Monday 26 October 2015

Happy 22nd Birthday Bethany


image from pinterest
 
Today it is Bethany's 22nd Birthday so I would like to say Happy Birthday to my Sister In Law, Best Friend and Blogging Partner. You are the most kind, funny and loyal friend I have ever had and I am so grateful that my Brother met you. You are an wonderful Fiancé and wife to be to my Brother and the perfect Mother to my Nieces. We have made some amazing memories together in the time we have been in our each other lives and every time we are together we never fail to laugh. we have lived together, cried together, smiled together and I am so lucky that you are part of my family. Living with you with most of your pregnancy with Bella was an amazing experience. You chosen me to be there for you midwifes appointments, doctors and hospital appointments when Tommy couldn't get time off work and I feel so blessed that you trust, love and care about me that much to want me by your side during that time. It was awful when you moved back to Essex but that didn't affect our friendship and infact in just made us even more closer. You are always there on the other end of the phone when I need you and now you are living closer means we can make so much more perfect memories. You have literally made my Brother into the most amazing man and father and I am so happy he has chosen you to live the rest of his life with. I hope you have the best birthday :) eat lots of cake, put your feet up and enjoy your day. Love Katie x

Friday 23 October 2015

Where We Have Been

So we haven't been blogging a lot over the past few months which we have valid reasons for but hopefully soon we should at least have one post up per week.

Ava & Bella loving their new home :)


Where we have been?
Me (Katie) well my illnesses haven't been too good lately to the point where I haven't opened up my laptop in ages. My Colitis flare up has no sign of settling down and I am still waiting for an appointment with the Gastro ward. The fatigue is getting the better of me. My painkillers dose has been upped which obviously comes with more side effects so I am like a zombie pretty much most of the day.

Bethany .. welll things have finally gone to plan for her and my Brother and they now are living in Berkshire so we live in the same county finally and their place is about 20 minutes away. It all happened so fast that they had just under two weeks to buy everything for the flat and pack everything up. So on the 19th October Beth, my Brother and most of both of our families all came together to help move in. For the past year they have had bad luck when it comes to finding a place to rent so it was all hush hush when they got the go ahead to move as they didn't want to temp fate.

So things have been abit manic lately and this weekend will be even more manic as on Saturday Beth and Tom are having a little housewarming party/get together, Sunday myself, Beth, Tommy and the girls are off to Harry potter Tour and then on Monday it is Bethany's 22nd Birthday and as Tommy will be working, I am staying the night before so I can spend the day with her and go for lunch and obviously a Costa. Once this weekend is over then I will hopefully well I WILL be seeing Beth least once a week and hopefully most weekends. I shall take my laptop over to hers and as she lives next to Costa we shall be having a blogging costa date most weeks haha.

I have energy for the first time today and I guess the medication and coffee is to thank for that. So I am going to try and write a few posts so I can put them up next week :) Hope you are all well :)

Love Katie xx  

Thursday 8 October 2015

Waiting For An Appointment//NHS Moans

Don't get me wrong I love the NHS and am soooo grateful for it and I honestly wouldn't survive without them but sometimes NHS makes me mad. Like right now!!

When I last saw my Consultant in the middle of August which I was given Steroids for two weeks then for a appointment with the Gastro team literally 2 weeks after to do some blood tests and other test to see if I need to carry on with Steroids or go down another route.. So two weeks came and I heard nothing. Now nearly 2 months on I have heard NOTHING and my Flare Up is getting worse. My GP did ring them up a month and they said they would ring me to give me a date to come in and still heard nothing so yesterday I went to my GP for a medication general update and I explained how my Flare Up is getting worse and how I haven't heard from Gastro ward yet and he was angry so he rang them as I was there and someone on the phone said my details are not on the system so my GP got the number for the specialist to ring in the afternoon. I hope I get a appointment soon as this is the worse flare up so far and the two treatments I've been giving for Colitis hasn't done anything to calm down the Flare Up so I feel very anxious and worried. Of course the fact that this Flare Up is extremely painful with cramping and constant stabbing like pains isn't nice to experience pretty much every second I am awake. Days spent curled up on the sofa dosed up with medication/painkillers with a hot water bottle and duvet might seem like a good day to some people but it has pretty much been my routine for the past year so no this isn't fun.

I just feel angry that I was told literally 2 weeks after I was meant to come and have tests as the consultant I saw was worried and concerned at how quickly my Colitis has got worse. Yet they are in no hurry to get me a appointment which is very important to me. For me to actually get better to get my life back to somehow abit more normal and a better routine. For me to not spend every day in a lot of pain and constant toilet trips. I know in England we are VERY lucky to have NHS and free healthcare and I never usually sit and moan about them and all of my operations have been done well and I will always be thankful to all of my Doctors ect but right now ARGHHH. P.S sorry for the moaning!!

Love Katie  xx

Sunday 4 October 2015

How To Survive Without A Phone?

 


Few days ago I sent my phone off to Apple as it needs to be repaired and it is day three without any phone and it is very strange but it has also made me realised a few things. Luckily I have my laptop so I can go onto Facebook chat and speak to Beth and my family,it isn't the same as texting or whatsapp but at least I get to speak to my family and make sure Beth and my nieces are ok. Without any phone it did make me realise how much myself and probably most people rely on our phone so much. From waking up and automatically looking for my phone to see the time or it being my wake up alarm, to calendar to remind me of all my hospital appointment, reminders to remind myself when to order my medication, my to do list is on there, the pictures on there that I look at whenever I feel down which instantly cheers me up and constantly check on Facebook/twitter/Instagram/snapchat which made me realise how much technology is ruling our lives.

For the past couple of mornings I have been turning on Sky News on my TV to check the time and the news, I actually got up took my medication and got ready where as usually I would spend a good 20/30 minutes on my iPhone. I went to Asda yesterday and actually brought a magazine... okay it has a free Nails Inc Polish in there but I was reading the magazine in the car on the way home which usually I would put my headphones in and listen to music. I have watched a lot of my catch up on Sky which usually would take me forever as I wouldn't be concentrating as once you take a look on Instagram you don't realise 30 minutes later you're still on there. I have been getting to sleep pretty much straight away as I didn't have my phone to look at YouTube videos.

As I said before, I am lucky I have my laptop so I have been on that more often that I usually do but once I get my phone back I hope I don't rely on it as much as I have been. It was nice to sit there with a magazine and actually read something that isn't on a screen. So I'm going to try and make sure I buy a couple of magazines every other few weeks and maybe a book. I hate how much technology is taking over our lives but I think we are all to blame for. I don't even ring up my GP anymore, I go online and book all my appointments and click on repeat prescriptions so it goes to the GP to sign then straight to the chemist so things have got so different now days. I do miss my iPhone though and it is a horrible feeling knowing I can't just text Beth or ring if anything bad happens so I cannot wait for my phone to come back and I will treasure it even more haha. But I think we all need to go back to basics abit, get that magazine, read the books, speak face to face instead of speaking via the phones.

Are we all guilty of using phones too much? Relying on technology too much? I know I am guilty.

Love Katie x

Friday 2 October 2015

October Adventures

Most bloggers would of got this post up before or on the first day of October but I didn't even realise it was October til a few minutes ago. When you don't have a strict day to day routine and restricted to doing normal stuff, it does make it very easy to forget what time, date and even month it is.


Myself & Ava.. My fave picture taken in September :)



First of all how the hell is it October yet? I do love this time of year as I am a proper winter girl. I love all the warm clothes, cosy darks nights in and all the activities around Autumn makes me feel a lot happier than the summer does. Usually for this time of year the weather would actually be cold but weirdly it is a lot warmer than it used to me. So my coat, Chelsea boots and jumpers are on hold for now. I have a few things to be excited for this month and it is also Bethany's birthday on 26th October so we have some things planned.

For Beth's birthday pressie I booked for me, Beth, Tommy and the girls to go to Harry Potter Tour on 25th October so a day before her birthday. Beth loves Harry Potter and I wanted to get her something that we all could do and also Ava is really looking forward to it so I am glad I booked it as not only will Beth have a good birthday but Ava will have fun aswel. I plan on going to Essex and be with Beth for her birthday So I think I am going on the 23rd Oct which is a Friday and on the Saturday West Ham V Chelsea play aka Beth V Me hahah, Sunday Harry Potter Day and On the Monday is Beth's birthday. Beth made a lot of effort and really made me special on my birthday this year so I want to be able to at least my her day special as she does deserve it. That is really it for activities wise but that is just about enough I can handle at the moment with my illnesses.

Health wise I have a few apps this month starting with Doctors next week and hopefully gastro specialist ASAP as I'm having a bad time with my Colitis which more and more each day is effecting more of my life. I have started some therapy in the past few days so touch wood that helps me. I had a bad experience with panic attacks the other week which has set of my fear of travelling/trains again so I need to remind myself that I have got over that fear once and I can do it again. Last week while I was in Essex I went two days without my Antidepressants as I didn't bring spare... and it wasn't time I got home that I realised how low I became during those two days. I couldn't sleep much because of my pain but I felt like there was a black cloud over me stopping me to think positive and happy.. soon as I got home I took my daily dose of medication and I felt a lot better which made me realise how much the Antidepressants are actually working.

I have written out my to do list which might not be as exciting as others but having daily things that are written out on a list in front of me to see does help abit. I have always been a list writer but since being ill I have found that it helps by writing what you have to do that week without overdoing it. This month I have to get a few more pressies for certain people and also the girls birthday pressies. I have got quite a lot for the girls but as it is both of their birthdays in December aswel as Christmas it means I just buy pressies then I will split in half so half for Birthday and half for Christmas. I'm pretty sure most peoples to do list are way more exciting than mine hahahah. On Monday on my to do list was.. Wash my make up brushes, back up iPhone (its sent to be repaired), wash hair and have shower... Okay that might seem silly but I'm having a bad flare up with my Colitis and pain with my back and joints and having bad fatigue so those simple tasks did take me all day.

What are you all up to in October? Hopefully I can get a lot more blog posts up this month :)

Love Katie xx

Thursday 1 October 2015

Auntie Buys: Matching Outfit From Next


Whenever I go into town I always pop into Next to have a look but not for me, for the girls. I think Next is probably the best shop for children clothes and they actually have both sizes for the girls so they can match. Few weeks ago I was in Windsor and they had this lovely top and leggings for the girls in both of their sizes and the prices are not that bad either.


Watercolour Elephant T-Shirt - £6
I love the quality of this t-shirt which is so soft. I love the sequins aswel it makes a normal t-shirt look more interesting. Perfect length for Ava but bit long on Bella but that is because she is a petite 9 months old baby girl.

Navy Leggings - £2.50/£3.50
To go with the t-shirt I got Navy Leggings which have a crochet lace detail at the hems. They also both have a black pair of these leggings as for the price they are amazing quality. I thought Navy looks bit more interesting than a black pair and thought Navy could go with pretty much most tops.

What I love most about these clothes from Next is that they are in the offer which is 1 for £6, 2 for £10 and 3 for £15 which I think is amazing offer. Not every leggings/tops are in this offer but there are a lot to choose from and I have gotten 3 outfits in this deal so far and will defiantly buy more for the girls. I get Ava 3-4 years old and she is 4 years old in December and it fits perfectly so I may start getting 4-5 years old for her next year and for Bella I got 6-9 months which are abit too big for her but I got her that so she is in the clothes abit more longer than if I would of got her 3-6 months. Bella is now 9 months old and is a very small baby for her age and is still in 3-6 months old clothing but then again it depends on what shops as no shops actually are the same size. In H&M I get Bella 4-6 months which is big and Ava 2-4 years which fits so it is defiantly a hit and miss with shops.

Has any of you guys got this t-shirt or any clothes from Next? What do you think of the price and quality? Let me know :)

Love Katie xxx