Me and Mine: A Family Portrait in October

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  Hasn't October flown by in a flash? Perhaps because it's been a really busy month which we've filled with so many autumnal activities. We love autumn and I can't get enough of being outside, especially when the weather is as nice as it's been. We've been pumpkin picking, conker hunting, making apple crumble, picking sweetcorn, and crunching through leaves. Trips out to RHS Wisley, to Painshill Park, to Chessington, to the pumpkin patch, and to Winkworth Arboretum, where we took this month's family photos. We visited Winkworth earlier in the year to see the bluebells and took our April family photos there, and I knew it would be beautiful come October, so we headed there to see the autumn colours. It ...

Living Arrows 44/52

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You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth – Kahlil Gibran   RHS Wisley is one of our favourite places to visit, and at the weekend we headed there for Max to show his Daddy around all his favourite places. Max loved this giant wooden T-rex sculpture - he wanted to take a photo of it on his camera, and insisted on roaring in his face!  

How to Survive The Hell of Teething

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Just when you thought you'd cracked the whole 'looking after a baby' thing, here comes teething to knock that new found confidence down a peg or two! As an adult, you forget how unbearable any kind of pain in your tooth is, until you watch your child go through it and suddenly it all seems horribly real. Sleepless nights, sore gums, ear pulling, dribbling, red cheeks, grumpiness, loose nappies - the list of teething symptoms is a long one! We're just entering what I call 'the two years of hell' with Ben, and I've put together a little list of all the things we've found to help us make it through ( mostly) unscathed.   Teething Granules Max didn't really grasp the concept ...

#SharingtheBlogLove #64

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A big welcome back to #SharingtheBlogLove linky! I hope you're having a good week so far - are you on half term? It seems like everyone's out having half term adventures and enjoying the beautiful weather we've been having. Can you believe it's October? I keep breaking out the knitwear and having to ditch it halfway through the day!     What's #SharingtheBlogLove all about? If you are new to Sharing the Blog Love it is a weekly showcase of our favourite posts that have linked up. It's a chance to introduce you to new blogs and to share the wonderful writing that exists in the blogging world. All you have to do is link up your post, then Laura and I will both read all the posts linked ...

Sharing the Blog Love - Showcase #64

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A big welcome to our weekly #SharingtheBlogLove Showcase. I hope you enjoy our featured posts here and find some great new blogs to follow along the way. If you're new to #SharingtheBlogLove, these are mine and Laura's favourite posts from last week's linky. As part of the linky we'd like you to choose one post from each showcase post (one from mine and one from Laura's) to head over to and leave a comment to show them some extra blog love. It's always lovely to take a look at our featured posts this week and see how many extra comments they've had from you guys! Organised Jo Clothes hangers are one of those annoying things that you never seem to have the right one to hand. Ben ...

Harvest Time at The Lost Gardens of Heligan

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The Lost Gardens of Heligan has to be one of our favourite places to visit in Cornwall. We visited last year, and we all loved it, and I was so excited to return, with Max being that bit older, and to see it at a different time of year. We visited this year at the end of September, and the gardens were still looking fabulous, with some amazing autumn displays. Located near Megavissey, the gardens had been a hugely impressive part of the Tremayne estate, producing fruit and vegetables for the household, as well as the formal gardens themselves. But they fell into disrepair after WWI when most of their gardeners were called up to fight in the war, and were ...

Living Arrows 43/52

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You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth – Kahlil Gibran   Yesterday we went for a walk at Winkworth Arboretum to see the autumn colours and it didn't disappoint on that front. But Max announced he was tired about 5 metres into our walk, so it was a bit hard going in places. I always find that little things can perk him right up again, and when we discovered this wooden throne towards the end of our walk, I watched in amazement as our 'tired' little boy raced up to the top! He loved sitting up there so much that we had to drag him away as a queue was forming.  

How I Rediscovered My Instagram Love

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A while back I wrote about how I'd fallen out of love with Instagram. I know I wasn't alone in that - the algorithm changes and the follow/unfollow culture meant that so many people were becoming disillusioned with the platform. I'd found my follower numbers plummeting and I wasn't picking up any new followers either, so the whole thing started to become very depressing. But lately I've been feeling the love again, and I put that down to a number of ways in which I've changed my approach.   Relaxing my approach to what I post I admit it - I got caught up in all the advice to only post your 'best' photos. I'd ponder over whether a photo was instagram worthy, ...

#SharingtheBlogLove #63

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A big welcome back to #SharingtheBlogLove linky! I hope you're having a good week so far. We went pumpkin picking at the weekend and came back with 3 huge pumpkins, so I'm looking up carving tips ready to get carving as it's definitely not my strong point. Have you got your pumpkin yet?   A moany note: PLEASE READ! Laura and I don't usually feel the need to check on everyone's commenting - we both know that life can sometimes get in the way and that people do their best to get to them in time. But this week we noticed on checking the featured posts from last week I couldn't see many comments at all and that's really disappointing to see. Please make ...

Sharing the Blog Love - Showcase 63

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A big welcome to our weekly #SharingtheBlogLove Showcase. I hope you enjoy our featured posts here and find some great new blogs to follow along the way. If you're new to #SharingtheBlogLove, these are mine and Laura's favourite posts from last week's linky. As part of the linky we'd like you to choose one post from each showcase post (one from mine and one from Laura's) to head over to and leave a comment to show them some extra blog love. It's always lovely to take a look at our featured posts this week and see how many extra comments they've had from you guys! Passionfruit, Paws and Peonies I feel like I'm a bit lost lately in terms of fashion - I looked in the mirror ...