My Mothers Day

Whether you are a mum, granny, auntie, god mother or someone who takes on those roles, I hope you had a great day yesterday.

As a mum to a 7 and 4 year old, the day was more about them and what they got to share with me. It's the smallest things kids do that hold the most meaning so simple things like hand made cards and attempting to make me breakfast in bed me mean the world to me.

That said their dad obviously played his part as I can only imagine what I would have been handed on a plate yesterday morning.

After a relaxing morning spent in bed we ventured out for afternoon tea. Here was my outfit for the day.

*ZARA jeans *INTERNATONALE blouse *NEW LOOK jacket *ASOS boots *MODALU bag

In the evening we had takeaway pizza with my new favourite Ben & Jerry's ice cream, Peanut Butter Cup whilst cuddling up on the couch watching a movie in our pj's. 

The perfect way to end the day. x

Pregnancy Diaries: Catch Up Weeks 10 & 11

Week 10

Not long after I got pregnant, my skin began to act up. I have had eczema my whole life but for the most part it has been mostly mild, however in pregnancy some health issues can totally disappear or they can start up with a vengeance. In my case it's the latter. My skin has never been this badly affected with eczema, ever and I have a new found sympathy for those who have to deal with extreme cases their entire life. Prescribed creams aren't having much of an effect so I'm feeling very woe is me. It is itchy so I'm scratching through to the flesh then it gets irritated which then returns to being itchy again. It's a vicious circle however I'm hoping this clears up once the baby arrives.
With my first pregnancy I was never sick, only feeling nauseas so until this week I thought maybe we were having a girl because as awful as I've been feeling I hadn't actually been sick. That all changed with me spending every evening this week, hugging a bowl. This resembles my sons pregnancy so makes me think it could be a boy. Who knows, it's all guess work at this point, as really no two pregnancies are the same.

Week 11

I had to call up the hospital this week as I still hadn't received my first scan appointment so was given a date and time for next week right there and then. My letter had appeared to be lost in the post and was told that another would be sent out with additional information to read. I was pleased with this until my dad text me a few days later to let me know that he had received mail addressed to me from the hospital (envelope had a stamp mark) and was everything ok. We had previously stayed with him in 2008 when we first moved back to Scotland from England, hence the mail being sent to his address. Considering this was supposed to be a secret still, I was horrified but managed to pass it off to my family as a dermatologist appointment given that my eczema was clearly visible to them. I think it worked but I'm sure there is some suspicion there.

Pregnancy Diaries: Catch Up Weeks 8 & 9

Here is another instalment of my earlier weeks in pregnancy. I'm now 22 weeks along, so am aiming to be caught up as quickly as possible with frequent posts. WARNING: content includes extreme moaning!

Week 8

To say I'm struggling with the morning sickness would be an understatement. I am not someone who copes well with feeling sick, for instance, whilst friends would try to resolve their hangovers with the hair of the dog method, I would be curled up in bed waiting to die. And right now I feel like I am living in a haze of one big long hangover which I know is going to be around for a while. On a more positive note though Christmas Eve and Day were good days for me as I felt a lot less ill than I had been. This meant  I was able to socialise, eating what I pleased and managed to cook a full festive Christmas dinner for 7 family members, again being able to eat til my my hearts content. Seeing as we are keeping this pregnancy a secret from family and friends for the time being I was happy for the short lived relief from my symptoms.

Week 9

Well, I had my first pregnancy related emotional break down this week. We had an invite from neighbours to go for drinks and nibbles and felt we should show face, if only for a short time. However I had spent the day in bed and when it came to getting ready, it was all too much. I felt so rotten and could not conceive how I was going to manage to get dressed, do my hair and make-up and remain composed in front of others. This resulted in me sitting in my underwear sobbing to my husband about how I couldn't do it any more and how was I going to make it through the next few weeks when each day I would feel more sick than the last. After 20 minutes of indulging in self pity, followed by some encouraging words from my better half, I got myself together and we all had a great evening which was helped along with me constantly hovering around the food :)

Pregnancy Diaries: Catch Up Weeks 6 and 7

For the next couple of weeks my pregnancy diaries will be back dated to get up to speed. I am currently 21 weeks so I will be posting every couple of days or so until everything is up to date. If anyone has had/is having a similar experience then feel free to share :)

Week 6

I'm currently 6 weeks along and the whole radiant, glowing pregnant woman thing has skipped right past me. My chin has broken out in spots and red patches and a small area of my back is spotty. Lets add to this, the fact that I am steering clear of hair dyes for the first trimester. This was not a problem in my younger years when I dyed my hair out of want however it is now a necessity thanks to a  random sprouting of grey which I will now be sporting for the next few weeks. On a positive note, with my previous pregnancies, morning sickness began at exactly this time but I have experienced nothing so far. I feel slightly yuck and the smell of some foods are a bit off putting but nothing that is affecting my appetite and causing me to be sick. I am secretly hoping that I may get off easier this time although this may be wishful thinking. Something that does seem to be hitting hard is the fatigue. I remember feeling really tired with my other two but this is on another level. I feel like I'm spending more time asleep than awake at the moment. Every time I sit down I seem to dose off, I don't know how it's possible to sleep as much as I have been and still be tired. I guess growing a baby really does take it out of you!

Week 7

I spoke too soon! At week 7 that the nausea has kicked in and boy am I am finding it tough. My husband finds it hilarious that I chose to put myself through this again especially as I previously experienced bad morning sickness, more so with my son second time round, at which time I proclaimed that I could never go through it again. I tried to explain to him that it's like when you drink too much and wake up with the worst hangover ever. You swear to yourself and anyone who'll listen that you will never drink again but there you are 7 days later in the same position! I have a theory that anything that provides you a feel good factor at some point will have you asking for more, for me this applies to drinking, working out and in this particular case having a baby and everything that comes with it.

Thankfully however, whilst my husband finds my misery amusing at this point he is also being very helpful with the children doing school runs and most of the cooking so I don't have to spend my evenings gagging in the kitchen. My diet is very basic just now as there doesn't seem to be much I can stomach. I have been sticking to digestive biscuits, butter on toast, red grapes and fluids wise it's either water or diluted apple juice, anything else just makes me feel worse. Everyone talks about ginger to alleviate the nausea and although I ate ginger biscuits in previous pregnancies, I'm not keen on the taste and find as long as I have something lining my stomach the sickness lifts enough for me to get about. Given that morning sickness tends to last up until 12-14 weeks, I have roughly 6 weeks of this left to go and I am counting down the days, hours and minutes already :(

Oh Baby Baby - Third Times A Charm!

My husband and I decided to try for our third and FINAL child  at the end of last year which was all very exciting and daunting at the same time. Although we already have two healthy, beautiful children, they are what some would call 'happy accidents' so actually TRYING to get pregnant was all new to us.

When I told a good friend about our plans to conceive, she pointed out that everyone she knew who had started a family up until that point had had unplanned pregnancies. (We had hit the big 30!, I've since turned 31). However she had recently found her friends were now getting pregnant on purpose! And it's true, all around us people are getting engaged, married, pregnant, moving in together or going on couples holidays.

I found that a lot of women knew more about not getting pregnant (if not being careless) than vice versa and as this would be our first planned pregnancy, I too was unaware of the specific ins and outs of when was the best time to conceive.  To help things along I picked up this ovulation kit from the supermarket. It contained 5 test strips for only £3.99 compared to some other stores which charge £9.99 for a pack of 2.

The way I saw it was, I didn't know how long we would be trying for so didn't want to spend a fortune on branded ones when cheaper ones provide the same result, only without fancy packaging and some plastic. My last pregnancy was discovered very early on using a test bought from the pound shop so it's not always a case of you get what you pay for. These work by detecting 12-48 hours before you are about to ovulate which gives you a good indication of when you should be getting busy with your man.

They worked well for us, as it happened very quickly and I can't quite believe it but here we go again.

I had realised I may be pregnant a few days before I was 4 weeks so had to wait it out. I tested on 3 consecutive days before I would have been due my period.

The first test showed a negative result, the second looked to be negative but I could see a barely there line that only I could see (hubby saw nothing) and the third test provided a very faint but undeniable visible positive. Even then I did a couple more in the following days just to make sure!

I have decided to blog throughout this pregnancy especially as this will be my last and want to remember everything. It's amazing the things you forget or the intensity of what you can go through at times. I wanted to wait until I had my 20 week scan to post diary entries, simply to make sure the baby was healthy so my next few blogs will be back dated. I would love to hear from any expectant mothers along the way.

Let the journey begin! xxx