I was recently reminiscing about major events that have taken place in our family and realised they have all happened in an Olympic year!
Sydney 2000 – I met big Mr A and fell in love
Athens 2004 – We got married
Beijing 2008 – Little Mr A was born – I remember watching the rowing whilst having contractions!
London 2012 – Little Miss A was born – Heavily pregnant I was waddling around Weymouth soaking up the Olympic atmosphere!
Rio 2016 – Who knows? Maybe a baby Rio of our own?!
Hi and welcome to my blog. Thank you for taking the time to visit my site.
For my first post I thought I would tell you a bit about me and how my gorgeous family got started….
THE BEGINNING…
I met my husband aged 18 at a local hotel where we were both working, me as a waitress/general dogsbody and him as a chef. I would love to tell you it was a fantastic romantic meeting and we fell in love at first sight, however, this would not be true! Big Mr A had bet with his work colleagues that he could get a date with me and I was on the rebound from a recently ended relationship! Hardly the making of a big romance, or so I thought! To top it off Big Mr A asked me out in a giant walk in fridge in the hotel kitchen! Anyway, despite this I agreed to a date and that was the start of our relationship.
Skip forwards two years and we got engaged. Again, not the most romantic engagement (as it was supposed to be), Big Mr A chickened out of proposing at Edinburgh Castle and popped the question in our B&B instead, which had a lovely view of Tesco out the window!
Another two years on and I was walking down the aisle, enjoying the happiest day of my life. I am glad to say this was a much more romantic occasion and Big Mr A’s speech will stay with me for the rest of my life, it was so special and personal and I was so proud to become his wife.
STARTING TO EXPAND THE FAMILY…
We enjoyed a couple of years of marriage without children before we decided that it was time to start a family. I am sure, as with most people attempting to get pregnant for the first time, we assumed it would take a few months and wham bam I would have a bun in the oven. Unfortunately this did not happen for us. It took almost two years for me to become pregnant after beginning to explore medical assistance. It was heartbreaking at the time as a lot of friends around us were having their first child and we wondered if it would ever happen for us. Finding out we were pregnant on Boxing Day 2007 was the best Christmas present we could ever have asked for!
I was incredibly lucky to have a great pregnancy (although I moaned plenty at the time!) and on 17th August I went into labour. 18 hours later, at 12.17 a.m. (on his due date) our gorgeous Little Mr A was welcomed into the world. We could not have been happier and couldn’t wait to enjoy family life.
CHANGING TIMES…..
We enjoyed two great years together as a family before Big Mr A got a new job which meant he was away from us both during the week only to return home at the weekend. As you can imagine this put a strain on family life but unfortunately we could not sell our house so were not in a position to move together as a family. Working three days a week and looking after a demanding toddler on my own was hard work and made me appreciate my husband and our marriage.
A year passed and still the house had not sold so we made the big decision to rent out our family home where we had spent 3 years raising our beloved Little Mr A. I was lucky to find a job very quickly and we made the move in October 2011. At first we had moved into a city (from a nice rural town) but unfortunately after 6 months we decided that wasn’t for us and quickly moved again to a nice little village a few miles out of the city which is much friendlier and more suited to family life.
AND SO TO NUMBER TWO….
Just as we were settling back into family life together we got the big shock that we were having another baby. After not really trying but having not been using any protection for the 4 years since Little Mr A was born we were so happy that we had not have to go through the stress of trying as we had the first time around. Things progressed well and we decided to find out what we were having at our 20 week scan. I was convinced I would have another boy as there are no girls in this generation of the family, just boys! Hearing those words ‘It’s a girl’ was a shock but the look on my husband’s face was amazing, he had wanted a girl the first time around (although he obviously loves Little Mr A to bits!), it made me feel very proud to be able to give him his little girl.
I finished work about 6 weeks ago, as Little Mr A started primary school and it was easier for me to finish early so that I could drop him off each morning and pick him up every afternoon. It has been a big change for all of us but he loves school. I think it has been harder for us to let him grow up so soon (he has only just turned 4!). He has changed so much since he started, he is certainly not our ‘baby’ anymore.
Well that brings you up to date. I am two days away from welcoming Little Miss A to the family (fingers crossed!) and cannot wait. I have been much more relaxed this pregnancy and can’t wait to be a mummy for a second time. The nursery is ready, her wardrobe is fuller and more fashionable than mine, the pram is set up with it’s new material and brand new change bag and we are just waiting for her to arrive so we can start the exciting new chapter in our lives.
Mummy of two 