Goodbye

After a bit of 'gentle' persuasion from my fans (thank you Angela Shelton), a couple of glasses of Malbec and a night in with the pooch, I've decided it's time to update you on the final chapter of our time in NYC and put the 'Gravestones do NYC' blog to bed - calm down Angela, I'm not hanging up my blogging boots - watch this space!!!

I remember claiming in my last post that the littlest man in my life had 'turned my world upside down.' Little did I know that at the end of April, as I lay on the sofa recovering from an op to remove my ruptured appendix, the biggest man in my life was about to turn my world in a totally unimaginable direction - in fact as always he had to take it one step further and literally walk out of it.

Sadly my final memories of NYC are of losing my amazing dad (the Turk) and rushing back to the UK to say goodbye. It's hard to know where to take this post from here, what my fellow Margraves and I have experienced over the past five months is indescribable. Personally I'm not entirely sure I have got over the shock and half imagine him walking in bellowing, 'you making the tea Donks?'

If I'm totally honest a lot of my grief so far has been for my son, after all I know what a total dude the Turk was, with his larger than life personality, magnetic yet-not-entirely-pc sense of humour and his amazing ability to simply just make everything ok, but Huds will never experience this for himself. And while I'm at it, I'm also pretty bitter that dad will never get to see what an absolutely amazing little boy Hudson is becoming. They are missing out on each other and so far not a day's gone when I haven't thought about this. Yet every time I look at Huds with his big blue eyes, multiple chins, trademark mop and infectious laughter, I see my dad and that's where I find my peace. There simply wasn't enough room in the world for two such big personalities and not being a fan of growing old, dad graciously stepped out and let Huds steal the show. I'm just eternally grateful that they got to spend the first month of Hud's life together and that I got to spend some quality time with dad away from the stresses of work - January 2015 will always be one of the most precious months of my life.

Mum's birthday bash 

Accepting Dad's Lifetime Achievement Award

I've got a lot of love for these ladies

However despite our tragic loss I want to let you know that the Margraves are doing OK. The love and support we have received from our nearest and dearest has been overwhelming, from close family members and friends who've been there with us every step of the way, to mum's girls who provided daily meals on wheels until we got back on our feet - not forgetting the bottles of wine that arrived from America (thanks Catherine Whyte), words can't explain our gratitude. Of course we all have our moments but I am so proud of my fellow Margraves for their unbelievable courage and strength and strangely feel lucky to still have such an amazing family that is closer than ever. I know the Turk would be so proud too!

Ironically the weekend before dad gave me a big bear hug and left NYC to return to the Big Smoke - following a month on the IPAs and a diet of burgers - I decided to throw him a bit of a leaving bash at Central Park's Tavern on the Green. Thanks to mum this wasn't the last party for me in the Big Apple, as in June she offered to take master Stone off my hands for three nights so that I could rejoin Jonny for a few care-free days and nights of NYC fun, and what fun it was. Ticking off a final few bucket list entries, namely a trip up to the newly opened observation deck of One World Trade, dinner at Gramercy Tavern and a marathon walk in Central Park with the pooch, it was seeing my NYC chums that made the trip. There's no denying we made the right decision to come home, after all there is no place like home, but what I wouldn't give for a bottomless brunch with the girls (and bubbas of course), I miss you all, thanks for making our time in NYC unforgettable. Xxx

Home is where The Hud is

It was just a casual Saturday night when Jonny and I decided to head off to the Paris Cinema (Carrie Bradshaw's fave) - as one does when living in the heart of Manhattan. Little did we know that less than 5 hours later, pillow in hand, I'd be throwing my door keys at the doorman, so Margot could be fed, and rushing out onto the street to hail a yellow cab to New York Presbyterian Hospital, 68th Street and York Avenue (I had memorized the address, as quite frankly these NY taxi drivers are no London black cabbies)!!! I'll leave that story there and skip to the best bit, this face:

Yep, at 6.44am on Sunday 14th December 2014 - three weeks early - Hudson Leo arrived in the world and was handed to two utterly gobsmacked parents. It has always been a running joke in my family that if I ever gave birth none of them wanted to be in the same country as me, given my rather non-existent pain threshold and the fact I am a complete hypercondriac, so as luck would have it here I was across the pond in NYC - poor Jonny was unable to escape. 

I'm not sure how I imagined this little dude's arrival, in fact I think I tried desperately not to imagine it, but all I can remember now is Jonny's first words: "bloody hell look at the size of his balls" - I'm guessing it's a boy then Jonny! Followed by bursting into tears as I introduced the biddies (and Chops as luck would have it) to their first grand child via FaceTime. It was emotional, amazing and to be honest pretty terrifying but now nearly 12 weeks on, I can't imagine life without my little man and feel so blessed that I am the first one to be greeted by his gorgeous smile each morning - I could however do without the 2am and 5am meets. 

Look at that face. Oh how we've moved on from the first days as a newborn, getting to grips with the burping technique... "blimey, what are you trying to do to me mummy?!" Poor thing, thank goodness Nanny Goat and Granddad Turk arrived a few days later to offer a few words of advice, followed by a helping hand from Nanna and Bumpa Stone, who are already well versed in the art of grand-parenting.

So now our visitors have gone, Margot is back in her orthopaedic dog bed, Hudson even has a new girlfriend Holly, and life is getting back to normal - well a whole new normal that is - and I'm loving every second with my boys. 

We've also made the hard but exciting decision to move back to the UK in September - it was either that or Rita was moving out here and Margot says there is simply just not enough room in her bed! No, seriously we have had the most amazing experience in NYC but all great things have to come to end and our time is definitely up. Yet while we are excited to introduce you all to Hudson and settle back into life at home, we have a summer of fun, fun, fun, planned here before we depart, so watch this space!!! Actually, manage your expectations just a little as we do have a bubba now ;-).

L xxx