My Month In... October

Chilly mornings, darker evenings, slipper socks, hot frothy coffee, chunky knits, cosy candles: it's time to get our hygge on. Here are my favourite moments from the last four weeks:

1. Cottage Renovation

This month we've been settling in to live at Mama & Papa B's while we renovate our new cottage. While it's been an exciting adventure so far, I didn't realise how emotional it would be to leave our previous home, as we'd put so much work into it over the last five years. But our new home is worth every second of upheaval as it's going to work better for us as a family in the longer term. L's doing a sterling job project managing it - it's incredible what's been achieved in the last few weeks. For behind-the-scenes renovation snaps follow my Stories on Instagram.

2. Down The Rabbit Hole

Sister S treated Mama B & me to an early birthday and Christmas present - we went to see Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. It really was the most incredible day - quality girly time, dressing up (rare these days!), brunch, champagne and the most incredible ballet production of my favourite book. We sat in a box (first time ever) and it gave us an amazing view. One of the best days this year. So lucky to have the best sister in the world.

3. Halloween

J's first Halloween! While he's too young to fully understand the concept, he loved going to his first Halloween party with his besties, dressed as a pumpkin (of course). It's also Mog's favourite season, naturally.

4. Dog Walks & Days Out

Now we're staying at my 'home home' we're also pitching in with the fur baby of the house: Moose. He's a two-year-old labrador who needs walking / feeding / cuddling regularly! It's been nice to take him out in the morning when everything's light and fresh - a great way to start the day. (J loves watching Moose explore the hedgerows!) We've had some incredible weather this month so we've also visited some places on our family bucket list. We've been using L's big camera to take some seasonal snaps of J for the family album.

5. Birthday & Christmas Planning

J & I have been making some DIY gifts for Christmas.

With L, J and Mama B's birthdays in December as well as Christmas, I've been using my spare minutes to plan plan plan! Especially J's first birthday - I can't wait to see his face when he sees his decorations / presents and has his first taste of birthday cake!

What were your favourite October moments? 

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My Month In... October

I think everyone felt the temperature drop in October from cool to chilly. This, combined with my ever expanding baby bump, meant a lot of indoor house projects. - But we also made an effort to enjoy a few pre-baby trips that might not happen again for a long while(!). Here's what I got up to this October:

1. Crafting & Baking

L has been a star and re-painted some rooms over the weekends, while I used my limited mobility (Baby L is now the size of a honeydew melon-!) to bake and craft in between resting. Here are my favourites:

2. NCT

L and I started our NCT antenatal course to learn more about labour and childcare (as Baby L is our first!) - but also to meet local parents-to-be who are due roughly the same time as us. It's nice to feel like you're going through the process together, while expanding your local friendship network. We've found it so helpful, I'd definitely recommend it to any new parents-to-be.

3. Aladdin

L surprised me with a trip to see Aladdin the musical in London's Prince Edward Theatre. I'm a big fan of both Disney and musicals so this couldn't have been a better treat for me. It was spectacular! While the songs and acting were impressive (especially the Genie), it was the set and effects that really stood out. The theatre seats weren't their normal red but had been covered in purple fabric (!), the Cave of Wonders was exactly how you'd imagine it to be, plus the magic carpet actually flew around the stage (L and I couldn't work out how they were doing it, it was that good).

4. Christmas Prep

I've always wanted to go to Liberty's world-famous Christmas shop (it has its own floor!) and as my commute to London will be stopping soon, I took the opportunity to visit it with L one night after work. It was the most colour-coordinated, glittery treasure trove I've ever been in. We bought Baby L his first bauble here, which I thought was a nice memory to make. Here are my favourite snaps:

5. Grey's Anatomy

We completely missed this boat 10 years ago - but are now addicted! We tend to squeeze in a couple of episodes most evenings if we're not busy. If you haven't seen it, it's all about the personal and professional lives of five surgical interns and their supervisors at Seattle Grace Hospital. Featuring Patrick Dempsey (aka 'McDreamy'), Ellen Pompeo and Katherine Heigl, I now get what all the fuss was about-! I quite like that the early episodes look a bit dated now - although I heard ABC renewed it for a 13th season, which aired in September. One of the biggest storylines is the private relationship between Derek & Meredith:

With 10 more series to go, this is most definitely my go-to series for A/W 2016.

What did you get up to in October? Let me know in the comments below or over on Twitter.

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