36 Weeks Pregnancy Update

OMG 4 weeks left!! This pregnancy is deffo going fast! The excitement of my due date growing nearer is really taking over at tha moment and it's all hand on deck as final preparations are made for Bellas arrival :)

How pregnant are you? 

I'm 36 weeks :)

How many days until due date:

I only have 27 days till I'm due! 

Weight: I still have no idea ha ha

Pregnancy symptoms:  I was sick this morning! And I have back ache 

Stretch Marks: No more than last week! 

Cravings: My cravings have died down a little bit at the moment I'm just getting the urge to snack a lot! 

Movement: Bella is getting very active moving more during the day and not just in the evening! 

Gender: girl 

Sleep: sleeps okay at the moment but my hips are aching in the night due to spd 

Worst moment this week: This weeks been okayish just that I'm still waiting to wash bellas coming tights is frustrating! 

Best moment this week: Best moment this week was putting up Bellas Moses basket stand! I felt so proud of myself 

Nesting: I have been a bit more domestic this week! Getting on one about getting Bellas stuff sorted 

Labour signs: I've had a few tightenings and Bellas been pushing down 

Belly button in or out? In but it's rising! Ha ha 

Wedding rings on or off? Still on :)

Happy or moody most of the time: happy with a bit of moody! Ha ha 

Looking forward to: I'm looking forward to getting all my hospital bag sorted! 

Lots Of Love

Beth...xxx

Toddler Tuesday

Last week when I did my toddler Tuesday update Ava was not very well:( she has only just gotten over this after passing it on to mummy & daddy! 

That's the thing when you have children you nurse them better and get them back to full health and then come down with it yourself! But I must say it's totally worth it for them to no longer be ill. It's like you literally taking it off them and although left under the weather it does feel rewarding.  

It is safe and I'm so happy to say she is back to her cheeky self ...

Bedtime Battle

The old bedtime battle is back! She won't go to sleep without anyone sitting with her till she falls asleep nor will she stay in her bed all night, I think when she has change she takes it out on her sleep and knowing that the arrival of her baby sister is soon also adds to her insecurities of anyone leaving her alone. Thanks to great help from family we are all chipping in to lay with Ava so we all get the chance to eat and rest. With Tommy at work all day and me heavily pregnant with only 4 weeks to go it comes as a great help! If anyone has any tips then please feel free to tweet us on our Essex To Windsor Twitter :)

Ava does certainly entertain me during the day and her speech is really coming on even in this last week. Although her sleeping pattern is a bit up the wall at the moment she is still showing what a happy bright little girl she is doing us proud every day :) 

Ava's night time antics are making her sleeping during the day!...

 

That concludes my Toddler Tuesday for this week:) hope you all enjoyed as I'm sure a lot of you mums and dads may be able to relate. With all the factors of parenting all the ups and downs it is the most rewarding job in the world :) 

Lots Of Love 

Beth...xxx

Throwback Thursdays - Nursery/Pre School

Throwback Thursday

Nursery/Preschool

This week being Ava's first week back at nursery school after the half term we though it would be a good idea for nursery to be our throwback theme. Though quite a long throwback and limited pictures due to them getting misplaced over the years we thought it would be quite a nice theme. Its quite nice to reminisce about the innocent times of our lives. 

Its now we see how easy life was back then when being kids. Both of us have very good  memories about being in nursery, we remember the things we used to do and play and the people who we went with. Its amazing the things your mind chooses  to remember. 

Beth

Beth in her pre school days

I have many memories about pre school. Some of the best to be honest. That was back in the day when I hadn't a care in the world. I was an innocent child who went to school to play and make friends. Much how Ava probably feels now. I remember one day at pre school where they had a donkey come and we all took turns in riding this donkey. I cant remember why exactly they had the donkey turn up, I just remember how I felt. I remember looking up at the animal thinking wow. To me it was so big, and something I had never really seen before. I couldn't wait to  have a go riding the donkey even though it was a short ride it filled me with most wonderful excitement. This makes me realise about children. That the simplest of things when they are new give children a lot of excitement the unknown to them is not scary its exciting. So why now does the unknown scare us adults? That is now a question in my mind. Where does the fear of the unknown develop from?

Katie & Tommy

Katie & Tommy at Pre School 

Mine and Tommy's pre school was called Teddy's and my most remembered memory was having "Teddy Bear Picnic" where each child would take a teddy bear each and go onto the field near pre school and have a picnic. I also remember my Mother being at every pre school outing as she would always come with the staff and other mums. I have abit of a memory block from that age and a few blips from my childhood, I think because when me and Tommy first started out first school, a few months into it we Moved to Windsor to start another school so our friends and surrounding changed alot so for young kids I think I sort of blocked my life previous to Windsor. But that is my most remember memory from pre school. Because of this I always want to make sure we take loads of pictures, drawings and videos of Ava during pre school so she can remember lots when she is older. 

Its quite  good thinking about your life in the past no matter how far back, just to see where your life is now and how much has changed. There are always good and bad memories but there are a lot of memories that are special and that filled us with joy in our childhood that we all would never change...

Lots Of Love 

Katie & Beth...xxx

Date Night - Annabelle

Date Night

When you have children sometimes your relationship can suffer. All your time goes on your children, work, house work ect that you forget about quality time together. Its important to not let that happen.. you need your quality time too. So one night a month find a baby sitter & push your housework to one side and go out enjoy yourself. 

Since moving to Windsor this is something me and Tom have been able to do thanks to Shelly and Katie. Last week for our October date night Tommy took me to Wetherspoons and Cinema. 

I had the most AMAZING ribs to eat. they fell off the bone and melted in my mouth they tasted delicious too!! It was the ribs and chicken combo. We went on Tuesday so it was steak night and the ribs and chicken combo was on that we got the meal and drink for just £6.25 each!! 

After our lovely food we made our way to the cinema where we decided to watch Annabelle the recent scary release. I had been wanting to see it for a while so I was very excited! Me a Tommy found a way around the expense of cinema prices, we ordered a popcorn and fanta ice blast each, usually this would cost you quite a bit but me and Tom bought a Child's size of both and it cut the price down by over half! The disappointment at this stage was that the screen was not cleaned til late which meant delay in time and Tom had drunk all his drink!    

The film was all I thought it would be. Really good! Yeah some people may say oh aint all scary films following in the same pattern? but you get that with all films, romance, comedies ect all follow the same sort of pattern. I thought the acting in the film was really good and clear. The film had loads of jumpy parts and on the whole it was really creepy so it didn't let me down. I think the fact it was set a bit back in time made it different. I would really recommend this film. :)

Date night made me and Tom appreciate each other, and we saw that the spark we always have had is still there. We are still very much in love and are a tight family unit that will never be broken. We look forward to many date nights together.

Me And Tom

I would certainly recommend that more couples have date nights!! 

Lots Of Love

Beth...xxx 

Toddler Tuesday - Unwell Toddler

Toddler Tuesday 

Unwell Toddler

It is the begging of November which mean weather changes! As its gets darker earlier cold days and long cold evenings. We all feel it. No matter who we are, no matter where we from, male or female or young or old. Though I do find the first to notice weather changes are little ones. 

As the weather has changed slowly the past few days so has Ava. Gradually getting a little cough which has got worse turning in to sneezes and a runny nose, now making her feel full on under the weather. 

Little Ava much is not the kind of girl to lay down and let something make her feel rubbish, she will just not give in to it and rest. Like many toddlers I presume. When they do finally hit the sofa you know that its because they really do not feel well. Ava has had her bursts of energy but always has a come down straight after resulting in her laying on the sofa for a bit which is unlike her. 

I knew Ava was not feeling great from this morning. She laid in bed until really late morning watching children tv. She does this anyway but not for this long. She stayed there when I went to the loo and made her breakfast. On a usual day she would get up and follow me, start running around and causing havoc, being the Ava we all know and love. As a mum you know instinctively when your child is under the weather. Always follow your instincts when being a parent. A mothers instinct is very rarely wrong. No one knows a child better than  their mother. 

Another tell tale sign of a child being under the weather is their appetite. Nine times out of ten their appetite goes down, you may offer them loads of different types of food and they will not be interested. Ava barely ate any breakfast only some and she loves peanut butter on toast! She was not interested in lunch, and she only ate some dinner of a pizza not much of that. I gave her finger foods thinking and great big dinner may look intimidating when she feels like this, the only thing she is liking is vanilla ice cream, that is most likely because it soothes her throat. 

Every child has a comfort. When they are ill they tend to want them more. This is what I find with Ava anyway. She loves milk and it comforts her. She has been carrying around cups of milk all day. When she wouldn't separate herself with it, it confirmed what I obviously knew. Thats she under the weather. I have got my partner to bring  Ava in some calpol  medicine and cough syrup, see if that helps. 

Though she is not feeling great my little angel has kept a smile on her face refusing to be beat. 

Ava keeping a smile on her face

Remember too keep your little one wrapped up when going out make sure they have their winter coats clothes and shoes on! Children for some reason are the first to catch these things.

Lots Of Love 
Beth...xxx

Beth's Baby Shower - Planning, Theme & Budget

As soon As I found out Bethany is pregnant, I instantly started planning her baby shower in my head. At that time she didn't live in Windsor but I always planned to have the baby shower here in Windsor at my house. Then few months into her pregnancy, Bethany moved to Windsor. 


I admit I am a big planner and organised person when it comes to day to day to do list, to birthdays, Christmas and other events ect. In some way it's like a OCD, I have to have lists of what events are coming up and what decorations or budget to set for that particular event. Usually the Mother doesn't know much about the baby shower but in this case I wanted to let Beth have some involvement but have kept some things a surprise. 


LOCATION:
I've picked my home as We have a large front room/dinning area to host and seeing as it is a small private event I wanted to keep it homely and budget friendly.


DATE/TIME:
Weirdly we only decided on a date a few weeks ago. We picked the month November as in October was busy and Beth Birthday and in December is Ava's 3rd Birthday and The due date. We have pick 15th November which fits in perfectly with everyone we have invited as there is no football on that Saturday which is ideal as most of us are football lovers. It will be from 1 pm as most guest are from Essex so gives them time to get here and for us to set everything up. 


THEME:
"Afternoon Tea" is the theme. I chosen the theme before anything else was decided and I wanted to bring a theme into the baby shower to make it more interesting. Cake, sandwiches, tea, coffee and lots of patisseries items yum. 
    

BUDGET:
Im quite known for budgeting for anything really and I always plan ahead. seeing as this year has not been good for any of our finance I know we would keep the budget low but without it being cheap and tacky. There will be about 10 people so it makes it abit easier to get party games, favors and food without breaking the bank.



I will be doing a few blog post over the next two weeks about the invitations, decorations, foods, favors, gifts and how to stick to a budget. Seeing as there is only over a week til the baby shower, we are getting our bum into gear and getting things sorted. Obviously the cake and food cannot be sorted til the day before but everything else is nearly sorted just got to get a few bits and we are done. We cannot wait to spend the day with my side and Beth's side of the family as you know we don't live close. Keep your eyes pealed for the next baby shower post. 


Let's hope Bella doesn't decide to come before the baby shower!! 

Its November

Hello everyone :) We can't believe it is November already!!

Well October has flown by! It was a month with ups and downs with good news and bad news and with some exciting events. It just went so quick! October is a perfect example of how how quick 2014 is going. So now we say hello to November, a month packed full of exciting events! Including it being Beth's last full month of pregnancy, here is some of the exciting things happening this month...

Bonfire Night ( Giant Sparklers are ready )

Get ready grad your ear defenders, come the 5th there will be bangs everywhere in the form of sparkling bright colours lighting up the sky! As scary as the noise can be no one can deny the enjoyment you get of watching all the bright colours light up the sky. This bonfire night we have some giant sparklers to celebrate the event, being right next to Lego land we get to watch the magnificent fire work display from the back garden. Beth's dad may also be doing fireworks for them when they go and visit this Friday!. 

Beth's last West Ham home game (til after Bella's Birth)

Beth is a big time West Ham United fan. She is also a season ticket attending every home game she can and some away. Being quite a walk ect Beth has been getting lifts directly to ground. However as she increases in size and is less mobile its getting more difficult for her to attend. Therefore Beth will be attending her last game on Saturday 8th November before Bella is born.

Beth,Tommy & Ava Weekend in Essex

Beth, Tommy and Ava are all going to Essex on the weekend of her  last home game at west ham. They are going to visit Beth's parents which they all look forward too. Ava in particular gets very excited to see her other grandparents as she is very close to Beth's dad. A true granddads girl. Beth will be going to West Ham on the Saturday and then on the Sunday they will all be going to London for remembrance Sunday.

Beth's Baby Shower

Its here! The month of Beth's baby shower! An event that we have been planning for a while. We have last minuet shopping to do and baby shower cake ordering! Last minuet bits that add to the build up of and event to celebrate the upcoming arrival of baby Bella Mai. With a tea party theme and lots of games planned, the shower promises to be a good one!

Lots of Bella related stuff : Packing hospital bag, Bella's bag and getting her clothes washed and ready.

OMG its the last full  month of Beth being pregnant! We cant believe it it has gone so fast! Now is the time to get bums in gear and start getting organised. Its the month where everyone will be getting ready for Bella to be born. Beth in particular. She will be washing all Bella's clothes and turning them out ready for her to wear she will then be packing her hospital bag. She does currently have all the bits to go in it, it is just a matter of putting them all in the case. A busy mummy preparing to become a proud mother of two. She is so excited and cant wait to get that bag packed and ready!

Getting decorations and sorting out Ava's 3rd Birthday Party

This time 3 years ago it was Ava's birth Beth was getting ready for. You know what that means, yes Ava's 3rd birthday is coming up! We are all equally excited about this but as Bella's due date is right on top of Ava's birthday Beth don't know where she will be (i.e giving birth) so we are having to make plans for different scenarios. Of course we will be making present plans and cake plans because no matter what we will make sure she has what she deserves. Our gorgeous little girl.

Lots and lots of Christmas Planning. 

Its that time of year. When the 1st November hits the whole world goes into Christmas mode. Everyone gets out their Christmas lists and hit the shops and we are not any different. We are making our Christmas plans and preparing our Christmas gifts. We are also making plans for Christmassy things to do like Christmas biscuits, gingerbread houses mince pie making house decorating and much much more. Tho most of these wont happen until late November early December, there is nothing wrong with us planning :).


That is our packed month ahead. A packed but exciting one. There will be blog posts on each and every one and many more. We hope to provide you with interesting tips and enjoyable reads throughout this month and beyond.

Lots Of Love
Katie & Beth...xxx