As my last maternity leave starts to come to an end, I'm trying to squeeze as many memorable days in as I can, so last week my mum and I took Maggie and Charlie for an adventure on the train into Birmingham. We were treated with a gloriously sunny day with clear blue skies so Birmingham really was showing itself off.

Mum hadn't been into town for ages, so hadn't seen all the changes where the Pallasades and the old Library used to be, so we decided to visit the new Library and headed over from Colmore Row via Victoria Square. We stopped to look at the iconic 'floozy in the jacuzzi' fountain, and mum gave Charlie a coin to throw in and make a wish. When we asked what he wised for, he replied "a castle" and if that's not the best wish an almost three year old could make, I don't know what is.

Two blog posts in a week! Am I feeling ok? This one is being popped together at the end of my thirty-fourth birthday, which has been a rather lovely day with these few hours alone in silence as the real cherry on top! (Tell me you're a mum of two small humans without telling me...) So with the husband shipped off to rugby training, a glass of Miraval and a freshly-lit Overose candle to keep me company, let me tell you about my day. 

My plan was to tick off those places on my local wishlist that are just a bit tricky to do on my own with my little babes in tow, so the first port of call was Cup coffee shop in Hagley. They do the best coffees around in my opinion, and their sweet baked goods are top notch too. After grabbing a takeaway latte for me and a flat white for my husband, we headed to Stanleys Farm Shop to do pumpkin picking, but not until we'd had our carpark picnic first. 

We were spoiled with blue skies and we beat the rush of other young families too, so it was a real treat to see my excited two year old running around trying to pick up giant pumpkins uninterrupted. 

We also picked up some rhubard and cooking apples to our freezer stash of crumbles back up, and while we were paying the lovely lady behind the til pointed out that they are open all year round and invited us to come back to pick our veg for our Christmas dinner on Christmas eve which I thought was a great idea!

With our FOUR pumpkins and fruit packed up in the boot, we headed over to Kinver for brunch at Cafe No.5 which has been on my wishlist for so long! We managed to get a table in the lovely heated shed although it was actually so warm that the heaters and blankets weren't needed.

I was delighted that this was not a case of Instagram vs. reality, and the food and drinks were actually as good as they looked! The grapefruit Mimosa was excellent, as was the breakfast bap and hash browns. My husband's smoked salmon also looked too pretty to eat, and he assured me it was delicious (if salmon is your thing!)

The last stop of the day was Winnie & Olive which was just a few doors down from Cafe No.5 in Chenevare Mews. You can't miss it as there are so many gorgeous blooms outside. Everything they sell is British grown and are on a mission to do floristry in a more sustainable, environmentally friendly way. I treated myself to a beautiful bouquet with locally grown dahlias and cosmos, expertly arranged by hand by the lovely Vanessa who's daughter runs the shop. 

With two tired babes we decided to call it a day and forget about the walk up Kinver we had planned. One of the lessons I've learned recently is there's just no point trying to force a toddler to keep up with your aspirations all day. When they're done, they're done and everyone was happier with an afternoon on the sofa before beans on toast and birthday cake for tea. 

Not me leaving it until the very end of my second maternity leave to actually get this started...

Hello (again!) - I'm Kirstie. This will be my fourth (or is it fifth?) attempt to start and stick to blogging! I've been here on Blogger since the olldddd days, and am a bit of an internet Grandma. I've tried clever, cool, creative blog names and themes but they've never stuck, so I'm hope by keeping things simple and not putting too much pressure on myself to STAND OUT AND BE FAMOUS, I will actually keep this one up. So yes, I'm back. I'm a mum, I'm from the Midlands, why complicate things right?

I'll be posting longer form content on here when I feel like I've got more to say than can fit into an Instagram caption, but you can also find me on the 'gram @muminthemiddle.me. 

I'm planning on sharing bits of my life as a (soon to be) part-time working mum to two little ones; Charlie is my eldest son who will be starting preschool soon (weep!), and Maggie is my youngest daughter who was born in January this year. 

I'd love you to come along for the ride and see if I can keep it up this time!