In photos: A summer villa in Portugal

In late September this year we went on holiday. It was everything a holiday with a thirteen-month-old should be: chaotic, busy, not in the least bit relaxing, and wonderful. It was wonderful. We made memories that will last a lifetime - it was here that our boy took his first steps - and mess. Baby Bird definitely made lots of mess.

It was, however, very different to previous holidays because Baby Bird SLEPT. He managed to fall into his usual routine after a few days of unrest and this therefore helped us also sleep and relax when we could. I will now approach holidays with a child knowing that the first 48 hours will be chaotic, but it does calm down, especially if you're quick to introduce a bit of routine and set up a very clear, dedicated sleeping space. I'm very reluctant to give parenting advice, because there are a million ways to do it and do it "right", but when it comes to my experience of travelling with a little one I've consistently found the first 1-2 days are much harder than the rest of the time away. From now on I will always tell myself to roll with the punches for those early few days because like all crappy days in my very priviliged life, they pass soon enough.

Here are some photos, including some panorama pics of the villa and the views we enjoyed.

#We stayed in a villa we found on Airbnb located in the middle of the Arrabida National Park, about an hour south of Lisbon, but it's no longer listed unfortunately. If it comes back online, I'll add the details to this post!