The One About Christmas Memories...

Last weekend I struggled to think of a Christmas related story for Sian's Storytelling Sunday, then midweek something must had jogged my memory and I remembered something from my childhood (sorry Sian!)  So I got out all my old photographs in the hope that there would be one Christmas related, and there was, (that's me in the photo!), and I spent a happy hour just looking at all the old photos and showing them to M as he hadn't seen them before despite us having lived together for 18 months now (I can't believe how long it's been!).

The journalling reads:
'One Christmas morning when I was about 5 I woke up far too early & opened all of my stocking pressies. I was so excited about one present in particular that I ran into my parents room to show my Mum.  It was a pink soap bag with white hearts and dots on.  The reason I was excited... Mum had bought some material a few days before with the very same pattern on!  Of course as it was about 5am I was sent back to bed.  And the material... just a coincidence!

The One About Tatty Teddy...

Every year I get my Mum a small Tatty Teddy for her Christmas stocking, and this year was set to be the same.  It has to be one of the smaller ones as otherwise it just wouldn't fit in the stocking.  So I went to Clinton's which is where I normally buy them from, but they didn't have any of the smaller ones.  I searched everywhere on the highstreet, and there were just larger ones.  So I persuaded M & his Dad to go to Botany Bay as last year they had lots.  Yet again I was disappointed.  In the end we went to one of the card shops in our local town and I asked where they had all gone.  I was told they had been discontinued, and they were bringing out a slightly larger one now.  So I have bought the slightly larger one but am going to need to take it out its little cardboard stand to make it fit in the stocking!

The One About the Winter Weather...

This year so far the weather has been far better than I'd imagined, no snow and no ice needed to be scraped off my car.  I like looking at the snow, but absolutely hate driving in it.  So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the snow will hold off for just another two weeks, until I go off on maternity leave!

My entry in my journal:

The journalling reads:
'This year I'm staying warm in my new maternity coat, my scarf & gloves and my favourite hat.  Luckily this year we've had no snow or ice so far.'

And if you look closely you can see one of the badges on my coat that says 'Baby on Board'.  I have another one that is hidden in the photo that says 'I'm not fat, I'm pregnant!'  (I didn't want people thinking I was just fat!).

The One About my Christmas Journal...

That's right, I have decided to take part in Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas this year, and have been doing a couple of pages each weekend.  This year I'm not numbering my pages, and I'm not going to do all of the prompts, because I think it would be just too much to take on.  So instead I'm making notes as the prompts arrive, and doing the pages that I'd like when I get the time (and when I'm not falling asleep - which last week I did tend to do every evening after my evening meal!)

So first up is my introductory page:

It reads:
'This Christmas...will be special as it will be our last one as a couple, as next year we'll be a family of 3!  Things will be different as I won't be drinking and I'll probably fall asleep at 8pm on Christmas Day!
Also this year we're having Christmas lunch at C & T's, who I haven't spent Christmas Day with since 2007 and M never has, so that will make it even more special.'

The One About the Thank You Cards...

As you will have read a couple of blog posts ago, I had a surprise Baby Shower thrown for me.  Because I really appreciated all the work that had gone into arranging it all, I decided to handmake my thank you cards, as to me there's nothing more special than getting a handmade card in the post.  So I made seven cards, 6 of which were oink themed, which they had to be really given that the Baby Shower was pink themed, and one purple one for my sister as she doesn't like pink (and never has!)

I kept it simple, same design for them all but with slight variations here and there depending on my craft supplies.  It only took a couple of days, and out they went in the post on Friday evening.  And I have confirmation of two of them having been received.  Even though I started out making cards, and I enjoyed making them I think I'm still a scrapbooker at heart and always will be!

Oh and I did stamp the back of each one with my stamp that says 'Handmade by Gemma', which of course my sister noticed because she was the one who bought it for me in the first place to say thank you for all the help with her wedding back in March!

The One About Baby Swivelling...

So it's the first Sunday of the month, and that can only mean one thing, it's time for a Story for Storytelling Sunday over on Sian's blog.  With it being December, and the run up to Christmas I've been trying to think of something to share that was Christmassy related or a winter story even, but my mind has gone blank, so instead I'm going to share something about Baby Bump.

Up until I was 27 weeks, Baby was lying across me, so at right angles to me.  Then one Wednesday evening I had the most peculiar uncomfortable pains in my bump and couldn't work out what was going on.  (Up till then if my bump felt weird, I just put it down to Baby growing!)

I told my friend the next day who said that Baby had probably been moving inside me.  Luckily I was visiting the midwife for a routine check-up the next day and she felt my belly and confirmed Baby had moved, she was now head down.  This was to be the the start of the Baby's feet digging into my ribs, which is one of the most painful things I've had so far! According to all the literature in my Pregnancy Bible, and the weekly updates that I get, Baby generally does move to that position at 28 weeks in preparation.  So actually our little one was early!

Last Sunday it started again, I was 30 weeks this time, and I could tell she was moving around into a difference position, but not quite where to!  Thursday just gone I went to the midwife again and they felt my belly and confirmed she had twisted slightly and was still head down, but facing to the left with her back and bum sticking out to the right.

Last night - now 31 weeks - the fun and games started.  Baby has had a growth spurt in the last week, as Bump is slightly larger than it should be (son't even get me started on that!) so she must have less room to manoeuvre about in there.  I was just sat watching TV with M and I started to feel movements inside, so I started to watch.  And this time the movements were really strong, and we could see the actual rippling of all the movements as she made them.  It was really uncomfortable, and every time Baby pushed out or prodded me I squealed!  After a while I had to get up and walk about to see if it would lull baby to sleep, which fortunately it did.  Either that or she'd finished!  So I think she's still head down, but facing inwards now, but we'll find out in three weeks at the next midwife appointment, unless she decides to start the swivelling all over again.

So there we go, my Sunday Story is Baby related, forgive me if it wasn't that interesting, but with her being our first I'm trying to record everything!  Make sure you head over to Sian's blog to read today's other Sunday Stories!

The One About where I was Surprised...

The weekend started as we'd planned, with a shopping trip to the Trafford Centre after work on Friday for some Christmas shopping.  We had thought that it would be quieter than going on Saturday or Sunday, but actually it was still really busy, but even so we got lots done.

Saturday morning we did the weekly shop, ready for when our friends came up.  It was planned for A & N to come up for the weekend.  Unfortunately N was really poorly and stayed in London, but A came up on the train by himself instead.  M had wanted to show him the Christmas Markets in Manchester, so went to pick him up at the train station, then parked up and went round the markets.  It was so busy with so many people, and I got a bit claustrophobic.  But I got what I went for (secret Christmas surprises, can't share it yet) and M & A tried the sausages off the markets, and I had some mini-pancakes.  (Have I mentioned previously that I've got quite a thing for pancakes at the moment, sometimes I wonder whether Baby will come out wanting pancakes rather than milk!)

When it started to rain, M said 'we'd better get home before the rain starts to get too heavy'.  This was quite plausible to me, and given that I was shattered from all the walking about, I was quite happy to call it a day, and head home to curl up on the sofa with m hot water bottle.  Little did I know that there were other plans afoot.....

On coming out of the car park it was one way and we had to go a completely different way to the way M wanted, and he ended up not knowing what he was, so I had to navigate us home using the sat nav on his phone.  He was getting into a bit of a panic about it, and I kept saying 'it doesn't matter, it's not like we have to be back for anything, and you know I like magical mystery tours' trying to calm him down a bit.  He seemed set on getting home for his cup of tea of all things!

Anyway. we found our way home, parked up, and M unlicked the house, turned the livig room light on,  and in I went.  The first thing hat I noticed was that the dining room light was on, which was strange because M is so keen to turn lights off when we're not using them.  Then all of a sudden all I heard was 'Surprise'!  And got the biggest shock of my life!  Because in my living room was my mum, Marks mum, my sister and three of my friends!

They had put together a surprise Baby Shower for me!  Somehow I'd managed to walk past all of their cars outside, and the balloons without even noticing them!

My sister and M had organised it all between themselves and apparently it had been in the planning since August!  IT was only afterwards that other little things made more sense, like why M had received a text from my sister earlier that day, but wouldn't let me read it, and why he was in such a panic about getting us home!  Apparently my sister had them all sitting in the dark for 20minutes waiting for us to arrive home!  M had texted to say how long we would be, but because of our little detour we were late!

My sister had decorated with balloons and ribbons, and put a pretty banner up, and had been baking all morning, with her sister in law making all sorts of chocolatey cakes (I discovered later thats what the the text had been about!).

Everyone had been really generous and brought pressies, (even N who couldn't make it and sent pressie with A, which was really lovely) and so I spent ages opening them all, (by the way the boys had taken themselves off to the pub after they'd got me settled in) with my Mum and sister on camera duty!

Then it was on to the food in the dining room, and showing people round the bits of the house that had been done up since they'd last been over.  Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to play any of the games that my sister had put together, that were all baby related.  I've been told there was baby Taboo, and a quiz as well where you guess who the celebrity baby is from the clues that were given.  Then all too soon everyone had to go home.  It was so lovely to see everyone together, and in particular to see my friend C who I'd not seen since her wedding in February.  It was such a shame that N couldn't make it, and my friend J couldn't come either as her little boys both had tonsillitis.  But I know that I will be seeing both of them soon :)

The One About the Mini Book...

Last week I had a really horrendous week, and nearly had a melt down.  But luckily my friend helped me out despite having lots of her own work to do.  So I decided to make her a mini-book using photos of her two grandchildren as a thank you.  So last Friday I asked her to send me some photos, but without telling her why!  Saturday afternoon I got started, and finished it all up by Sunday evening, ready to give to her on Monday morning.  She was really pleased with it, and I seem to have my mojo back!

The One About Our 3d Scan...

Last weekend we went for our 3d scan, and got to see our little baby's face.  It was lovely to see that everything was ok, she was the right size, and my having taken the anti-sickness tablets earlier on in the pregnancy hadn't made any difference (which is what I'd been worrying about for a long time).  We got some good pictures of her face, but they aren't as clear as they could be as the placenta was in the way.  We also noticed that she wriggles around inside me all the time, even when I can't feel it, which explains why I'm so tired all the time!  After a while through the scan, she decided that she'd had enough and kept putting her hand up by her face, and her foot too!  And no amount of wriggling by me could get her to move her arm and leg out the way!   It seems she has inherited a little stubborness from me!

Only two and a half months to go now, and I can't wait to meet her!

The One About an Actual Completed LO....

Yes you read correctly!  I have actually done some scrapbooking!  And I've had the idea for this LO in my head for weeks and weeks so it was good to actually put it together.

I wanted to scrapbook my first proper bump picture, although you can't see much of a bump in the photos, it was definitely there!  Week 16 was important as it was the week that I first felt baby move.  The LO hasn't got many embellishments on as I made it with the intention of framing it for the wall in my craft space, as the walls are bare at the moment, and I want to make it look more crafty!

Anyway, I've wanted to do more scrapping since last week, but just haven't because I'm quite over whelmed and don't know where to start.  Do I start with pictures of the Lake District, my sisters wedding, our friends wedding... and do I make a mini book, single LO or Double LO???  I'm just not feeling inspired :(  any advice would be appreciated!

The One About 10 Things I want to Scrap...

Last night I started to sort out my scrap room.  I had done a lot of putting away of things a few weeks ago, then when the baby's room was cleared ready for plastering, a whole lot more stuff got put in my room.  So what was going to be actual scrapping turned into a massive tidy up.  And along the way I found photos and papers that I haven't used yet, and it made me thing that there must be at least 10 things that I haven't scrapped yet but would like to!  So here they are:

1) the holiday in Madeira

2) the holiday to Paris

3) My sister's wedding

4) M's best friends wedding

5) Our recent weekend away to the Lake District

6) Journal Your Christmas (which I'm hoping to make a start on tomorrow, M very kindly bought the kit from Shimelle as part of my Christmas present, wasn't that lovely )

7) Bump Pictures

8) The trip to Wembley to watch the Wigan Warriors final

9) My best friend birthday

10) Photos of the twins

Now this isn't a challenge I'm setting as there is no way I could all this before the 10th of December!  But it might help keep me focussed, although I have got half started projects upstairs that haven't made it on the list that perhaps should have done!

The One About the Pregnant Lady on a Mission...

Saturday evening started out just as we'd planned, with me getting showered and dressed up in my pretty dress ready for dinner out with my mum and M for my birthday.  We were going over to our favourite pub called The Crown, so we were going to drive over to Mum's and pick her up then head over to the pub.  As it was we were running late because we had to get petrol, then nip back to the house to pick up something for Mum.

We came off the motorway as normal, spying the bonfire at the pub on the corner of the round about, and were just waiting to turn into the country lane that would take us into Mums little village, when we spotted a queue of cars.  We very nearly took evasive action, but then the traffic in front of us was moving so we turned down the road.  This was a big mistake, we got as far as about three car lengths then stopped.  The pub were hosting a bonfire & firework display evening, but hadn't really sorted out the parking situation.  The people coming to the pub that had spilled out of their car park and decided to park alongside both sides of the country lane, resulting in there only being room for one line of traffic through at once.  The other problem was no-one had left any passing spots.  So basically we were stuck. After a short while M opened his window to see what was going on, and I overheard the guy in the car next to ours trying to go the other way say 'we might as well leave the car here'.  Well I wasn't having that, I was all dressed up for my birthday dinner, and I wasn't going to be cheated out of it.  So I said to M, I'm going to see what's going on (taking my mobile with me).  So off I marched into the darkness to see where exactly the trouble had started.  With it being a country road, there weren't any street lamps at all so I made sure to always walk in the line of any car headlights so that everyone could see me.  As I got further down the road, I came across one lady who was trying to sort out a driveway for people to turn round into go the other day.  So I said I'd go further down to make sure no on-coming traffic tried to get through, and clog the road up all over again.  Even further down the road, cars were doing the sensible thing and turning around, other cars that were still wanting to come through, I had to ask them to pull over to one side to let the on coming traffic pass, the first car was very understanding and realised if he didn't do what I asked he would just get stuck.  The next car who tried to move wouldn't have it, and said 'but I've got to get to Knutsford' well I explained he would only have to wait a short while for the other traffic to come through, but all he did was shout at me.  Luckily he couldn't go anywhere because of the car in front of him keeping to my instructions.  After that the traffic started to come through, and I kept watch for M in our car.  Not so long after he came through and I jumped in.  He said that not long after I left the car, all the traffic had started to move!  I was still really het up and cross about it all, and it took me ages to calm down!!!  Earlier that afternoon, I'd had my pregnancy massage, which was one of birthday pressies, and the masseuse had asked was I going to take it easy that evening!  Well I think that would be a no!!!

Luckily I'd calmed down once we'd got to the pub, and had a really lovely time at dinner.

The One About Our Trip Back...

On the Sunday, we took our time driving home.  We decided to take the scenic route via Ullswater to Windermere.  It was very pretty driving alongside the lake seeing all the difference coloured leaves, and along the way there were some stopping points along the way that we took advantage of.

When we got to Windermere we were quite disappointed.  We decided just to visit the town, as we'd just seen a lake, but the town wasn't terribly interesting.  So much so that we didn't take any photos!  A lot of the shops were shut, which if it had been summer on a Sunday, it might have been different.  So we hatched a new plan and set off for Kendal.  Luckily with the clocks having gone back that morning we had extra time!

Kendal was far prettier and we found a lovely little Italian to have our lunch in, where they had music playing in the background that sounded like Phil Collins in Italian.

We also discovered on our travels that baby likes it when M sings along to an Ed Shearing song whilst in the car, she starts kicking like there's a party going on!  It was quite useful when I was feeling uncomfortable because we played the song and she moved!

We had a really lovely weekend away, and it felt like we did lots even though it was only two nights away.  We came home feeling chilled, relaxed and recharged :)

The One About Our Evening Meal....

Saturday night we had a table booked in the hotel for a five course meal.  M had decided that he was going to dress in his suit, all smart, so I ordered a dress very last minute off the internet so that I was all dressed up too.  It was only once we got there that M realised he had left his suit in the separate suit bag at home.  It didn't matter, he still looked very smart to me.

Bump at 26 weeks!

The dinner started with us sitting in the lounge choosing our starter and main courses, whilst eating the first course, of the canapes.  We were then taken through to the dining room for the rest of our meal.  My starter was vegetable fritters on a bed of lettuce with parmesan cheese, which were delicious.  M had a goats cheese dish.

Then out came the main courses, M had a three way beef dish with roast dinner trimmings, whilst mine was a potato bake in a parsley sauce and carrots.  Unfortunately the actual name of the dish was Wensleydale cheese & Lavender potato bake.  Now I just thought that was the name of the dish, but no.  The potato bake was actually cooked with Lavender.  Considering lavender is one of the fragrances that I can't stand I struggled to eat my main.  So I had to call over the head waitress and explained the problem, who suggested bringing a side order of vegetables.  So I ate them, but couldn't eat the potato bake at all, so again we called the lady over.  She suggested looking at the menu and picking something else, but given that there were only a couple of main courses to choose from in the first place I struggled to choose another dish.  So I went for the starter of the vegetable fritters again!  Of course by this time M had finished his main course!  So the main course was a bit of a palaver, but they were extremely nice about it all.  And I still had room for dessert afterwards.  The fifth course was the coffee which we took back in the lounge where we flicked through the newspapers.

Stay tuned for the places we visited on Sunday!

The One About the Castle...

On our way back from Penrith on Saturday afternoon, we stopped off to visit a castle, Brougham Castle.  Unfortunately the day was becoming duller, and it started to rain, and the man in charge advised us not to go up to the castle.  I was quite relieved in one way because I was tired already and there would have been a lot of stairs!

I'm sure the view from the top of the castle would have been something special on a nice sunny day, but we took some photos while we were there anyway!  The leaves on all the trees were turning and looking quite gorgeous, and one tree in particular caught my eye.

Rather than going straight back to the hotel we went to have a look around Appleby town.  It was only quite small, and didn't really have many shops or anything to look at so we didn't stay long.

Next up... dinner at the hotel (where I caused a bit of a stir!)

The One About Penrith...

On Saturday afternoon, after our swim we took a drive out to Penrith.  As we were driving round we saw lots of Halloween activities going on, including a horse drawn carriage driven by a headless coachman, and a sign for a scrapbook shop!  But first thing we did was have some lunch.  Then we walked around the town seeing what was going on.  There was a group dressed up for halloween playing drums, that kept moving round the town, a halloween themed market, and of course the horse drawn carriage.

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to go into the scrapbook shop once I was there either!  And picked up a couple of bits, including some pick baby themed ribbons :)

We had a lovely walk round, and stopped in a couple of the other shops picking up Christmassy bits & bobs from the little gift shops.

More to come... next up the non-visit to a castle!