Playing on the park with Grandad - A won't leave him alone at the moment!

I've also spent the last week or so redesigning Hello Archie as I was unhappy with parts of the old theme. I've gone for a much cleaner, minimal design, stripping back everything that's unnecessary and focusing on the important stuff, the articles! I've also been concentrating on making the site as mobile-friendly as possible as the majority of our readers are using their phones to view the site. I'm still working through some kinks, so just let me know if you notice something isn't working as it should.

Between days out and family time, I've been blogging pretty much every spare minute I have. I've been lucky enough to receive exciting e-mails inviting me to amazing collection launches and I love being a part of the parentfriendlystays #parentpanel, plus I've been trying to keep up with social media and a weekly blogging schedule. Along with taking photos and writing posts, it takes up alot of time but I've been feeling blessed that I'm able to do it.

A visit to my terribly missed brother and A's Uncle — Grandad's get tired too!

In two days, I'll be attending the BritMums Brilliance in Blogging Awards ceremony of which I'm a finalist in the Fresh Voice category and I can't even express how excited I am! I honestly thought nerves would consume me but they haven't even entered my mind. I'm excited to meet the bloggers that have welcomed me into their community and of course, I'm ecstatic to be a finalist and find out who will win in our category (the competition is incredibly strong) and most of all, I'm looking forward to really feeling as if I might be somewhat of a professional blogger and not just an imposter.

Unfortunately, Mr J's been working alot lately so we haven't been able to spend a whole lot of time together as a family, but we've been able to sneak in trips to the park and evening BBQ's in this gorgeous weather we've been having and it's been great to be able to use our new decking, as before it was fitted, our garden was pretty unusable! A now always wants to go outside (no matter what the weather) so I'm really happy that he's able to do so without us hauling everything out for a trip to the park.

Regular readers may notice that I've been gradually moving Hello Archie in a slightly different direction. Although it will always remain a parenting & lifestyle blog as those are the things I love writing about, I've also wanted to post more about home, decor and myself as opposed to just A. I've really enjoyed posting about things I love, reviewing great products and talking about design so there'll be more of all that, along with a steady stream of the real side of parenting, of course.

There'll be no Fashion Friday this week as I'll be too busy organising our travel arrangements for the BiBs (and figuring out what the heck I'm going to wear - help!). I'm hoping to post on Friday before we leave but, if not, I'll be live tweeting the event over at @helloarchie_ on Twitter, so stay tuned to see what happens!

Did you know I'm a graphic designer too? If you're looking for help to brand your business or make your blog beautiful, check out my portfolio!