The last week has certainly been an eventful one. We’ve had Jessica’s birthday, a couple of milestone moments, interesting days out and finally managed to get Sophie’s and Thomas’s room done.
Jessica’s birthday was an emotional day, as we expected it to be. We celebrated it as we did last year – taking her birthday cake to her forever bed and singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to her there. Sophie blew out the candle and we all had a slice of birthday cake, with a few crumbs sprinkled on Jessica’s forever bed to share the cake with her. Afterwards we took the cake to Girls’ Brigade (which was starting back that evening) and shared it with the girls in Explorers while thinking about Jessica. She would have wanted to share her cake with her friends so it felt appropriate. She would have been the oldest one in Explorers now. I can’t quite imagine that. She was always the smallest one (apart from Sophie) and it seems strange to think she would have been one of the bigger ones (in age at least – I think she still would have been quite petite).
Sophie was very excited by getting her first wobbly tooth which came out at the start of the week. I wasn’t quite ready for that moment so soon – she’s a little younger than Jessica was when she lost her first tooth but then Sophie also got her first tooth much earlier than Jessica did. The tooth fairy visited her (in her new room!) that night and left a shiny coin in place of the tooth.
Thomas has had a milestone moment this week too – being able to stand himself up from sitting in the middle of the floor. He’s getting more and more confident with cruising and I don’t think we’re too far off those first independent steps now!
Hubby is away in Salzburg this week (I’m jealous – doing The Sound of Music tour there is on my bucket list!) but before he left, he finally put together the units and got to go in Sophie and Thomas’s room. Given the carpet went in a year ago, it’s taken quite a long time to get this finished but Sophie was finally able to move in and sleep in her new bed which was very exciting. Thomas still mostly sleeps in our bed but he did sleep for a couple of hours in the cot for the first time. It was Jessica’s old cot, so putting that together and seeing Thomas in it was quite emotional. It also meant I could pack up the travel cot in our room and finally have space to get to my wardrobe again!
Sophie has been excited at getting to go to breakfast club at school a couple of times this week as I’ve been heading into London. On Wednesday, I was honoured to be invited to the GFI charity day along with a couple of other families to support Action Medical Research. Jessica was the face of their Christmas campaign a few years ago helping raise awareness of the research they funded into using virtual 3D models to help improve heart surgery for hypoplastic left heart syndrome. It was a really interesting morning and so lovely to meet other families along with Paddington Bear and some very lovely celebrities, including Davina McCall, Amanda Holden, Joely Richardson, Katherine Jenkins, Damien Lewis, and Sarah, Duchess of York.
The next day saw me heading to Buckingham Palace with a group of friends to visit the State Rooms and see the Queen Victoria’s Palace exhibition. I’ve never been to Buckingham Palace before and I thoroughly enjoyed my visit there.
All in all, a very busy week. It’s been a good thing though – the distraction has helped me through, especially with hubby away.
Other things that have made me smile this week
- Arranging the flowers at church in memory of my big girl.
- Watching the launch show of Strictly and seeing Thomas dancing along. I am sure that he’ll be roped into being Sophie’s dance partner once he can walk!
- Watching Sophie trying to limbo at her friend’s birthday party.
- Running through Act 1 of The Sound of Music in rehearsal and seeing how the show is coming together. We haven’t yet done the end of Act 2 and Sophie has no idea what happens after the wedding scene. I’ve been reluctant to show her the scenes with the Nazis as they’re quite scary but think I’ll have to do so at the weekend before we start rehearsing this part.
Lovely as always Louise. Thank you from Suzie
I agree, a very emotional, exciting and eventful week for you. How cute is that photo of Thomas peeking over his cot, how exciting that he’ll soon be walking! I love the photo of you with Amanda Holden and Thomas looks so sweet sleeping on you. Thanks for linking up with #wotw xx
Happy 8th birthday to Jessica, it’s lovely that you took the cake to share at girls brigade. I remember you posting lovely pics of Jessica enjoying her time there. Lucky Sophie getting a visit from the tooth fairy, she looks very happy about it. The event in London sounds amazing and such an important cause. Have a lovely weekend x
What a week you have had!
It sounds like you celebrated Jessica’s birthday in the most perfect way!
How exciting for Sophie! I hope the tooth fairy was generous! hehehe
Eek! Go on Thomas. It sounds like those first steps are not far away at all!
The bedroom looks amazing!
Ohh! Get you meeting all the celebs and visiting Buckingham Palace! It sounds like an amazing couple of days. x
Ah bless you all and sending my wishes for Jessica’s Birthday. Thomas will be dancing with Sophie before you know it! omg you would love the Sound Of Music Tour, Salzburg is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. And the bedroom looks fab I bet Sophie was so excited x
You did have an exciting week! Jessica’s cake looks lovely. Sophie must have been excited to get a visit from the tooth fairy. And your big boy pulling himself up to stand by himself. They grow up so fast. I hope you do get to Sound of Music tour in Salzburg before too long. That sounds wonderful!