Slightly late as usual…I did actually manage to take this picture in April but then after lightening almost struck our house on Wednesday night we didn’t have any phone or internet for two days, and then I was out seeing Take That (amazing by the way!) so I’m only just getting around to posting this now.

April was quite a busy month, I had two weeks off school for the Easter holidays and we had visits from my parents and Barry’s mum too. Somehow with all of that I didn’t actually manage to take a picture of the three of us when we were actually doing something interesting! So this month’s photo is of a very typical scene in the Toby Goes Bananas house. Here we are watching a bit of In The Night Garden before bed.

Another month gone! I really can’t believe where November has gone – it seems to have disappeared before my eyes! Unfortunately November has been a month of illness, broken sleep, hard days at work and unrelenting tiredness.

The month started well with Toby finally deciding he was ready to walk…but then after about a week, and a nasty tumble at nursery (which may or may not have been related) he stopped walking again and wouldn’t bear weight on his right leg. A visit to minor injuries, our GP and finally A&E and despite two x-rays we were still none the wiser as to what was wrong with him. Two weeks of daily painkillers later and it seemed to be getting better and then a few days later he seemed to be completely cured! We’ll never actually know what was the matter but whatever it was I’m glad it has got better and Toby is toddling all over the place again.

While we were still trying to figure out what was wrong with Toby’s foot, I got a nasty cold which left me with no voice at all (interesting when you’re trying to get a class full of unruly teenagers to be quiet!). I actually didn’t feel to bad apart from a horrible cough and no voice but the Toby and Barry both caught it off me and really suffered. After three days of temperatures up to 39.5 we took another trip to our local hospital, this time for the out of hours GP. Fortunately it was only viral and apart from a nose which is still constantly dripping snot Toby seems much recovered. Barry’s feeling better too, after a day off work early in the week and I’m pretty much fully recovered too! I’m really hoping we can all avoid getting ill again in December but with me teaching over 300 different kids a week and Toby in full time nursery I’m sure more germs will be coming our way soon!

So, all in all November hasn’t been the best of months for us but it is ending on a more positive note – last night Toby slept from 8 pm to 7 am without a single wake up for the first time in months and we managed to get this month’s Me & Mine Family Portrait out in the garden today – the first one with a walking Toby in it! And of course there’s so much to look forward to in December – of course there’s Christmas but that also means two weeks off school and getting to see all our family too. Here’s hoping December brings us good health – and plenty more sleep!

Taking this month’s photo was a bit more of a challenge now Toby is walking – he wasn’t that keen on staying in shot so I thought I’d just include this little montage as he walked further and further out of the frame!

October started with a busy few weeks at work and then what was supposed to be a fun and relaxing week off. Unfortunately we decided to go to Butlins in Skegness which, despite not looking too far on the map, took hours and hours to get to. And then Toby decided that he wasn’t really going to eat and wasn’t going to sleep unless he was in bed with me. Which meant not much sleep for anyone. The weather wasn’t great either and we didn’t really get chance to take advantage of everything Butlins had to offer, I’m going to write another post all about our holiday soon but suffice to say no one came home particularly rested!

And now we’re back to work and Toby’s back at nursery and we’re counting down the days until the Christmas holidays (only eight more Mondays at work to go!).

We did manage to get a family photo at Butlins. This was just after breakfast on our last day and we were all ready to go home. You can probably see the tiredness on our faces. But this picture, just like all our Me & Mine family portraits reminds us that although we had a pretty rubbish holiday we got to spend a week together as our little family. And even when things don’t turn out how we hoped we should always make the most of the time do get to spend together.

OK, so I think we’ve had what you might call a fail with this month’s Me & Mine photo – not only is it a week late, it’s also quite a rubbish picture, grabbed in the half hour between getting home from work and putting Toby to bed. And I had to give Toby my phone to play with to get him to sit still for 30 seconds! I suppose though it does capture what September has been about for us – not a lot of family time, but just enjoying being together in the short time we do have together, especially during the week.

Toby is still enjoying nursery, and his napping is getting a bit better too. He’s got so clever this month, learning how to do lots of new things like shape sorting, stacking blocks and cups, peg puzzles and generally just figuring out what things are for. At almost 15 months he’s still not walking – he’s getting closer every day. Hopefully by the time I do our October post he’ll actually have managed it!

I’ve been busy with work and being in a musical this month – I’m definitely looking forward to the school holidays in a couple of weeks! And Barry has been busy being a super-dad whilst I’ve been off gallivanting on stage!

So, without further ado here’s our September Me & Mine family portrait (even if it was taken in October!)

August has been a month of big changes – two weeks ago I went back to work full time after over 13 months of maternity leave and so Toby started nursery full time. The hardest thing for me (apart from dealing with unruly teenagers!) has to be going from being with Toby all day to only seeing him for about an hour on week days. Luckily he does seem to be enjoying nursery which makes it easier but it’s still not the same as being at home with him all the time. It means as well that we really need to make the most of our family time together at the weekends.

A couple of weeks ago we decided to go for a walk along a short section of the Fife Coastal Path near to where we live. It was lovely to get out in the fresh air and have a bit of a change of scenery. At the end of the section of path we walked we came upon the ruin of St Bridget’s Kirk which is where we took this month’s Me & Mine photograph, looking out over the Firth of Forth (you can just catch a glimpse of the famous Forth Rail Bridge in the background). I’ve lived here 11 years now and never walked along this path before but we’re definitely going to try and explore a bit further when we get the chance.

Here I am, a little late with my July Me & Mine post. July was a busy month with Toby’s birthday and visits from family but despite plenty of opportunities we didn’t manage to get a single photo of the three of us together! This month’s picture then was hastily taken on our bed at home – the camera was on the tripod and Toby was far more interested in that than sitting with us for a picture. As it happens though I really like the way this shot has turned out!