My wonderful brother-in-law Sam made this video for Willow as an Easter present. Sam is away at University in London, so we hardy get to see him and his girlfriend, so it was a lovely surprise to be sent this last weekend.

Willow watches it AT LEAST a 100 times a day….

… so we agreed, its just too good not to share! Enjoy…..

So, the day following Willows first birthday, was Mothering Sunday. It was to be my second mothers day and I was excited to say the least… I love it! Except, this mothers day was to be both good AND bad.

At just gone 12 AM, Willow woke up coughing a lot and by 2AM she was finding it hard to breathe, so we decided to pop next door (literally) to A&E. This had happened the previous Friday too as Willows breathing had taken a decline then as well. She was monitored and put on a nebuliser so see if her breathing improved any, luckily it did and by 6AM we were heading home. We were all exhausted from the party the day before and now the hospital trip added on top.

When we got into the house, I popped for a wee, and when I returned to the bedroom Willow was sat in our bed next to Jay holding a card and 2 presents.  I had totally forgotten it was Mothers day up until then! I noticed that the card was written by Willow! Recently, Will’s has been doing a lot of scribbling and has proven to be very good at holding a pen and controlling what she writes. Jay had obviously held her wrist to help guide her, but it was lovely and brought a tear to my eye! She had also done a little (freehand) drawing inside too and ‘mum’ on the envelope. The card itself was the best mothers days present ever

My 2 presents were a box of my fave chocolates, Lindt Lindor and an oil burning gift set, I also got a bunch of red carnations too. Brilliant! We put our heads down and went back to sleep. We all woke at 10AM, and Jay took Willow downstairs for a bit. A few minutes later they returned with a bacon sandwich and a cup of tea… my  most fave breakfast ever!

We then spent the rest of the day watching TV in bed and dozing every now and then. It was so relaxing and lovely. Despite the awful start to the day in hospital, it was the best ever possible day.

Will I get twice the amount of ‘loveliness’ next year when I will have 2 children? Lets hope so!

The envelope and card-

Inside the card-

Sat in A&E during the night -

So, on March 9th my little baby turned a whole year old.

Where has the time gone?  You always hear parents saying that sentence. And until you have a baby yourself, and they turn an actual age, rather than a number of months, you too find yourself saying it.

365 days previous I had a floppy, helpless newborn baby placed onto my chest. I now have a loud, smelly toddler. But Christ, I do love her. Sometimes.

The night before her birthday (Friday) I had to get Jay to lay her down to bed. I found myself standing over her cot holding her hand, crying. It felt silly to feel so emotional in all honesty, but I couldn’t help it. So much had happened in a year, but it had all gone so quickly! Where had my tiny baby gone? I suddenly realized that I will never get those precious first moments back ever again, and this frightened me.

Saturday morning soon came around and it was party day! We gave Willow her presents from us first thing in the morning- 2 inflatable animals (1 pig and 1 purple cow) that are used like space hoppers, and farm yard play mat, a goat for her small holding (plastic of course) a tambourine and a colouring book because Willow is obsessed with colouring in at the moment.

Guests arrived for the party at 12.00pm thick and fast. I was a little worried in the morning that no one would turn up and none of the food would be eaten. Turns out I was wrong. Very, very wrong. The house was packed. We are fortunate to live in quite a good sized town house, but even the house seemed far too small for how many people turned up. The toy room was put to the test with kids scattering toys every where… carnage!!! All of the food was eaten up and there was hardly any waste. Everyone was happy (OK I got a little stressed at times but I was feeling great!).

I would just like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who came to make Willows day special, thanks for all the pressies and wonderful cards. It really does mean a lot to know that we have great friends like you guys!

Willow was spoilt rotten with cards and presents everywhere. She had all her little friends here playing happily and she acted ‘super-human’ and refused any kind of sleep!

I on the other hand, feel like I am still recovering…. I just can’t party like I used to.

This year was quite a special Valentines day for me. For a few reasons.

Believe it or not, It was only my second valentines day with my husband Jay… ever! You see, we do things quickly. Babies, marriage, house etc.

This valentines day, Jay had told me that he had planned to take me somewhere, but he was refusing to tell me where.This questioning went on for a week or two, with no revealing of his plans. Sly bugger.

We woke up on V.Day morning, and actually had a lie in… this is when I doubted that we were actually going out. If we were going to go somewhere surely we would be having an early start? We exchanged cards and pressies. I got a lovely red rose and I gave Jay a cross stitch of two lovebirds that I had only finished at 11pm the night before. It had taken me weeks to make, and I was very pleased with the final outcome.

We got dressed and packed for a day out. Jay told me to wear something warm and put on some comfy shoes, and pack a spare change of clothes for Willow…. Hhhmmm were we going to be outside all day? We left the house and headed for Argos… WTF?!

Yes, Argos. I was told to wait outside the shop while he popped in to pick something up. He emerged with a long item wrapped up hidden in its blue bag. What could it be?!

We then headed to the coach station… and Jay checked the timetable! It was then that I realised where we were going!! Hitchin!

“I’m taking you kite flying on Windmill hill” He said. Perfect!!!! I had only flown a kite once before when I was really little, and I only know this because I saw of photograph of me and grandad flying a kite at Emberton Park once. This was so romantic of Jay to think of this! He really is the best husband.

We took the hour long bus ride, and popped into a Costa for a coffee. We then went up Windmill hill for over an hour. The weather was perfect; sunny but windy. We soon got the hang of the kite, after much fiddling with strings, untangling and untwisting and lots of running backwards! It was the perfect date ever.

Willow had fun running up the hill (yes, she is running now!), and she found the kite hilarious to watch. We only packed up and left as the rain started to set in and the skies darkened.

We headed to Pizza Express, somewhere that neither of us had ever been to before. I ordered a white wine spritzer (as a V.day treat!) and a pizza each. The food was OK, but nothing mindblowing in all honesty. I drank half my wine and felt ‘piisched’ so Jay drank the rest, and Willow had fun throwing food onto the floor and making a scene.

We then decided to call it a day. It was the best day that I ever could have asked for. I spent it with the man I love with all my heart, doing something that I will remember for the rest of my life.

Oh. and on our way to Hitchin we saw a funny car crash…. that is always worth remembering on our slushy lovey dovey day!

On December 1st at 1pm, I walked the aisle in St.Nicholas church, set the beautiful village that I grew up in. I said my vows and forever became, Mrs. Newhouse. It really was the best day of my life…. despite it being minus degrees. The sun shone and the sky was clear, but it was toe snappingly cold!

We had a traditional ceremony with family and friends. As the doors to the church opened I was surprised by the number of people present in the church. To the lead up to the ceremony I kept having images flash through my mind of an empty church with just the photographer and pigeons in the bell tower as my witnesses. But the church was rammed, people were even standing up at the back. Every pew was filled.  Stood before me were the faces of people from every walk in my life. Family, Friends, Colleagues, Class mates and even Teachers! We felt truly blessed.  I wore A traditional dress with a lace bolero, and a woven willow head band (that my dad made for me) decorated with fresh cut flowers. Jay wore a gorgeous berry coloured suit and a pocket hanky in the West Ham football team colours (Oh, I also wore a West Ham garter!).

After the ceremony, We went to the building next door, that was once my C of E first school. The room looked the same as when I was last in it, same desks, same books and even the same piano! A thousand memories flashed back through my mind, and made me very tearful. We had tea and buffet with our friends and cut our West Ham wedding cake, complete with little ‘skinhead’ figurines! The Bride even had my tattoos painting on!

By now, I was absolutely shattered and wanted my bed badly! But, we headed off to our fancy hotel room, overlooking Bedford river- just to check in and so I could get changed…. then back out, to the pub to see our friends bands play. We had 3 bands in total, who all did a fabulous job and kept everyone partying into the early hours!

Over all a fantastic wedding day! There is too much to write about, and would take me forever to get it all typed out! I had the best day of my life- at the end of it all I am just very happy to be Mrs. Newhouse!!!

Special Thanks to- My Husband Jay, My daughter Willow, Bridesmaids- Danni, Leigh, Sophie, Laura. Rev. Christa Pumfrey, Best man Tim and Usher Chris, The Bell ringer and Organist, Photographer Karl, Sally & Keith Newhouse, My dad David and my grandparents, my ‘adoptive’ parents Judith and Simon, Our brothers and sisters, Kelsie- For making the cake, Again, Leigh for arranging all the bands and equiptment for the evening, all the bar staff at Esquires, and last but no means least all of our family and friends for being there and supporting us on our very special day. We love you all. xxxx