365 Day Photo Challenge -163 / 365

163 / 365 - And another sunny day in March, I took the opportunity to enjoy my afternoon off work and sit in my Nans garden.

365 Day Photo Challenge - 162 / 365

162 / 365 - Ah, a lovely sunny day over at Hyde Park, me and my family took our Mum out for her birthday, to London and here are my brothers soaking up the sun, and being unsociable!

Pregnancy Diary - Why we want to find out the sex of our baby

Its been six years since my last pregnancy so I had forgotten how much everyone gets involved, from touching my bump, to asking every question possible! Yes, it is an exciting time to be sharing but the one question that has been bugging me lately is, 'Will you find out what your having?' and then the reaction to my answer surprises me!  My answer is, 'yes' which has then been followed by a look of horror and a bombardment of statements of why they would never find out and let it be a surprise!  Its not their opinion that bothers me, its the way they turn their nose up at my decision like its so wrong!  I have had this on numerous occasions from different women, some pregnant, some teenagers and some friends and the majority of them think I should not find out the sex of my baby.  It just surprises me that so many people feel strongly about this!
  Not that I have to justify myself, but here is why we cannot wait to find out:

• Its another exciting milestone to reach in the pregnancy
• It is easier when deciding on colours and presents
• It helps when choosing names
• It stops people from guessing the 50 / 50 choice for the next few months!
• Its one less thing to think about amongst all the other new things we have to deal with
• Our son is dying to know if he has a brother or sister to contend with!
• It will help when decorating the bedroom
• We should be lucky that we live in a world where the technology is available to find out the sex so we should  appreciate the fact that we have a choice to find out

From the majority of people that have shared their opinion with me, most of them would not want to find out because it spoils 'the surprise!' Well in my opinion there is no surprise because you know your'e having a baby and it could go either way!  I'll probably be too out of it to realise the sex once its born so what would be the point of not knowing?!  This way, its almost definite and one less thing to worry about.

We are so ecstatic to have reached this far  that we do not mind what the sex is but just for fun I thought I would put this list together of the pros in having either sex!

If its a girl -
We have a definite name put in place
I have done the boy thing so to have a girl would be a whole new experience
I really want to do the pink thing!
Jacob does not want a sister but I think he would make a fab and protective brother
It would be a mini me, not always a good thing!

If its a boy -
I have done the boy thing so would know what to expect second time round
Boys are so cute and fluffy!
Jacob would have somone to play with and show the world to
We do not have a name whatsoever!
It will make the bedroom easier to live in since it would be sharing with Jacob
Dean can gang up on me being the only female in the household
We can try again for a girl after!

Just some random things in there but either way, we are so excited to bring a baby into the world together.  April the 16th we find out what we are having, Jacob is coming with us as we want to involve him as much as possible and all will be revealed on here!

365 Day Photo Challenge - 161 / 365

161 / 365 - My new shoes! xxx

365 Day Photo Challenge - 160 / 365

160 / 365 - At the park, picking daisies x

365 Day Photo Challenge - 159 / 365

159 / 365 - Me and my fiance had a gorgeous lunch and we had this lovely view whilst we ate, with the sun shning down xx

365 Day Photo Challenge - 158 / 365

158 / 365 - I am truly missing wearing my high heels since being pregnant and I threw a mini tantrum when I came across these in my favourite shoe shop!!  Still, they will be my reward for me afterwards!

365 Day Photo Challenge - 157 / 365

157 / 365 - We popped into Toys r us the other day and Jacob tried out this Lightening McQueen car althouh he was a little too old for it!

365 Day Photo Challenge - 156 / 365

156 / 365 - Jacob and his infamous pen!  It goes with him everywhere and he uses it for everything creating a world of imagination that I fail to understand!



Pregnancy Diary - Bump vs My Wardrobe

This is war!!

I am 16 weeks today, and the bump is ever growing.  Which has led my clothes into thinking they should get tighter!  Oh, wait, thats me getting tighter, not them!
  This is a joyous time for us but my moaning has begun, every time I open my wardrobe!  I cannot remember the last time I wore my skinny jeans and I am quite upset about this!  I have practically been living in leggings which are also starting to not fit now.
  My main annoyance is that I am sick of wearing leggings with EVERYTHING!!  I would love to put on a comfy pair of jeans with a nice fitting top instead of a long jumper and leggings, tight t-shirt, skirt and leggings, leggings and more bloody leggings!!
  Once the warm weather arrives, I know I will be living in summer dresses but where it is mid season at the moment, its not giving me many options in the wardrobe department.
  I was moping about the shops today because there are no maternity wear departments in my local centre and I was looking to resort to normal clothes but in a bigger size, however I couldnt do this with jeans as they would not sit right with the bump!!
  Thank goodness for Peacocks as their maternity section had maternity skinny jeans! I was so excited I wanted to buy every item in this section but some of it is a bit too frumpy for me. I still want to keep my rock chick image but no one caters for this!! Its all flowers, and frump and plain old clothes.  Who said just because we are expecting that us Mums have to look like this?! 
  During the week, I am popping to Lakeside where I know that Top Shop and Primark have their maternity departments there and I am hoping to find something to my liking before I give up and live in floral crap for the next few months!
  Gosh, if I am like this now, what am I going to be like when I'm even bigger?!!!

From this....

To this!!!

What a difference a baby makes! xxx

365 Day Photo Challenge - 155 / 365

155 / 365 - Happy Mothers Day!  This is what I woke up to as well as a Mcdonalds breakfast! xx

365 Day Photo Challenge - 154 / 365

154 / 365 - The month of march is an expensive time of year for us, full of birthdays constantly!  Here is Jacob at one of his friends parties, enjoying nuggets, chips and balloons!

365 Day Photo Challenge - 153 / 365

153 / 365 - The picture is a bit blurry but Jacob went to a swimming party and being very brave, he got on this float by himself, considering he doesn't have much confidence in the water.



365 Day Photo Challenge - 152 / 365

152 / 365 - This was taken on my Dad's birthday, where Jacob had too much to eat, went hyper and thought it would be funny to be dragged around the living room by his Pops!

365 Day Photo Challenge - 151 / 365

151 / 365 - Today was parents day at school where we could come in and spend sometime with our kids whilst learning  This is Jacob taking part in the art activity, which involved them learning about types of houses with glitter, glue and paper!



Bump Watch @ 15 Weeks

Um, I seem to have had a growth spurt!

Yes, that is my bump, although it looks a bit dodgy but I'm sure it will eventually look nicer than that!  I have seen through the first trimester and into the second, where I am feeling alot brighter and have got my energy back!  Thats not to say I'm still not tired because I am but I am not as run down as I have been.

So, I am hoping to enjoy the rest of this pregnancy and at the moment we seem to be concentrating on the sex of the baby, as our scan is in five weeks.  Many people like to guess, based on what, I do not know but I let them have their say and its 50 / 50 so they could either be right or wrong!

Also, my ordinary clothes, consisting of skinny jeans, rock t-shirts and indie dresses, are unable to fit me so I have been stropping about this!  That's a whole other post I will type up at some point!

xxx

365 Day Photo Challenge - 150 / 365

150 / 365 - The new Tintin film is out on DVD today and in a supermarket they had this cardboard cutout which Jacob took great pleasure in going behind and being part of the action!



365 Day Photo Challenge -149 / 365

149 / 365 - Yesterday was a beautiful day, the first this year, so we made the most of it and took a walk around the area we live in as we had not yet explored it since moving here in November.  Jacob took his bike out for a spin and we managed to persuade him to take one stabiliser off  to get him used to riding without it.



365 Day Photo Challenge - 148 / 365

148 / 365 - Jacob went to his friends football party and had a great time chasing after the ball, tackling his friends and being in goal!



The Sketchbook Project - An Update

Now that my winter blues are clearing and I have passed the crappy first stages of pregnancy, I have had the morivation to contiue with my Sketchbook Project.
  To see what I have to do, you can read about it here.

So far I have completed the front and back covers:

Front

Back

 I wanted the cover to have a surprise effect so that people would be tempted to look inside so to have the effect of a bow gives the impression they have to untie it to see what's inside.

I have found the inspiration to complete this book by doing a 30 day drawing challenge and calling it the 30 page challenge

It involves a prompt for each page that will hopefully inspire me to draw!

The first prompt is to draw myself:

Not the best I have ever looked!

In fact, this looks nothing like me and I am a little disappointed with this outcome, but one hundred rubbings and sore fingers later, this was the best I could get it!

I hope to get better along the way as its been a few years since I unleashed my drawng skills on the world and I am a bit rusty!  I hope to combine a mixture of sketching, pop art, cartoons and colour throughout to fill those blank white pages.

365 Day Photo Challenge - 147 / 365

147 / 365 - After celebrating the Jewish festival of Purim at school today, I received these lovely food gifts from some of my colleagues which is tradition to exhange. xx



Happy Purim!!



Purim is my favourite jewish festival because it means we get to dress up!  I also love the story behind it, all be it not a good one towards the Jewish people! 
  This year is my first year for dressing up at work.  I used to attend the same school as a child so the last time I dressed up here was about 17 years ago! 
  Jacob is also a pupil here so its double the dressing up fun for us.  He has grown out of his infamous Darth Vader costume which is a shame so I have bought him a bat costume which he proudly tried on!

Not quite Batman but it does the same job!

And I am dressing up as Supergirl, with a twist!  The twist being I'm 14 weeks pregnant and starting to show so the costume looks a little odd on me!

Its not just the fancy dress that I love about Purim.  We hear the Megillah, which is the story of Purim in Hebrew read by a Rabbi and everytime we hear the name, Haman, (who was the Prime Minister that wanted to have the Jewish people hanged), we boo and shake rattles and make as much noise as possible to block his name out! And his name is read a good few times throughout the story!

Such fun to be had, its a festival where the kids have an opportunity to have fun and the adults get to be like kids!

365 Day Photo Chalenge - 146 / 365

146 / 365 - On Monday night,we popped to the Harvester where my dad hosts a fortnightly music quiz.  As it was a school night, we wanted Jacob to have a kip, and here he is looking peaceful and cute in dreamworld!



Pregnancy Diary - And the cravings begin!

I have come to the end of my first trimester at 14 weeks and to say its been hard is an understatement!  But I wouldn't have it any other way.  I expected the symptoms to kick in, but not straight away!  I have been constantly ill for 13 weeks, with nausea, fatigue, two colds, diarrhea, and headaches!!  I cant remember the last time I felt well, but its all in aid of a good deed!
  The worst part has been going off my food.  I began to have a food aversion to chicken which is my favourite food!  We were cooking chicken breasts, but I couldn't cut into mine or chew it because my mind was telling me it was raw, when in fact it wasn't!! 
  My other half had to sit away from me if he had separate food as it made me feel sick, and I have had to change my whole diet to suit my nausea!
  And now, I think I have gone passed that stage, (and hope!) and I am left with what I think are cravings!  My mouth waters at the thought of chips in salsa sauce, tuna and cucumber sandwiches with mayo and pasta smothered in cheese!  That is basically what my diet consists of right now!  When Dean asks me what I would like for dinner that night its either one of those three things!
  I am hoping to regain my energy and go to bed at least past 9pm!  I read somewhere that in the second trimester I am supposed to get my energy back so fingers crossed!  I am looking forward to enjoying the next part, watching my bump grow, feeling it mov and finding out the sex, as well as getting myself back on track feeling how I am supposed to!

365 Day Photo Challenge - 145 / 365

145 / 365 - Oops, I've been caught!  I have a little craving for McDonalds breakfast! Bless Dean for jumping out of bed sunday morning, ten minues before breakfast ends to get me one! Yummy, yummy!



365 Day Photo Challenge - 144 / 365

144 / 365 - Thought it would be funny to take this random picture of Dean loading up the boot, yet it looks like Jacobs head is floating above! He is actually sitting in a trolley!  He he! xx



Coming out of Hibernation!

It may only be the first of March, with maybe a couple of days of sunshine but this is where I am at my best!  No longer will my blog be full of me moaning about how cold it is, (unless it suddenly starts snowing, which is possible!) how dark it is and how I cannot possibly see an end to he winter!  Instead, what I hope you will get is love, warmth and fluffiness!
  My friends and family know I am at my best when its sunny and warm and that I suffer from S.A.D. and that my personality seems to hibernate.  My worst months are January and February, but now we have began March, the clocks go forward in three weeks and there is so much to look forward to!
  This summer, I have the joy of being pregnant and am looking forward to blossoming and wearing pretty dresses, skipping through the sunflowers all happy!  It may not actually happen like that but its nice to dream!  I know that by the end of summer, my little sprog will be here and will get me through winter.
  So here's to the next few weeks of less darkness, more light, warmer days and a brighter me!