Posts in category: Personal

We have a fairly regular bedtime routine in our house.

Ever since Rhys was a baby we’ve done the whole bath, book, bed thing and it’s always worked well for us as a family.  On school nights we tend to start the process at around 6.30, so that we have plenty of time to wind down and read stories before the children actually get in to bed.

At the weekends though we’ve started to relax things a bit and let them stay up later.

This normally means Rhys playing on the computer and the rest of us watching a film or two, normally something Disney.  This weekend though the weather was so glorious we ventured out instead.  We needed to get a few bits from the supermarket so we walked to Uplands to get what we needed, then stopped off at Cwmdonkin park on the way back.

It was still so sunny out I think we all forgot that it was actually past their normal bedtime!

Rhys and Nerys loved playing in the park while it was relatively quiet, getting to go on pretty much whatever they wanted without having to wait for someone else to finish.  So they spun on the roundabout, bounced on the trampoline, clambered on the climbing frame, whizzed along the zip-wire and then had quite a few turns on the big slide.

In all we must’ve only been out for a little over an hour but it was such a nice change from the normal routine, it’s definitely something we’ll do more often now the evenings are so much lighter.

Do you stick to the same bedtime all week long, or do you tend to relax things at the weekends and in the holidays? 

It feels a bit strange looking at these photos now, while I’m sat in a hoodie and drinking coffee to try and ward off the chill in the air.  But not so long ago we had a spell of lovely, warm, sunny weather that meant we could take our first family photos of the year without coats on!

We went for a walk around Singleton park, and managed to grab these couple of picture by the Gorsedd stones.

After a fairly quiet month in March, April sort of followed suit.

We had a lovely break from the day to day routine during the Easter holidays, especially because Steve managed to get a fair bit of time off work.  I think we were all in need of time to just hang out and slow down a bit though, so we didn’t do any big days out or anything.

Instead we pottered around at home, and went for walks together along the seafront and around the marina.  And that seemed to set the tone for the month as a whole.

The one big event we did have for April though was Rhys’ birthday.

We are now the proud parents of a seven year old and a four year old and I’m still sort of getting my head around that fact!  All of a sudden both the children seem so much older and I’m not quite ready for it.

Rhys lost his first tooth the week of his birthday and it seemed almost symbolic, as if it was marking him moving on to another new stage in his life.  The night before his birthday he got quite emotional, and told me that he’ll miss being six.  And I just thought, me too.

Seven is going to be a whole new adventure though, and I’m quite excited to see what Rhys makes of it.

We had an incredibly quiet few days this weekend, thanks mainly to the horrible head cold/flu like virus that knocked me out on Friday.

I spent the weekend sleeping and resting and occasionally trying to claim that I was fine but ending up sounding like Monica in Friends.  When you put a ‘D’ at the end of ‘Fine’ you’re not fine!

So this week’s photo of Rhys was taken quickly, just outside our front door on Sunday evening.

We may have had a quiet weekend but it was actually a pretty big week as a whole for this boy.  He turned 7, he lost his first tooth and he moved up to the top group at his swimming lessons and even took the first steps towards learning to dive.

He had a bit of a wobble on the night before his birthday, when I think it all got a bit too much for him.  His first tooth had come out at school that day and I think that combined with turning 7 was just a lot for him to process.  It’s almost like he realised that getting older is great, but it also sometimes means moving on from one stage of your life to another.

Bedtime that night was a bit emotional as he worked through all his feelings about not being 6 any more.  He was also really quite sad about the idea of the tooth fairy taking his first tooth away, so he wrote a little note to her asking if she would please leave it for him to keep.

Luckily she was kind enough to leave the tooth and still leave him a few coins so he woke up very happy the next day.

Once his birthday actually arrived he seemed much happier and was so excited to open his presents and eat some birthday cake after school.  Then at the weekend he went to his swimming lesson to find that he has been moved up a group.  He’s now at the stage where the teacher isn’t actually in the water with him which feels like a big step, but one he’s ready for.

At the end of his lesson he even started learning the basics of diving in, and he couldn’t wait to get home and tell his daddy all about that!

His new swimming teacher commented to me during his lesson that he’s a real character, and I think that sums him up really.  He is full of beans and enthusiasm and non-stop chatter and, while it might be exhausting at times, I wouldn’t have it any other way.  Rhys means ardour and I honestly don’t think we could have picked a more perfect name for him.

I hope he always stays as passionate and enthusiastic as he is right now, I hope no matter how old he gets he holds on to that.

Spring arrived!

For a few glorious days spring was here, with sunshine and blue skies and the chance to finally empty the washing basket and hang everything outside to dry.

It even hung around into the weekend, long enough for us to enjoy a walk around Singleton Park.  We headed for the botanical gardens where the gardeners have once again done an amazing job with the flower displays.  There are tulips everywhere you look, in so many stunning colours, it really is just beautiful.

After strolling round the gardens we went out to the fallen tree that the children love to climb on, and where I managed to get a few photos.

Rhys is pretty confident climbing on this tree now.

Although Steve did tell me that he heard him telling himself that he wasn’t scared once or twice, bless him.  I love the fact that he was doing it though, reassuring himself that it was ok and that he could do it even though he was a bit nervous.

Nerys was just unbelievably determined to climb up and across the tree all by herself.  To be fair to her she did manage it, and seemed really quite steady on her feet the whole time.  Steve tried to help her once or twice and she got pretty annoyed about it, telling him firmly that she didn’t need any help.

I have no idea where she gets this stubbornness from!

The forecast is a bit more gloomy for this week I think, but I really hope we get some more of this spring weather soon so I can get back out and take some more photos of the gardens in bloom.  There’s also a tree at the bottom of our hill that is days away from being completely covered in gorgeous pink blossom and I can’t wait to see it.

Anyone else find that blossom-covered trees just make them smile?

On Saturday I took a rather excited Nerys to her friend’s birthday party.

It was a Frozen themed party in the local community centre, and Nerys had been counting down the days until it was finally party time.

She wore her Elsa dress and I tried my best to plait her hair so that it sort of came down over one shoulder like Elsa’s does when she sings ‘let it go’.

At the party, along with a bouncy castle, there was a lady dressed up as Anna doing glitter tattoos for the children.  Nerys was nervous at first about going over to her, but seeing her friends with their tattoos gave her the push she needed to go and get one herself.

So she ended up with a sparkly Tinkerbell tattoo on her arm, and this gorgeous splash of glittery colour on her face.

She loved it so much, and kept touching it to make sure it hadn’t come off.

Not that she needed to worry, it was really well done and took a good wash in the shower to come off that evening!

As well as her glitter tattoos she also came away with a big flower made by the balloon man, so despite being a bit tired she was a pretty happy girl.  At the end of the party Steve and Rhys came to meet us and we all walked home together through Singleton Park.

What made me smile so much was seeing Nerys in her sparkly Elsa dress, with glitter on her face and looking oh-so-pretty, climbing across a whole pile of tree stumps that we came across.

She was so determined that she didn’t need any help and that she could make her way up and across them by herself.  And to be fair she did manage it.  And the whole thing just summed her up really.  She is such a mix of pretty and tough and girly and mucky and sensitive and stubborn and a multitude of other things.

I can’t wait to see the woman she’ll grow up to be.

One day last week I took the children into town to get a few bits and bobs.

We took the bus in, mainly because there is apparently something really exciting and fun about getting the bus when you’re little.

As we were waiting in the bus station to head back home I noticed a woman standing next to me, smiling while watching the children playing together with little toys they’d just bought with their pocket money.

She commented on how lovely it was to see them having so much fun together.

And it reminded me once again how lucky they are to have each other.  Especially now they’re that bit older, they can really play together well.  Some mornings I’ll wake up to the sound of them both in Nerys’ bed, happily playing with soft toys together, and it always makes me smile.

During the Easter holidays we went for pretty long walk from the Guildhall into town, and then back along the seafront.  When we stopped for a little snack Steve lifted the children up onto the wall so I could get a few photos of them together.

I absolutely adore the photos of them with their arms wrapped around each other, although I can’t actually take credit for them.  Steve was the one who took those photos, I was the one hiding behind his back and making Rhys and Nerys giggle.

The last photo is one of mine though, and I love it too, mainly for the way Nerys is throwing her head back and laughing.  I just wish I knew what it was that she was finding so funny!

We’ve all had such a great time this Easter, not really getting up to much but just spending time together away from the usual day to day routine.

I think we’ll all miss each other a bit tomorrow when things go back to normal.

We’re halfway through the Easter holidays here, and we’ve all been really enjoying the break from the normal routine.

Steve was off work all of last week and it was so nice to have all that time to just pootle about together.  We had a few really chilled days at home, which I think we all really needed.  On the days we headed out we ended up walking for miles and were really impressed with how well both the children did.

We popped out to Swansea marina one day and had a good walk around before visiting the Tram Shed and the Waterfront museum.

The Tram Shed is tiny, but has an old double decker street tram that you can get on and pretend to go for a ride.  There is also the last surviving part of a Mumbles tram from the 1960s that you can climb into.  The children loved exploring the vehicles and learning a bit about how people used to get around Swansea.

At the weekend we drove down to the Guildhall and then walked from there to get a few bits from the shops, and then walked along the beach back to the car.  We walked a fair distance in the end, with a stop for cookies and a drink and a few photos.

Nerys had a little moan once or twice about how far we had to walk back to the car, but for the most part she was brilliant and just kept going.

We didn’t plan to go as far as we did but it worked out really well, and we all got home feeling so much better for the exercise and the blast of sea air.

Now we’re into the last week of the holidays and I’m hoping things will be just as chilled, so we can get back to the school routine next week feeling nice and refreshed!

Have you been up to anything exciting this Easter break, or have you been just taking it easy too?