50 Things That Make Me Happy

I was tagged by the lovely Rebecca from Percy and Grace to do the '50 things that make me happy' It is so important to remember the little things in every day life that make you happy, So I really enjoyed this, here are my 50 things that make me happy..

1. My children Of course this is a given, they are my kids and I love them unconditionally, they make me happy every day 
2. Matt again, a given, he's my husband and if he didn't make me happy he probably wouldn't be doing his job properly! lol
3. Family Being with the family, whether it's just our little foursome, or my parents, or dare I say it, the in laws..  
4. When the sun shines Everything is better when the sun shines!
5. Family days out We only get one day a week together as a family, so it's important to me to spend those days having quality time as a family, having fun out and about.
6. My home I love my home, it is small but perfect, not to mention the view!
7. Driving with the music on full blast I'm not sure there are many people who don't love doing this..
8. Having a good hair day My hair can be pretty wild and curly, so to tame that frizz is a great feat for me!
9. Giving the house a good clean with music on full blast Now I usually hate cleaning, but give me an empty house with a bit of Queen and I'm well away.
10. Watching the kids play together Well if they can entertain each other without me having to intervene, what's not to love?
11. Sunday roast Now I don't mean to toot my own horn - but I cook a mean roast..
12. Cooking for people I do like to show off those culinary skills sometimes!
13. BBQs Getting the family or friends round for a sausage and a cider on a summers day, brill.
14. My bed It's always there for comfort.. when you can get to it!
15. Chinese food Is it me or is this post becoming very food oriented? 
16. Shopping Much to Matts dismay.
17. Next Home Everything is so pretty in there and I want it all!
18. When the kids make each other laugh 9 times out of 10 they are just laughing at each other laughing.. I love it!
19. Being sat outside with a cuppa I do love watching the world drift by with a brew outside.
20. Cozying under a blanket watching a movie with Matt That feeling of being all snug and safe with the one you love!
21. Watching old footage of the kids This one breaks my heart a little and makes me happy at the same time.
22. Summer evenings spent outside watching the sun go down If you were to ever visit this place, you would see how calm and tranquil it is, so to be sat outside wrapped up with a warm drink watching the sunset is bliss to me.
23. Eastenders I can't help it, it's an addiction! 
24. Seeing the kids learn something new for the first time I love the look on their little faces when they have just figured out something new, excitement, accomplishment and determination all rolled into one.
25. Christmas!! Everything about it! Matt calls me Mrs Christmas.
26. Getting the time to paint As you can imagine with two young kids, this doesn't happen often these days..(unless you count poster painting with Tom) but if I get the chance it is one of the most relaxing things to do.
27. Buying clothes and makeup getting to pamper myself is quite rare, so when it happens I take full advantage.
28. Buying the kids clothes Just about every time I go out, i'm on the look out, can't help myself, god knows how bad I would be if they were girls! lol
29. Billy Connolly / Lee Evans I love a good comedian, those two are my favourites.
30. The excitement setting off for a holiday I probably get this one off my mum, we used to get up at the crack of dawn for a holiday and make the whole thing as exciting a possible, proper little adventure, so I still do it now, Matt thinks I'm nuts.
31. Being by the sea Living where we live, we are probably as far away from the sea as you can get, but I love it and hope to one day maybe live by the sea (can only dream)
32. Visiting Cornwall My favourite FAVOURITE place, have been going every year since I was very small, If we havn't been to Cornwall at least once that year, something is very wrong!
33. Having an organised house Well who likes a chaotic house? Granted that's what I live with the majority of the time, but for the small amount of time it is organised.. it is very pleasing...
34. Wearing clothes I feel good in There aren't many of these so it's always a good day when I'm wearing something I can be confident in.
35. Vlogging and Blogging This not only has made me lots of new friends and lovely people to chat to, but it is my little outlet to just be 'Anna' for a bit.
36. My fur baby Bosco Bosco is our doggy, he's now 5 years old and he's just so lovely, gentle, loving and well behaved (most of the time)
37. Spending time with my sister You know those people who just 'get' you, well for me that's my sister. She is at Uni in Newcastle right now, so I miss her lots!
38. Date nights Matt and I don't get very many of these, but we have figured now that when someone offers to have the kids, take it! It is so lovely to get out and be a couple again for a few hours.
39. Seeing friends We don't see our friends as much as we would like to, so when we do it's great!
40. Going through old photos I love doing this, especially the really old baby photos of myself and family.
41. Spending hours watching comedies like friends & scrubs with Matt We do love a feel good comedy, if ever one of us is feeling down, on go friends or scrubs to make us smile.
42. Getting cuddles from the kids. Especially without having to even ask!
43. Getting to hear from my brother I don't get to hear from him nearly as much as I would like, he is working as a chef in Honk Kong, before that it was London and after that it will be Copenhagen. So for his Nephews to get to speak to him makes me really happy!
44. Hearing music I love whether it be old or new.
45. Seeing Ewans smile just for Mummy That boy has a cheeky little smile saved just for me and I love it!
46. Seeing Tom excited I love seeing his little face getting excited about something or other (it's usually dragons lately)
47. Painting something and being incredibly pleased with the outcome again, this doesn't happen as much as I would like, in fact it has been years. But that feeling of accomplishment when you get a painting just the way you wanted is amazing.
48. Making others happy A selfless act in making someone else happy, makes me happy, so maybe it's not selfless at all?
49. Fresh bedding You can't beat a freshly made bed.
50. Making new friends This definitely makes me happy, being the shy awkward person that I am, it doesn't happen that often, which is why I love youtube and blogging :)

Well I hope you enjoyed reading that, if you got to the bottom! Hopefully it gave you a small insight to my world, thank you again to Rebecca for the Tag!

Anna x

Going From One To Two children

I have noticed lately a lot of posts about having a second child, when is the best time? what is the best age gap? All these different things to consider, and I don't know if it's the Royal baby arriving, or Ewans first Birthday coming up, but I have been thinking a lot about how those first few months went, going from one to two children, so I thought I would share my personal experience.

When I found out that I was expecting Ewan, it was a month before Toms second birthday. I always had it in my head that I wanted my children to have the same age gap as my brother and I, that and the fact that my body needed to be relatively young to carry a child safely, so I knew they would be relatively close in age (they are 2 years and 7 months apart).
Being pregnant with a toddler is not a walk in the park, Tom was always a very easy going baby, eat, sleep, play. Just a joy to be with, but he hit his gross motor skill milestones relatively quickly, so from 7 months we were on the go with him none stop, we knew that this was going to be one toddler that didn't like to sit still for long!
So let's just say that in that first trimester, there wasn't a lot of time to rest and let my body sleep because I was busy chasing a toddler about, I sailed through the second trimester relatively easily (apart from the sciatica, oh and the SPD) the third trimester was tough.. I would tell you more but I fear I have a mental block on those last 3 months!!

Anyway, Ewan arrived Via C-section, which didn't go straight forward, but I'll save that for another blog post, I was in a state of euphoria that my baby had gotten here safe and sound and we were both doing well. Right from the word go, Ewan let us know that he was a kid that knew what he wanted, and what he wanted was Mummy... literally.. none stop, I think I had text Matt that night telling him that he was going to be a little diva, and sure enough he was!
Don't get me wrong, I always wanted a 'cuddly' baby, that was one thing Tom never was, but my god I wish those two had been the other way around, as I felt constantly stuck to the sofa with a sleeping baby on me, unable to play with my eldest who desperately needed some attention.
Those first couple of weeks, Tom found extremely tough I think, Ewan was taking up so much of my time and energy, I was trying to establish breast feeding, which wasn't going great due to Ewan having a tongue tie, So I was pumping my milk 8 times a day so that I had enough for every feed, it felt like I was spending all of my time feeding! Ewan also suffered with very bad acid reflux, and eventually was prescribed ranitidine, which was a god send! But before that happened, we were dealing with a screaming baby every evening for hours on end, I was physically and mentally drained, thank god Matt was home with me for 3 weeks, he would try and spend as much time with Tom as he could, whilst I tried to bond with Ewan. I felt myself almost detach from Tom in a way, I would cry about it a lot to Matt, feeling guilty that I couldn't split myself in two for them both, I would say that was the main feeling I had in those first months, guilt, guilt for not being there completely for both of my kids. Of course things settled down when Ewan turned around 4 months old, he was like a new baby, smiling, laughing, just generally being a happy baby, which of course makes everything just seem worth while. Tom came round to the idea of another little person being part of our family too and the both of them adore each other now (not without a little sibling rivalry though).

So believe it or not, this is the short version! I have rambled plenty I'm sure, for me, going from one to two children was harder than going from zero to one! Both my children are complete opposites which threw me through a loop. Don't get me wrong, there are aspects that are so much easier about having a second child, you are much more laid back about things, and you feel more confident in your parenting decisions,

So when deciding when is the best time to have another.. I would say to just go with that gut feeling, whatever time you choose, there will always be things about it that were right or wrong, so there's never really a right time, just the same as there's never really a right time to have your first.

Let me know your experiences at going from one to two children (if you have done it yet) I'm sure everyone has vastly different experiences.