24 Sept 2025
Summer Journal | Slipped away like a moment in time
Meanwhile, after a glorious summer where I have spent so much time outside that my hairdresser recently asked me if I’d had balayage done to my hair without her knowledge, my teeny tiny newborn has suddenly turned into a chubby six-month-old who is making it quite obvious that he needs to move into the bigger buggy, the bigger cot, the bigger high chair, needs to start trying food and is politely waiting for his mother to stop standing there in disbelief and make these things happen. I will, soon, but I might just need a mo to mourn packing away the baby things for the final time.
(I wrote a whole post on the postpartum summer over on Substack should you fancy a read).
I am an Autumn girl at heart, but I have really found summer hard to let go of this year. It has melted away, no matter how hard I have tried to cling on to these fleeting days with my beautiful newborn.
Things I’ve loved lately
A couple of hours with just the one child (the one that currently can’t run away) eating cheese and drinking wine to celebrate six years of marriage.
A lovely, if full-on, holiday in Norfolk, our first holiday as a family of four.
Arriving home from holiday to a gorgeous bunch of flowers that my sister had left in the kitchen.
Focaccia sandwiches from the Italian store on the market.
Dresses and sandals.
The flowers in our front door pots looking gorgeous – thanks mum!
Alfie splashing in the paddling pool.
Ice cream, ice cream, ice cream.
Arthur’s first proper laugh.
‘Foodie Fridays’ in our town – recent delicious tastes include some Thai dumplings, a bhaji burger and honey lemonade.
Neck fan saving my sanity in a heatwave.
The lavender in our garden bringing all the bees to the yard.
Skin smelling like floral scents and sun cream.
Catching up with my friend Alice and our babies in London, our lunches are somewhat more chaotic these days!
A day in Cambridge with my sister, lunching at Dishoom, appreciating the smell of bookshops and chatting constantly for hours.
Alfie wanting to hold Arthur’s hand whilst he walks next to the buggy.
Post-nursery pick-up picnics in the park.
A trip to Kent to catch up with family and friends on Gary’s side, including a trip to Diggerland (a rip-off but hard to argue with the joy on Alfie’s face when he got to operate a real digger) and to the seaside at Whitstable.
This bakery in Faversham which did incredible cruffins.
Arthur’s first time in a swing.
A trip to Hertfordshire zoo with old friends and our six kids. Absolutely impossible to catch up but so lovely to see all our brood playing together. Also, the three-year-olds firmly established that fake dinosaurs are far scarier than watching a jaguar devouring a rabbit….
Being able to take both boys out by myself and it no longer feeling daunting.
An hour to myself in the kitchen baking without interruptions.
My brother-in-law making us amazing pizzas in his new pizza oven.
Arthur’s current habit of grabbing my face with both hands and giving me extremely slobbery kisses/trying to bite my nose/eat my hair.
A trip up north to visit my dad and step-mum – walking through the gorgeous Peak District and eating National Trust scones.
Extended family coming to visit and kids running riot in the garden.
Fresh tomatoes, courgettes and green beans from my parents' garden.
Catching up with my friend Jordan and our kids playing hide & seek in National Trust grounds.
Taking Alfie blackberrying.
The golden, in-between weather as summer starts to melt into autumn.
Hey there!
