memories Archives – Mummascribbles

I’ve been sitting thinking today about how much I miss maternity leave. I’ve been back at work for a long time now but I still think back to those wonderful days when Zach and I were at home or when I was part time and had one or two days with him per week, just he and I. I’m always jealous of everyone who goes off to have a baby and experience such a special time!

Things I miss:

Walks
We used to go out all the time. I often put him in his pram and walked anywhere between 5-10km depending on how fit I was feeling! The regular fresh air for both of us was wonderful and I’d get us home, he’d be asleep and I’d very quietly make a cup of tea and treat myself to a slice of cake while he finished his nap!

Parks
We went to the park a lot. There was one not far from our then flat and the other half would always get sent photos of Zach developing his swing and slide skills. It was a good base to find out how quickly he developed, one minute he couldn’t climb the steps up to the slide and suddenly he could!

Classes
We didn’t do a whole bundle of classes but we did go to baby sensory regularly and we loved it so much. It was wonderful to see him develop there, to start exploring the sensory world and see him using new skills. Even when I went back work, I still had baby sensory days off! He goes to a weekly music class now but my mum takes him and so I just get the report from her as to what he has done, what songs he’s sung and what instruments he played! I’ve managed to go a couple of times when I’ve been on annual leave and it always brings fond memories back of being able to take him regularly.

Playgroups
There was a morning playgroup that I discovered not long before I went back to work and we went a few times. I loved watching him play alongside the other children while mummy had a chat with some of the other mummies.

Appointments
Bit of a weird one but I miss being the one to take him to appointments. Twice I have had to ask my mum to take him to the doctors about his eczema (this morning being one of them), but I always feel like it should be me taking him to the appointments. Even though they were a pain in the bum some of the time, I miss the regular visits to the health visitors to get him weighed! It helped that they always gave me good news because he was a greedy little bubba!

Mummy friends
One of the biggest things I miss is my fellow mummy friends. My antenatal girls who used to meet regularly either at someone’s house or in the John Lewis café at Westfield, Stratford and those that I met through Baby Sensory. They are all still there, I just see them a lot, lot less than I did back then and I miss them and their beautiful children.

Sleep cuddles
Oh I miss those sleep cuddles. When Zach used to fall asleep on me and rather than try and put him down, I would simply sit there and enjoy my boy snuggling into me.

Counting down
I miss counting down the hours until the other half came home. Sometimes because I was tearing my hair out but mostly because it was so lovely having him walk through the door, home to his family and the mess! Nowadays, he beats me and Zach home most of the time!

Maternity leave was the best!!

In January, we had ourselves the case of a missing cat. The only time she’d ever gone before was when she got herself locked in a shed overnight and my dad came round with his ladder and climbed the fences to retrieve her (the shed owners were out!). This time she was gone for four days. It was four worrying days and I’d told myself that she’d gone for good. That was until 6am in the morning when I woke up and could hear her miaowing outside the bedroom window. Despite us having a catflap, she wanted to make her re-appearance through the window! Here she is when she was recovering from her time away – she was incredibly skinny!

In February, Zach’s vocabulary started. He’d said his first word (water), at 14 months old but in this month he discovered the words roll, row, highchair and kitty, although this was pronounced ditty.

In March, he was 18 months old – another little milestone passed! It was also my second Mother’s Day and I was sent off to the Harry Potter Studio Tour which was great he also made me this piece of loveliness at nursery

April was a ridiculously exciting month for us as after weeks of searches, lots of paperwork, banks and solicitors, we completed on our first house purchase. We were finally going to be moving from our tiny one bedroom rented flat (Yep, Zach was still sleeping in our bedroom!), and into our two bed house that had a garden. This was definitely one of the best months of our year and probably of our whole relationship! Here we are opening the door for the first time!

In May, Zach experienced his first live show when we took him to In the night garden live . I really wasn’t sure how he would take to it, whether he would enjoy it, hate it, sit still or want to move around. He was 20 months old and some commented that he was too young but I’m so glad I’d booked those tickets because he had the best time. Probably for about the last 10 minutes he got a bit fidgety but thoroughly enjoyed it and was such a good boy, often completely mesmerised by what was happening on stage.

In June it was our anniversary. In case you didn’t know, the other half and I aren’t married so our anniversary is the day we got together four years earlier, which happened to be at Glastonbury, twelve years after we first met! We’ve been in the same group of friends since college but it was that year that I thought I’d give it a shot! Who knew that four years later we’d have a toddler and a house together?! We didn’t really do anything to celebrate as with the house purchase we were pretty skint!!

Also in June, I started this blog!

July is always a sad month for me as it will now always mark the anniversary of my dad passing away. This year was the second anniversary and once again we spent it with my mum, sister and nephew remembering dad and visiting him where his ashes were buried which is in a huge woodland burial site. It’s the most wonderful place and I’ve mentioned it a few times in previous posts. There is an old style train that sometimes rides past and regular airplanes flying over from the nearby air field. It’s perfect for a toddler with a love of trains and planes! Here he is having helped put flowers down we always go for a little explore round the woodland afterwards!

There were two big occasions in August. One was Zach’s first ever haircut and one was our first festival – Lollibop! Both didn’t go great to be honest but the festival was slightly more successful! I blogged all about the haircut here and all about Lollibop here if you want to read about it in depth! We have recently had the third haircut and the experience has only slightly improved!

September is the biggest month of the year – Zach’s birthday! Also my sister’s and my nephew’s whose are the day after Zach’s (my sister had her son on her birthday!). You can see the full birthday blog here but it was a fun filled weekend full of cake (see this post!), presents and children! Somehow the weather was amazing which was lucky as I’m not sure everyone would have been comfortable squeezing into our front room for two hours!

October will always be the month I’ll never live down as it was the month I went to San Francisco with work! The other half was a single dad for ten whole days as my mum was also away on holiday so our childcare (apart from two days at nursery), was gone! I’m constantly reminded that I owe him 10 days away, despite the fact that I was working ridiculous hours and missed Zach horrendously! Here was the view from our registration desk – it wasn’t all bad!!

October was also the month I started my new job. San Fran was to be my last conference with the company I’d been with for almost 10 years! You can read all about my big decision here. It’s been a big change but so far so good!

November was Zach’s first big meet with Santa. Unfortunately, where I wanted to take him was fully booked throughout December so we had to pick the end of November! It felt a bit early but it did give him the start of the build up as to who Santa actually is! Despite some horrible weather, he had a great day and you can read all about it here.

Sadly November also brought us a very poorly cat. She’s only six but has heart failure among other problems. We know that she won’t be with us for much longer but we don’t know how long. She’s such a special cat and she’ll be sorely missed when she’s gone – even if she is a pain in the bum when she completely misses the litter tray. Her and Zach have actually become better friends just recently and this photo was taken today. All I can hope is that she doesn’t suffer when the end does come. Bless her little cottons.

December has just been a month of fun! It’s just been one massive build up to Christmas and it’s been fantastic! There’s been Christmas dinner with friends, work Christmas parties, children’s christmas parties – I think Zach has met Santa another two times. Christmas has been epic and you can read all about it here!

With just one more day left of the year I think it’s safe to say it’s been an incredible one.

Here’s to another great one in 2015, even though it’s likely there’ll be a little loss in our house.