Summer Adventures in Whitstable

There is so much I love about the summer - waking up to the sun already in the sky, washing drying on the line, summer dresses, iced coffee, dipping my toes in the sea, children in the paddling pool, cider in a pub garden, and of course how easy it is to explore.  

You don't need to load up the buggy with raincovers and coats, you don't have to worry about it getting dark and al fresco eating is ideal with a toddler (or two) around.  Last weekend we hopped on the train to Whitstable, which is only about 20 minutes from us, for a change, and the sun was shining for us all day.

We have a sandy beach on our doorstop, and our buckets and spades are hung up ready to go at a moment's notice, but the pebbly beach in Whitstable needs none of this.  It is amazing how long two boys can be entertained just with water and stones.  They made piles, they had a tea party with them, they practiced skimming and they searched high and low for their favourite ones.

We wandered along the promenade first, looking at the stalls selling their homemade wares, and kids toys, and then found the fish market.  Lunch had to be fish and chips, but we went for freshly caught prawns and crayfish as they are the boys' favourite.  

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Life with 3 - Month 4

We have completely given up on being anywhere on time this month, but we are embracing the freedom too as we head into the final few weeks of nursery where it is allowed.  My mum told me that the reason she had a third baby so close to the first two was so that she didn't have to do the school run with a newborn, and I have to say, I think it makes a lot of sense.  Finn will be 6 months by the time Dylan starts school, and I think it may be easier to get us all out the house on time after 6 months of practice.

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Making the most of it

 Since my return to work in January, our family time has been cut in half.  I only do ten hours per week in my current role, but most of that falls on a Saturday, and with the bloke being at work Monday to Friday, it gives us only one day all together.

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2013

We started 2013 as a family of three, with a new arrival imminent.  Dylan was newly walking and starting to talk, slowly losing his baby fat and turning into a little toddler.  I was growing daily with another little boy in my tummy and our life was quiet yet perfect.

After a year of broken legs, birthdays, days out and days in, a year where we welcomed another baby into our life and saw our little man become a big brother.  After a year of learning, enjoying, growing and giggling, we find ourselves leaving 2013 behind, and beginning the new year as a family of four.

Dylan has left behind the baby days, and is slowly changing from a toddler to a little boy.  His language is amazing and he gets funnier and cheekier by the day.  Despite a month spent in hospital, quite literally tied to a bed, he has not stopped spoiling and he remains the laid back little dude he always was.  2013 for him so the end of being an only child and he has adapted to life as a big brother with ease, helping make room in the family for Archie.

Archie is hurtling towards the toddler years and is desperate to walk having now mastered a push along walker and his first birthday is looming.  He is the polar opposite to his big brother in every single way, with an inability to sit still and a curiosity that extends especially to anything with buttons and/or wires.  

2013 was a year of growth, physically for the boys, as a family and as people.  We have learnt seperately and together and we are now a unit of four, a little team, we are buddies.

2014 will be a year of change, with Archie becoming more independent, Dylan turning 3 in August and staring part time pre-school and myself returning part time to work after 11 months of maternity leave.  It will be a year of calm as we continue with our ordinary life as a family of four.   It will be a year of family, as we look forward to a week away in March with my parents at Butlins.  It will be a year of Birthdays as we celebrate the littlest one's first and then the bloke turning thirty.  

I hope it will be a good year, where we are so busy making memories that we don't even notice.  Here is our last family photo from the year, taken on Christmas Day at my parent's house.  All in our cheesy Christmas jumpers, enjoying time with family. This sums up our year pretty well.

Happy New Year!

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