A Babymoon is a must do

Firstly, I’d like to apologise for being absent from the blog for so long. It’s been a rather chaotic few weeks, with my grandmother dying and then her funeral, and then being diagnosed with gestational diabetes a couple of weeks ago.

I’ll write about the diabetes in another post, once I’ve got used to what I have to do and have settled into the lifestyle. Needless to say, I was pretty devastated when I got the diagnosis, but I’m getting my head around it and it’s not so bad. But on a more cheery note, what I really want to write about is the little holiday that M and I took a few weeks ago now. I had never really heard the phrase ‘babymoon’ before, but I suppose that’s what it was – a chance to get away – just the two of us – and enjoy a little bit of time together before our lives are turned around by our little arrival in a few weeks’ time. I knew that I really wanted to get the chance to do this. M and I are both teachers, so it had to be in the holidays, and as M is skiing with school in the first week of the Easter holidays, after that seemed like it was too close to my due date and I would probably want to be nesting – or something – in those weeks leading up to the birth. I also thought I might be too big and knackered by then. I already find I get out of breath ridiculously easily! So we decided on half term

. My first thought was that I’d like to go to the Lake District; it’s a very special place for us and we usually go there two or three times a year. We love walking and we take our dog and climb mountains and eat hearty meals in cosy pubs in the evening. And I absolutely love it and feel at home there. But I wasn’t sure what the weather would be like in Cumbria in February and I also wasn’t sure if I would be able to drag my 7 months pregnant self up any mountains! SO we thought we would wait until the baby is here and potentially go there again in October. The other issue was that we have just bought a house and have poured every penny we have into it – not to mention the ludicrous cost of preparing for a baby’s arrival (there are just too many lovely cute clothes to resist!) So we needed something low budget but lovely. We are lucky enough to have family spread around the country and M’s aunt and uncle live in Yorkshire – just outside Leeds. We decided that for our little babymoon, we would go and stay with them for a few nights and do fun things during the day – being tourists and exploring. On our first day we went to Ilkley and went for a walk on the moors there. It was a beautiful cold, sunny day and perfect for getting a bit of exercise and seeing the magnificent views. It was absolutely perfect – we blew away the cobwebs from a long drive up there and it felt great to be up so high. Afterwards, a pot of (decaf) tea and a piece of cake ended the day nicely, before we headed to M’s aunt and uncle’s house to be thoroughly spoilt with a lovely dinner and a relaxing evening. We decided, as the weather didn’t look great, to go and explore York the following day. A real contrast of a day, but just as lovely. We wandered around the National Railway Museum (really an excuse to be a bit of pram research – museums in school holidays are absolutely rammed with pushchairs!) and then had lunch in a little independent café in the centre of York. We chatted about the baby, wandered around shops and just generally enjoyed our time together – happily being tourists and doing touristy things.

The last thing we did was go to a chocolate café. I didn’t know before we went, but apparently York is the chocolate capital of England. Yum. I cannot tell you how glad I am that my diabetes arrived emerged this trip, as the hot chocolate (made with real chocolate) and the chocolate truffle cake I had would have sent my blood sugar levels rocketing off the scale. But my goodness it was good. Pure. Chocolate. Heaven. On the last day, we took a little drive to Bolton Abbey and walked along the river there – in fact nearly 6 miles by the time we had finished. That proved a little bit much for my pelvic pain, but again, it was so lovely to be walking somewhere new. Walking is about the only exercise I’m doing at the moment, and I walk the dog daily. But it’s hard to find new places each day, so when I’m pushed for time, we tend to go to the same place every day. It’s beautiful, but it was great to be amongst different scenery. The pelvic pain was eased by a hot, bubbly bath back at our hosts’ house that evening – and of course another delicious meal. I really cannot recommend a ‘babymoon’ enough. Whatever your budget, whether it’s a luxury spa break with no expense spared, or like we did – making the most of family living in interesting places – the chance to spend some genuinely quality time together is so valuable. It made us take time away from work and commitments, and get excited about the baby together. If you’d like to read more about my pregnancy, I blog at www.pitterpatter82.wordpress.com – do pop over and say hello!

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