May Madness!

May has always been my favourite month of the year, even more so now that we celebrate Megan’s birthday on the 23rd, our wedding anniversary on the 25th and Harrys birthday on the 27th. We also seem to enjoy the best of the weather in May, balancing out a very exhausting and expensive month with some beautiful sunny days making memories for our family.

This month the children’s birthdays have passed in a blur of presents and balloons, a flurry of wrapping paper and the squeals of two very excited, and admittedly very spoilt, children. This was the first year that Megan really understood her birthday, proudly wearing her “I am 3!” badge and telling just about anyone who would listen, “I am three! I am a big girl!” And although Harry very much enjoyed his presents, his little face when he saw the Twirlywoo Big Red Boat was priceless, he was still quite oblivious to the reasons behind it!

At the weekend we had a joint party for the two of them, following weeks of deliberating whether to throw one here at home or hire a soft play centre. At the thought of a rabble of two and three year olds trampling across my lovely new carpets, we hired a local soft play centre and it was lovely to see how excited Megan was to have a party, to interact with her little friends and enjoy her time in the limelight. Again, Harry was completely oblivious!!

Inbetween the birthdays, Gaz and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary where we exchanged thoughtful gifts based on the traditional wedding gifts as we have done each year. Or at least one of us did. Fruit and flowers? I had bought Gaz an apple tree, the perfect combination of fruit and flowers, that we can plant in the garden and watch grow over the years. He bought me…….a banana!! On the plus side, he did take me out for a child free lunch and some quality time together, which was much needed and much appreciated!

On top of all of that, we have been undergoing some home renovations, replacing our existing polycarbonate conservatory roof with a custom built solid roof. It was a lot of upheaval, trying to keep three little ones out of there was near impossible, but we are so pleased with it and would recommend it to anyone!

We are also in the process of converting our garage, something we have been putting off due to the mammoth task of having to empty it first!! There is always such a knock on effect with home renovations, what starts out as one room soon escalates to another. With the conversion of the garage we needed to demolish our own shed and built a new larger shed, which subsequently destroyed our back lawn which now needs re-turfing. As the garage becomes the new playroom, the existing playroom shall become my office, with the existing office becoming Lewis’s bedroom and his room becoming Harrys. So what started out as one room has escalated to four rooms needing to be dealt with, decorated and furnished. Right now, with our house looking like a walk in jumble sale, I am constantly reminding myself that it will all be worth it. I shall keep you posted!

May has also brought a really exciting project my way in that, not only have I started work on a fictional novel, but I have also just written my very first children’s book! It is definitely more at the “watch this space” stage at this moment, and  I can’t share too many details with you at present, but we are hoping to have it out in print in time for Christmas and of course you will be the first to hear all about it!

May has been such a lovely month for us as a family, not just the birthdays and the celebrations, but just those ordinary moments that we have shared together as a family. We have had some lovely days out at the seaside, at various parks and sunny days just spent in the garden. The children have loved being outside, running around in just their underwear, squealing with delight during water fights, eating ice creams and enjoying the sunshine.

I have watched the children’s relationships grow from strength to strength in the way that they play together, the way that they communicate and look out for each other. It has, as always, been lovely to watch and I am so enjoying this stage, looking forward to the Summer months and seeing my little doves grow together.

May has given us so many lovely memories to look back on, lots of new and exciting opportunities and so much to look forward to. I can honestly say that I have never felt more optimistic about the future for such a long time and, when I look at these beautiful little faces and all that this month has brought us, it comes as no real surprise to say that I have never been happier.