Eeking out Romjul

My favourite Christmas decorations from all I've spotted out and about - the Momins in the window of Brill, EC1R.

Oh hello there - sorry things have been a bit very quiet over here lately, we've just been enjoying a good old Christmas break. Christmas with a toddler that understands what it's all about for the first time is just so magical. Sat on the sofa on Christmas Eve, out of nowhere, this little exchange happened:

Arlo: thank you mummy
Me: for what?
Arlo: Christmas

Not ashamed to say I shed a small tear - it's been a really lovely break, and just what we all needed.

And in particular we've been having a wonderful Romjul (I've just found out what that means, and I love the concept - you can see more info here). We got back home from London the day after Boxing Day and since then we've been lost in a lazy, what-day-is-it / is-there-any-chocolate-orange-left / shall-we-have-an-afternoon-nap kind of time, and it's been wonderful. So more exciting blog-type stuff to come, I promise - for now, I'm off to eek out the last few days of Romjul.

Happy New Year everyone!

Back to school

I'm not sure you ever really lose that 'back to school' September feeling at this time of year. Tomorrow is my first day back at work for over two weeks and it feels like a lifetime since I was last in the office. Just like lots of teachers and school kids this week, I've been getting myself prepared for the first day back tomorrow. When I was eleven years old, this ritual used to involve fastidiously packing and repacking my pencil case, laying out my uniform at the bottom of the bed, and setting my alarm (and by that I mean an ACTUAL alarm clock, not just a phone setting) a good 30 minutes earlier than was actually necessary. This time round, getting prepared basically means making sure various electronic items are charged and ready to go, but the essence of the ritual is the same (and I've planned out my outfit in my head at least - don't think I'll ever stop doing that).

While last week I was dreading going back to work and our holiday coming to an end, I have to secretly admit that (whispers) I'm actually looking forward to it a bit. It's been wonderful to be off, but it's been long enough. We've been lovely and lazy, but I need a bit of drive now. I have space in my mind to fit in some other stuff. I can't wait to get on the train and read my emails and get back into everything, safe in the knowledge that Arlo is happily playing with all his little mates at the childminders. I know it will make me happier, and will make our next day together even better for having missed each other a bit. That's the thing - there's nothing like a bit of time apart to make the time together feel really special.

So bring on the working week please - after all, the sooner we get to it, the sooner the weekend will come.

The view from our holiday

Oh hi there, sorry for the radio silence around here of late, we've been away and getting right into holiday mode for the last two weeks, i.e. not feeling like doing much. I've had a break from work and blogging and clothes washing and setting an alarm and all the usual stuff, and it's been brilliant to break the routine and chill for a while. I don't want to wang on too much about our family holiday and all the things we got up to, but here are a few snaps that I captured along the way - is Wales pretty or what?! We had a few gloriously sunny days, a lot of very rainy days, and a few in-between grey days, but every single one was lovely. Two whole weeks of proper family time, and not even the sun getting his hat out could've made it better.

Out of office

This boy...  some pics of a grey day we recently spent roaming around our local cemetery. It's very pretty and car-free which makes it a good place for Arlo to explore, so I hope that doesn't sound too weird a hang-out spot! Arlo's love of animals has spread into his clothing and he has some real favourites that he always asks to wear, including this tee covered in little jungle animals - wrestling this off at the end of the day for bath time is not fun!

In other news, I just put my out of office on, as we're off on our holidays this weekend. Two whole weeks off work. Two weeks straight of looking at this face. Lucky. Not sure how much blogging that means will be happening around these parts, I'll just be doing whatever feels right. For me, 'whatever feels right' probably includes things like: reading magazines, having brunch, going to the beach and generally just having a bit of a lounge at every opportunity. For Arlo, 'whatever feels right' will most likely be wearing this animal tee shirt for two weeks straight. But each to their own.

Snapshots from holiday

A few pics from our first ever family holibobs last week. I didn't take lots of photos while we were away, and I don't have lots of words to go with them, except to say it we were in a very happy little family bubble for the best part of a week. We sang, we laughed, we explored. We had lazy days and (some) active ones too. We had really good eats. We forgot what day it was most of the time. We didn't really want to come home. It was all the things a holiday should be.

Back to life...

You know that thing that happens on holiday at some point when you start referring to your hotel room or apartment as 'home'? Well that happened very early on while we were on holiday this week. We had a little two-bedroom cabin booked in the middle of the woods, and after about half an hour of us unpacking, including Arlo covering the floors in train tracks and us filling the fridge with essentials (milk, prosecco), it felt just like home.

So, now that we're back home home, and back to reality - like both of us back at work next week, and needing to do about five loads of washing, and something in the bin smells really bad - I just want to say 'bye' to our temporary little home in the woods. Bye to a week where I didn't wear a watch because there was no need to know what the time was at any point. A week where a lot of laughing happened. Where it was more than acceptable to drink a bottle of prosecco a night. And hot tub relaxing happened on the regs. Sigh.

It wasn't exactly a jam-packed holiday, and we didn't do lots - some hours were whiled away watching cartoons on the sofa, we spent a lot of time drawing elephants, and wooden train tracks needed rearranging often. But whatever we did (or didn't) do all week, we were all together. One whole week spent just the three of us. We all needed it. And Arlo loved it. No-one had to leave, we didn't need to wave anyone off to work, or drop anyone anywhere for the day. It was just the three of us, doing whatever we felt like. So bye, and BIG THANKS to our cabin home in the woods.