, the lights were low and carrying a moses basket with a sleeping baby upstairs isn't easy, as I'm sure Michael will vouch for ... but neither of us wanted to be away from him or leave him upstairs on his own when he was so tiny. 

A few months on and we started would would become our permanent routine. We will take Alfie upstairs between 7.15-7.30 and he'll have his bath, get dried and dressed and have his milk. Once he goes upstairs at bedtime, he doesn't come back down until morning. 

As Alfie has got older, bath and bedtime has become Alfie and Daddy's time. Michael will take him up and I will hear them laughing and playing and it's lovely to hear from downstairs - this is very much their bonding time. Usually by that time of day, I'm exhausted and glad of the break to sit and have a hot cup of tea, or I'll clear the tea things away, but sometimes, I'll go up with them and join in the fun. 

At the beginning of April, we went away over night and the hotel only had a shower, so Alfie had his 1st experience of a shower and he loved it! Since then he does tend to have showers more than baths, meaning the whole routine has somewhat been shortened so Alfie isn't quite as relaxed when it's time to get dried and dressed. 

Last night, I was aware that I didn't really have any 'Ordinary Moment' Pictures from this week, so I joined in the bath time fun in aim to get some pictures. Fortunately, Alfie is on form after his bath / shower and last night was no different. 

I love this picture I got of him - Daddy had to help and was pulling very silly faces behind me, but it really just sums up what every night is like for us (me snapping away with my phone, Daddy being silly, Alfie chattering away). Once Alfie is showered, we call come together and we'll talk to Alfie to practice new words and go over what he's done during the day whilst getting him dressed for bed.

Bath and bed time is a very ordinary moment which happens every night, in every house hold, but it is a time I really cherish when we can have lots of cuddles and kisses and finish the day together.

The Ordinary Moments #1

When Alfie was 6 months old I decided I wanted to get into blogging…. My only problem was , I knew less than nothing about where to begin, so the idea got shelved for many more months and I settled for reading, admiring and being totally in awe of the blogs I was reading.

I started to become more active on Twitter and soon started discovering more and more ‘Mummy Bloggers’. The first one I came across was Mummy, Daddy and Me Makes Three. From the first post I read, I was hooked. 

Katie started the linky ‘The Ordinary Moments’ which I’ve been an avid follower of ever since it first went live. A few weeks ago, I took the plunge and started this blog but I’ve not been very good at keeping up with it. Between working, looking after Alfie, spending time with Michael and running a house, life just kind of gets in the way and in the evening’s when Alfie is asleep, I like to catch up with Michael about our day’s or we settle down and watch the latest episode of whatever series we are watching, so blogging does take a very back seat unfortunately. 

So I’ve decided I’m going to make more of an effort going forward. After all, the whole reason of this blog is to have something to look back on with Alfie in the future. 

Which brings me to this week’s Ordinary Moment: 

During the week, we have a very structured routine. Alfie goes to his Nan & Grandad’s four mornings a week for four hours whilst I work. My Mother In Law is great and takes him everywhere: soft play, toddler group, salvation army, to name a few. I am grateful for this because once I finish work at lunch time, Alfie and I will go home, have our lunch, then we’ll have a bit of a play and within an hour or two, he’s ready for his nap and will usually have a couple of hours. By the time he wakes up, we don’t really have much time before I need to get started on our tea. Whilst it would be so much easier to just see to Alfie and for Michael and I to eat later, I really enjoy us all sitting down together and enjoying a family meal. Because of this routine and the fact that I’m so strict with nap times it does mean I don’t get as much time to play with him as I would like. Which is why our weekends are less structured and I really cherish the moments where he can run around freely. 

Yesterday after I’d finished work, we nipped to do a bit of shopping and Alfie woke ridiculously early from his nap so when Michael said we were going to go and play and he asked to go to the park, that’s exactly what we did. 

This was the first time Alfie had been through a tunnel and I was so proud watching him. It’s made me realise how independent he is becoming and how much he’s growing up. These pictures are screen shots I took from a video I filmed on my phone. He just loved it and was loving going in and out of the ‘tummel’ as he very sweetly called it.

I am hoping this will be the first of many ‘Ordinary Moments’ I will capture.

Me and Mine {April}

I can't believe I am so late posting this, especially as this month, I was super organised and got my Me and Mine photo during the first weekend of the month as we were away for the night. 

We went to a place called Shap in the lakes and the place we stayed was in the middle of nowhere but had this beautiful nature trail. On the first afternoon, my camera batteries ran out, meaning I couldn't use the self timer, so I decided we would get our photo on the Saturday. But of course, the good old British weather let me down and it was pouring down. As we were leaving, I was so disappointed because the location would have just been perfect. Just as we were about to leave, there was a break in the rain, so we all jumped back out of the car and I balanced my camera on a grass ledge and here is the result.

I'm not overly happy with it as it was such a  rushed job to get it before the rain started again but it's got happy memories attached as it was Alfie's first night away in a hotel and he had a brilliant time exploring. 

We also got some good old selfies, which I love.

Over Easter, I regretfully didn't take many pictures despite being with both sides of the family. I don't think they understand my love of capturing the ordinary moments and so I tend to shy away from taking too many pics, or asking that someone takes a picture of the three of us. So when we returned home from my Mum and Dad's on Easter Sunday, we were all playing upstairs before Alfie's bath time. Usually, this is Daddy and Alfie time, but I decided to join them and we ended up getting some really great pictures... Ok, I know the quality is terrible and it's grainy as it's a good old iphone shot with the camera forward facing and the lighting is awful, but I love Alfie's expression! 

I think it's my favourite family selfie I've taken :) It did take a few attempts. Here is one of the out-takes: 

It makes me smile every time I look at this photo, because it just sums Alfie up completely - he's so cheeky and has got his own personality and he just loves to pull his tongue out whenever he sees his reflection. 

So that was us in April.... I'm already planning May's photo as Michael is running the Manchester 10k on my birthday which will be a great photo opportunity and at the end of the month we are off to London over night to stay with my cousin. I'm already looking forward to taking photo's of us all in the Capital!