20 WEEKS DOWN, 20 WEEKS TO GO

Today, Christian and I have been for my 20 week scan. I am very pleased to announce that all appears to be well inside my very large tum. We saw almost everything in quite good detail, fingers, toes, arms, legs, brain, heart and a spine covered with skin! I say almost everything because the first thing I said to the sonographer was "we don't want to know the sex!" - you have to leave some surprise for the day.

It was wonderful to see my little baby wriggling away. As she was lying on her tummy for quite a while, we were sent out to have a walk around for 15 mins to see if she would turn over so they could check her heart- she did and it was OK - ahh!

This evening she hasn't stopped moving, which is typical - this week I was worrying there was a problem as I didn't feel her move. Now we've seen everything is fine, she doesn't stop fidgeting!

I keep saying "she" - but I'm not 100% sure anymore, maybe Picard is on his way after all!

HOW DOLLS HAVE CHANGED

Today I have bought Alice her first Barbie doll. I'm not sure what to make of her. She is very tall and skinny and to be honest she looks like a bit of a slag! - she hasn't even got any knickers on! I don't remember Sindy being like that at all when I was little, she always seemed to be quite respectable, the kind of girl you would want to grow up like! Alice loves her though. So maybe I have too much time to think about the morals of cheap doll (£1.99 Tesco clearance line!). But lets hope Alice doesn't want to grow up to be a knickerless lap dancing whore in pink plastic stilettos!

A QUICK BABY UPDATE

I am now 18 weeks pregnant and time is flying by, as I saw the midwife yesterday I thought it was time for a quick update.

My ever expanding waistline has now reached 40 inches - it's officially bigger than Christian's!
I have put on 8 pounds and still can't get my head round this being a good thing.
I can quite happily stay up until 10pm.
I can drink tea again.
I have started to feel a few little movements, which feels like someone running a feather across my tummy (mind you the other night it felt like she was looking for something in there!).
And the best thing so far, was hearing her heartbeat at the midwife's yesterday - I told Christian there was nothing to worry about and that she was ok!

That's it for now, we have the 20 week scan 2 weeks today so there will be another picture of her then.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALISON

Today is my sister, Alison's 37th birthday. Unfortunately as she died 10 years ago from breast cancer, she isn't here to celebrate so Mum, Christian, Alice and I have just been to the Dore Grill for lunch in honour of her day.

We always go to the Dore Grill as it was one of Alison's favourite restaurants, it's owned by a Spanish family that our family has known for years and the food is very lovely (& very filling) home cooking. It was also where Alison had her last proper meal before she went into Western Park Hospital.

Happy Birthday Alison, miss you loads.

OUR NEW CLEANER

As I'm a bit out of action this week (pulled back & now a funny tummy - ain't pregnancy grand!), my housework has gone to the bottom of my list, until yesterday when I enlisted some help in the form of Alice. She has an abundance of energy and is more than happy to do things for you, so I put a clean duster on the Swiffer mop and set her on her way! She did a great job! All of our downstairs is open plan and all the floors are laminate, so I sat watching the tv giving her the occasional pointer and of course lots of encouragement and praise!

Today, the first thing she asked was "What can I dust now Mummy?", fantastic - so I have given her a hand duster and she's off again! Child labour is the way to go! If only we had an open chimney....

I CAN TAKE DRUGS

On Sunday morning I woke up to find I had pulled my back, don't ask me how, I thought I had slept funny or something. Yesterday it got a lot worse, not being helped by lifting Alice in and out of the car. It was agony actually, I could have cried with the pain (if I hadn't been so tough of course)! Sitting down hurt and lying down was almost impossible, normally you would take loads of pain killers and use Deep Heat and stop moaning but being pregnant you're buggered, you can't take anything. Well this morning was no better so I phoned the doctors and yippee I can have some paracetamol! I also have to sit inside on one the first nice days we've had all summer with a hot water bottle on my back, but it's actually feeling better!

As you can probably guess (with such a dull post), not much is happening at the moment!

CLEVER GIRL

After many weeks, discussions and refusals, Alice has finally weed on her potty!!
Today has been our third attempt to start potty training and I think she's finally ready. We have had more hits than misses so far today (currently running at 7 hits to 4 misses), so I don't think we're doing too bad for day 1. More news as it happens...

EVEN MORE BUNS IN THE OVEN!

This weekend a friend of my Mum's had an open garden event in aid of the Sheffield Children's Hospital, it had been postponed from 3 weeks ago when Sheffield had the floods.
I did some baking for the cake stall so last week I was actually baking buns both internally and externally! I made a load of muffins (chocolate chip, double chocolate chip, raspberry & white chocolate and carrot & walnut), a carrot cake and a lemon flower cake. The lemon cake was a"guess the weight of the cake" competition, 50p a go and it took £18, which wasn't bad as I was going to sell it for a fiver!
We all bought a load of raffle tickets as the prizes were actually really good! I'll update if we win anything.

I'M MASSIVE!

I can't believe what I've just seen! I am now 13 weeks pregnant and I have just measured my waist to find it's 38 1/2 inches! That's ridiculous. I've got another 27 weeks to go, what the hell will I look like by Christmas! I still haven't put any weight on though - as a friend of mine said "You'll be putting baby weight on and losing all your fat at the same time" (thanks).

A BRIDDON BUN IN THE OVEN

It's official, after 2 miscarriages earlier this year, we can finally announce that I'm pregnant again!!

Today Christian and I have been to the hospital for my dating scan. I am currently 12 weeks and due around 18 January. Everything is going well, the sickness is stopping and I can stay awake until nearly 10pm! I am showing already though, as I wasn't particularly skinny to start with, the baby has pushed all the fat forward so I have a round tummy! Great excuse anyway!


Above is the scan picture, it was so reassuring to see her heart beating and to watch her wiggling around, she's quite a mover for one so small!

We are all very excited and I'm sure we will both keep you informed as different stages occur. What a brilliant start to a great weekend - Christian & I are off to Silverstone for the grand prix weekend.