This might sound controversial, but if I could skip the first 3 years of J’s life and relive the age of 4 over and over and over I think I would. I know all the hard work we put in over the last 3 years has led to this amazing child we have now, but 4 has been my favourite age by far

Just tonight we got home from the school run, made halloween chocolate apples and then cuddled up to watch TV together. I sat watching her absorb it all, looking at the little freckles from our summer adventures around her eyes and on her nose, and  we occasionally shared a joke or had a quick chat about the day that went by

We finish her first half term this week and she’s done brilliantly, she spends the evenings excitedly telling us about her phonemes and ‘tricky words’, and we practice reading her school books. I won’t ever sugarcoat it and say life is always rosy and perfect because it’s not, but right now she is. She’s settled into her new routine, she’s loving her daily setup, and while the weekends are always too short, they make us make the most of it

This weekend we went to a Pumpkin Festival and she had some pocket money from her nanny and grandad and decided to spend it getting her face painted. You often don’t see just how bright her blue eyes are because they’re behind her glasses, but they’re so vivid and bold and beautiful. It’s funny because we don’t have blue eyes but my biological father does and so does my mother in law, but they’re what makes her J.