Hi lovelies! The blog has taken a little back seat recently because I have been busy being kitchen-less (we’re getting a new one-yey! So we’re all temporarily living with the rents), working on a new project, and doing general mum duties. You can imagine it’s all a little hectic here to say the least. I have a few posts scheduled for the coming week or so; fingers crossed the week goes to plan and I manage to get them out on time…Dexter, I’m talking to you!

Last week we paid a visit down to London with our crazy little Dexter-Man. We were up and off at the crack of dawn, complete with a flask of porridge and bunch of bananas in tow- I’m so much more organised now that I’m a Mum (she lies). We had a short stop off to pick up a couple of sausage butties and fuel in the form of buckets of tea (half of which ended up all over the back of the freshly cleaned car- thanks Mr B!), and made it down to London in good time.

We had it all planned out; D would of course sleep once we had our stop off and he had filled his ever expanding little belly, because we’d timed it just right so that it would coincide with his usual nap. But lo and behold, did he sleep? Did he hell as like! Whenever Dexter misses a nap or is running short on his usual sleeping hours I do get a bit anxious as he’s never too chirpy on little sleep- and let’s face it, who is?

I don’t know what got in to him that weekend (it must have been the southern air), but Dex was on fantastic form and truly in his element. He’s at such an inquisitive stage right now, and everything around him was a new and exciting thing to study. The lack of sleep seemed to have no detrimental effect on his mood which was wonderful, but I’m definitely going to have words with the little chap; if he can manage to do it in London, he can bloody manage it all the time!

Once we’d arrived and were about two hours in to our adventures, disaster struck! Mr B was struggling to get Dexter’s buggy to fold down and got major ‘pram rage’ (it’s a real thing) and went all hulk on our asses by literally snapping the metal on the handle so that he was left holding it in his hand (no longer attached to the pram)! So typical of that hubby of mine haha! Luckily, a last minute decision to throw in our baby carrier became an absolute lifesaver all weekend, as I’m not sure quite how we would have gotten around without it. I have briefly spoken about the benefits of baby wearing before on my blog, and although D is fast becoming too heavy, the little podge-man absolutely loves being carried around in it whilst close to us and at our level so he can see the wonderful world from a whole new perspective. I always have my Solly Baby wrap shoved in my bag just in case, too, which was great for when he needed a nap on the move as he can face inwards and snuggle. Totally jealous of my baby for that- I’ve always thought it such a shame that they don’t make adult-sized carriers, haven’t you?

Some of our time down south was spent visiting relatives. It’s always nice seeing my southern family as we don’t get to do it so often any more, and it’s really lovely to catch up and sit up with lots of wine and interesting stories from times gone by. Being back in London after being away for two years did tug on a few heart strings, and both myself and Mr B felt huge pangs of nostalgia and a quiet yearning for that London Life again. It’s always hard to let go when you’ve made such great memories in a place, but we loved being able to share new memories there with our very own mini human. His first experience in the big city was filled with parks, posh shopping streets, peculiar animals, parents of the Great and Grand variety, and plenty of yummy food. Perfect.

Whilst in London Dexter also had his first few trips on the tube, which if I’m honest, we thought would be pretty shit due to the fact that as a general rule he bloody hates strangers, and I can’t imagine he’s too fond of armpits either. But oh no, D decided to surprise us once more with his best behaviour. This boy is seriously so nosey, he just stares at everyone all the time and kind of looks down his nose at them, which is rather funny if not slightly awkward for us, but I’m super awkward anyway so it’s fine. He even managed a cat nap whilst in the midst of the banging, clattering and deafening announcements of the tube. Way to go!

Our second night was spent at a hotel as we thought it would be a nice treat and bit of a pit-stop between all the family visits and masses of new faces. Rather than make any huge plans we thought we would have a quiet night as a couple and once we put Dexter to bed we ordered in room service and sat and ate in the dark, washing it all down with a bottle of champers. It was quite good fun sneaking around trying not to wake Dex, and ironically it was good to take some time out just for us in one of the busiest cities in the world.

On day 3 we were on the road again and headed for Surrey to my Grandmother’s house to see the rest of the family. It was my Aunt’s birthday too so there was a lovely sense of occasion to the whole affair. My other Aunt had her first little baby boy a couple of months after I gave birth to Dexter, and this was the first time we were all going to meet since the babies began tagging along. This day saw D’s anti-social side back on the scene, which I think had a lot to do with having to share the attention with another baby; his nose had definitely been put out of joint. Such a monkey.

We made our way back northwards on Sunday and decided to stop in at the in-laws on the way and have another sleepover before finally heading home. One big thing that I have taken away from this trip in regard to parenthood, is the realisation that we can chill out a bit with D’s schedule. We’ve spent months establishing it to a relatively good standard, which meant that when it got thrown off balance a bit (which is inevitable when travelling/holidaying), things really weren’t all that disastrous. I’m glad we stayed strict with it in the beginning as I don’t know if things would have gone so smoothly otherwise. And now that we know we can veer off course a little, we can start being more spontaneous.

As a side note here’s a quick mention to H&M as a lot of myself and Dexter’s clothing for the trip were pieces from their amazing collections. I’ve always loved H&M for their great mix of capsule and trend pieces which are all totally affordable, and now that I have a baba to clothe, I get to shop there twice as much! That’s how it works, right?

A.x