A letter to my first born.

Dear Posey,

Tomorrow you turn 4.  Four years old.  I knew it's a typical mother thing to say and so cliche but I can't believe how quickly those four years have whizzed by.  At the same time though I struggle to imagine what life was like before you were here.  Before you I was just a teacher, I felt like something was missing, like I needed purpose.  Then you came along.  You made me a mama and I cannot believe your baby and toddlers years are over.  Our lives have altered in so many ways since you came along. 

You have filled our days with so much happiness since you entered our world and have always been bright as a button.  Everyone who meets you comments on how bright and outgoing you are.  You are doing brilliantly at school, you take it all in your stride (you're even a little cheeky at times) despite all the up-heaval of moving half way across the world.  I was worried when we moved out here, as I know you love your family so fiercely.  I was scared you would hate us for taking you away from them.  Yet somehow although you miss them so much I can see you almost understand why we have brought you here.  You tell me about how we get to swim a lot and go out for dinner together, which you love.  You and your brother always ask for us to eat as a family - which is just the loveliest thing.  I hope you want this for many years to come. 

My how you've grown, you are little miss independent.  You have your own little group of friends at school and you just love to boss your little brother around.  You are actually very protective when it comes to your brother (only you are allowed to wind him up it seems).  It is the little moments between you two that I love, the way you look out for him or show him how to do something... it just melts my heart.  I worried for you when we fell pregnant with your brother.  After all we had only had you in our arms for a such a short while.  I need not of worried, though you were still so little when Lochlann arrived it was as if you were always meant to be a big sister.

You sleep really well and have finally decided that now you would like to have a glass of milk before bed instead of your beloved bottle.  I often wondered how we would ever get you to give up your bottle.  I should have trusted that you would do it when you were ready, just like everything else you do.  I need to remember not to rush you sometimes.  I often worry that because you are my eldest, I am harder on you, when in actual fact you are still only small.  I hope that when you grow up you'll know that your daddy and I only ever want the best for you. 

Speaking of your daddy, you and him have such a bond.  I love to sit and watch you play.  You are for the most part a daddy's girl but recently you and I have developed a little friendship that I will treasure.  You are like my mini best friend. The other day, you and I went on a little coffee date (you had a babychino) we sat together, chatted and shared a chocolate cake.  Then we played in the rain and you enjoyed splashing in the puddles.  It was such a lovely afternoon.  It meant the world to me. I hope that over the years we will spend many more of these little dates together, just like I did with your Nanna when I was growing up.

So there you go, I guess I should stop waffling now.  The only thing left to say is how incredibly proud your Daddy and I are of you.  You have such a lovely character and although we are sad that you are growing older we are also so excited to see the person you become. You are going to be one amazing young lady, in that I have no doubt.

Love you very much, our first born, our big love.

Happy fourth Birthday Posey Margaret Ivy.

Mummy xx

Lets kickstart 2018!

I am not actually sure I can get my little pea-sized head around the fact that 2017 is ALREADY drawing to a close and yet here we are!  I must be getting old as the years are most definitely going faster.

I have blooming loved Christmas this year.  In the interest of being honest, there have been a fair few tears along the way.  I wasn't sure we could enjoy Christmas without our family nearby.  But it turns out although it was different, it was magical.  The littles have hit a great age for all the excitement.  Seeing their faces light up on Christmas morning made me melt.  My heart swelled and I know Sam felt the same.  Everything Posey opened was her, 'most favourite thing ever' and Lochann grinned from ear to ear when he finally unwrapped his Playmobil fire engine.

We are now smack bang in the middle of the 'Christmas slump.'  You know that in-between bit after Christmas Day but before New Year.  Where you struggle to get out your PJ's and you fall in one of two categories, either you are chucking your decorations into storage on the 27th or your clinging on to the festive spirt for dear life.  I am without a doubt in second team but I am looking forwards, thinking about how I can kickstart 2018.

Having said that, this isn't some lengthy post about my dreams and goals for the year.  It is more just a few things I plan to do to kickstart the year and make life a little easier.

1. Get more sleep. - this is an obvious one I know but since we moved out to the UAE my body clock seems to have been pretty messed up.  We have to get up for work earlier here as we start at 7:30am.  Yet still we are up (often doing work) until late. Often past 11pm and that my friends is just not enough rest.  I plan to be in bed from 9pm in January. 
2. Put my phone down more often - another simple one but how many of us are guilty of spending too much time on Twitter or Instagram?  I love Instagram, it is almost like a mini blog for me but I know it sometimes stops me from being in the moment with my family. The littles are growing so fast and I am sure soon enough I won't be that interesting to them anymore.  I need to soak them up as much as possible. 
3. Make achievable lists- As a mama and a teacher I will ALWAYS have a huge amount of things to do on any given day.  This fact often feels a little suffocating.  A fellow mama and blogger Rebecca Meldrum suggests writing small lists each day to help us focus on what you want to achieve.  I intend on taking this advice.  Small and manageable is the way to go. 
4. Get outside- Spend at least 5 minutes getting some headspace in the great outdoors everyday if you can.  As I live in the desert now I intend to do this as much as I can before the temperatures sky rocket again.  When I lived in England any green space, a field, a wood or even the back garden will immediately make me feel calmer and more in charge of my emotions. 
5. Make the bed in the morning- Whenever I make the bed in the morning I immediately feel like I am organised and basically the boss of my day! ... Honestly it makes a huge difference. 

Spending time with these two and their dad outside is one of my favourite things to do. 

That is it for now.  These are the few things that I am going to do in the new year to beat those pesky January blues and make sure our 2018 starts off positively. 

What will you do?  I'd love you to leave a comment below and let me know! 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Lots of love, 

Holly xx

The ramblings of an expat... at Christmas.

I have an idea... It may be a rubbish idea but I thought I would begin a series of posts with my thoughts and views on life away from home.  The expat life as it's lovingly referred to.  I hope that this series will give a good insight into life for a family that lives abroad.  I intend for each post to be fairly short and sweet so that I can keep up with them.  I love writing and find it especially therapeutic when there is something on my mind.  So here goes...

Generally, life is pretty good considering we have only lived out here for 4 months.  The weather has cooled recently which means it is acceptable to pull out my trusty jeans and converse yet we are still able to go swimming every single day if we so wish! I mean how cool is that for a family used to windy and wet winters in England?! We set this move as a goal for us to achieve last New Year! Sometimes I still can't actually believe we did it.

Although I am so proud of us for moving out here every now and again homesickness bitch slaps me hard. Yesterday proved to be difficult, (I do think it was partly down to yet another bad cold).  The run up to Christmas has still been lovely because I am with my three favourite people.  Posey and Lochlann are really beginning to understand what Christmas is all about and their excitement is infectious. But yesterday I just wanted to go home.  I wanted to watch the littles playing with members of their family.  I wanted to be dashing around the supermarkets hunting for the last bag of brussel sprouts.   I missed wishing every person you meet in the shops a merry Christmas.  It is easy to read my blog posts or look at my Instagram captions and assume that life is sweet twenty- four seven  but truth be told I shed more than a tear yesterday.

Today I have woke up feeling far better (I think my bad cold had a lot to answer for yesterday).  I still miss home don't get me wrong but I woke up to two little people jumping with excitement as tomorrow is Christmas eve.  Whilst I sit and type this, they are devouring the snowman cakes we baked together and we are getting ready to visit a Christmas market.

Will Christmas be the same? No of course it won't but Sam and I are determined to make it one to remember!

If you are with your family this year, enjoy it, savour the moments (even the little rows) and make sure to tell them you love them.  And with that, Merry Christmas to our family, we love and miss you all.  Here's to summer 2018 when we are all reunited and we can ditch the kids with you! 😉

Thanks for stopping by & a Merry Christmas.
Lots of love,

Holly.x

Our Christmas traditions, old and new.

With Christmas only 3 days away, I thought it would be nice to share our Christmas family traditions.  As we have two small children these traditions are still fairly new and we add to them year on year.  This rings especially true this year as we are spending our first Christmas away from England.  Our first expat Christmas.

I have always been one of those people that keeps the festive spirit alive all year through. I am a December baby so perhaps that is partly to blame.  I unashamedly count down to Christmas and can often be found watching a Christmas film in July! I used to get so excited when I heard the first Christmas song on in the shops or when my mum brought the Argos catalogue home.  I would sit for hours trawling through it and writing a ridiculously long wish list for Santa.   I have to say though as I got older Christmas did lose a little bit of it's sparkle for a while.  I think that had a lot to do with working in retail whilst I was at university.  Putting up sale signs everywhere on Christmas eve will knock the Christmas spirit out of anyone!

The thing that truly rekindled my love affair with the festive period was becoming a teacher.  Working in a school means you are totally immersed in Christmas for at least the whole of December (and November if your class are involved in the Christmas production).  It is just so lovely to see the excitement on the children's faces as you make Christmas cards and calendars.  You also usually have a carol concert and a school Christmas party which is super cute too! Although, it is near impossible to get your class to concentrate at this time of year; I see the run up to Christmas as a true perk to being a teacher.  I have really missed all the school festivities this year. Teaching internationally means you teach children from lots of different backgrounds and cultures so often Christmas is just not acknowledged in school.  Sam and I have found this hard, with the hot weather and things running as usual at school, we usually forgot it was nearly Christmas until we got home and saw the tree!

Obviously being a mama means that Christmas is one of the most exciting things ever! I get so excited daydreaming about Christmas morning and seeing the delight in their faces. I sometimes feel like I don't get the time I would like to make the festive period as magical as possible for my children.  This year, especially as we are away from  home, I am trying really hard to make it as magical as possible. With all the usual things like our elf coming to stay and doing lots of festive crafts and baking.  We have even played in fake snow which is something I hope to never forget!

As a result of wanting to make it as magical as possible Sam and I started our own traditions on Posey's first Christmas and we have continued to add to them each year.  Here they are...

• Advent calendars-  one for each of us (including mama and daddy) We also have an advent calendar between the littles with sweet treats in or little activities that we are going to do.  The little boxes we used this year are super cute and were from Ikea. 
• Christmas books - we have our usual traditional one, 'Twas the night before Christmas' which we read every Christmas eve.  But another popular one that we love to read especially at Christmas is Stickman.  Our new one this year (which the children will open in their Christmas Eve Box) is Santa comes to Abu Dhabi. 
• Christmas Eve Boxes - The children have personalised Christmas Eve Boxes which their lovely Mamar made for them.  We fill these with the usual things like Christmas craft activities, snowman marshmellows for a hot chocolate etc...  This year though there will only be one box between them as their personalised ones are in England, stored away. 
• Christmas PJ's - Each year all four of us get a new set of festive PJ's. At first we used to give these on Christmas eve as that is what I did when I was a child.  This year though, the elf brought the children their PJ's on December 1st.  We thought that would be better as the children will get more wear of them and it kicks off the festive period in a lovely way! 
• Writing Christmas cards- ordinarily I would be sending Christmas cards to all our friends and family but this year we have just used Funky Pigeon to send a couple of special ones to the UK. 
• Fulfilling a tree's Christmas Wish - Sam and I once saved a real Christmas tree on Christmas Eve.  We popped to Ikea for something (I think it was just a veggie meatballs pregnancy craving if I am honest).  We were sat eating and we heard an announcement saying there were some trees in the foyer that people could take otherwise they would be thrown away.  As we left the store there was one tree remaining.  We took it home and honestly it was such a beautiful tree.  We bought some decorations in a sale at a nearby garden centre and decorated it on Christmas Eve afternoon.  It was just so lovely and so festive.  We have decided to go and check in Ikea over here if there are any trees left on Christmas Eve and if there are we will buy it and fulfill it's Christmas wish. :)  This is a tradition I hope to continue each year when we move back to the UK too. 
• Christmas films- Every December I cram in as many Christmas films as I possibly can.  It is far too difficult to name my absolute favourite.  But Posey and Lochlann definitely seem to favour Elf and Sam's firm favourite is Home Alone 2.  As a child, the favourites I remember are A Muppet's Christmas Carol and Miracle on 34th Street. 

Some other firm traditions in for our family include;

Decorating the tree; a family affair. 

Putting up our decorations on the first weekend of December. - As soon as December hits I am eager to get those lights up and trim that tree.  At first we did it as a surprise for the children when they were little.  Sam and I would decorate it and then we could carry them down the next morning and they would be mesmerized by the lights.  This year though, we decorated the tree altogether and it was just lovely   Our new tradition for us is that Posey puts the star on the top of the tree with her daddy, as she is the eldest.


A new decoration each. 

Each year (as I am sure many of you all do too) we go to our local garden centre to enjoy all the festive displays and to choose a new decoration each.  We usually go to Bents Garden Centre in Leigh, North West England.  This year, is a little different, as of course we are now living in Abu Dhabi.  So instead we popped down to Ace which is basically like B&Q in the UK.    This year Posey choose a fairy, Lochlann chose a golden robot and  Sam chose a traditional Father Christmas bauble. We also popped into Marks and Spencer's here and bought a couple of lovely decorations and some luxury mince pies!  They had a lovely selection of baubles and tree ornaments.   I chose a gold bauble decorated with a leaf garland design with, 'Merry Christmas 2017' written in red, glittery lettering from M&S.

Twas the night before Christmas.

Again, this is another tradition which I am sure is very popular.  We read this story every Christmas eve at bedtime.  For us, this tradition started when P was still in my tummy.  I will always remember Sam reading to my bump and thinking about the magical Christmases ahead of us.  One of my most favourite memories.

Christmas Eve: Open house. 

We started this tradition last year.  After many a year driving back and to between different family homes we decided that Christmas day would be spent at home, just us.  Therefore we decided that Christmas Eve would be sort of a festive open house.  Any family or friends could drop in for a mince pie and a mulled wine and spend some time with us and children.  That way all the gifts would be exchanged and we didn't need to worry that we hadn't seen anyone on Christmas day.

Mince Pie Night. 

Since we moved into our first house together Sam and I have held a little festive shindig where we invite a small group of friends over for a homemade mulled wine, homemade yule log and mince pies.  With twinkly lights everywhere, Christmas music playing and some tasty treats it is usually one of our most favourite evenings of the year. Sam really enjoys hosting this little evening in our home and I love to see how much he enjoys making the homemade treats for it. We hope to continue the tradition when we move back to the UK.

Although, I am pretty sure I have missed something off those are our Christmas traditions.  I love the run up to Christmas so much I sometimes think I love it more than the actual day itself.  Christmas Eve is easily my most favourite day.  The excitement in the air is almost tangible.

I hope you are enjoying the festive season and if you are still here, thank you for reading this mammoth post! I hope you enjoyed it.  I would love for you to let me know some of your special traditions and the reasons behind them.

Thank you for stopping by & a very Merry Christmas from my family to yours.

Lots of love,

Holly xx

Four months in...

Well, we are four months in to the expat life.   We arrived in Abu Dhabi on the 18th of August and I am sat writing (well typing this) whilst my son naps and my daughter is sat beside me watching Elf.  We are one week away from our first Christmas away from home.

What is it really like? I hear you asking.  Is it all you thought it was cracked up to? When will you come home? ... ok so seeing as I have all of about 6 people read my blog you might not actually be asking these questions but I am going to answer them anyway!


It is utterly cheesy to describe life as an 'adventure' or a 'rollercoaster'  but in a nutshell that is exactly what the past few months have been like.  We are either extremely happy and pretty much loving life or just a little pissed off and ready to board a plane.  Leaving our schools at home was a great leap of faith in itself, nevermind packing up our lives, our children and moving across the world.  So I guess there were always going to be be dramatic highs and lows.

Don't get me wrong teaching is still teaching where ever you are but there are different challenges here and some we never expected to face.  We are learning how to overcome them so I firmly believe the next term will be even better for us but safe to say the first term has been a steep learning curve.  The staff here though are so supportive and look out for each other.  I think in a previous post I mentioned some of the amazing people we have met out here and I tell you they really do care about things working out for you, which is pretty brilliant.  Our acting head of primary has been particularly great - just so understanding of the fact we have two small children and we are out here alone.

In terms of the children, they have actually settled really well out here now.  Their school and nursery have played such a big part in that as they love it so much.  Don't get me wrong we still often struggle taking Lochlann in at drop off but that is probably entirely my fault because he is my baby boy and he would much rather stay at home with us than go anywhere else!  Drop offs still cause me heartache but that is one good thing about sharing a car.  Sam takes him in every morning whilst I sit in the car with  Posey and do my make up.  Speaking of P, she has pretty much grown up over night. Anyone from home that we speak to says the same.  Her personality is developing rapidly and she is thoroughly enjoys life at school.  She has made some lovely little friends but every now and again she asks about our home in England and when we might go home.  I struggle with this as it makes me worry about whether we did the right thing pulling them away from everything and everyone that they know.  They were settled in their little life and love their family very much, most of whom we won't see until the summer.  The mind of a mother is a terrible thing.  No matter what choice you make it will manage to taunt you and make you paranoid about the decision you've made.  Does anyone else find that?

In all honesty I did worry that moving out here might put a strain on our marriage.  That the working together and living out of each other's pockets might create a tension that we just can't diffuse because we are just ALWAYS together.  Sam and I are pretty good at knowing we can be together and do our own thing and that is ok so moving out here and being together twenty four-seven could have been a potential nightmare.  Overall though, despite a couple of blow outs I would say that we have managed pretty well.  You hear stories out here of couples entering the country together and leaving separately.  But I really don't think that will happen to us.  Sam and I have been through worse things we really have.  What has really helped is us both trying to forge our own little lives outside of us as a couple. Sam goes cycling at the formula 1 track whilst I have girly nights in devouring hulloumi fries and he plays football once a week.  He's partial to a pint or two with the boys and I enjoy the odd shopping day.  Doing these things separately allows us to enjoy the time we have together and actually miss each other now and again.  Missing each other is so necessary! I am a big believer in a little time apart to make you realise what you have and I am lucky to have Sam.

So all in all... we are basically still figuring out life as expats.  It is so great in many ways but the festive season and all the bloody snow that England had, has made me pretty homesick at times.  I do miss the run up to Christmas at home (especially as my mum and I love Christmas so much) but I think that is mainly just because the cold and the twinkling lights everywhere signal Christmas.  Here, you need to seek out the festivities.  However, I have to say when you do they are pretty great and we have definitely spent more time together as a family than we ever managed to do at home.  So I think we made the right decision almost 12 months ago to start a new adventure, just the four of us.

There we have it, I guess four months in we are doing okay.  There are many positives to living here but at the same time I am excited for our life back home when we finally return the UK (with another baby in my tummy if I have my way!!!  :)

That's all for now.

Thanks for stopping by.

Lots of love,

Holly xx

A festive delight.

This weekend was a pretty glorious one.  We FINALLY broke up from school after what felt like a mammoth term and it was the start of three whole weeks off, together as a family!  Being in Abu Dhabi for Christmas we made the decision to seek out as many festive activities as possible.  I had heard lots of great things about an event over in the city at Galleria Mall, Al Maryah island so we headed over and I am so glad that we did.

My lovely hubby... not quite sure how I bagged him!

We arrived before the event began (woo, go us!) We strolled round the mall, most of which is most defiantly out of our price range but beautiful nonetheless.  Shortly after we headed outside and were greeted by a huge Christmas tree and snow! Ok, so it was fake snow but if it is good enough for my kids it is good enough for me. P and L's faces literally lit up with excitement, it was the cutest thing.  There were little wooden huts lining the walk way and lots of spirited little elves waiting to wish you, 'happy holiday.'
There were lots of different activities the children could enjoy and some performances to watch including carol singers and ballet dancers.  Lots of the activities did cost money (between 10-20 dirhams) but we didn't feel like we were being cheated.

Santa tees from Birdies and Bearcubs on Instagram. 

Without a shadow of a doubt our most favourite activity was playing in the snow.  As we were early, we got the whole area to ourselves for a lot of the time and even managed to have a snow ball fight with an elf!  The littles were literally in their element running around, throwing snow and pretending to build a snowman.  It was such a surreal moment watching them giggling in the snow (albeit fake snow) with the sun beating down on us and them in shorts and a tshirt!   It was one of those moments where you try really hard to make sure you remember it.  Does anyone else do that? Stand in a moment in time, realise how special it is and then try really hard to make it stick in your mind forever?  I don't know if I am the only one that does that but I really hope that memory of my hubby and my two littles playing in the snow when we lived in Abu Dhabi, lasts a lifetime.

After playing in the snow we cooled down at Costa Coffee where the children enjoyed strawberry smoothies and Sam and I treated ourselves to a festive drink called a Frostino.  It was delicious.  The rest of the afternoon was spent decorating gingerbread christmas trees, getting faces painted and making baubles for our tree.  It really was the perfect festive family outing.  If you are spending Christmas in the land of sand pop down to Galleria mall, it really was a festive treat.

Thanks for stopping by.

Lots of love,

Holly x

Posey became an ice princess for the afternoon.

Posey and Daddy thought it was hilarious pretending to be chilly in the snow.