Posts in category: Personal

I know this is such a clichéd thing to say, but how lovely is it now the afternoons are getting lighter for longer!

We had enough of a break in the rain last week that I was able to take Nerys’ scooter with me when I went to pick the children up from school.  So she had a brilliant time scooting round the playground before we headed back to the car.

Then once we got home she asked if she could stay out and scoot around outside the house for a little bit.  The late afternoon light was gorgeous so I grabbed the camera and called Rhys out so I could take a photo of him while she played.

I don’t know if it’s his pose or his expression but he looks so much older to me in this photo.

He’ll be 8 in a little over a month and it feels like he’s in a bit of a transition; still so young in many ways but getting quite grown up in others.  I’m very aware that I need to keep taking little steps back and letting him make his own way, his own choices.  All while letting him know that I’m still right here whenever he needs me.

After taking a few pictures of Rhys I managed to get Nerys to stay still long enough to get a few of her before she whizzed off again.

I love this photo of her, the happy smile on her face, the rather windswept hair.

She has always been quite independent, wanting to do things for herself.  One of the last few ‘baby phrases’ that she still uses is ‘let I do it’, and she uses it quite a lot.

At her swimming lesson this week she told me with complete confidence that she could walk down to her group by herself without me.  What made me smile though was that, while she walked off happily on her own, she still looked back to make sure I was still right there in case she needed me.

My mum has always said to me that our children are only lent to us.

Our job is to give them the skills they need to go out into the world on their own.  To make their own way.  To live their own lives.  They’re not ours to keep or to hold on to too tightly.

If we do it right though, they go out into the world completely safe in the knowledge that whatever happens we’re always here if they need us.

My parents did it right.  I hope I’m doing OK too.

I can’t quite believe that we’re at the siblings project for March already, where is this year going?

It actually feels quite funny writing this now, and looking at the photos for this month when we were out in the gorgeous warm sunshine, as it’s back to being grey and chilly again now.  I’m so pleased I took the chance to grab these photos of Rhys and Nerys together while we were at the park in the half term holidays enjoying the few days of random warm weather.

We had been to the shops, played on the swings and the climbing frame, had an early picnic lunch and a few turns on the zip wire before we walked over to the big slide as a last stop before heading back home.

The children actually had the slide all to themselves which they loved because it meant they could pretty much do whatever they wanted.  They climbed up it a few times, and tried out all sorts of ways of sliding back down, including going down together.

These two can wind each other up something chronic at times, but most of the time when it is just the two of them they get on really well and play so nicely together.  They had so much fun together at the park, watching to see what ideas the other one came up with then trying them for themselves.

They are quite different in nature, and in the way they think and how they see the world, which seems to be a good thing so far.  I think as they get older they’ll sort of challenge each other more (hopefully in a good way), which will help them learn to see things from other points of view and to consider thinking about things from a different angle.

If you have more than one child, do you think they’re really similar or are they quite different from each other?

We survived the first week back at school after the half term holidays.

It was actually a pretty good week all round.  Both the children were happy to head back to school and see all their friends again.  Rhys went on a class trip to the national botanic garden of Wales, and came home saying he’d had an amazing day.  And on Saturday we popped over to Cwmbran to see my sister and her family for the day.

We’d actually not seen each other since before Christmas, so the children were all really excited about not only seeing each other but getting to finally exchange Christmas presents.  And Nerys had the extra bonus of birthday presents from her cousins too.

So this week’s living arrows photos are of a very happy little girl with her first fingerling, and a boy full of beans and raring to get jumping on his cousins’ trampoline again.

I always love it when I manage to get together with my siblings and their children, it makes me so happy to see the cousins all play together.  They always seem to get on so well.  And this time around I got to spend some one on one time with my oldest niece which was so lovely.

I’d bought her a cushion for her bedroom for Christmas so she took me up to show me how well it would go with the star theme she’s got going on.  Then she showed me box after box of her bits and pieces.  It just made me smile so much, thinking how young me would’ve loved pretty much everything she showed me.  And feeling really quite touched that she wanted to spend that time with me.

Seeing her now, seeming so much more grown up than even a year ago, it seems so crazy to think of her at just a week old at my wedding.

It’s a real privilege really, isn’t it.  Getting to see any child in your life grow and change and show more and more of the amazing people they are.

So we’re back to the school routine this morning after a really lovely week off for half term.

We had some absolutely glorious weather at the start of the week which meant we could get out to three different parks in as many days.  We met up with friends on Monday afternoon, then spent Tuesday morning at another park before heading home to bake a birthday cake for Nerys in the afternoon.

Her birthday was spent excitedly opening presents and cards, eating cake and playing and enjoying a little picnic in Singleton park.

At the start of the week I got her to lie down on her baby blanket so I could take a few photos, which she thought was really quite funny.  I showed her some photos that I’d taken last year and the year before of her doing the same thing so she understood why I wanted her to do it though.

The first year of her life I took a photo of her each month either wrapped in this blanket or lying on it.  I completely forgot to do it for her second birthday but every other birthday since we’ve taken photos like this and they really make me happy.

I know it’s such a cliche to say it, but I really can’t quite get my head around the fact that this little baby is now 5 years old.

I can still remember so clearly the morning she was born, the song that was playing on repeat in my head all day long, how I spent that first day with her staring at her face and becoming more and more certain that her name would be Nerys.  A name we hadn’t given any thought to until the midwife introduced herself.  I can’t see her with any other name now, this one just seems to fit her so well.

She has brought us so much joy over the last 5 years.

I am absolutely loving getting to know her, figuring her out, trying to imagine the woman she’ll grow up to be.  At 5 years old she is determined and independent with a brilliantly silly sense of humour.  She loves pink and sparkles, lol dolls and my little ponies.  She is creative and loves playing with her playmobil sets and drawing pictures.  She is coming on so well with learning to read and is having great fun pushing herself with learning to swim.

I am just so excited to keep watching her grow, as bittersweet as it may be.

She said ‘basket’ the other day in the supermarket, after years of pronouncing it ‘bar-stick’.  Such a small thing, but Steve and I both heard it and felt that little pang of realisation that she is getting older.

And in a few months’ time I’ll have to deal with Rhys turning 8.  I’m not sure I’m ready for that one!

The children are on their half term holiday this week and oh my word they have been so lucky with the warm, sunny weather.

We’ve done a tour of the local parks over the last few days, taking in Singleton, Brynmill, Cwmdonkin and Victoria park.  We went to Victoria park at the weekend after their swimming lesson and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take our family photos for this month on a day that we could get out without big heavy coats on!

As I was setting up the camera to take these photos Nerys came and asked if she could be the one in charge of the remote trigger again, she gets so excited when we let her do it.

Looking at the photos she did a really good job I think, you can’t tell that she’s got the little remote hidden in her hand, can you!

We’ve still got a few days left of the holidays to enjoy before we’re back to the school routine and most likely counting down the weeks until the Easter break.  The children do both enjoy school and are generally happy going in each morning, but we do all still look forward to the holidays when we can spend more time together and just relax a bit.

I do wonder what March will bring after this pretty strange spell of sunny weather we’ve had.

What are the odds that we’ll all be back in the big winter coats for next month’s me and mine photos?

We made it to half term!

The Christmas holidays feel like so long ago, and the children are well and truly ready for a break from the school routine this week.

We had a lovely weekend to start the holidays too.  The children had a sleepover at Nana and Pops’ house on Friday night, then they were home in time for Nerys’ party on Saturday afternoon.  We just had her little group of friends round to the house again like we did last year and they all really enjoyed themselves.

They made some bracelets, played pin the horn on the unicorn, pass the parcel and musical statues and generally had fun playing together all dressed up in their princess dresses.

Steve had the brilliant idea to take Rhys on a long walk hunting for Pokemon for the duration of the party which, considering the shrieking and general levels of excitement at the party, was a wise move.

On Sunday we had a slow start to the day then it was swimming lessons followed by a visit to Victoria park by the beach.

It was such a gorgeous sunny day, there were quite a few other families out in the park, playing and having picnics, but it didn’t feel crowded which was great.  The children could play on all the equipment that they wanted to, and Rhys made a new friend which was so lovely to see.

I’m finding myself stepping back a bit more with him, letting him get on with things by himself and it was so interesting to watch him slowly start chatting to this little girl in the park.

There have been so many times that I’ve wished I could be a fly on the wall at school to see what they get up to when I’m not there!

Now we have a whole week ahead of us to relax a bit, most likely visit a few different parks while the weather is still lovely and sunny and enjoy celebrating Nerys’ birthday some more – I can quite believe she’ll be five this week!

Are you on half term this week too or are your children back at school after a break last week?