Friends, family and wool

We're well into Autumn now, and I remember this time last year and how sick I was, how even walking to the supermarket was too difficult to manage alone and would leave me faint and dizzy and so, so nauseous. This year everything seems so much brighter and better than it ever has before. Like being in love, being a mother makes the whole world seem that bit more beautiful. It might sound silly, but it's true. I often get down at this time of year with the long, dark winter ahead, but this year I'm really enjoying the changing leaves, the fall foods, hunkering down in our cosy wee house with my family.

Speaking of fall foods, the baby led weaning is still going very well indeed. I love this time of year for root vegetables - pumpkins and squash and sweet potato, chunky stews and warming soups. It's great fun to share that with Audrey - here she is chomping her way through some sweet potato, carrot and lentil stew.

Walks are fun, and I love the awesome hand knitted clothes we can wear now the weather is getting chilly. I've been working on my knitting again lately, making Audrey a thick, cabled woolly jumper for the winter out of some yummy sheep's wool from Bedfordshire that my dad and his fiancee got for me. So we're all wrapped up for our windswept walks.

 We went out for a walk with Aunty Katy the other day and her dog Hurley. Audrey is fascinated by dogs, and kept craning for a look at him as we walked through the park and to the playground.

 At the playground we went on the swings and the slide, and it was another of those oh-my-goodness-I'm-really-a-mum sort of moments.

Continuing with the theme of visiting friends, my good friend Kat came to visit last weekend and met Audrey for the first time. Kat was a bridesmaid at our wedding, so it was especially lovely to see her and Audrey meeting at last. And Audrey just loved her.

My friends mean a great deal to me, and seeing how much they love Audrey makes me so glad, so content. Plus, spending the weekend with one of the funnest people I know is always awesome.

It seems Audrey agrees!

Oh Audrey Bea. You're so much fun, you know that?