a birthday

so earlier this week it was my birthday--another year older!  jonny always takes my birthday off if he can because he is kind and thoughtful like that and because birthdays are quite a big deal around here, well to me anyway.

the days started with a lie in until half seven.  sleep seems to be on my mind as i keep updating you with my sleep schedule--but hey a lie in is to be appreciated these days and are little miracles to be thankful for.  so thank you ava for this wonderful gift that straight away meant it was going to be a good day.

then there was cup of teas in bed and a bottle of milk for someone else before cards and presents.  i was truly spoilt rotten by the man i love; our little girl and my family and friends.  every card and gift was wonderful and ava particularly loved the cards, she inspected very single one before nibbling on a few.

we meant to head into london in time for brunch but our timing, really my timing, was a bit off so we made do with a little brunch/lunch before spending the day walking around london: because that is all i wanted to spend the day doing, spend quality time with my little family.

^ a brunch/ lunch of champions.  pret saved me when i didn't think i could take another step because i was hungry and just wanted to eat something, anything.  and that apple cak--to die for.  you have to start the day right with cake on your birthday ^

^ we walked around holborn and then came upon lincolns inn, which is so pretty.  imagine working here.  i felt like i was at cambridge or oxford.  and i loved seeing all the barristers carrying their wigs and the such like.  i might have a slight obsession with barristers, but what can i say i did study law at uni. v

^ we stopped to smell the roses ^

^ the gherkin and my love // enjoying sitting in newly found green squares ^

^ there was time for a quick dinner in china town at our favourite chinese before heading home.  and we managed to get a beckoning chinese cat for ava on the way home too.  she loves those cats and now she has her very own in her room--know the ones i am talking about.  and i bought a chines cat off an asian man in china town--i don't think i could get more multicultural if i tried and that is why i love london ^

^ and just as i was getting sad that my birthday was coming to an end, jonny walks in with a caterpillar cake. that man! now this is why i love him.  and there might be hardly any of that cake left because i have the willpower of an ant and love cake too much. ^

i had a wonderful day and have the post birthday blues big time but that is what the best birthdays do to you, and i am just glad i had a great one :)

p.s. all photos were taken on my i-phone and i wish i had taken more but i was suffering from the "i have hardly any battery my phone is going to turn off at any point" syndrome and then it turned itself off.  don't you love it when that happens.

father's day: a belated post

so on sunday we celebrated our first father's day over here.  which meant that jonny got a cup of tea in bed and ava had a nap so we all got a little bit more of a lie-in, which i think was the best gift she could have got her daddy.

ava also got her daddy a few gifts because she is thoughtful like that, what a beautifully mannered little girl i have ;)  my favourite gift was her little footprints in a frame, which i managed to make--it took a fair few attempts and ava hates paint on her feet just in case you were wondering.

watching jonny with ava over the last almost seven months, just makes my heart burst.  these two together just make me smile so much.  jonny is such an incredible daddy and ava knows it because she is besotted with him--there are always smiles for daddy round here whatever mood she is in.

but what made this day even more special for me was that i got to spend the day with my daddy too.  and i love my daddy so, he taught me what an amazing daddy is :)

^ so her right foot might be slight;y smudged but perfection would be boring--how we love these little feet ^

sometimes

sometimes i feel like fridays come round so quickly and yet sometimes they seem to take forever

sometimes i feel that if i can get through breakfast then the rest of the day will be ok

sometimes, nearly all the time, ava likes to sleep with a blanket over her face

sometimes, all the time, this freaks me out and then i have to try and remove it without waking her up

sometimes i feel like summer is finally here and then the sun disappears

sometimes i want to do something really impulsive but then i realise that isn't really me

{the last time i really did something that wasn't me, was when i got my tummy button pierced at eighteen.  i just did it to shock my mum because she didn't think i would get it done. silly silly stubborn me.  i didn't like it much and took it out: so case in point, i am not impulsive or out there}

sometimes i wish i had a house with a big back garden and lots of space for people to come and stay

sometimes making my bed feels like such an achievement--today is one of those days

sometimes three day weekends happen around here, and this weekend is one of them.

happy weekend!

a walk in the sunshine

after brunch, saturday was spent in the sunshine--just pounding those paths in the parks and some pavements.  we were so relieved when the sun decided to stop teasing us and finally made its appearance as we worried our planned park day would end up a disaster and an emergency plan b would have to be thought up.

but it turned into a really warm lovely summers day where my shoulders might have got slightly burnt--the joys of having a pale complexion.

we started off in kensington gardens before drifting into hyde park and taking in the serpentine.  from there we wandered around knightsbridge and finally ended up on kings road for a spot of retail therapy and an ice-cream milkshake.

we got take out on the way back to enjoy outside before we headed back home to bath our little one and put her to bed. it was what saturdays in the summer were made for.