Our Summer Stories...

Two months ago I turned out the lights to my classroom, jumped into my freshly washed car and drove down the driveway of my school for the very last time that year. Summer was here and I was more than ready! Not that I had never been ready for summers past, but this year was different. This year I was getting to spend the summer with my walking, talking, spaghetti eating, red headed girl and that my friends made it pretty darn special. 

Spending time with Floraidh this summer has been wonderful and I am so grateful for the memories we have shared. I am fortunate to be in a profession that enables me to enjoy quality time with my daughter without the extra load of work hanging over my head for at least two months of the year (it also helps ease the working mum guilt!).

We have literally spent our days napping together, going for longs walks, visiting the zoo, sharing ice creams, playing in the splash park and baking cakes (which I ate most of). We also took the opportunity to travel to places old and new. 

Our adventures began with a trip to the mountains where we visited Asheville, NC. It was truly a very special place surrounded by mountains and lined with cool restaurants and breweries. Our stay was made magical by our accommodation which was a yurt under the stars! 

We also ventured up north to the Sleeping Bears Dunes National Park. We stayed in the most quaint little town of Glen Arbor where there was an array of outdoor activities on offer and views that could take your breath away. This was by far our most relaxing week as a family of three.

And then there was Scotland! What can I say, a trip home to Scotland is always action packed with visits to family and friends but it sure is the best! Nothing beats spending time with your loved ones. Especially when you get to eat morning rolls with square sausage washed down with copious amounts of high quality gin! Winky face. But seriously, Scotland you are and will always be one of my truest loves. The sea air, crisp weather, laughs with friends and  snuggles with nieces. As they say in Scotland, "Canny whack it". Floraidh had a ball too of course...

Finally we ended our summer with a trip to Disney World.....

Well now it is time to return to work for another year of teaching. It really is bittersweet as I will miss my baby so much more than ever before. Thank you to the universe for such a special summer. These stories truly are what makes us whole. 

If You Go Down to the Woods Today....

Happy First Birthday to our sweet baby girl Floraidh Jane! Turning one is a huge milestone for both her and us,  I still can't quite believe we made it this far. Floraidh has turned in to the sweetest, most caring little toddler who loves to laugh, read books and explore outdoors! She also has a thing for mac and cheese, yogi (yoghurt) and Peppa Pig.

On Saturday, April 1st 2017 we celebrated her first year of life by putting on a little Teddy Bear's picnic in the park. The weather was colder than expected but that didn't stop Floraidh from having fun and chattering with her little friends. She also got to sample some victoria sponge cake for the first time and loved it I must say! Since then she has had half a cream egg and a lindt chocolate bunny, there goes the chocolate ban!

It was such a wonderful day and we are so thankful for all of our friends here in Louisville who came out to help us celebrate. We are so proud of our baby and are enjoying watching her grow more each and every day. The first year has been a roller coaster of feelings and emotions but we finally feel that we are on the up side of the ride and are enthralled by every twist and turn. We can't wait to see what the next year has in store.

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY, LOVE MAMA AND DADA x

Our Greatest Adventure Yet...

We survived the first 6 months! I can't believe I am sitting here writing this 7 months into motherhood. For a while there I thought that life would never be the same but oh how wrong I was. Life isn't the same, it's better! 

The first 3/4 months of Floraidh's life were a whirl wind of eating, sleeping, not sleeping, crying, pooping, getting into a routine, visiting family, eating again, sleeping again and yip you guessed it,,,crying again. The fourth trimester is for real and it is something which has not to be taken lightly. Then all of a sudden your baby transforms into this happy, smiling, giggling, crawling, spaghetti bolognaise loving wee friend. At 7 months she is quite literally the love of our lives and is by far our greatest adventure yet. We have finally found our flow and our rhythm as a family of 3. We are enjoying watching Floraidh grow into the independent, determined and fun-loving girl that she is and we are enjoying being able to start showing her around the world a bit more and exposing her to adventures of her own. 

Her first adventure was across the pond to Scotland (via Canada)! I was so nervous about taking her on a plane for the first time all by myself but she nailed it and slept the whole way there and the whole way back. Floraidh was a huge hit in Scotland and the people there were even able to pronounce her name right! It was such a wonderful trip and we both loved spending this time with family and friends despite us both being so tired. 

At 6 months old we took Floraidh on her first camping trip. She spent time playing outside in nature, swimming in the lake and sleeping out under the stars. She was so flexible and loved exploring outdoors. She also slept solidly from 7:05 - 7:00 and didn't wake until the sun came up. She did however catch a little cold afterwards due to the tent being damp so I wouldn't recommend camping in October when the temperatures fluctuate so much between day and night. Overall this was a great adventure and one I would highly recommend, esp if you were keen campers before baby came along.

We are now gearing up for visiting the beach in Florida and then getting reading to take on Scotland for the second time this year! We are excited for Floraidh to experience new sights, sounds, tastes and smells as she continues to add to her travels but we are also excited for her to see the familiar faces of the people she loves back home. Here is to more great adventures!

Life with Floraidh...

♥ Floraidh Jane McLachlan (Florrie) ♥

Yeaaaahhhh!!!! We did it..we gave birth to the most beautiful and precious girl in the world. Floraidh Jane was born unexpectedly at 6:32pm on Thursday 31st March 2016 weighing 7.4lb. She arrived 4 days early which was a surprise to us all, However, it was not her plan to come on her due date (April 4th) and instead picked a stormy evening to make her entrance into the world. 

Life since that night has never been the same. It has been more amazing than we ever could have imagined and my husband and I are both adapting well to having a newborn around. Luckily for us Floraidh is a very good baby and pretty much eats and sleeps most of the day. She has naturally developed her own schedule and seems happy and content. She has also taken like a duck to water with breastfeeding and we are delighted that we have been able to nurse her in this way.  Floraidh has also proved to be pretty flexible and fits in to our schedule whether we are eating out, hiking in the park or going for picnics. She loves being outdoors and enjoys socializing with people. We really couldn't have asked for a better baby and absolutely love having her around. She completes our family and makes life for us here in Louisville more meaningful. We are both looking forward to all the new milestones that each month brings and watching her grow into the adventurous, kindhearted and beautiful girl that she is destined to be. Welcome to the world baby girl...we love you more every day ♥

Life Happens...

Wow, I can't believe it has almost been a full year since I last posted! That surely is a sign that life has become way too busy, and that when Friday nights roll around the choice between blogging or bathing in a hot bath is an easy one. Anyway, in a bid to continue to document important events and memories in my life (for future reference) I am back on with a new attitude. 

When I first started this blog I felt a real need to have to write something at least once per week. That just became way too much and often left me with a feeling of guilt. I also struggled to think up things to write about so was just creating random recipe/ craft or fashion posts which had no real meaning to me. My new attitude to blogging is one that involves much less stress and commitment. I am now more focused on using my blog as a tool for myself and my family as a means of documenting memories, feelings and adventures. This will give us a platform for looking back and reflecting on the years and will enable us to reconnect with the things that make us happy. I am way more comfortable with this approach and feel much less obligated to have to write every week. I am hoping to write at least once every 3 months and focus on the highlights throughout that time. This way it will be like keeping an online journal of major events and will help me to be more mindful about the content of my writing. With that said I am now going to share the highlights from the last year to bring you up to speed on what happens when "LIFE HAPPENS"....

July 2015

Angus and I both flew home to Scotland for the summer and had an amazing 5 weeks of visiting family and friends and exploring our beautiful country! During our visit I went on a  hiking trip with Angus's sister Rachel. We completed the "West Highland Way" in 6 days and had the time of our lives. It was most definitely one of the best trips I have ever been on. The emotional roller coaster over mountains and across moors left you both tired and hungry for more! Unforgettable. 

Angus and I were also lucky enough to have a few days to ourselves down at the Cotswolds in England. This was part of the UK that I had been wanting to explore for a while and what better time to do it than on our 1 year anniversary! We reserved a barn conversion off the side of a cottage called "Popfosters". It was so beautiful and had a ton of character. As we explored the small towns and villages of; Chipping Campden, Stow on the Wold and the Slaughters we both felt like we had gone back in time. It was fun strolling round the little shops, eating afternoon tea and hiking over fields on the Cotswold Way! 

August 2015

After a wonderful summer back home, Angus and I returned to Louisville with a bun in the oven! We found out we were expecting our first baby on the morning of Friday 31st of July. We couldn't be happier...

Yes. This is us.....

I knew for a long time (even before we got married)...that I wanted one of our wedding pictures turned into an illustration so as you can imagine it didn't take me long to start looking for an illustrator once our wedding pictures arrived! 

It took me a couple of months to finally find the right one as there were so many different styles and a range of costs that it was actually quite overwhelming. Anyway thanks to the amazing Sumek Injai on Etsy I now have ours framed and sitting on top of our side dresser! I am completely in ♥ with it and just had to share it for all of you newly weds out there who might be searching for the same things! Here is the direct link to Sumek's shop....enjoy x

https://www.etsy.com/shop/HandMek?ref=search_shop_redirect