🌷 Marching into spring 🌷

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Hello and welcome to a springy update! As I am writing this it's actually quite cold and very wet but in the past month we've had lots of bright, sunny days and it has felt like spring is right on our doorstep. I've had these photos sat in my drafts for over a week and have been waiting for a free moment to be able to sit down and actually write up a post but it just hasn't happened (until now, finally!) Right let's crack on with this before the baby wakes up...

This year Valentine's day fell on Ed's day off from work which was nice so we went for a Dartmoor date with the ultimate goal of using our big flask that we got for Christmas! We decided to walk to Avon Dam, it was a first visit for Ed and Jethro but this place has lots of childhood memories for me 😊

Despite being mid February the sky was clear and blue and as you can see there were even moments of t-shirt weather:

Spot the Dartmoor pony.

❤️ Our 6th Valentine's day together ❤️

The perfect spot for a cup of tea (and a donut 😋) whilst Ed checks out where we are on the map:

Jethro still LOVES being outside and makes an excellent companion for our trips 💛

A little Dartmoor pixie ✨

Ed climbed the steep hill to see the reservoir whilst I stayed down below with the pushchair. These wheeled contraptions are very handy for loading up with gear (i.e. flasks) but not so good for off-roading!

Ahh, it was just one of those fun, magical days that we'll look back on so fondly. Jethro's first Valentine's day!

I recently completed this pair of Easy Mosaic Socks (my first time doing colour work knitting!) which I gave to my mum for her birthday last month. Once I got my head around switching between two different strands of wool it became surprisingly simple and I really enjoyed the process. I've started bringing my knitting along in the car whenever I'm out and there's a chance Jethro might fall asleep on the journey. If I haven't got anywhere to be I'll just sit and knit for a while whilst he snoozes - win win!

Ta da! 🌟

Some idyllic local nature scenes, plus a sleeping little boy in his booties. I had a bit of a palaver with these booties last week when we got home from a walk around the block and I realised he was only wearing one of them...we had to retrace the whole journey but we did find it in the end thankfully!

Anything can be fun when you're with the right company, Jethro and I spent about an hour just hanging out in the car, parked up in a random spot on a rainy day. We shared an apple (a favourite pastime) and he enjoyed standing up at the window and watching the other cars drive by.

Something I am very passionate about right now is wooden building blocks. We found a box of them at the tip a few weeks ago, Jethro is too young to really appreciate them yet but I am having a great time 😆 we even picked up a second box in a charity shop because I needed more building material. It's so fun and addictive but also calming and creative...whether you've got young children or not, I think everyone needs blocks in their life!

Jethro had his first ride in a trolley, Ed and I had our first M&S Yumnuts 😆

We had to lower the cot as Jethro is getting more and more mobile by the day...Juniper offered her assistance:

Another day off, another waterside walk...this time Venford Reservoir:

It was a chilly afternoon, but so peaceful here.

Just look at hiiimmmmmm 😍

We spotted some frogspawn! 🐸

And finished off our walk with a cup of tea and some lemon drizzle cake with a view, another successful outing with the flask! It's like a member of the family now.

After the reservoir we stopped off at a plant nursery on the way home, we couldn't resist a few colourful primroses to brighten up our garden:

We also bought this pretty Japanese flowering apricot tree which is something that Ed has been wanting for a while, the flowers are a lovely pink and they smell nice too! 🌸

Our garden is definitely looking more jolly now, and we've got some little daffodils popping up to join the crocuses too:

🌸💗🌸

A couple of weeks ago we went to Exeter Cathedral to see the world! (The Gaia installation by Luke Jerram) 🌍 It was a really cool experience but I think it would have been even better to go in the evening when it's dark and the globe is lit up. 

Jethro's diet is still expanding everyday 🍎 a recent combination of apple, cheese and rice cakes went down well, and whilst we were having stir fry this week we discovered he loves water chestnuts haha. I've started sharing smoothies with him which is a fun but messy affair.

Woofy the dinosaur now has two friends, I'll share a completed photo of them in my next post! I was so bored of fiddly dinosaur legs by the time I'd finished them but it was worth it because they're very cute.

Jethro had a visit from his Auntie Kate and we had a lovely, golden afternoon walk at Spitchwick ✨

At 7 months old we've finally been consistently getting Jethro to nap in his cot which is kind of amazing. He's got a funky projector night light that I think I'm enjoying even more than he is lol. 

It's crazy to see him growing up so fast right in front of our eyes...his fourth tooth is about to come through and he now gets frustrated because he's so close to crawling. His favourite thing is to grab our hands and pull himself up to standing, he might just skip crawling altogether at this rate, he'll probably be running by the next time I post! He's partly still just a baby who needs to be held but sometimes I see him across the room sat playing with toys and he's like a little boy all of a sudden. He learned how to drink out of a straw cup the other morning and I almost teared up I felt so proud 😭 What else? He's started paying attention when you read him a story, he likes music, he loves splashing about in the bath. He's finally got hair that's long enough to be fluffy and he's always getting compliments on his big, beautiful eyes when we're out and about 😆 Today the lady who served us in Aldi said people would pay good money for eyelashes like his haha. 

Juniper didn't get much of a mention today, don't worry, she's doing well! Mostly sleeping on my fleece recently or chasing a ball of wool around the house so that I have to crawl around the furniture legs and all over the place to wind it back up again. There's never a dull moment in this house!

🌷🌷🌷