Love Where You Live - Our New(ish) Home

We've been in our new home almost 7 months now.

7 months!

I really can't believe it.

When I say that I can't believe it's been 7 months I mean it feels like much longer. It feels like we have always been here, like we've come home.

We love where we live.

I mean, REALLY love it.

We thought we loved where we lived before this but now we really know what it's like to love where you live. Our old house was too small for us. We loved the location but not the house. It had 3 bedrooms but the living space was far too small for us. It had been perfect for Matt and I when we bought it 7 years earlier but it lacked room for the children to play, storage facilities and the third bedroom was a small square that TC would outgrow in no time.

We'd looked at moving a couple of years previously and even went to put our house on the market. We'd fallen in love with a new 5 bedroom home nearby but when the prices were released it was priced more than we had expected it to be and more than we thought we could comfortably afford. It wasn't going to be ready for a long time either.

We were happy where we lived, we just needed a bigger house.

So we plodded on and embraced our home but we never felt entirely happy.

By this time, Matt had a new job earning more money and I was earning from my freelance work but we still didn't look into moving.

Then, one day in mid-March, I was sat reading a post from Jennie about her gorgeous playroom. I longed for a playroom for our children and Jennie's words and photographs made me look at the development again that very morning, just to see if it had been sold. I thought it would have been - it was a beautiful house and a long time had passed since we first looked at it.

My heart skipped a beat as I stared at the computer screen.

"Matt!" I called "That house we wanted is built now and still for sale!".

I didn't have to tell him twice. We went up to the sales office that morning, 18th March.

We fell in love all over again but this time with a real physical house, not just a floor plan. It was even better than we had visioned.

This time though it had extras. Lots of extras - carpets, curtains, light fittings, some furniture, an alarm and much more.

It felt like it was meant to be.

We pretty much reserved it there and then - only actually paying the reservation fee 10 days later when the crazy March snow had cleared enough for us to get up there after sorting our mortgage out.

3 months later we moved in and we haven't looked back.

We wanted a future-proof home or our 'forever home'. Somewhere to grow old in. Somewhere to watch our children grow up in. Somewhere we would always feel happy.

We have 5 double bedrooms, a study, a large kitchen with an island (something we've always wanted), a dining room large enough to extend our table all the way, a double garage and 3 bathrooms - ours with a double shower - plus the downstairs toilet. The latter ones I'm not so happy about as it means more cleaning!

The kitchen is probably my favourite room in the whole house. It's light and trendy and, I'm told by friends, a real 'sociable' kitchen. My friends and I have spent a few nights around the island eating and drinking and it's been perfect. We've had fun buying some extra special things for the kitchen too and Matt bought me my dream KitchenAid for my birthday too. I love her.

We've made one of the bedrooms into a playroom for the kids and they love it. It's 9ft x 12.5ft and it's a brilliant space for them to explore their toys and mess-up. There's plenty of room for both of them to play together or independently. We also have a sofa bed in there so it can be used a bedroom too which came in handy at Christmas.

The playroom is still very much work in progress (as is a lot of the house) but I've brightened it up with the children's artwork on the walls and brought some fabulous coloured storage from Ikea. I really want to get a mural painted and have my eye on some local people to deliver that - just need to save some pennies.





The back garden is slightly smaller than our old house but the outlook is great - I love sitting in our lounge and looking at the beautiful trees out of the french doors. Our lounge is at the back of the house and we aren't overlooked. We had a fabulous summer this year and the garden got plenty of use.

This year I'd like to get the garden looking prettier. Unfortunately I don't like gardening but I really want to make the effort with this house.

Matt is loving the double garage but, at the moment, it's a bit of a mess. He keeps talking about model railways and insists it's "for the kids" but I think there's only one big kid he has in mind with his plans!

The 5th bedroom is our dedicated guest room with it's own bathroom. It's quite a little haven for guests but so far it's only family how have stayed the night although we are hoping to have some friends stay over soon.

It's in the attic space and I know that eventually the rooms up there will be claimed by two unruly teenagers when they don't think Matt and I are cool anymore!

The final thing is our neighbours. They are, quite simply, ACE. We are fortunate enough to be between two lovely, very different, families and we always feel welcome and their doors are always open to us. We've already organised carol singing around the tree at the park before Christmas and the vast majority of the neighbourhood ended up outside singing, eating mince pies and drinking mulled wine. It was lovely. It ended up with a fair few neighbours back at our house completely wasted and I won't go into detail about what happened to me but lets just say I didn't touch alcohol until New Year!

The children are so happy here too, not just Matt and I. MC is still attending the school she was at previously as we only a mile or so up the road from where we used to live so we haven't had to uproot her. There are lots of children of all ages (although mostly young) and the kids have made great friends already and it's a safe environment for them to play out too. I really can't wait for the summer.

I think it's so important to love where you live and I'm so happy that we finally truly do.

In A Stew About School

Those of you who follow my blog will know we moved house just over a week ago.

It's gone great, even better than we expected in fact (blog post to follow when I come out from under boxes!). We are totally in love with the house - it's perfect. It's one we have coveted since before TC was born. It's right next to where we used to live before our last house so we know the area very well and it's lovely to be living back here. We have everything we need and more. I'm happier than I've been in a long time.

Apart from one thing.

I'm in turmoil over Mini Cheddar's school.

We have only moved a couple of miles or so away. It takes a few minutes to drive down the road to our old house. The school that MC has her reception place at is near our old house. It's a really lovely school and she's been very happy there of a morning in her nursery class.

I thought when we moved I'd be happy for her to continue at this school. It means a short car journey - it's a bit too far to walk now - but it's been no bother.

The thing is, there is a school right around the corner from our new house. It's a smaller school. A lot smaller than her current one. Is smaller better?

The official reports say that her current school has the edge but people seem to rate the local school very highly and argue that this isn't the case.

I'm having sleepless nights at the moment trying to decide what to do for the best. The decision may be taken out of my hands - it could be that there aren't any places at the local school. I haven't checked but I'm going to investigate on Monday. In a way I'm hoping the decision is out of my hands, as selfish as that sounds.

I know MC wants to stay at her current school but she's only 4 years old and the reason she gave me (when she heard Matt and I discussing it last week) was that "the local school doesn't have a slide outside". The slide is in the nursery section anyway so she wouldn't have access to it in September - I've not broken that one to her yet!

Anyway, I'm worried that if she stays at her current school that neighbours children will be going to the local school so she'll have difficulty fitting in. I worry that in bad weather we won't be able to get into school. In the snow in March it was great to be able to sledge to school! I worry that when TC is old enough he won't get into the school as we live outside the catchment area and I would like them both to go to the same school. I worry that she may be missing out on more one-on-one education from a smaller school. Her recent school report said she's shy in school (anyone who knows my daughter in real life knows she's far from shy!) and I don't know if a smaller class would be better for this.

However, I'm worried that if I move her - she won't like it. I'm worried I'll regret it and then we are stuck.

What would you do?

Do you have any experience or advice?

I just can't seem to concentrate on anything else right now.

Distant Memories

By the time this post goes live I will have been back in the UK exactly a week.

And what a week it's been!

A week of ups and downs coping with jet lag, solicitor stress and house move packing.

It seems like our 22 nights in Orlando is just distant memories already.

But oh what a memory!

We had a truly amazing time. It was just full of sun and fun. Matt and I celebrated our 6th Wedding Anniversary inside The Magic Kingdom with our two children - it doesn't get much better than that! I can honestly say that I feel like it's the happiest place on earth. The enormity of what Orlando has to offer is incredible. In total now, we've spent just over 6 weeks out there and we've still only just scratched the surface of it.

We can't wait to go back already.

Remember I was a little apprehensive about taking Tiny Ched with us at only 13.5 months?

Well, I needn't have worried a bit. In fact, I think he enjoyed it the most out of all of us. He even finally learnt how to walk, the lazy little monkey.

I plan on writing about our trip in a lot more detail over a few posts but we are due to move house in just 2 weeks so time is something I don't have right now. Remind me never to move house on the back of a holiday again! I have already shared a few of our family photos on my recent Me And Mine post if you missed it.

I also have the amazing BabaSling to review which was a lifesaver on holiday. It's so lightweight and comfortable and was just what we needed, especially at the airport. Full review on this to follow.

In addition to this we took our Cosatto Yo!, which I've reviewed previously, away with us and it was brilliant! One of my major pieces of advice, if you are planning on visiting Orlando, is take a really good pushchair with you. 

We also used the brand new Snoozeshade Plus Deluxe which was fantastic - another lifesaver. TC slept so soundly even at busy and noisy theme parks in 35°C+ temperature! This is another piece of 'must have' advice for summer travelling with little ones.

Anyway, I digress (as usual).

I just wanted to churn out a blog post to announce my arrival back in the UK.

Ta-da! 

*waves*

I am also going to BritMums Live the weekend after next. Let me know if you'll be there and come say "hi". I still can't believe that I'm going down to London in the middle of moving house too! If I'm totally honest, I could do without it but I am so looking forward to seeing old friends (and hugging them tightly) and meeting new ones. I haven't even thought about clothes or even looked at the schedule yet and I don't think I will have time to.

*takes deep breaths and swigs wine*

I'd also like to thank my lovely guest posters who wrote awesome posts for my blog whilst I was away. They are all brand new bloggers so, if you haven't already done so, go have a look and show them some support. 

I also want to apologise for not being on my blog, other blogs or social media much at the moment. I really miss reading and commenting on my friends blogs but that has to take a back seat for now until things calm down. I'm sorry. I will be back! I promise.

I'd also like to say...wait for it...

*passes sick bucket in advance*

...yes this post should come with a boak alert...

I'd like to say that... although I'm busy and stressed to the eyeballs at the moment (and suffering the "why can't I live in Florida?" syndrome) and *breathes sharply* not sleeping properly due to jet lag and stress ... I am happy.

Very happy.

I know I'm one blummin' lucky lady. 

I have one gorgeous and amazing husband who I love even more than the day I married him (and I didn't think it was possible) and two gorgeous, happy and healthy kids. We have just been on, what many would call, the holiday of a lifetime and we are soon to be moving into a big brand new house.

With everything that's happened in the last 6 months (can't believe it's 6 months since the beautiful MultipleMummy passed away), it's really made me appreciate everything so much more and I am trying my best to just be positive and happy that I'm truly blessed. Kerry's comment on my blog in 2012 was on my mind a lot during our holiday. How I wish things were so different.  

Oh yes, how I wish things were so so SO different.

Friends who are going through hard times right now are always in my thoughts and always will be. That's blogger friends and a couple of my very close real life friends (they know who they are). I shed tears of happiness on holiday but I also found myself shedding tears of sadness occasionally. Jennie, especially, has never been far away from my thoughts during our trip. Every bubble I saw blown into the sky at Disney I thought of Matilda Mae and how she would have loved it. I also thought of Tamsin and all that she is going through. I wore my 'Making Waves For Alex T-Shirt' which Mickey Mouse thought was awesome!

Yes, this holiday has made me appreciate everything so much more.

I have the post-holiday blues and feel like our holiday is just distant memories but that's what they are.

Memories.

Amazing memories to cherish. Forever.

I'll always be thankful for them and so much more.

Goodbye Me - Hello New Bloggers!

I can't believe it's finally here.

We are off on holiday next week. Eep!

I've got someone I know to house sit for us and all is good, if somewhat hectic. We have signed the contracts on the new house in readiness and are just awaiting the final formalities before we exchange. I'm hoping it will happen while we are away *crosses fingers and toes*

To those of you still following my blog, thank you! I know I haven't been about much these past couple of months and your readership means the world to me. I promise, once the holiday and house move are out of the way, I'll be back on form.

I've made another important decision too. I've decided to step back from my freelance work for now. What has happened lately has made me realise that my family are most important. Tiny Ched is growing up so quickly (quicker than I ever imagined) and I want to cherish this time with him as a baby/toddler and give him as much attention as I possibly can. I guess I'm living up to my blog name!

I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders, if I'm honest, as I've been struggling lately. I have also stepped back from my volunteer work - mainly because of the holiday and the house move. I hope to pick that back up after the summer.

Anyway, I'm rambling and keeping you from the most exciting news of all.

So? What have I got in store for you whilst I'm away?

I've lined up some awesome new bloggers to entertain you in between my indulgent Silent Sunday posts (and one other very special post I have planned which I hope comes together). They are all brand new bloggers who only started their blogs this year. In fact, some of them have only been blogging a month or two.

They are all really lovely ladies and I'm so excited as they have written some fabulous posts.

I'd really love it if you could show support for them by commenting, visiting their own blogs and tweeting/following them.  I remember a couple of years ago when my blog was brand new and it was the love and the support of the amazing blogging community who helped me get my feet on the blogging ladder.

So, without further ado, here's who will be guest posting for me and when:

Tue 14th May - Jill from Delicious Designs

Thu 16th May - Claire from You And Me Are Family

Tue 21st May - Sarah from Stay At Home Mum - In Training

Thu 23rd May - Stephanie from Storybramble

Tue 28th May - Lucy from Baked Potato Mummy

Thu 30th May - Françoise from The Little Gang In Paris

Tue 04th June - Millie from Toddles And Tantrums

Please show them lots of love. I'll be attempting to schedule some tweets to promote their posts but would be so grateful for any help you can also offer.

With that excitement, I'll love you and leave you all, dear readers. Take care and see you on my return...and thank you again.

Florida here I come!

Woohooooooooooooooooo *runs off screaming with bikini in hand*

(Taken January 2012)
MC is ready to be reunited with her idol

#MeAndMine - A Family Portrait (April)

This was a last minute photo.

I suddenly panicked with a day to go, realising that I hadn't taken a family portrait for Lucy's 'Me and Mine' link up. It's something I really want to keep up with as this first year of Tiny Ched's life passed us all by with no photos of all four of us.

March was a busy month and April has been just as hectic.

I'm probably going to jinx this now by revealing this on my blog but...

...we are going to move house!

I didn't want to officially announce it until we had exchanged contracts (we haven't yet) but, at the moment, I don't see that anything is going to change *crosses everything* I haven't even told all my friends yet as I haven't wanted to say anything until it's all legal.

It's an exciting time but it's also scary. A lot has happened, both good and bad, over theses past few months but I'm hoping the future, for everyone, is going to be full of as much love and happiness as possible.

Our new house is gorgeous. It's so much bigger than the one we are in now and we are all looking forward to moving and making it our home. Our current house sold on it's first viewing which was amazing (it's so nice not having to worry about viewings with two small children messing the place up!) but it also pulled at my heart strings a bit.

This is the house that...

...Matt and I bought together 7 years ago
...we left from and returned to the night he asked me to marry him
...just 3 short months later (almost 6 years ago) we spent our wedding eve in
...we also spent our wedding night in
...we conceived both our children in
...we brought both our children home to after they were born
...we made a home

and

...has experienced so much love and happiness

I'm sure our new house will be filled with just as much love and happiness though. After all, they are only walls.

We are the essence of the house and home.

So this is a very poignant photo as, I think, it will be the last one of us all taken in this house.

We are due to move at the end of June...and we still have over 3 weeks holidaying in Florida to get through! We booked the holiday after deciding, last year, that we weren't going to move. Now we are doing both. Eek! Matt and I are totally knackered (as you can see) so I'm hoping a bit of sun recharges us - even if we could do without the holiday in the middle of all this.

Yes, life is very hectic right now.

But life, on the whole, is very good.