It’s a very British thing to say but – what do you make of this weather? On Wednesday we had brilliant sunshine but today its raining cats and dogs. When there was just me to think of it was easy just to throw a brolly in my handbag (not to mention I always carry gloves) and the climate here never seemed a problem to me – I couldn’t really understand people who fussed about the weather. Not so easy to travel as light with a 13month old.

Before we think about heading out the front door, we need her rain cover most days and then on others – her sun parasol. Some days, she will be wearing a coat with a hood when there are down pours and then the next day she’ll have bare arms smothered in cream – it’s really hard to work out what to plan for! Factor 50 and a bottle of kiddie’s sun block also live in the bottom of the pram and her sunhat is as essential a bib these days as you never know what’s going on and certainly don’t want to be caught out. As she is now toddling, her socks are getting filthy! We can’t wait to pick up some pre-walker shoes to save her socks some aggravation as she isn’t quite ready for proper shoes yet so we often have spare socks or shoes with us too.

She recently went to a friends BBQ and I had with me a pair of shorts and a t-shirt for her to wear when playing in the garden to save her pretty dress getting mucky. She also finds it quite difficult to crawl as well in her big dresses so she is tending to wear lots of leggings these days which is great as I can always layer up with t-shirts, jumpers, skirts and cardigans depending on the weather. She walks well when guided by a pram or walking toy but can only stand unaided for a few seconds at the moment.

My mam is making some advances in her knitting skills so we can expand on Meadows cardigan collection; I also tend to carry one of those everywhere we go. Also her water bottle is always in my bag now, as the heat here seems to come out with a vengeance when it does decide to show its face! As I don’t drive, the pram under tray is always full of bits and pieces to help us battle the weather. It’s now almost July so hopefully the parasol will get a little more action than the rain cover does….