A Bit Of A Big Catch Up | Me and Mine June, July, August & September 2018

One of the many things that I've always enjoyed recording here on my blog is our family monthly updates in the form of these Me and Mine posts. I made it my mission a couple of years ago to join in with some other bloggers and capture a family photograph of us each month and write a little bit about how that month had been. And I'd been doing so well with it for such a long time, but this year has completely and utterly thrown me off, particularly during the months that our house renovations were going on.
During the renovations, it was so easy to lose track of time and in a way, we did. I also had a lot of health issues that I was trying to get to the bottom of and that was an incredibly anxious time for me. And before I knew it, I'd missed months worth of Me and Mine posts. But here I am, bringing them back and sharing a few of the family photos that I've captured over the last few months. Life over the last few months has been most definitely hectic and often stressful, but we're coming out of the other end now I think and we're starting to feel back on top of things. 

The boys are in schoolThe boys are now both in school, Logan started nursery and Ethan started year one in September and I'm so thrilled to say that they both seem to be having a wonderful time when they're there. I also love that because it's such a small village school that they go to, they are actually together a lot of the time as the years are mixed. It's a weird thing seeing my youngest in school uniform and watching my eldest learn more and more about life daily. It blows my mind to think I've got two little boys on my hands who are growing up so fast daily - I'm so proud of them. 
House renovationsThe house is looking so much like we had hoped it would, in fact, it's better than we had even hoped for. Our new kitchen/dining space is absolutely perfect - we're so pleased with the amount of space we've gained in there from the extension and also with all of the decor we chose. It feels like such a lovely space to be as a family. We're also loving having a proper porch and having our front door on the front of our house. And upstairs, what was our box room, is now a brilliant sized bedroom for Ethan to grow up in. The house renovations weren't cheap and they weren't easy to live around, but they've been so worth it for the long run. 
Our builder stole our money A major issue that we've had has been with the man who was doing our garden running off with our money and leaving our garden in a state. The person that was doing it was actually someone who had helped to build our extension and we actually really trusted him. He was always so hard working, friendly and just came across as really genuine. We saw him day after day and we actually became quite friendly, we knew a lot about him and he knew a lot about us. We never saw what he went on to do coming at all. We'll probably never know why he stopped coming or communicating with us, I can only think that he spent the money elsewhere and lost it or that something happened in his personal life. He never told us why, he just started coming less and less and communicating with us less and less until eventually he never returned. 
It's been really upsetting, frustrating and stressful. The boys couldn't play out in the garden all summer. We've had thousands of pounds of our cash effectively stolen and we've been left with a complete mud pit out there. We've now got to find some more money and pay somebody else to come and finish off the work. We've also got to trust someone again which after our experience, is not as easy as it was before. We've started to get quotes and we will be looking at taking him to court over this, but it's one of those things that you really just never want to ever have happen to you. 
Getting to the bottom of my health problemsI've had lots of tests done for all of the health-related issues I've been having and I am relieved to know that nothing serious is going on. I was diagnosed initially with Helicobactor Pylori which is a nasty stomach bacteria infection, and then I've recently had an endoscopy and have been diagnosed with gastritis and a hiatus hernia. I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that the symptoms of these aren't going to go anywhere quickly and may affect me long-term. I'm following some diet-changes and I am trying to work out how to best manage the issues I'm having. It's not ideal, but I am staying positive and focused on the fact that it's not anything terribly awful. 
Turning 30 Recently I had my birthday and I turned 30. It feels weird to say I'm 30 - on one hand I feel like it with all of the responsibilities that come with being an adult and on the other hand, I still feel like I'm in my early 20's in my head. My Husband is also about to turn 30 and on Wednesday morning we are taking a trip just us and flying to Dubrovnik for a few days to celebrate. I am really excited to spend some quality time with Adam and visit somewhere I've never been before, but it's going to feel so strange to go without the boys and not see them for a few days. Their Grandma is coming to stay at our house and she's amazing with them, so I know they'll be fine, but I'm going to miss them so much!
Our cat broke his legOur little fur-baby Charlie came in with a broken leg a few weeks ago, we have no idea how he did it - there was no marks, bruising or blood, but some pretty bad fractures. He's had an operation on it and now has metal pins in his leg that are going to be in there for a while, he also has to live in a dog crate for the next month or so as he has to keep his leg as still as possible whilst it heals. He's coping with it pretty well considering and we're giving him lots of cuddles and extra fuss and keeping our fingers crossed that he'll be back to following us to the park soon!
And so that's a summary of our last few months, in between all of us this, we've had some pretty amazing trips - we've visited Warwick Castle and stayed in one of their glamping tents, we've taken a road trip with Days Inn and stayed in various UK locations, we visited Hampshire for a few days and had an incredible time, we've also been away with Adam's family to Cornwall for a week. And we've had some fun days out too, like our recent trip to Whipsnade Zoo, our day at Waddessdon Manor's Chilli Festival and our day hiring bikes in Cambridge. Logan also turned 3 at the end of June and we had a super fun pool party for him at his grandparent's house, which he loved! It's been a big mixture of some very challenging moments with some pretty amazing moments too. It's the amazing moments that we hold on to though and the more challenging momets that we learn from. <3 
Thank you for reading. Alex xo