I’ve got to be honest, as much as I’m so so proud of my youngest son for realising his dream of buying a home (21 and a home owner, who wouldn’t be proud of their child achieving that) and moving out, I’m not loving my new child free home.
I won’t go on and on and bore you with my whinging and whining, I could, God I’ve got months worth of pining to go yet.
But suffice to say, I feel a bit lost, a bit empty, I’ve loved my time being a mum, and yes, I know, I’m fully aware I’m still a mum and I’m exceptionally blessed that my boys are fit, well and more importantly alive to be reaching this new exciting milestone, but it doesn’t make my empty nest feel any better.
I have had quite a number of months to prepare for this event, Ben put the deposit down months ago and Sam leaving home to be a family with Milly and baby Zak the year before last was my first taste of a half empty nest, but now it’s fully empty.
It’s a huge thing to come to terms with even though as parents it’s the very least of our expectations for our adult children, they grow up, they leave home, that’s how society works.
I was never one of those mums that said “oh my children are my life” conversely nor was I ever one of those mums that celebrated the end of the school holidays, far from it in fact. I just loved the sheer and utter freedom of the holidays, (oh the adventures we had) especially as neither of my boys are particularly academic, I’m sure they’d agree that the times I was screaming like a banshee for them to do their homework were innumerable. I have loved and still love spending time with my boys, they are incredible human beings.
I am so happy for Ben. He and Kaitlyn will be very happy in the flat I’m sure. It’s an absolute cracker. They’ve been very open and generous enough to let me help them with some interior design ideas, and I’m flattered that they both like and trust my taste enough to incorporate them with their own.
I work a couple hours a week for a gorgeous furniture and lifestyle company, Neptune, in Colchester, (we’re also online if you fancy a little visit neptune.com).
Anyway I have been able to get Ben and Kaitlyn some beautiful pieces from work. Add to that I have a keen eye for what they both like, I’ve been loving shopping for them in general.
Home Sense and Sainsbury’s homeware are fantastic too.
Which probably explains why I haven’t missed clothes shopping. As I think I said last week, I’ve had an epiphany and have seen the error of my ways.
When I was clearing out the last of Ben’s things from my walk in wardrobe (Also known as Sam’s old room - the one and only upside I can see to your kids leaving home is repurposing their spaces). I realised that I have way too many clothes. Yes, you heard me right, I have too many clothes. It’s a bit shameful really. I’m certainly not proud of the fact.
So I decided to start afresh and not buy anything new, well not until I start wearing out some of the clothes I already own!
Ben’s flat is pretty much done for the most part now. The final bits and bobs that I’ve bought are going over tonight.
So it’ll be interesting to see if I can keep my grubby little paws off of new clothes. I really think I should though. My bank account could do with the break and the environment will LOVE it.
I had the great honour of being invited to a friend’s daughter’s christening on Sunday, Kaitlyn (Ben’s girlfriend) was invited too, as she is friends with Melanie too. I bought a dress for it about 4 months ago, I was happy with it so I stuck with that choice. Kaitlyn however from the time we had been invited till the day of the christening had ordered about 20 different outfits and sent back all but the final choice. She looked glorious but my God that’s a lot of work to make for yourself to keep ordering and returning, it’s almost a full time job in itself. Hahahahaha
It was a good start from me to stick with the choice I made. And seeing as I have this self imposed clothes buying ban I had little choice but to stick to it.
Blubelle was dressed up to the nines so effort had to be made on my part too. :)
The true colour of this dress is in the photo below. I’ve no idea why being indoors changed it so much.
Dress from Oliver Bonas, Shoes from Christian Louboutin, Cape from Burberry.
I love this dress, I love the fabric, I loved the fact that I could breathe and eat and move to my heart’s content...you know, pretty much the basics most people expect from an outfit.
I very much loved that although it was freezing cold out, the sun was shining and I could wear my beautiful cape.
It really is a fair weather garment, it cannot get wet, a bit like a Gremlin.
It was a gorgeous christening, the vicar was incredibly warm and welcoming. And Blubelle had a wonderful time being centre of attention.
She was adorable and hilarious answering any questions he asked of her, which he did quite a bit so she felt like she was involved, well as involved as any 2 year old can.
Blubelle is as bright as a button, she chats away merrily, she takes after her mum who is an utter super brain ~ Mel’s also very artistic too, which I have to be honest I’m jealous of both gifts equally.
She loved being a little princess for the day.
The christening service was really lovely and for the party afterwards Melanie had pulled out all the stops.
Now I have a friend that loves personalised items for her girls but Melanie took it to another level.
Personalised cakes, balloons, cookies, bottles of water, pencils for the children to colour in the christening themed pictures and the pinnacle of personalising ~ M&M’s with Blubelle’s face on them. I loved the attention to detail, It was fantastic, this from me, a woman that barely remembered to write her kids names in their school clothes! Hahahahaha. Ok so I wasn’t as into personalising as some but I loved seeing what Melanie had come up with.
The function room looked amazing, she really had poured her heart and soul into it.
The donut wall was my personal favourite. I should have one installed at home. ;)
The christening was a wonderful time out from the all the hubbub of Ben’s house move, so thank you Melanie for the invite. It was a very special day.
But for now with Ben’s flat all of our hard work (and mum tears) has paid off. Ben’s flat looks incredible. I could quite happily move in myself...and I mean that literally! Hahahahaha
Well what’s not to love, 2 bed, 2 bath and huge walk in wardrobe…love it.
Wishing you the happiest happily ever after Ben & Kaitlyn. xxx
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You know, for obvious reasons I have a bit of a fixation on bowels, their function and fibre and it’s function within them.
Well I bought a new book, it’s fuelling my deep respect and admiration for the largest but most underrated, misunderstood organ in our bodies.
I would recommend it to everyone to read. We should know more about our bowels, we shouldn’t be shying away from talking shhhh...poo.
Understanding what makes them tick, or gurgle in this case I think is the key to overcoming the stigma of bowel issues.
If we appreciated them more for their purpose then I think there would be less stigma associated with bowels and bowel health.
No one is squeamish about heart beats and lungs full of air. If only we could apply the same admiration to bowels.
Oh and on the subject of bowel issues...I’ve literally got none to report...zero, nada, not a problem at all. Makes the blog a bit short and sweet this week...hahahahaha
But literally NO hernia pain, no bladder pain, no scar tissue pain, no bowel pain at all. Just very happy, smooth running (bit graphic) bowels.
This is after the months of emotional upset of Ben moving out (colossal) and the physical toll on my body of the recent lifting, bending and carrying stuff moving him in to the new flat (substantial).
This is unheard of, my body usually reacts very badly to any exertion, so I’m going to mention it once again for those at the back that weren’t listening before ~ I love D Mix. It’s literally changed my life!
It’s the only thing that’s been different in my life for the past couple of months. So it’s the only thing I can put this meteoric change down to.
So here it is again while the voucher code still exists;
Use the code GLADRAGS15 at the checkout When purchasing D Mix from;
www.wholebeinghealthfoods.com
For 15% off.
Just to clarify once again. I get nothing from your purchase should you wish to make one. But I do get to use the voucher code myself, and as I get through so much of the stuff 15% off is totally worth having.
I’ve also made it to my B12 appointment next week without crashing and burning as I usually would do. Is it just coincidence? Is it the house move adrenaline keeping me going? Or is it the improvement to my bowel health with good gut bacteria that D mix brings? I have no idea! But I know what my heart believes. xxx