As far as months go June wasn’t bad. After becoming parents and our lives being turned on their heads (for the better I might add!) I really feel like things and life are coming together quite nicely and I’ve finally found a nice balance between being a mum, but also still retaining a separate part of my life for myself too. I’ve started to make some progress with some of the plans for things that I know that I want in my life and even though some of them may seem a long way off at the moment, at least I can say that the first stepping stone has been laid.
WHAT I GOT UP TO IN JUNE
I took Aiden for his first strawberry picking experience with our friends. When I was younger I used to go with my grandparents a lot, so it was nice recreating these memories with my baby. I couldn’t resist snapping a couple of photos of Aiden among all the strawberry bushes, he was wearing his dungarees and straw trilby hat at the time as well and looked like a little baby farmer, so cute!
We had a lovely long weekend with Alfie’s side of the family in Pembrokeshire, such a stunning place. The beach was only 10 minutes away from our house and I made the most of it by taking my C25K plan to the sand and sea. I could definitely get used to running by the coast!
A brand new nursery opened nearby last month and I went to check it out as a potential place for Aiden. They also had The Gruffalo there to entertain the kids at the grand opening. It has such a lovely atmosphere and the staff couldn’t do enough for you. I’m going to hate leaving him at nursery but when the time comes at least I know that there are some decent places around for him to be looked after.
One sunny Sunday afternoon we took a long family walk on the Inspector Morse Trail in Oxfordshire and stopped for lunch at one of the pubs, The Trout, that appeared on the TV show for lunch. It was a Sunday afternoon well spent and we all had a lovely time.
I’ve found my new favourite foodie haunt and visited it regularly in June. The Modern Baker is an organic bakery that sells beautiful handmade sourdough loaves and makes wonderful healthy treats. They also stock a great range of healthy living products and make a cracking matcha tea latte made with almond milk.
There was a lovely shopping trip to Bicester Village, where I picked up a gorgeous dress for Aiden’s christening later this month and treated myself to this chocolate and caramel crepe, total indulgence, but so worth it!
These two are just adorable together, I love watching their relationship grow. We celebrated Alfie’s first Father’s Day with a fun-filled family day and a fantastic meal at a new favourite restaurant. The food was epic just like the portion sizes.
On the blog, I shared my recipe for this super refreshing Super Creamy Apple & Ginger Green Smoothie (above), just perfect for this heat wave. Also, I blogged recipes for my Salted Peanut Butter Fudge, Courgetti with Avocado & Feta Sauce and my Maple Pecan Strawberry Muffins.
FAVOURITE POSTS FROM AROUND THE WEB
- The Ultimate Summer Salad Round Up – including my own Chicken Rice Noodle Salad
- C25K: My Experiences and Thoughts
- 9 Body Shaming Behaviours That We All Need to Stop – so true!
- Eat Your Way to Beautiful Skin
- Why The Countryside Always Wins Everytime – and right now it’s looking absolutely stunning in the sunshine, so blessed!
- 6 Top Tips for Healthy Eating on a Budget
- Not Sure When Enough is Enough? Listen to Your Body – a great piece by Kris Carr.
- The Morning After a Night of Overeating – healthy living is about making the right choices for our body’s rather than focusing on a random night of overindulgence.
MOMENTS THAT MADE MY HEART SING
- Aiden mastering the art of forward motion and cutting 3 new teeth – 8-month update coming soon!
- Writing and clicking send on my newsletter
- Going to the Bambino Cinema – such a genius idea!
- Alfie’s first Father’s Day
- Taking cute pictures of my little man
- Lots of frozen coconut yoghurt to cool down in the heat
- Matcha green tea lattes
- Hanging out with my awesome friends
- Painting my nails – it doesn’t happen very often these days
- Buying my dress for the christening
- Creating lots of yummy recipes to share on the blog
- Shopping and sunshine
- Alfie just being totally amazing no matter what!
I’m so looking forward to the month ahead already. It’s looking to be a busy one, but fun too as we have Aiden’s christening to organise and praying that the sunshine holds out until then. I’m having so much fun planning it and finally everything seems to be coming together. My word(s) for July are going to be GO WITH THE FLOW. After a couple of busy months, I’m finding that I need more time to relax and now that summer has arrived I think there is no better time to slow things down a little where I can. Have a beautiful July everyone!
I’m glad you are finding time for yourself as well as being a mum, this is what I found hard at the beginning, you lose yourself for a while!
I love picking strawberries,it reminds me of my grandparents too!
Georgia x
What a beautiful month! I like your words for July, might take some inspiration from those with the busy month ahead.
July is already getting off to an exciting start, I fly to Argentina today (via Miami) and it’s my birthday on Sunday, can’t complain 🙂
I am a first time mum to twins so I can relate. You have a beautiful family. No plans yet for summer. Need to sort that out really.
Congratulations on your twins Stella, how adorable! I hope you have a lovely summer with them and your family.
June sounds like it was such an awesome month for you and your family, I have never been strawberry picking and want to find a place near that I can go to.
It’s so much fun and a great way to spend a sunny afternoon.
I heart July too especially with the weather we have right now. Look forward to pics of the christening.
The weather is stunning, fingers crossed that it lasts.
I love strawberry picking but probably won’t do it this year. So tasty though, freshly grown local strawberries!
I’m definitely keen to go with the flow for July – no structured running plan, no goals…just relax and enjoy the sunshine 🙂
Your July sounds great! We all need some time-out every now and then, enjoy!
I haven’t been strawberry picking in about 20 years, but I used to go all the time when I was little. It’s such a good family experience I think.
Strawberry picking always brings happy childhood memories to my mind.
Awesome pictures. I LOOVE strawberries, I remember going out to pick them in my grandparents back yard. Thanks for sharing!
It’s such a lovely thing to do with your grandparents. 🙂
What a lovely picture of Alfie and Aiden together!
My Summer is going to involve lots of running and making our new house feel like a home! So lots of decorating as well.
What a lovely summer you have planned. I love decorating and buying pretty pieces for the house.
That picture of Aiden is so cute- he has such a lovely grin.
That crepe looks delicious too- sometimes you need a treat like that.
I think that grin of his is going to get him into trouble when he’s older. 🙂 The crepe was incredible, definitely worth all the calories.
Looks like you had a great month. Aiden is adorable.
Thank you. He’s a little cutie. 🙂
This post was such a lovely read 🙂 very heartwarming and those photos are beautiful!!! The area you live in must be gorgeous.
Lovely to hear that you enjoyed it, Lorraine. Yes, we do live in a beautiful part of the country, so grateful for that!