A little girl was born, she grew up and before she knew it she was in her thirties and living an almost idyllic life in Rural England with her husband, 3 sons, cat and rabbit. Here's the day to day story that will one day be looked upon as the Happy Ever After.
For the past few weeks I have been trying to think of things to do over the next 10 years. What milestones do I wish to meet in life? What can I do that I've never done before? Where do I want to be 10 years from now? What do I want to be doing in 10 years time? When I say I, I mean I as myself as an individual. Family plans and goals are different. I have my life in stock now, I have a lovely husband and 3 beautiful boys that are growing up in the blink of an eye and would like to go on a bit of a personal journey and do a bit of self discovery.
The bare essentials come down to the following:
Learn to Drive.
Get back to work.
Get a new look.
Get to a size 12-14 and keep the weight off.
I've already started the new diet. I've just dyed my hair a shade or two lighter (it will be more apparent after a couple of washes) and got myself a fringe (bangs) cut so I am slowly moving forwards already.
Despite thinking and thinking, there's little else I want to achieve. I am not into extreme sports so sky diving isn't on the agenda.
I would like to visit more cities around Europe. I want to say I've experienced Paris, visited Venice, seen Rome. With 3 young boys I know that won't be easy for a while but there is always birthdays and anniversaries to take a few days out.
I still want to create a new circle of friends. I guess this is partially why I've joined a slimming group. I can make friends with like minded people. Maybe not to 'hang out with' in so many words but to have someone I can talk to a little more often and being in the same boat, we can all have something to talk about. I have my family. I don't want constant socialising every weekend just friends for the odd conversation.
I don't want to start body art. Tattoos aren't my thing.
That's my next 10 years planned out then. If anyone can think of anything else I can add to the list, then I am very open for suggestions.
Last night I joined Slimming World. It was ok. I weighed more on their scales than I do on my own but never mind. It's not the starting point that matters but the journey and the arrival. :)
It sounds good. It will take some getting used to but it could be rather interesting. After eating as little as possible for several months, I'm now being encouraged to eat all day and all night. Not to allow myself to get hungry. Snack on fruit, veg and salad all day. Ok, I can do that! We'll see how I do with next weeks weigh in.
The living room is just about finished in the decorating stakes. We still want two new sofas as we only have one big one but that will be our living room complete.
This is how our room looked when we moved in mid May:
Now after a few pounds of wedding money being spent, our room has been transformed entirely.
This is how the side on the left now looks. Lone beech bookshelf has been replaced with new large bookshelves along the whole crevice. There's even a view of our new curtains too.
We've gone for a lovely vibrant red as you can see and with the white detailing including the white rail and upper of the room, it doesn't feel too cramped since some rooms can feel smaller with bold colours. We're really happy with it.
Little Liam had his 12 month jabs this morning and the little sweetheart did not make a bit of fuss. What a good little boy!!! Here's a picture of him enjoying his holiday.
I am now 30, I celebrated my birthday on Thursday.
I was on holiday at the time and most of it was great.
I was rather unwell most of the week.
I ended up calling the emergency out of hours Doctor just after midnight Saturday morning with chest pains to be told no-one could do home visits and that I'd have to make a trip to the drop in centre 15 miles away. With 2 kids, a hubby being sick and me having been sick also it was impossible.
I wonder what the point of emergency out of hours doctors actually are.
Liam wasn't sick. Not that night, he started it two days earlier. It appears that Liam picked up a sickness bug and passed it onto the rest of us.
At least we were at home and not travelling.
I finally got to see an out of hours doctor yesterday morning. I didn't have a chest infection as I suspected but what the doctor called "the real flu".
I am now on antibiotics 3 times a day.
I still have a very tender feeling beneath my rib cage.
I've been so unwell I've lost 4lbs this week which is alot considering I was on holiday and eating too much rubbish for 5 days.
I start a new adventure tomorrow. Slimming World. Woohoo. I've got this far myself, I want to go further. Lets try a new spin on it all.
I have the best family in the universe.
I got some new tatty teddy figurines for my birthday.
One of which was one we've searched for over several months.
It's a limited edition one which we only saw once, even after ebay searches and the like, but we found it.
It's an official wedding one and there were only a select few made so I am REALLY pleased we finally found one.
We found similar ones but they weren't the same. It wasn't even trackable with the normal shop we buy them from as it was a Limited Edition.
These figurines will be staying in their boxes until we get our new book cases.
We have decorated the living room, got a new tv fixed to the wall and the rest of our wedding money is going on furnishing the living room. We're getting one room just as we want it at a time.
I am already beginning to feel better after 1 day on my antibiotics.
I remember thinking how pissed off he looked when he was born.
For those fairly new to my blog you didn't miss much on the birth story. I had perfect deliveries with all 3 of my boys. Liams can be summed up in 5 sentances.
4am, I awoke with contractions.
5am they were stronger and more frequent.
6am we headed to the hospital.
7.11am Liam was born.
No pain relief.
I have always been lucky with my babies. Still, Liams birth was twice as long as James birth. My waters broke, instant contractions born within an hour.
I was nervous of having my third.
I had a few false alarms with Liam and joked I would only believe I was in labour should my waters break.
This happened as his head was being delivered so I was rather glad I didn't wait at home longer in case it was another false alarm. This was the most painful of the births and he had got into a little difficulty on delivery and passed meconium (baby poo) so we had to spend 24 hours in hospital for him to be monitored before we could go home just to be sure that there were not any underlying health issues.
The pregnancy was more comfortable than the second but I needed to be tested for gestational diabetes as I was measuring large for my weeks from midway through pregnancy. I did not have GD and extra growth scans showed I was unlikely to have too big a baby.
Liam was born a healthy 8lb 1oz. Very much in average proportions.
Liam was never a happy baby and if the truth be known, I found it a little hard to bond with my little man in the first few weeks.
Some of what I'm saying here has never been said to anyone, never been addressed but I really felt like I failed my baby boy in the first few weeks of his life.
I know I've never said this before but as much as I loved having my 3 boys, I found it incredibly hard when Liam would just scream all day and night. I never had this with the other 2. He sounded in pain. He was bringing up wind, I wondered if it was gripe. The days and nights were long and I was frustrated and wanted to know what I was doing wrong with this baby when the other two were fine.
It wasn't long before we found a lump in his groin.
Those days were the hardest of my life. The hernia was initially found days before James's first birthday and when my GP said he may need surgery, I sat in the GP surgery crying for failing Liam and for the fear I would miss James's birthday. I think the relief of knowing there was a problem and the fear of my baby going under the knife bought out a whole new outlook.
The hernia was pushed back into place but it could always come back.
My poor baby was in pain, it wasn't my fault, I wasn't failing as a mother and it could be treated. The days that followed became easier. The days where I would try to get him comfortable and hug him through his tears were met with tears of worry and distress of wanting to help him. I felt guilty for being annoyed at his screaming, for being so useless, for not being a good enough mother to him and for feeling like I didnt love him as much as I did the others from the time they were born.
Hubby and I had decided to ask if he could have the operation regardless when we next saw my GP.
The day we had booked an appointment, we didn't make it there. The hernia came back and couldn't be pushed back so we went directly to Cambridge Accident and Emergency Department and were there for the next 5 days.
For two days he was fasting in case the swelling was low enough to operate. This didnt happen. It's tough having a baby starving and wanting milk but not being able to help him.
His surgery only took about an hour but it was a long stressful hour. I stayed at the hospital with him the whole time. Hubby had to take time off to look after the other 2 boys and this was the time I really had a chance to bond with Liam.
Those few days were the defining moment I stopped loving my baby but fell completely in love with him.
After the surgery we had a completely different child. He was always happy and smiling and was a breath of fresh air. Liam was becoming the little Liam that I absolutely adore.
So my wonderful, amazing, beautiful baby boy, Mummy wishes you the best birthday ever and loves you more than she can ever explain. I am so proud to be your mummy and we all love you to pieces.
I am still getting wedding photos in albeit in dribs and drabs whilst we still await our main photos. But I am doing my best to feature as many pics as I can still as I do an update on everyday life and a little on the kids.
This was our special balloon and here's the cutting of the cake with our little cupcake tower beneath. I was very impressed with the cakes and hope we have more pictures to come.
We posed with the nice knife and the cake for pictures but the cake had to be taken off the stand to be cut properly. It was the top shelf and it was a little wobbly just holding the knife to it.
I love the way the kids are queuing up to get their cupcakes.
The honeymoon is certainly over and normal life beckons once again. For a couple of weeks until we have our family holiday at least.
Matthew is back at school and is still 100% into football. There's only so much I can take in about Manchester United but he is growing into a fine little man. He is just so full of energy and just makes everyone smile.
As of today I am back to the daily grind of a better diet and exercise. With big fella at school I am now guarenteed 80-120 minutes walking a day again and I will be honest, I have missed this routine. I never stopped losing weight in the run up to the wedding, but I certainly slowed down. I need an exercise routine and something I can't find excuses for getting out of. The school run is one thing I can always rely on. I hope this will be the kickstart I need to lose the excess weight. In the past 2 and a half weeks I have put on 8lbs. It's not great but I am glad I had a few indulgent days, I don't think putting on weight occassionally does any harm to a diet. It brings a new sense of determination. I feel confident that with eating the right things and daily exercise I can lose up to 6lbs this week. It took 2 weeks to put it on and if I can lose it in 2 weeks I will be a happy woman. If not, it's not the end of the world. I want to remain level headed and enjoy life rather than become self obsessed and miss out on the good things in life.
I am becoming a bit more creative as time goes on. Having done hair pieces for bridesmaids and flowers for us all my next project is to create a wedding photo album. I will buy a plain album and decorate as I see fit. I have ideas in mind and have ordered the mulberry paper I need, I just need to find a few extras.
I am even considering baking. Now, for anyone who's been reading my blogs for some time, they may be questioning m motives as baking only tends to prop up when I'm in a certain "condition". To just set the record straight, I am not pregnant. But I am prepared for something equally exciting.
Next week my baby stops being a baby and becomes a 1 year old!!!
We spent part of Saturday birthday shopping for our little guy and bought him a ride on walker. Not just any walker but this:
We have two little boys absolutely Buzz Lightyear crazy. We took him round a certain toy shop and he went so mad when he saw this. Buzz has interactive features and moves and talks. James was equally impressed so I feel that this will end up being a sharing toy since Liam is still a little small for this. Liam has had a few goes on James' Thomas the Tank Engine ride on but he can't reach the floor to do it himself nor is he walking just yet. He takes a few steps if holding on to Mummy or Daddys hands but he hasn't got that confidence yet.
James is growing fast too. He also loves nothing more than Buzz Lightyear as Thomas the Tank Engine seems to have fallen in popularity a little. Toy Story 2 was on tv a few weeks back and since then he's been so into it. We have pictures in mail order booklets and a catalogue store book and he will spend hours just looking at pictures of toys. He really is interested. James can now sing along to The Wheels On The Bus and do some actions to it. He knows many animals and will say their names and what noise they make too. He is getting to be a very clever little boy.
Hubby is currently at a job interview for a local water company. He left his previous job when his holiday started a few days before the wedding and got an interview by email which he had already decided he wanted to attend. He had already accepted a job at a local pub but has always been more interested in this water maintenance position but the pub was a job to get us through. We thought that the water company were never going to get back to him as we didn't get the email until almost 3 weeks after the application date ended. He began cheffing at the pub on the Sunday we returned. Sadly it didn't work out and he left after 5 shifts on Friday. They were seriously understaffed and the boss seemed to take out his problems on the few staff that were there. Hubby didn't want his chef job to go back to being like the chef job he had before his health really suffered and I admire him for that. Work stresses can easily be bought back home and cause a problem within the home. So fingers crossed that this job interview goes well for him. I know he would rather do a practical job as a technician of some kind as opposed to being stuck in a kitchen for 13 hours at a time.
On the Sunday morning we made a brief trip to my mums to see Matthew before setting off on our honeymoon. We collected hubbys mum, James and Liam and bought them back to our house before setting off on the 3.5 hour trip to Bristol.
We stopped the night in a branded hotel chain in the city centre. We were on the 7th floor up and had this lovely view from the lift area.
We were situated in a beautiful location and explored a little of the city whilst we were there. Bristol was nothing like I expected. I thought it would be ok but I loved it. It's certainly somewhere I would love to visit anothre time. Maybe as a full weekend break next time.
We ate at a restaurant a few miles out of Bristol on a large leisure complex. This night we had mexican. We had the starter platter to share with bbq chicken wings, nachos, corn on the cob, potato wedges and onion rings. That was delicious then hubby chose a mexican style lamb shank and I had steak. It was a lovely evening and nice to be away from all the planning.
We set off early Monday morning to Newquay in Cornwall and explored the local scenery before finding our accomodation.
Newquay is a fair size seaside town but has the most stunning beach.
All of these pictures are the same coast area. Theres just a few meters between each individual picture. Cornwall's coastline is long and has many bays and coves giving real depth to the land and so many different views. It's all Newquay beach but from different angles and where the gaps are in the rocks.
We booked into our beautiful little bed and breakfast in Crantock, a few miles away and it was a beautiful little house. It was an old vicarage and this was the view from our room.
We were situated a short walk from Crantock village and were just a few minutes walk from the beach.
Crantock beach is divided into two parts.
1. The estuary.
2. The Surfers beach.
It is a beautiful area and on our first afternoon we took a walk across the beach from the estuary and up some sand dunes....
Then up through a field....
We followed the coastal route along more fields and found a lovely little cave.....
We finally made it back to solid land and had a drink outside a pub overlooking the sea as we rested. The route back along the road was much faster.
We spent our evenings in Newquay the first two nights dining at an Indian Restaurant and a Seafood and Steak restaurant.
For a long time I have been wanting to try scallops and I gave them a go as a starter.
I had seared scallops with a garlic and herb butter served with a homemade tomato salsa.
It was probably my most favourite dish of my holiday. It was beautiful. It was simple but fantastic. It's something I will definitely be trying at home one day. I then had the steak meal which was also lovely but I was far too stuffed for dessert.
On the last night in Crantock we went back to the hilltop pub and restaurant where we'd finished up when we took our hike. The food was lovely but nothing was going to compare to my scallops the night before.
We spent some time at a theme park which had a special victorian town feature. It was like going back in time and I really loved the exhibition. The lighting, building displays and everything were spot on. It was huge, like a real village with everything from horse grooming to shoemakers to solicitors to the original style post office. I loved this. I have always had a love of all things Victorian England. I especially have an interest in the darker side of it. (I do still have an obsession with the murders of Jack The Ripper and I am now discovering Sherlock Holmes) However I didn't think so much of the Blitz (World War 2 attack on London) exhibition. In fact all things war related scare me but that's another story.
There were beautiful gardens at this theme park and a mini thrill ride section. That was mostly for kids but hubby and I did go on one of it's biggest rides. A mini rollercoaster. A kid on before us was the same age as James and I bet our James would have loved it.
Our days were long and we did the sights. We saw Lands End, the furthest South West point of England.
We also took a trip to a working cider farm. That was much more interesting than I thought it would be and I got to sample some cider. I've never been a cider drinker at all so it was nice to try something new. I liked the traditional old style "scrumpy" which was lovely. It was fruity without the sparkling side of cider you normally get. I was quite impressed.
The honeymoon had to come to an end though and we spent the last night of our break on the grounds of a stately home in Bristol as we broke up our journey back.
We didn't stay here, but to the side of this glorious building. This was where we dined the last night.
Subnote - If you want to set the scene a bit, scroll to the bottom of the page and press play for some nice background music.... then read on.
Also, 2 photo type entries are before this one. I am just trying to fill this in whilst the memories are still fresh. I mean it's been 10 days already.
Part 2......
.......So we all separated. Matthew went off with my parents for a meal at a local pub. James and Liam went back with hubby's mum for a nap whilst myself, hubby, his brother, and my 2 sisters in law headed back to the hotel hubby and I were spending the night.
Hubby and I travelled by car whilst the others walked through the town to The George hotel on Colchesters main street. We sat and relaxed with a couple of friends for just over an hour before it was time to sort out the reception venue. Sitting relaxed in the hotel lobby I was able to get my wedding ring on at last. Though I still have my eczema, I didn't have the nerves or the panic that came with the ring being a little tight.
Some of the food for the reception was at hubby's mums. He went off to collect the food, as well as her and the boys. I began the set up process. The best man was supposed to be helping as were the others who were coming down after food to help me set up.
At 5.30 I was still working by myself trying to set tables, organise a cake stand, the cakes and balloons had arrived and I was running around like a headless chicken trying to do it all by myself. Eventually everyone turned up at the same time and I was finally getting the help I needed.
Just before 6, hubby returned with the rest of the food, the kids and my mother in law. Just as the first guests were arriving for the party. Things weren't finished but that wasn't my worry for the next half hour or so.
We disappeared off back to the hotel and parked the car up for the night. We went back in for another drink and for me to redo hair and make up. We then got a quiet half hour alone with a glass of wine and a beer whilst we waited for a taxi to take us back to the reception.
We got to the reception and were last to arrive. The place looked rather full and I was very happy with how many people had made it to the evening do. We spent part of the evening mingling and thanking people for coming and their gifts. It took a long time to get the best man round to doing his speech. The kids who were there kept asking for food and it did get to a point where I had to put it to hubby to tell the best man to get a move on or we'll skip it altogether. It got things moving. Our best man is a little of a control freak but I was the bride. ha.
He eventually did his speech, it was interactive with funny pictures of my groom on his kids playstation. It was funny if a little long. In all it was a good job. Matthew was laughing out very loud at jokes and making everyone else smile. After a toast to the bride and groom, hubby gave out flowers to the bridesmaids, his mum, my mum and his stepmum, the buffet was pronounced open and everyone got to eat. This pleased all the kids. We had SEVERELY over catered but I was pleased with the selection we had and I am glad the food didn't run out.
We cut the top cake fairly early after posing for photos and everyone enjoyed our cupcakes. The top traditional cake was shared out amongst the older generations too. We had about 15 cup cakes left over at the end of the night, they were wrapped up for the kids who stayed latest and extras for our kids of course.
When it came to the wedding dance there was a problem.
Despite being told that they had a catalogue of virtually every song on their system, they didn't have our wedding song.
We were prepared though and had it on cd in case.
However this was one thing we had overlooked.
Our cd was in the car at the hotel.
We were shown a list of wedding songs they had and I personally found it very limited and felt rather let down by the list of Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Aerosmith etc.
In the end we settled for Ronan Keating - When You Say Nothing At All.
Three quarters of the way through our first dance hubby asked how long the song lasted. I smiled and told him about 3 minutes less than the song we had originally picked. So I guess it wasn't all bad.
The rest of the music was pretty general and rather forgettable. They did offer requests but the 3 songs I asked for in the current top 10 weren't on the playlist. I did find that disappointing that they had so little. On the night it was fine, but looking back, we'd have been better off having a different dj,
Other than that I can't really fault how things went.
People started drifting off fairly early. We started the reception early so that those with kids could come and had the option of leaving early.
We ourselves left the party around 11pm. Most people had gone. Mother in Law and hubbys younger sister had taken the babies back to their house for the night and Matthew was going to stay at my mums that night.
We were given a lift back into the town centre and had an unwind drink before finally getting to bed.
Though it had been a long day, it had been exciting and just flew by.
Finally, for anyone who didn't scroll down and may be interested, here's what we had picked for our wedding song.
The night before the wedding, I packed up all the things I needed and headed off to my mums for the night. I managed to eat a sandwich that night but that was all.
In the morning I woke early. After a couple of hours sitting around with mugs of coffee it was time to head off to my hair appointment. I had the works. The wash, cut, blow dry, hair products and straighteners as I went from a one length bob back to having it a couple of inches shorter, layered and with a slight angled fringe to the right.
After this is it was time to head back to my mums, I got my make up on ready and was trying to glue on my false nails as the first of the bridesmaids arrived. The nails were a job and a half. The glue wouldn't come out properly and they kept coming off again over the course of the morning.
Shortly after, the other 2 bridesmaids who are now my sisters in law arrived with my mother in law. The finishing touches had to be done to their dresses. The girls decided they all wanted straps on their dresses, Vicky and Sharon went for the halterneck look whilst Callie went for the normal straps.
My super talented mother in law also made me my corsage to go on the side of my dress.
We had cups of tea and my mum had a selection of pies and quiches for us to snack on but none of us ate much.
The bridesmaids got ready first, then myself. MIL got ready last. However a little glitch meant that she ended up getting stuck in one of my mums bedrooms when she finally got herself ready. This was with about 10 minutes to spare before the taxi's arrived. One of the door handles is rather tempremental and when you shut it from the inside, it won't open again. We heard a big knock on the door and my dad went up and tried to bash the door open. That didn't work so my dad went up again armed with a hammer and she was freed.
The bouquets and flowers for the hair were all out and I gave them their jewellery gifts. They all looked stunning. We managed to get out into the garden for a couple of photos before it was time to head off. Some photos I am looking forward to seeing as it was quite windy and I had my veil in my face and had to hold it on in some shots too so they could be fun to see.
The taxis arrived and the bridesmaids and my MIL went off in the first taxi. Myself, mum and dad hung around a little while to let them get there first and I arrived a few minutes later at the registry office in a black Mercedes.
I was led into the waiting area with my bridesmaids. We had to wait here whilst people were ushered into the room we were marying in. I had a brief chat with the Registrar and had to confirm my details as bf and co all waited nicely in the other room.
As soon as we got there, one of my nails came off again. I didnt keep the rest of the glue so it was missing. Haha. Luckily it was a thumb one and would have been hidden behind the flowers.
After what felt like a long wait though it was probably around 10 minutes, we were called through to make our entrance when a family of latecomers arrived. As the door was held open for the bridesmaids, a mutual friend and his family arrived late and rushed into the room creating a bit of a laugh to all around. They open the door for the bride and in run our old co-worker Mark and his clan.
The music we had chosen Canon by Pachebel (if you want to youtube it, its very well known) was playing in the background as the bridesmaids led me and my dad into the room.
Bf looked very serious.
He later said I looked very nervous.
We said our vows which were alot longer than the ones I thought I had picked but they were lovely vows and not too short. It said everything that needed to be said and I liked the way that although we hadn't written the vows ourselves, they meant something personal to us both.
It soon came to the next stage of the ceremony. The registrar asked who had the rings. A very proud little boy in the wings shouted out "I have!" as Matthew bought the rings to the front of the room. He looked so smart and so proud to have had the responsibility of looking after the rings. We did the vows regarding rings and as I feared, my eczema meant that my wedding ring didn't fit properly. To avoid problems, I quickly slipped it onto my little finger to be wearing it. We were then declared husband and wife and sealed our marriage with a kiss.
We signed our wedding certificate and our best man and bridesmaids acted as our witnesses. Then we had a few photos taken as we pretended to sign the register book (It's for show)
I heard Matthew in the front row ask my mum if it was finished now because he was bored. You can always trust a 6 year old to be honest with their thoughts. :)
We then lead everyone out into the courtyard for more photographs.
We got all the normal family photos, the bridesmaids, friends, kids etc and separated off to do our own things.
