Little Joyful Moments From The Past 6 Months

I last wrote about my joyful moments towards the end of May, so we have a lot to catch up on!

This is going to be a hefty post. Very heavy on ‘mum life’. Apologies if you have no interest in babies but that is all my brain is consumed with at the moment.

So on that note, let’s roll back to June!

June

Joe and I embraced afternoon tea on a windy rainy day in the Summer. We sat outside in these ‘hot air balloons’ at The Grove, wrapped up in cosy blankets. Lovely experience, not so much the weather… but the company and food was great and it was our last date as a two-some.

My beautiful Alessia was born three weeks and one day early. My due date was 4th July, American Independence Day, however she popped out on a Philippines Independence Day instead, which I was recently told by a Filipino Lady!

June was a beautiful blur.

I didn’t know how I would feel going into motherhood and not having a “village” around to help (as everyone is too spread out) and also taking a step back from my career for a little bit, BUT, I felt like motherhood came to me quite naturally.

I’m STILL a super anxious mum, but it seems to be the case with a lot of other mums, so I feel less alone.

I suppose I wanted to be a mum for the longest time, so I do cherish every single moment, even the hard days. Joe and I are super overprotective parents, but I think that’s a great thing, having a partner who is on the same level as you.

I do have a lot of help from my mum, she comes over on a Tuesday and Thursday to help deal with the messy house from the week’s build up, while she lets me focus on teaching and developing Alessia’s skill-set.

Everyone I know keeps telling me how advanced she is, but I do try my best to really develop her communication, sensory learning, but also letting her eyes wander around at nature on walks. I do need to put her on the floor more and focus on her rolling, but it’s so hard with my dog, who is constantly wanting to sniff or lick her.

Also, on another note, Joe bought me some Apple headphones as a push pressie! And my lovely friend popped a gorgeous food platter on our doorstep.

We had tons of cards and gifts from those closest to us, so we were really thankful and we tried our best to send out thank-you cards for every gift we received.

Honestly, food was one of the best gifts during the newborn stages, so we were SO SO thankful to anyone that made us foodie bits as we struggled to eat during the first six weeks.

One little joy from June was that I promised myself that I would buy myself fresh flowers weekly or fortnightly. It’s the little joys like these that bring a smile to my face.

Joe and I loved watching the Glastonbury highlights on the iPad in the garden while taking care of the little one during his paternity leave in June. Some highlights that I remember were Olivia Rodrigo’s performance, as well as Raye’s. Outstanding singers!

Joe’s six week paternity leave was a dream. We tried to go out as much as possible. Our first outing was at Nena Bakery. We had some yummy treats and some much needed caffeine.

We also tried to do some ‘home improvements’, but it was SO HARD to do anything while looking after a newborn. We did manage to put up some mirrors and shelves though! I say ‘we’, I mean Joe.

A little joy in June and the later months was being SO proud of Archie, he is the BEST furry brother! Considering he wasn’t great with kids to begin with… he is SO good around Lessi. We really worked on his training around Alessia and it has paid off! I wouldn’t leave him alone with Alessia but he sniffs her feet and hands a lot. With a few licks thrown in!

And, he lets me attend to her without being overly jealous. He knows we love him dearly still and he gets night time cuddles and lots of treats.

July

July was also a wonderful blur.

Joe, Alessia and I dined out a bit more this month, making the most of his paternity leave.

We didn’t have a lot of time on our hands to cook, so we ate a lot of sugary things, from scones, to M&S cookies and doughnuts.

We tried our best to sneak in a few healthy foods such as cucumber with a hummus dip, chicken ceaser salads, dates with peanut butter and dark chocolate, acai bowls and what not.

Although, any opportunity to dine out, we would, just for ease.

We had some lovely meals out in Hertfordshire: roast dinners, pub lunches and Italian dishes. Oh and this INCREDIBLE bagel from bagels + schmear!

We spent a huge portion of July watching a lot of sports at home, the women’s Euros was on and Wimbledon!

A really random memory from June was that I remember loving ‘My Oxford Year’ on Netflix. A really sweet love story, although the ending had me in tears!

Alessia had a newborn photoshoot in July too. We ADORE the photo’s, some of them are now framed in our house.

We had a nice little family day out in Amersham during one of Joe’s final weeks of paternity. Stopped in at a gorgeous Tudor styled pub and went for a long walk around the area.

We were trying to do a baby pub crawl around Herts, minus the drinking of course… but, we only ticked a few places off in the end.

I got back into the flow of treating myself to a nail appointment every month once Alessia was born. It was such a luxury to spend some time alone and be pampered.

Also SUCH a luxury to have some time to style my hair while Joe looked after Lessi. I haven’t done that since before Alessia was born.

Some small joyful moments in July were local walks with my friend Rach, walks with sleepy Alessia while listening to audiobooks, Joe and Alessia in matching outfits, wearing ‘nice’ outfits and taking a quick mirror selfie – it made me feel somewhat put together as most of the time I’d be covered in baby sick and wearing comfy joggers or something.

August

Double rainbows, scoffing a bag of malteasers almost daily with Archie giving me a lot of side eyes, cute baby clothes, cool galaxy themed projector to soothe Alessia, home-made egg mayo bagel courtesy of Joe and lovely messages on tea-bags. Also, I very much enjoyed greek yogurt and berries on the regular and M&S pistachio crunchy clouds. Sensational!

August brought me a lot of joy. I was finding my feet with motherhood, I had delicious brunch tapas and another delicious brunch out with my little family, another wonderful nail appointment, a HUGE beauty splurge at Space NK, a tomato soup craving, coffee and cinnamon bun treat and lots of Archie and Alessia cuddles.

I got dressed up for a family event. A sad event, but I wanted to take a photo of my hair and make-up as it’s a rarity that I do get glammed up these days! I’d be lucky if I leave the house with mascara during the week these days!

I’ve been enjoying documenting Alessia’s growth weekly with instax photo’s. I did this later on in my pregnancy too. It’s so so lovely to see the journey and seen how big she has got. She was so teeny tiny when she was born.

Joe, Alessia and I had a special day out in London after a hospital appointment. We dined at the Rosewood in Holborn. The afternoon tea was amazing! 100/10!

Joe and I hadn’t been to the Rosewood in about 10 years, so it felt truly special to take our little one with us.

She was very well behaved and the staff were so so lovely! We ended up sitting in there for around 3-4 hours, but it wasn’t a problem as Alessia needed attending to here and there with feeds and nappy changes and they weren’t super busy.

September

We did a few house improvements in September. Got some prints of Alessia framed, a new neutral toned rug, new side tables and new throws. There are a few additional jobs I’d like to do in the living room space, however, we are very limited on time. So, chipping away at things slowly.

I had a few treats in September. Some gorgeous cakes and pastries from The Pudding Stop before they sadly closed their doors.

Another nail appointment treat and getting my weekly flowers.

My mini fashionista wore some very cute outfits.

And, I began watching The Summer I Turned Pretty. Team Conrad!!!

Joe and I really enjoyed watching No Hard Feelings, a film on Netflix with Jennifer Lawrence in – some proper lol moments.

Bake off was back on telly which I LOVE. Paired with a Tuesday evening treat. One of my fave autumnal treats was apple crumble and custard. Slimming World isn’t going swimmingly!

We also braved our first seaside trip to Whitstable. A lovely getaway with the three of us and Archie sausage boy.

Then we did our first holiday abroad to Mallorca! Joe and I celebrated fifteen years together! Madness!

A really enjoyable and some-what relaxing break. Ikos resorts in Mallorca was one of the best and most luxurious all inclusive hotels I’ve ever stayed in!

I’m eventually going to write up a blog post about the whole adventure! I’m SO behind with my schedule though!

October

Some delicious foodie days out in October. An afternoon out at Flourish Bakery with my grandad, Joe, Alessia and Archie furboy.

A few days out at my local pub for a chilli jacket p and biscoff cheesecake. A cookie and coffee stop at Nena Bakery and another lunch stop at Joan.

I was also craving some overnight oats, so I got my fave one from GAILS.

For my mum’s birthday, I treated her to a meal out at the Grove in Watford. We don’t usually take many photo’s together, so here’s a few snaps.

Some joyful buys I got were these gorgeous slippers from The White Company! And, Archie’s new bed for his 5th birthday! I also very much enjoyed buying a shit load of pumpkins from the farm. Cost an arm and a leg but happy with my autumnal display!

And on that note, we went pumpkin picking! I think we are going to do this every year! Alessia was super grumpy and sleepy on the day but we got some nice photo’s together.

Alessia had a cute pumpkin outfit on from NEXT. Where I tend to buy most of her clothes from. Her outfits bring me so much joy!

I got a BIAB nail refresh. A beautiful autumnal colour. It’s always SO nice to sit down alone for an hour without any interruptions! What a luxury!

A documentary that I loved in October was the Victoria Beckham one on Netflix! She’s a queen!

I also really loved watching Shrinking S2 on Apple TV.

Celebrity Traitors has been incredible too. Alan Carr has had me in tears weekly. Wednesday eve’s are becoming my fave day of the week.

Some audiobooks I’ve been listening to are Verity and Careless People. Verity was a great listen but I found it hard to listen to in parts. And, Careless People is about a ex worker for Meta, it’s been really interesting. I’ve got about 2 hours left of it

Alessia and I went on some lovely walks too! She tends to only sleep on walks, so I do a lot of walking!

Another moment in October! We went to Ross & Friends with some friends and our doggies! A lovely experience for Archie and for us!

I had my first ever luxurious blow-dry. I cannot tell you AMAZING it was! I was taken down to this dark room with spa-like music playing, had a heated weighted blanket on, had a hair wash and treatment alongside a head massage. HEAVEN! Then I was taken back upstairs for a blow-dry.

Joe treated me to a solo spa day at The Grove as a pre-birthday gift. I had TWO massages, both were incredible. I really enjoyed relaxing for the day, but I did miss being away from my little one and furboy.

For my birthday, we spent the morning and afternoon at home and then travelled to Brighton for a few days. We stayed at the gorgeous Artist Residence.

We took some matching pjs snaps, had Dishoom, pizza takeaway and brunch at AR.

I personally found Brighton a tad overwhelming with how busy it was on the streets, so I just wanted to hide away in our lovely apartment a lot of the time.

Glimmers of early November

I got some beautiful birthday pressies from friends and family. A stunning Alessia necklace from a dear friend and an afternoon tea voucher to use!

I binge watched the rest of The Summer I Turned Pretty. Such a gorgeous TV show. I loved it so much that I watched the ending of S3 twice.

I was Team Conrad from the start and it was so romantic in parts, it made me feel all the feels!

Spoiler: the moment he flew over to Paris to surprise Belly… melted my heart. Oh, and writing those letters too! What a sweet heart!

Although, brought me back down to reality, and the realisation that my husband is the least romantic person on the planet, haha.

Joe and I celebrated our 9th Wedding Anniversary on the 6th November. We kept it low key and had a Nando’s take-away and watched the Traitors finale! We also bought little pottery gifts for one another.

Nine years married has gone super quick. It has been a rather special year with our little one. And, I’m really excited for the years to come. So many adventures to be had.

I got my fave nails design ever, these beautiful tortoiseshell nails.

I’m also loving that it is officially cosy season!

I’m often wearing my cashmere socks, white company slippers, and neutral knits, buried in blankets and drinking galloons of tea.

Alessia turned 5 months recently and me and my mum have started going to baby sensory and music classes. A few of the NCT mums go to the music one, which is really nice, so we went for cake, coffee and chats afterwards.

We had some very cute moments in the baby sensory class where she reached over to hold the other babies hands.

It was Harry Potter themed week at baby sensory, so cute and one of my favourite films!

I sadly didn’t get any snaps at the music sensory class, but I’ll try and get some snaps next week.

ANDDDD, we are all up to date!

Six months of joyful little moments! A HUGE catch up! And in some ways felt like a ‘Dear Diary’ entry.

I had been chipping away at writing this beast of a post for almost two weeks!! I kept finding little moments to write when she was asleep. And, at the moment she has been asleep for an hour and a half and I have the evening to myself (sort of), while Joe is out for a friend’s birthday drinks!

Hopefully next time I won’t need to update you all with six months worth! But as you can see… Life has well and truly been life-ing!

As I mentioned earlier, I have a huge back-log of posts to write up. But it’s so hard to write while juggling maternity leave. However, I do have some beauty related collaborations to write up, amongst some lifestyle collabs!

Hope you’re all doing well and catch up with you soon! Stay cosy!