What I'll miss about my home...

So, here I am, standing on the edge of a mental breakdown.  So much packing to do, so much house moving admin rubbish to sort and yet here I am, procrastinating writing a wee blog post.

I am totally thrilled to be moving to me new home in Bangor, there is so much to look forward to.  I am ready to leave this flat behind, but I am also sad.  There is so much I will miss. 

1. Wallpaper.

Sound silly? I don't care. We have some lovely (I think!) wallpaper in this house and I'm really going to miss it when we are gone. It would break my heart if the new owner came in and ripped it down to make all the walls magnolia.  There's not much chance of anyone keeping this wallpaper up, it's a bit of an acquired taste...

Birds of my wee paradise

Monkey business

2. Location

It's great to be in Belfast.  We love having so much on our doorstep. Fancy a chippy at 11pm? No big deal.  

As a young couple we enjoyed being able to hop into the town for local events and nights out. Transport links are great so we were able to get away without learning how to drive for a while.  Although we are now drivers, as wee family we still enjoy the convenience of local events.  We really enjoy Belfast Children's Festival and Festival of Fools and other baby friendly events.

Joel and his baby mate Sonny partying like hallions at Belfast Black Box Baby Halloween Disco.

We are also lucky enough to be part of a Sure Start area so we have an endless choice of free family friendly activities such as baby massage, baby yoga, stay and play, song and rhyme time and much more! 

I have the local doctors right across the road, and I am guilty of abusing this proximity, marching Joel to the open appointments morning at the slightest sniff of a high temperature.  It's great reassurance to have the doctors on your doorstep. 

We have a park close by which was amazing on cabin fever days.  We live in an upstairs flat with no garden. In the early days with Joel I loved to pop across to push the pram.  I would sit on a bench and hold Joel on my knee while he watched the passing runners and playing dogs with much excitement and interest. And as Joel got on his feet at 9 months the park was invaluable for an amble about and some exploring. 

Sunny day

Plus from this park there is an amazing view over the docks..

Great view

3. That 'ahhhh, I'm home' feeling.

I know that I will get that feeling on my new house one day too. However as I climb the stairs to my flat and look down my hall I get a warm comforting feeling, and remember all the special moments that I have stood at the top of those stairs and looked down that hall..

The best hallway in the world in my eyes..

15.05.10 - I climbed these stairs as a newly married woman, my husband in front of me, wedding music still ringing in our ears.  We choose to stay on our own home as our first night as man and wife, rather than a swanky hotel, we were heading on our honeymoon soon after all.  Phil had given his keys of the place to a neighbour who sneaked away from our wedding a little early and lined our stairs with candles, rose petals and chocolate.  It was beautiful.  Phil and I climbed the stairs and stuff down the chocolates (must have built up a hunger with all that wedding dancing) and read our cards from all our well wishers. 

9.01.13 - I climbed the stairs slowly still feeling a bit weak.  Phil climbed in front of me, wee squished up Joel in his car seat. Joel and I had just been discharged from hospital and this was Joel's first journey into his home.  I looked down the hall at that familiar view.  The flat was all cosy and shiney clean, Phil had scrubbed it for our arrival.  Our wee flat had just become a family home. 

4. Neighbours

You will know from my previous posts that I have a great bunch of people around me and I know it will be unlikely that I will ever find such a friendly lovely community on my new street.  I have made some great friends here, and I know these friendships will continue.  A street of superheroes! 

5. Memories

I know, I know you can bring memories with you but it will be sad to leave the location of so many magic moments behind.  So many of those magic moments are from this year since Joel arrived and it is sad that he will not remember his first home....good job there is plenty of photographic evidence! 

Reading together in cosy bed

Late night alertness in the early days

Slobbing on the sofa

Bouncing

king of the local park

Having a chat with the washing machine

Having a gossip

Bathing with new mate 'bit of celary'

Halloween 

Hiding from football

Exploring

Messing

More messing

Finding his feet

Collecting daddy from the bus stop

Bathing beauties

Cousins

Sick note

I can't believe that we are so close to be packing up our first family home....but I am ready for the new adventures of our new family house and garden.

The one where Joel got shaved..

Everyone has always admired Joel's hair. When he was 9 months old my husband suggested we get Joel's hair cut.

'No!' Was my knee jerk reaction. He has beautiful shiney hair and the thought of someone taking the scissors to it terrified me.  I felt like a hair cut was another step too far into the adult world, his purity would be tainted? Does that sound dramatic? It's the only way that I can describe it.  Well it took me 2 weeks to warm up to the idea, I began to see what my husband saw. Instead of the spun gold cherub hair I was able to to see that the hair at the base of his neck was long and stragley, the length was uneven. 

So I agreed we could take him to the hair dressers to get a wee trim. 

The hairdresser complimented his head of hair, gave him a quick trim and reassured me that the haircut would only serve to thicken his locks. 

Joel enjoyed the trip, he was bombarded with toys the distract him and loved all the mirrors around him. He left the hairdressers a happy boy, with slightly shorter, neater, primed for thickening hair! No harm done, right? 

WRONG!!! 

You see this visit to the hairdressers in some way gave Phil some kind of sick feeling of hair expert! He suggested a hair cut, I eventually agreed and therefore this makes him expert in all hair matters. This hair expert-ness festered for months growing more potent and dangerous  without me knowing.

Earlier this week Joel woke at 5am. I wee trick he pulls now and again, for reasons we can't seem to pinpoint. Phil offered to get up with him as it was his day off work. I had a 'lie in' until 6.50am and got up and showered and ready for work.  I bounced (a gross exaggeration, mopped is more accurate, it was a Monday after all) to have breakfast with my wee family, opened the living room door only to be greeted by Phil quickly shouting 'don't freak out!'

Don't freak out? Not a phrase I wanted to hear! I immediately panicked, I thought Joel had fallen and whacked his head and had a big bump or something. I prepared myself for that as I cast my eyes over him only to find Joel, my beautiful baby boy, with his head shaved! 

I was livid. How would you feel? I couldn't believe what he had done.  Joel looked all grown up with his short hair.  There was a hint of hooligan about him, pierce his ear and he would look like a wee hoodlam! 

Phil started knocking out the excuses, 

'I freaked out at the start too but now I love it!'

'What's wrong!? Hair grows!'

'Well I think he is handsome enough to carry it off'

Off course he's bloody handsome enough to carry it off. He is the most beautiful boy in the world but that's not the bloody point. He shaved off his gorgeous shiney hair. He completely changed how Joel looked. All without consulting me. 

'Ive been telling you for ages that his hair is too long, if you had taken him to the hairdressers this would never have happened!'

'Well, I just started off trimming the fringe, but it kept looking uneven and and I had to keep trimming and trimming and well, then I just shaved the whole lot ' 

Well I can actually relate to that situation, as the owner of a misbehaving fringe for part of my life I have often been in the 'wonky self trim' situation. However, I have never felt the need to shave my head. 

I was so so cross. And so so sad. But no had no choice but to get over it! The deed was done, and there was no fixing it. Hair grows. But after the chat we had I can be sure that Phil now knows where I stand on the subject of surprise head shavings. To be totally honest I know he feels bad, I don't want to make him feel awful about it, it's not just my wrath he has had to face, but the wrath of grannies, mothers in law and friends! 

I assumed that it was an unwritten rule, never to shave your child, especially without the other parents consent. 

If I had a time machine I would go back to our wedding vows and add a bit extra in.  

' I promise to love and honour you, I promise to never shave any future offspring's hair...' 

I urge you, if you have upcoming nuptials, to consider this amendment to your vows, it will save much heartache!!!  

Before and after ....

Ok, ok, so he is still the handsomest baby in all the land...