Our Day by Design

Holden's 24th monthly photo, taken on the 1st of every month. Holden turned 24 months old on the 2nd of February. I can't believe that my little boy is now 2 years old. The first part of January was fairly quiet but included a trip to zoo, a couple of visits to soft play and the leisure pool with friends and one of Holden's friends birthdays. Holden also got to spend a day with nana & grandpa since my parents were still away and also got a haircut and new shoes. My parents arrived back from Australia on the 11th then my sister, nephew and niece came a week later on the 18th. It was wonderful to see them all as it had been over a year since we last saw them, when we were in Australia in Oct 2012. The rest of the month was busy as we spent lots of time with my niece and nephew while my sister was away. We went swimming, to the soft play, lots of lunches, dinners and sleepovers at granny's too. There was also lots of planning for Holden's birthday party as ...

Better late than never I wanted to do a quick recap of last year, just like I did for both 2010 & 2011 . If nothing else it reminds me of all the events I haven't written about yet! We had a fantastic 2012 with the arrival of our gorgeous son Holden. It's also been a busy year including Holden's first big trip!   January My niece Willow was born in Australia! I started my maternity leave . February Holden was born.     March Holden: One Month We celebrated my first Mothers Day. April Holden: Two Months We celebrated our 2nd Anniversary & Holden's 1st Easter. May Holden: Three Months My blog turned 3. June Holden: Four Months It was Grahams birthday on his first Fathers Day. I had a night away at Lucy's hen do, which started with laser quest! July Holden: Five Months My sister and family arrived for 6 weeks and we enjoyed lots of time together including a trip to the zoo. I was a Bridesmaid at Lucy...

Holden's twelfth monthly photo, taken on the 1st of every month.     Holden turned twelve months old on the 1st of February. It's hard to believe my little boy is 1 already, its been such a fast year with so much happening, but we made it! January was fairly quiet and Graham spent the first week in Denmark with his work. Our flat was put up for sale on the 9th and sold within 3 weeks which meant we only had to do 3 open viewings but it was definitely a lot quicker than we expected. We need to move out by the 8th of March so as our new house wont be ready until July, we are moving in with my parents for a few months. Holden loves his grandad so I think he will love it and it will also be a lot easier when my dad is looking after him one day a week. Otherwise we went to a 1st birthday party, had a couple of trips to the soft play centre, some lunches with friends and lots of planning for Holden's birthday party. Then we got to celebrate Holden's 1st Birthday. He w...

Holden's eleventh monthly photo, taken on the 1st of every month.   Holden turned eleven months old on New Year's Day. December was of course a busy month with all of the Christmas preparations, a few lunches, my 31st birthday, a trip to a city farm, seeing Reindeer in Edinburgh, putting the decorations up, the toddler group Christmas party, lunch with all of our friends and their kids and also a birthday party for Holden to attend. We also managed to have a Christmas night with friends while Graham's parents babysat. Then we got to celebrate Holden's 1st Christmas. Graham's parents came to see Holden open some of his presents in the morning then we spent the rest of the day at my parents' house with my aunt, uncle and cousin. Everyone was completely spoiled and I don't think Holden will need much for his birthday. We skyped with my sister Ashleigh and her family in Australia once we were all together then again at midnight when they were waking up t...

Its Grahams 31st Birthday today, on his first Father's Day; Happy Birthday G! This last year has gone so fast with all the preparations for the baby, Holden's arrival and the holidays we enjoyed. We have a busy summer ahead with my sister and her family visiting, two hen do's & the weddings, a week in Center Parcs then a trip to Australia in September which will be our first family holiday! Daddy with Holden when he was just 40 minutes old. This is also the first photo we have of Holden, unfortunately I missed it as I was still in recovery and hadn't met him yet. {His birth story is coming soon.} This is also our anniversary of 9 years together {and 2 years, 10 weeks & 5 days married!} Unlike last year when we celebrated in Marrakech and I was almost 8 weeks pregnant, this year Graham was at a stag do last night so once he got back we opened gifts with Grahams dad then headed out to lunch just the three of us before visiting my parents o...

Despite saying last year that I wasn't sure 2011 would come anywhere close to the fabulous 2010 we had, have as much excitement in it or that we would manage four holidays again, I think we did pretty well! January I carried on with my honeymoon recaps . February I met some of the blog girls and went to London for my br other-in-laws 30th. March I finally finished my recaps & all wedding related posts! We had lunch at La Potiniere . April We visited both Bratislava & Vienna .     While there, we celebrated our 1st   anniversary ! Followed by dinner at The Kitchin  when we returned home. I also went to a Hollywood Hen do! May We attended a weekend wedding celebration in Perthshire. We made a Travel Map with our paper anniversary gift. My blog turned 2 . We discovered I was pregnant just a few weeks after finding out my sister was too! June We went to Marrakech for a week where Gra ham tu...

Its my 30th Birthday today! Unlike the last couple of years when we have been in Florida for my birthday, this year we are at home, since we took our last baby free trip to the Christmas markets in Cologne last weekend. This morning we are going round to my parents so we can skype with my sister, brother-in-law and nephew in Oz then we are going to do some shopping before meeting my parents at Mimi's in Leith for afternoon tea. Tomorrow my parents are hosting some of my family and friends at their house for another afternoon tea to celebrate. At almost 32 weeks pregnant, its not exactly how I thought my 30th would be but I'm looking forward to a lovely weekend.

In December last year we spent 8 nights in Orlando, Florida with Grahams family {his parents, his sister & her fiancé, his aunt & uncle and his cousin & his fiancée}, making 10 of us in total. The 8 of them had spent a week down the coast in Fort Myers first but due to our lack of holidays, we could only get 6 days off work. We met them all in Orlando on the Saturday. We set off on the Friday, my 29th birthday and as we landed in Orlando, we were just relieved that we had actually managed to get there, following a few issues to say the least. It started with the never ending snow which had closed Edinburgh airport and kept my sister & nephew up here since the weekend before. The week was full of helpful suggestions from everyone and there were even thoughts of driving down to Manchester for our Orlando flight; thankfully the airport reopened on the Friday morning! However there were still a few issues at check in {how an airline system can’t cope with people who ha...