2009 A year in reflection

It is the last day of 2009 and I am reflecting on this amazing whirlwind year. We have gone from a career driven couple to a relaxed fun loving family of 3 and I have never been happier then I am right now. So here is a summary of my year.

- I saw in 2009 with an amazing baby shower thrown by my amazing mum! Friends and family all turned up for my big suprise party and I got so many amazing gifts. We played games and mum made me cry with a gorgeous speech (which I will have to post on here some time). I was really touched (and emotional - pregnancy hormones!) that so many people had come and everyone had gone to so much effort to wish me and bump all the best.

- I spent the next few months attending yoga, drinking raspberry leaf tea, getting the house and the nursery ready, going shopping with mum and I even sold my beloved bmw convertible for something a bit more practical.

- On March 30th our gorgeous baby belle Soraya Anne was born. The moment we had all been waiting for! The single most amazing thing to ever happen in my life! You can read about that here.

- The first few weeks are a haze of feeding, sleepless nights and visitors but what really sticks in my mind the most are those late night feeding cuddles and BB sleeping on my chest for hours. Pure bliss. The first nappy, the first smile, the first finger grip, the first time she noticed her hands, the first babble, the first crawl, the first wave..these 'firsts' and many more followed and I am still amazed today, at 9 months old, the things she does. There were of course hard times too...colic, vaccinations and her first cold but they came and went just like everything.

- Our house has been transformed! A year ago our house was like a show home, everything had a place, minimalism was our style, well actually more hubbys style! Today our house is a home, there are toys galore, jumperoo's, walkers, a slide, play mats, rocking horse, dolls..you get the picture. I had a night away the other week, the first night me and hubby have spent apart in ages, and when I came back he said that the place felt really empty and cold without us...what a sweetie.

- On a work note I have made a big decision this year to sell the fashion company. I have another related business in the pipeline but there is no rush, I love being with BB so much and I don't want to miss this special time.  Also hubby's computer company is doing very well at the moment and so I am going to head up the accounts dep. We are also looking to open up another office in 2010 so exciting times ahead.

- Of course 2009 was also the year I entered the Bloggersphere and started this blog.  I have met some amazing people in the blogging community.  I have previously blogged about fashion and so coming into this mummy blogging community has been very different and everyone has been lovely. I must thank Carol over at New Mummy for introducing me to the mummy blogging world last year. A few others I would like to thank are Sian at Yummy Mummy Tips for introducing me to Stokke products, the Xplory being top of my list of must have buys, with Tripp Trapp & Sleepi coming a close second. I would also like to give a shout out to Susanna at A Modern Mother for keeping the Mummy Blogging Community together and I look forward to all you have in store in 2010 for us too :)  We had a great time at the London Zoo meet up and I have been in 2 newspapers and a magazine who were curious about mummy blogging, showing that it really is spreading through the UK now.

- So it has been a busy year all around with Baby Belle joining the family and business taking off, and I have to say it is the best year of my life! I am really looking forward to 2010...a 1st Birthday Party and a Wedding are planned but who knows what else the year may bring :)

Baby's First Christmas

It will be Baby Belle's 1st Christmas this year and we are all a little bit too excited!!!!!!!

She is the perfect age, she is so aware of everything and loves presents and pretty lights. Every morning she waves frantically at her pink Christmas Tree, it is so lovely to see! I sit her down on her playmat and she quietly makes her way over to it. I tell her 'No' but for some reason she finds this word funny at the moment and simply giggles and carries on.

We are going to Baby Belle's Grams and Grandpa's house on Christmas Day. I have spent every year of my life doing this and I look forward to it so much. It is only now that I have a family of my own I realise how flipping hard it must be for mum though! She makes the biggest and best Christmas meal ever and there are 8 of us to cook for! We always get the most amazing presents and whatever you may have mentioned throughout the year has been remembered! Now I know my time will have to come very soon when I must host Christmas, it is only right and she has been doing it for 26 years of my life, she deserves a break! But how I can compare I am not sure.

The last 5 Christmases have been lovely but they have been a little 'bitter sweet' because two very special people are missing.  My Nanny and Grandpa Foley.  They were a massive part of our lives and at around 10am on Christmas morning every year I remember them coming over and swapping presents, us getting our selection boxes, Nanny nattering away, Grandpa sneakily dropping food for the dogs, and so many laughs at the dinner table (whoopy cushions galore, we never grew up!). They are missed but never forgotten.

Baby Belle has Nanny's Blue eyes and so this Christmas will feel so special, it is her 1st Christmas with us and it feels like a bit of Nanny and Grandpa are back with us too.

So to everyone out there this Christmas who are missing loved one's and/or has new little one's with them, I hope you all have a lovely time remembering and celebrating the people you have been lucky to have known and know.

 

 

 

Wordless Wednesday Starbucks

a festive Starbucks makes me happy

Soy Chai Latte mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Baby's First Word

A real quick post here.

Baby Belle said Mamamama this morning! She has already said Baba (persian for daddy in our house) but she said Mama!

Problem is I can only get her to repeat it when she has a carrot or rice cracker in her mouth.  Needless to say she has had a few today :D

Mummy Blogger Meetup

A short but sweet post to say thanks to A Modern Mother for organising the British Mummy Blogger Meet up at London Zoo the other weekend. We had a wonderful day and even though the weather was awful it added to the splashing in puddles fun of it all, kindof!

I really would have liked to get around to meeting more of you mummy bloggers but the ones I did meet were just as lovely in real life as they are online.

Roll on the next BMB meet up.

8 Months Old!

Our little Baby Belle was 8 Months Old on Monday. I can't believe how much she is growing, physically and mentally! She has really developed into her own little person now with such a personality!

Here are her firsts for this month:

Babbling - She has always been a vocal baby but now she is doing proper bla bla bla sounds. It is soo cute. We call Daddy 'Baba' in our house, it is Persian for Daddy and so it seems like this is her first word babababa. Typical hey, what about mamamama :)

Finger Foods - She is now an expert with finger food, she loves cucumber, banana, toast and plain rice crackers (which she tries to fit in whole!)

Upright Crawl - She has been commando crawling for a few months but it is only the last month she has now started to get right up on her arms and rock.

Holding herself up - She loves to hold onto the sofa standing up. Grams also got her a 'makka pakka og pog' car (for anyone who doesn't know what this is, google it) and she will sit on this and push along on her legs to move across the room.

Laughs at 'No' = great :)

Laughs & Giggles when it is bed time and tries to make us laugh by twisting her head upside down, she is such a monkey, I have to turn away to laugh!

Waves - BB now waves goodbye and hello to people or things she recognises, very cute.

So there we go another month gone and so much change, but still no teeth...What ages were yours when they got their first teeth? I think BB is very late with this? Shouldn't complain I am told.

There will be another big first soon = Christmas!