Welcome Ginny!

 Surprise, We got a dog!

Well one of the biggest difference to our life came in the shape of a four legged animal. If you have kids you may be a ware of the constant asking for a pet. They seem obsessed. At every point our kids quizzed us on having a pet. We even had names for this imaginary animal after long talks about what we would own. If it hadn't of been for the pandemic I would have got one 3 years ago but when covid hit it really wasn't the right time and dog prices were outrageous and un-justifiable for us.

However, one day in the Easter holidays I did what I had been doing for years, I briefly looked for the dream dog on Pets-For-Homes, and had a scroll through the mountain of cuteness. I pleasantly surprised when an advert for just what I would buy came up. Ginger, Cocker Spaniel, Female, Small. 

My dream. She was there, with one sister and two brothers, and our pick was the smallest by far. We visited the sellers, about an hour away to find a mum and her pups living a yard dog life. By no means were there dogs not cared for but they were absolutely yard dogs and mum and pups just roamed around freely. having had them bounce all over us it was decided that we would take one female and that my parents would take the other. My parents have always had dogs, usually two and they lost their oldest not long before the pandemic and hadn't replaced her. These two girls were right for both of us!

We choses the smallest who looked like she needed a family to grow her and my parents took the (three times our dogs size) sister as she was bigger and could roam around with my parents black Labrador a bit more confidently.

The dogs were already 16 weeks at this stage and ours was the tiny runt. She came home to a house of love and has become a huge part of our lives ever since. 

Ginny (named after Ginny Weasley) was the smaller than some of Ettas soft toys. She was malnourished and really under fed from the yard where the dogs were given one bowl of food a day. From Ginny's behaviour we discovered that she always got the scraps. We fed her and gave her a big soft bed and within days she slept through without a peep and began to really settle in. For weeks she slept on my legs through the day like a baby and as the has grown she can always be found still by my side but usually spreading out over the sofa instead! She is a joy and a pain at the same time but she is ours.

Until our next chat...

Emily x

A New Term

 And just like that, life moved on.

There is no excuse for my absence on the blog. It is the first time since starting writing on this space that I have disappeared off it for so long. The reason; unknown.

In all honesty, it was life. Life continued and my writing did not. And you know what, I was really happy with that. I was happy not writing and I was happy just doing. Maybe it was needed. Maybe I just didn't have the words. All I know is that there never seemed to be a natural point to write, but today, after weeks of thinking about it, I feel it and there seems to be a want for me to sit down and do it. 

So life. Where to even begin. Instead of recapping all in this one post I will leave it all to filter out over time where I see it is necessary to share.

Currently though I felt, as I always seem to do, that this September day is the perfect time to start MY new term on here. I waved off one child into year 5 primary this morning and (brace yourself) one child into their first year of secondary. I know. I have a child at secondary school. Our beautiful Raphael has grown up and you know what, I am ok!! I am definitely fighting back the tears (they flowed at the end of last term) because I am having to deal with the loss of his childhood but really I am so happy for Raph and the adventure he is about to start. There is no doubt in my mind that this stage of life is going to be really hard, really challenging and a period of life that as an adult he might be happy to leave far behind, but for right now, this is an adventure into understanding life, understanding people and discovering himself. I don't want to hold him back from that even though every part of me wants to wrap him up in a blanket and hold him in my arms. I want to be as supportive as I can and just encourage him to find the joy, have fun and learn through the experiences he is going to have.

With Raph walking off to secondary by himself it very much left our little Etta all alone walking into primary school and I just don't think she was ready for that this morning. It was a bit of a gut punch, she headed in with her cousins but I knew she was hurting. The nervousness and worries crept in last night as it all became very real. These two are now going to have completely different days and that isn't something we have done before. All new but I know that by the end of this month we will be in the swing of it and either getting to grips with it or catastrophically failing! I have faith in us though. We are stronger than that and we will all learn together.

And as for me (You'll be pleased to hear Rob is the same as always) I am entering a whole new phase of, "so where am I going?"

Watch out, I have no idea but I feel that my right place is exactly where I am meant to be at this present time so for now, that's being the taxi driver, running a house and getting my photography bits and pieces on the side. 

Until our next chat,

Emily x