The good...

So many great things have happened over the last couple of months. After lots of stress and doubt over whether it would actually happen at all, we finally moved house on 14th December. In the run-up to the move, I did feel very emotional about leaving our little pink house, our first home together, where we brought Jamie home to from hospital and where Daisy was born. But we had outgrown it and we were all excited about the future in a new house and new town.

We hired a van and did the move ourselves, which was manic but we just about managed it. And we LOVE our new home. From the moment we unlocked the front door and walked in on move day, it felt like home and as if we belonged. It's dated and needs redecorating from top to bottom, plus new carpets and curtains, but I still love it as it is - it's so spacious compared to our old house, and yet comfy and cosy as well. My unpacking strategy involved shoving any box containing non-essential items into the loft or garage - which are consequently full of "stuff" to be sorted at a later date. But doing that made it easy to get the house looking how I wanted fairly quickly, and allowed the Christmas preparations to get under way! The plan is to get an extension built on the side of the house, hopefully fairly soon, so we aren't planning to do any redecoration or improvements until that's all done.

The neighbours have been welcoming and lovely, and it's great to feel part of a community here. The garden is amazing, we adore it, and seeing the kids running around and enjoying the fresh air is just magic. It's south-facing, so we get the most amazing sunrises and sunsets every day. It's just beautiful and I know we're going to virtually live out there in the summer.We've recently got two new chickens, named Lily-Rose and Elise (after two of Jamie's favourite girlfriends from his old playgroup), and they are settling in well...although Lily-Rose is a naughty one and keeps flapping over the fence from her enclosure into the rest of the garden.

Christmas went well, we had lots of family over and managed to cater for them fairly successfully. Everyone loved the house and it was great to have the space to fit everyone in, compared to our cramped, tiny living room in the pink house. The kids were spoiled, with Jamie getting a bike and a Leappad, and Daisy lots of clothes and Happyland toys - amongst many other things. It all went too quickly though and before we knew it, it was all over and I was itching to get the decs down and get things looking orderly again!

A couple of weeks ago, Jamie started at his new preschool. We had taken the decision for him to go 5 mornings, increasing from the 3 mornings he was doing in Cheltenham. We felt he needed to settle in there quickly and start getting to know the children he'll potentially be going to school with. I was nervous about him starting as he can be very set in his ways and I wasn't sure how well he'd adapt to a new setting, new staff and kids, especially so soon after moving. But he has done brilliantly! I was meant to stay for the whole session on his first couple of days, but after 30 mins on the first day, the staff said I could go home and they'd call if he wasn't happy. They didn't need to call though, and he's been absolutely fine ever since. He runs in happily, waves me goodbye and just seems to really enjoy it. He seems to have come out of himself and got more confident since starting there. One of the best things about moving before Christmas was that I was able to get his primary school application in on time, plus supporting evidence to prove our new house is our permanent home address. So that was a big weight lifted - I just hope he gets into the school up the road, as I'd love him to go to school so close to home - so he can get to know all his classmates and really feel part of the community.

So there we have it, so many lovely things and in many ways we have never been happier. Moving to a bigger house, with room to extend and a huge garden, close to a good school, in a lovely, quiet estate...it's all just perfect really. But just before we moved, we had some awful news which has made the last couple of months very bitter-sweet, and hit home with huge force that you can never know when life is going to take you down a different path.