15-05-2013

Pregnancy Lowdown – 39 Weeks

39 weeks pregnant

I’m getting a bit impatient now. Impatient to get the whole labour thing out of the way. Impatient to meet the baby. I never had this with Arlo, I never felt ‘ready’. I think I could have happily gone very overdue as the thought of it all happening was quite overwhelming. I think this feeling of impatience is heightened at the moment as this was the stage that I went into labour with Arlo (39 plus 3, and he was born at 39 plus 4).

We’ve pretty much sorted everything at this stage. All that remains is to give the house a quick tidy once things start happening. We’ve been able to spend more quality time with Arlo, which has been really nice.

I’m still feeling pretty comfortable and energetic (which makes me think this baby is going to keep us waiting for a while longer!) The only real complaint is that my hips are starting to ache from all the pressure of having to lie on my side at night. This happened with Arlo at around 37 weeks too, but it’s nothing that an extra pillow can’t sort out.

On sunday, I spent all day from 9am-3pm either driving or walking, and by the end my legs were not thanking me! I had some really sore muscles for a day or two, and it was a struggle to walk up the stairs! So although I still feel energetic, my body is trying to remind me that there are limitations to how far I should push myself.

I think I’ve had a few periods of braxton hicks, which I never had with Arlo. And for a few days I had a dull backache and was almost starting to think this could be the start of things….but it wasn’t.

I have a  feeling that I’m going to go overdue by quite a way (even though I’m sure I did actually go overdue with Arlo, the only difference this time round is that we have a completely accurate date for when this baby was conceived). We shall see…

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14-05-2013

Us three

Thanks to a ridiculously early wake-up call from Arlo, we were all up and dressed way ahead of our usual time on a Sunday morning. This, combined with a sunny morning and a desire to get out of the house led us to sack off our to-do list and head off on an adventure.

So we packed a picnic and headed off to Staffhurst Woods, which is carpeted in bluebells at this time of year. I had been wanting to get some family shots amongst the bluebells, but due to being heavily pregnant and using up most of our weekend time to prepare for the new arrival, it was always dubious as to whether we would find the time to get our bluebell photos this year. As it turns out, I did have the energy and the inclination at 39 weeks pregnant.

I promised the boys that we would just do five minutes of photos and only one set-up, and then we would just have fun and go for a camera-free walk. And that’s exactly what we did.

bluebells staffhurst woods

After the woods, we were searching for somewhere to have our picnic and followed a sign all the way to a farm show out in the countryside. I stuck to my camera-free rule, and just spent time with my family. We saw farm animals, a puppy show, and loads of tractors, cars and combine harvesters (guess which part most impressed Arlo?)

It was a completely spontaneous day, and a really nice way to mark what will probably be our last ever family outing as ‘just us three’.

(If this baby ends up not arriving until right at the end of the month, be warned that you might well be seeing these photos again as they are my backup Me and Mine images!)

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08-05-2013

Review: Walkers Hoops and Crosses

walkers hoops and crosses

Arlo was very excited when this monkey showed up at his doorstep with a packet of Walkers Hoops and Crosses for him to put to the test.

Being a typical fussy toddler, crisps are a diet staple for Arlo at the moment – something I’m not particularly proud of, but that’s life and I’m happy to wait patiently for him to grow out of this distinctly ‘beige phase’.

How did he rate the Hoops and Crosses? Well, they all got eaten. Rather quickly. Arlo has just learnt the alphabet, so it was pretty fun for him to have a bag full of ‘X’ and ‘O’ shapes and he took great delight in announcing each ‘letter’ before he ate it.

The packet size is large enough to split into two snack toddler portions, making it more economical for me as one packet would be sufficient for two days of afternoon snacks. Hoops and Crosses are made from wholegrains and have no artificial colours or preservatives (bonus!) They come in three flavours – prawn cocktail, roast beef, salt and vinegar.

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We were sent a sample of Walkers Hoops and Crosses and have received payment for this review.

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04-05-2013

Hopes and Wishes for Baby Two

38 weeks pregnant

I’m now 38 weeks. We are about to welcome a second baby into our lives – a baby that we started preparing for back in January 2012. At one point, it felt like I was never going to get to this stage. The journey has proved longer than we imagined, so it is quite a weird feeling to think that we are finally almost there. Of course the babies we lost along the way are still very much in my thoughts. If things had worked out as planned, I would have a five month old by now, or a 2.5 month old. You don’t forget those dates. This isn’t really baby number 2, but it will be newborn number 2, child number 2, and a first sibling for Arlo.

This started off being a letter of sorts for the baby, outlining my wishes for him or her. But in typical self-indulgent fashion, it’s sort of ended up being mostly about my wishes more than anything.

I hope that you don’t suffer the same rashes, eczema and food intolerances as your older brother. It all seems a distant memory now, but it made for a very stressful and unhappy first year for both him and me. He was so uncomfortable, and I felt I couldn’t do anything to help, and the thought of watching another baby go through that again makes me very sad.

This probably ties in with the last point – I hope that you will occasionally be happy to sit in a bouncy chair, or on the floor. If you are like your older brother, you will refuse to be out of my arms until you learn to crawl at ten months old. Not only would it be lovely to experience a more chilled out baby, but it will allow me some hands free time to play with your brother. I worry about him suffering if I have another baby that wants to be upright and moving all the time. (For all of you about to eagerly jump in and suggest babywearing, I had two slings in operation with Arlo, and will do again this time round, but he still needed to be moving at all times or he’d start screaming).

maternity photoshoot

I hope that your brother takes to you straight away, and I hope that I don’t get too disheartened if this takes a while.

I hope that you take to breastfeeding like a pro and we won’t have to deal with latch issues or anything else.

I hope that you will be happy to let me feed you lying down.

I would quite like you to arrive at the beginning of the week so we can have a few days of holing up in my bedroom, establishing feeding, resting and getting to know each other before the busyness of weekend visitors. (I so wish I had done this with Arlo, he was born on a Friday and we thought it would be a good idea to arrange back-to-back visits from the moment I set foot back in the house after being discharged).

I hope that your name comes to us quickly when we first meet you.

I hope that you are welcomed into the world gently and calmly.

See you soon, baby two. We are all very eager to meet you.

37 weeks pregnant

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30-04-2013

Me and Mine – April Family Portrait

meandmineapril-copy

These photos were taken in the middle of April, on the first warm day of the year. We got a bit ahead of ourselves with the sun coming out, and decided to go for a walk in the woods. The problem was that the previous few days had been really rainy, and so the ground was a complete mud bath.

Arlo has outgrown his wellies so was stomping around the mud in canvas shoes (shudder), Sam got mud all over his jeans as a result of picking Arlo up to pose for photos. We couldn’t sit on the ground, so we’ve ended up with more awkward crouching shots (maybe I should just adopt it as our signature pose?)

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I was annoyed because we’d left it way too late in the day and I couldn’t find a decent shady area for our shots. Sam was annoyed because he wanted to get on with planning his first barbecue of the year. And Arlo kept asking, “Can we go home now?” So, it was a typical photoshoot for our family.

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As usual, we are linking up in a circle so you can click through to each blogger’s Me and Mine posts. This week I’m sending you on to Becky who writes at The Ar-Blog. I first found Becky’s blog when we were both nominated in the BiBs photography category last year, and I was just bowled over by all the lovely images on The Ar-Blog. Check it out to see what I mean.

If you have taken a family photo in the last month, you can add it to the Me and Mine Linky below. I’d love to see what everyone has been up to this month.


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