Our summer holidays - Week 1

Well, a whole week and a half has passed us already and it's been so lovely to spend quality time with my little one, all day, every day. The thing with working every day (albeit only part time) is that we never have lazy mornings or full day trips out. When we want to go to places on an afternoon, we have to rush off as soon as I finish work to make the most of our time and we seem to always battle against early closing times, especially in the winter. So it's been so so lovely taking our time a bit more. Getting up when we want (when Henry wants; I'd get up at 11am if it was up to me), having lazy breakfasts together, cuddling for an extra 10 minutes at bedtime, reading that extra book, staying outside just that bit longer on a warm evening. It's a real treat. I'm hoping to upload a week's worth of photos every week this summer as a little diary or memory 'book' for us to look back on in the years to come. Remembering our last summer as a three. Certainly not a relaxing maternity leave like last time, but much more memorable I'm sure. 

Meeting Iggle Piggle, Henry not leaving go of his hand. We loved CBeebies land so much, Henry was a perfect age for it. 

Our amazing hobbit house that we stayed in for the night at Alton Towers. Really magical.

Afternoon nap under a giant oak tree in Alton Towers while the other three went off on the big rollercoasters. It was so lovely taking an hour out and just cuddling this beautiful boy.

A trip to Brocksbushes with mummy and daddy to pick berries. 

Our first lazy breakfast. Monday morning juice and waffles. Such a treat.

Helping mummy shop for her hospital bag things. All I can say is, buying nappies and sanitary towels and breast pads isn't all that relaxing when your two year old is in charge of his own trolley! 

El Coto for dinner, stealing Daddy's Manchego cheese! We didn't have much in for dinner, Mr B was late home, so we had an impromptu family dinner date at our favourite tapas restaurant in Durham. 

Baking banana and chocolate muffins at 8:30pm after a really busy day. I'd promised we'd bake all day and he kept me to my word when we got in from dinner!! It's been so lovely not feeling like we have to stick to a certain bedtime or be home by a certain time in the week.

A successful week of washing and ironing countless loads of baby clothes, towels, sheets and blankets! 

A trip to 'Swan Lake' aka Herrington Park with Henry's friends and my mummy friends. The boys ran and ran, played in the park, ate their lunch picnic at 10:35am (!!!), fed the swans and geese and had so much fun. A really lovely morning.

Watching Despicable Me 2 at the community centre on the big screen. Henry was loving his little bag of 'hotcorn' and juice and I was loving that we got a couple of hours worth of entertainment for £2, with a cup of tea thrown in for mummy too! 

Playing Dinosaur Spots, a new game which was given to us by a friend. Henry loves it and I love that he's at an age where he can really appreciate proper games. This one helps him practise his colours and shapes and he's now mastered his semi circles and parallelograms thanks to the game. You might think a parallelogram is an odd shape for a child's game...but my child will never call it a diamond after I have had to say countless times to 11 year olds "there isn't a 2d shape called a diamond! It's a rhombus/parallelogram/square". The joys of having a mum as a teacher!! 

A morning at the theatre with mummy watching Peppa Pig's Big Surprise at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle. He absolutely loved it, I unashamedly cried during the 'Bing Bong' song (blooming pregnancy hormones!) and spent a fortune on overpriced merchandise. 

Post-theatre lunch in Jamie's Italian. Henry munched this lush bowl of fish stew and a salad pot and I had ravioli. He was such good company.

Another lazy morning for these two! Watching CBeebies while mummy cleaned the kitchen. 

A trip to the forest with Marmar and Parpar. His smile says it all. 

We found the Gruffalo's child! 

Lazy family lunch in Granny B's with daddy on his day off. 

And that's it. We've actually done way more but I don't have photos of a few of the days. We've been back to Swan Lake, had more coffee and cake dates, met our friends at the garden centre for an entire day of fun and a tasty lunch and lots more cuddles, afternoon naps, films in our PJs and ice lollies in the garden. Such a lovely week. 

34 weeks pregnant

Had my 34 week appointment today - baby is no longer breech (wahoo), blood pressure is fine (110/70), urine was clear and heartbeat was great. All in all, considering that it's been really really hot this week and I've been working a lot, have a two year old and I'm almost 8 months pregnant, I feel really good. The heat definitely hasn't affected me this time like it did when I was pregnant with Henry and aside from my achey hips and pelvis, I feel totally normal. All good. Let's hope it stays that way for the next 6 weeks.

How far along? 34 weeks

Baby is...the size of a butternut squash 

Stretch marks? No, I'm on constant stretch mark watch at this stage but still none so far.

Sleep: Really good. I'm waking up once a night for the loo (I usually just go when Henry wakes up in the middle of the night) and then sleeping through. No major problems getting comfy this week and no heartburn either.

Best moment this week: Finishing work! No more work for 10 whole months. 

Miss anything? An ice cold vodka and tonic or glass of rosé in the sunshine on an evening. That's really it I think 

Food cravings: Nothing exciting. I'm still not really into food, there's nothing I fancy, but I am managing to eat a little more at mealtimes.

Gender: I think boy this week. We really don't have a clue but I'm so so excited to find out now.

Symptoms: Same as before really, nothing new.

Mood: Good, positive, excited. Everything's better now that I've finished work! 

Labour signs?: Still just braxton hicks. Baby isn't engaged at all yet but at least they're head down!

Appointments: Just my 34 week appointment which was quick and easy. I can't believe that I'll be 36 weeks at my next appointment!!

Looking forward to: Shopping for my hospital bag and getting it all packed and ready next week 

A nursery fit for a Lion King (or Queen)

Our Baby Simba is now 6 (ish) weeks away from making his or her grand arrival and this weekend we finally finished the nursery. I was getting really stressed out about it and needed it doing so badly; I can only assume it was my nesting instinct kicking in. I needed a place to put all the tiny, freshly-washed baby clothes (another job on my 'to-do' list) and I wanted a home for all the little trinkets and photos I'd spent weeks sourcing and ordering online. 

So last Monday we finally had the decorator in, and after some serious stress over the '50 shades of grey' samples painted on our wall, we went for the palest. A really really subtle, just off-white grey called White Mist (Dulux). 

We then set about filling the room with everything we'd bought, built the cot and moved furniture until I was happy with how it all looked. This was in the midst of a really stressful and hectic week at work, hence not really getting finished until this weekend when my mum kindly took Henry out for us so that we could get finished. 

So here it is, our yellow and grey nursery fit for a beautiful baby lion cub, our baby Simba.

A beautiful little lion rug from Dunelm Mill

Cot and blanket from Mamas and Papas, lion from Jellycat, felt ball garland from Beautiful Little Thing, cushion from M&S and candles from Next

Shelves from eBay (but painted and decorated by me), candle holder from

John Lewis, felt ball garland from Sheep Farm Felt, lion cub from Schleich, print from Etsy and embroidery hoop from Mobia and Ted (Etsy)

Lion toiletries storage bag from John Lewis, bedspread from House of Fraser, bedding from Habitat.

Sleepyhead of Sweden, as recommended by so many mummies. I really better get a good sleeper this time!

 Beautiful dream catcher above the cot by Holly and Teddy (Etsy)

Assorted frames - mainly eBay, various brands, prints from Etsy and Not on the Highstreet, moon and stars from eBay. I love the meaning behind every single one of these prints, photos and little trinkets and look forward to updating them as Simba grows up. 

32 weeks pregnant

I'm And so the single figure countdown begins!! My 32 week midwife appointment went well except for one detail....baby is now breech. I'd half expected it after feeling what could only be described as little feet digging very low down, but still, not the best news at this point. So I've been googling and worrying and starting to consider a possible c-section, possibly in August. Pretty much exactly what I wanted to avoid. I have until 36 weeks where I'd have to see a consultant and start thinking about birth options etc, but 4 weeks really isn't that long, so I've also looked into positions and exercises to move the baby and also thought about seeing the chiropractor in the next couple of weeks too. Stress I could do without, but not the end of the world either. 

How far along? 32 weeks

Baby is...the size of a squash 

Stretch marks? No, good old Bio Oil is doing its job still. 

Sleep: Still pretty good, I usually only need the loo once in the night which is pretty good going for this far along and the nightly heartburn has gone too, I think that might be due to baby moving to being breech actually. I'm still napping 3-4 times a week and I really really need those naps, thank goodness Henry loves a long afternoon snooze still!

Best moment this week: Booking the decorator finally and buying the Sleepyhead for the baby to sleep in. It's funny what an emotional meltdown to your husband can do. After a meltdown about the state of Simba's room, I awoke from my nap to find the decorator had been booked and the Sleepyhead ordered Finally!! 

Miss anything? Not being in pain, my pelvis pain is horrendous this week. Also a really really cold glass of rosé. Can't wait for a glass the night we come home from hospital. 

Food cravings: Discos crisps are all that are doing it for me. I'm still totally off food and not eating huge amounts, nothing really tastes that good and I just don't fancy anything.  

Gender: I think girl

Symptoms: Same as last week: non-greasy skin and hair, lack of appetite, achey pelvis pain and also totally hairless legs. I don't remember the last time I shaved them, maybe a couple of months back, and they haven't grown at all since then. 

Mood: Emotional, very ready to finish work and 'nest', but otherwise all good.

Labour signs?: Plenty Braxton Hicks but nothing else thankfully 

Appointments: 32 week midwife appointment and I also had my whooping cough vaccine which hurts like hell, it did last time too....still better than a newborn with whooping cough! 

Looking forward to: The decorator coming in next week to sort baby Simba's bedroom  

Out for Daddy's birthday dinner

Back at home and in PJs!!