#LITTLELOVES: Birthday Party, Quiet and Fun in the Garden

It's been a funny old week, as I've had some very rare time away from both Isabella and work. Isabella was in nursery for 1.5 days, so one of the days my husband and I had a working lunch together and for the half a day I went food shopping. It was so quiet and strange if I'm honest, pick up time couldn't come quick enough. It's made me realise I need to have some proper plans/jobs to do when I start maternity leave properly, as I'll have three days a week by myself and I don't want to waste that precious time.

Waitrose magazine. I know this is a bit of a random one, but I had some seriously rare time by myself so I went food shopping. Wild, I know. Food shopping in peace was a real luxury and I even had enough free hands to pick up a takeaway cup of tea from Waitrose! So when I got home I enjoyed browsing the Waitrose magazine, had the cup of tea and a couple of biscuits...in complete silence. Bliss!

Isabella's eye light up as she walked into her party room. While we were setting up her second birthday party she stayed with her Grandparents so hadn't seen the room until it was ready. As she walked into the party room (we hired a local hall) her eyes lit up, smile grew on face and she ran over to the cake table to have a nosey. She then continued to run between the bouncy castle, craft table and food tables, all so excited and loving pointing out all of the bunny rabbits. It made all the time, money and effort that had been poured into the planning of the party very worth while.

Absolutely nothing. Like I mentioned at the start of this post I had some time by myself this week, which has only happened a handful of times since Isabella was born a whole two years ago. At first the silence was lovely - I could think clearly, listen to the birds and simply relax. However after a few hours I began to miss the random chats, calling of 'Mummy' and general noisiness a toddler creates.

A whole load of party food for both adults and children. We did a toddler buffet and an adult one, as well as various puddings. We had planned to keep the cooking to a minimum, but inevitably what I did cook kept me busy for two full days before the party. I'm certainly not complaining, I love cooking, but my ankles/feet were feeling the effects of being on my feet for so many solid hours at 32 weeks pregnant! To read more about Isabella's second birthday party and the food we did then head over to this blog post.

Isabella's party dress from Next. I searched and searched for a dress that would fit in with the floral bunny theme of the party, but didn't come across anything I loved that was available in 2-3 years. As the party was quickly approaching I needed to find an alternative, with the hope I'd come across a dress that could be worn throughout the summer too. This beautiful Chambray Stripe Ruffle Collar dress from Next was just perfect for what ended up being such a sunny day. She also wore silver Oxford style shoes from GAP, white frilly socks and a light grey cardigan from H&M. The dress is in 2-3 years and is slightly too big for her, but one she can grow into over the summer.

We've spent a lot of time in the garden this week because for some strange reason I decided I wanted to surprise my husband by transforming a corner of our garden. Since moving in two years ago we've not really done anything in the garden, other than putting in a herb garden in the first summer we were here. I don't know why I thought doing this project would be a good idea at almost 33 weeks pregnant, but hey ho I just about managed it. (We'll ignore the awful trapped nerve pain, which now means I can barely walk!) I'm really pleased with how much better that corner of the garden looks and it felt good finally getting around to doing some gardening.

What have you been loving this week?

Feel free to leave a comment - I love reading every single one :)

Helen x

The Tale of Mummyhood