Getting messy and being in total joy!

To shower, or not to shower? That is the question. The answer my friends is YES!!! You’ve had to jump through so many hoops to get to this moment, with no sex involved. So you’re going to have god damn partay!!! Let’s not forget ladies, you’re not actually preggers, so you could wear a ‘mum to be‘ sash, swig on a bottle of Bolly whilst zero judgement is passed.

If you find yourself in a situation (like myself) You will most likely be sending your shower invites with 72 hours notice…..yippee. You need someone in your corner, ready to emotionally blackmail all friends and family into cancelling all other plans, attending ladened with gifts and good-wishes . Enter my sister, she was simply fantastic. You won’t have time for insta perfect shower prep. You will be in the Aldi que stockpiling nappies, wipes and those cute mini bottles of Prosecco. *Note you will get so many more gifts then your average mum to be, people just love a good news story.

When it comes to gifts and decorations, a little more thought will be required. UK retailers are hardly fit to burst with adoption goodies.

“Hi, it’s 2020. Just Wondered if you wanted to start selling helium Balloons for ALL KINDS OF FAMILIES?!” (Thats me, shouting at all the retailers)

I did find a great Tee I wore on the day (see above) (although I had to get this shipped over form America) I also wore this for my social media adoption announcement. We received a beautiful adoption record book @littlepicklememories which meant the world to me, I was sick of scurrying past the good old ‘my first year‘ books which seem to miraculously grow legs and start chasing you round the shop when you can’t have a child. It’s full of gorgeous pages for you to complete such as 1st month in your forever home & 1st Birthday with us. Another beautiful gift idea is to find a bear or fictional children’s character that has also been adopted and has a relatable story for your child, Nemo loves his precious Paddington bear.

Theres still so much scope for games, I loved the advice for parenthood cards, @gingerrayuk they apply to any aged child. *You will find yourself frantically flicking through these whilst on your third, mini Aldi Prosecco bottle.

When it comes to a cake ‘welcome to the world’ or ‘congratulations on your baby boy’ might not suit the situation, Nemo was 21 months old when he came home, I’d like to think he’d seen a bit of the world by then. We went for ‘together as one’ because thats how we felt about our new unit. We were now one.