The value of naptime...

...at the moment, is pretty low. Isaac suddenly had issues going to sleep in the day, and while those are now slightly improved, he'll only sleep properly if he's on my lap. Again. Sadly this means the tasks I'm able to accomplish are limited. I've not tried him in the sling for a while but I'm not sure he'll like it much (he went off it a while ago).

People were making comments like, "Hopefully he'll have a nice long sleep this afternoon, since he's been awake for so long. Then you can have a sleep too!"

These comments are pretty unhelpful when he'll only sleep on me. Yeah, I might be able to get a nap like that, admittedly. But do they not realise the immense amount of STUFF I have to do around the house - that I leave and leave coz I don't have the time or whatever and then it just gets hideous and terrible to deal with, and makes me more depressed and is harder to face...

That's not my kitchen.. but it could be. Well, I just tidied mine somewhat so the whole messy thing doesn't have the same wow factor.
(Photo: Rob Thurman)

Flowery Dress - the making of (Part 3)

Here we are at the 3rd instalment of the flowery dress. In the previous post, I'd just finished gathering the skirt, so next is sewing it onto the bodice.

Sewing the skirt and bodice together.

Flowery Dress - the making of (Part 2)

Only after finishing the bodice did I realise that the design flaw that I thought would be a design flaw was indeed a design flaw.

Oh well. I sort of fixed it. Although in doing so it meant the rest didn't work.

Read and enjoy!

Making the ties for the lace-up back

Time For Change

I've always been a self-help sort of person. If I have a problem, sooner or later I want to fix it. Myself, of course. None of this going to counsellors, doctors or others (however beneficial they may be).

I don't know when I started pigging out on stuff (I'm pretty sure it was at about 6 weeks after having Isaac when I was just suddenly terribly terribly tired all the time) but it got to the point where I was just eating all the time, and having chocolate, biscuits, cake and all sorts of horribly bad things! And of course eating bad things all the time and sitting around all the time that I'm not out walking Isaac meant that I was feeling pretty bad all the time.

Time to fix that.

Isaac's Christening Cake

The original plan was for our old friend JN to do the cake. She did our wedding cake, and on our wedding day, in conversation about whether to save the top tier for our first child's Christening, she said, "Oh don't worry, I'll make you a cake for then too!"

Then we found out she couldn't come to the Christening, meaning she couldn't make the cake. They live quite far away, so was fairy snuff I suppose.

What to do? Well, I wasn't too worried about having anything fancy, and nor did I want to spend a fortune on a cake, so I started a hunt for something that would fit.

Turns out M&S had the solution.

Flowery Dress - the making of (Part 1)

Hi everyone!

As happens often these days, it's been a fair long time no post. I haven't been up to nothing though. I've actually been doing more sewing. Yaya. I promised my ickle sister Lucy that I would make her a dress for her birthday. Well, her birthday was 12th of July and as of yet I've not put a single stitch into her dress... but with good reason! Being rather skint at the moment, I can't afford to waste the lovely black polka-dot fabric that I bought for her dress, and since I'm making a design of my own, I figured it would be a good idea to make a test dress. Otherwise known here on in as my flowery dress. Made from great charity-shop-bought material which once upon a time lived a better life as a duvet cover. But don't tell.

So anyway. I'm making this test dress to my measurements so that it won't go to waste, but also because I can then test it on myself as I go. As yet the design seems fine, but then, I've only done the bodice and straps so far, and you can't go far wrong with some straight straps on a shapeless bodice! It's the next bit - the lace up back - that will tell me whether or not my design is a complete loada trash... ;)

Check out the flowery goodness.

Isaac and his cuteness

Yeah, sometimes I can't get over how cute kids can look. Here's mine, learning to play the piano at 10 weeks old...!

Two Years and Counting

Last Monday saw our 2nd wedding anniversary... two whole years of being married to my mister man, and I'm proud to say we have a lot to show for it! A house of our own, in a town that we love, and a gorgeous little boy.

We weren't able to do anything on Monday but last night went out for a meal - just us! SJ's mum babysat for us and we had a lovely few hours to ourselves out a the indian. There are two in our town and we normally go to the large popular one, so decided to go to the other for a change of scene. It was very lovely and had a very smart colour scheme of red, black and white...

Rearranging

Today we pretty much decided that Isaac hates his little carry cot thing that is currently his bed. He'd only ever sleep in it if you put him in  v e r y  s l o w l y  a n d  c a r e f u l l y  after he fell asleep somewhere else - usually in my arms! Of course this means that he spends most nights in our bed, which although lovely, means that none of us sleep very well. Not that we sleep that well anyway as we are (or rather, I am) constantly getting up to feed him, but you know what I mean.

It occurred to me sometime in the night that actually we could probably fit the proper cot in our room, and since it's much more like our bed, he might actually like it enough to fall asleep in! When we first moved here I thought we'd never be able to fit a cot in there as well as a double bed and a chest of drawers, but rather surprisingly it works quite well and the room feels (if anything) bigger than it did with a thin table bearing a carry cot!

Friday Favourites

I feel like I'm stealing the name here, but I wanted to start a 'favourites' listing, and it's friday, and, well, they go together well. However, one of this week's favourites actually has their own 'friday favourites' on there... hmm, great minds think alike I suppose! I did, however, steal the idea for the purdy presentation. Consider it flattery ;-)

But anyway. Here we go.




It's official: blogger images SUCK. Can't do ANYthing with 'em. Thank goodness I can (sort of) do HTML!

Have a good weekend!

Baby gyms of the coat hanger kind

Ah, how rubbish I am at remembering to post a blog! Mind you, having a baby doesn't exactly promote activity. At least, not activity of the non-baby-related kind. Ho hum.

Yes, I've barely touched the piano since Isaac was born. That makes me sad. One more thing to try and remember to do, and when something doesn't count as 'useful' (i.e. related to housework, baby things or shopping) it easily gets forgotten at the moment.

On a brighter note - who needs expensive baby gyms?

Red dress - the making of

After the announcement of the birth of my cousin's daughter Z, I decided this was a perfect opportunity to try making something. Y'know, something proper. After all, my poor neglected sewing machine has only done mundane jobs such as turning up jeans and darning socks as yet! To be fair, though, I only got it at Christmas, and even if I had thought about making Isaac something before he was born, the massive belly would've rather scuppered plans, I feel.

This isn't a tutorial - most definitely not! - but does show how I put this dress together and might help anyone wanting to try out the pattern. Speaking of which, the pattern is a freebie from the fab Made By Rae - do check out her blog! I happened upon her pattern when searching for 'baby dress pattern' or something along those lines. It's a great pattern in that it's easy for newbies, because it has no fastenings, buttons, or anything else like that which I would totally screw up.

All the fun stuff after the break.

Sewing, washing, sleeping...

Well, the dress is coming along, but not entirely finished. Just got the bottom seam to do, and I really wasn't sure how to do it. Because of the pattern being slightly different to what I was doing, I should have done the bottom seam before everything else, not after! But oh well, I think I can make it look okay. I'm going to be sad to give this dress away! I couldn't really make another to give away though, this one's taken me far too long already - Z's already nearly 3 weeks old, so goodness, it'd better fit her!

Quick post - new header

So. New header thingy. I did it myself, go me. I also made that dress, which definitely equals 'go me'! It's the first piece of clothing I've ever made. =D

More blogging will follow regarding that, plus other crafty thingy-ma-bobs. Showing that I have at least being doing something in the time between this post and the last one! Babies take up so much time!

Righteo, that really is all I was going to say. Goodnight all!

What A Week

Well, what a week. So much has happened... but first - I'd like you all to meet my new son!

His name is Isaac James, and he's the most gorgeous little squidgie pie ever. Well, ok, not little at all - 10lb 11oz... so quite large really! Also, he looks really scrunched up in that photo...

I'm a bit brain frazzled at the moment, don't think I have the energy to write about the week's events just yet... not sure if I will indeed at all. However, we're home, we're happy, and we're so very proud!

This is what's happening.

Well, I said I'd update so I suppose I should... although after so many people asking me I'm not really sure I want to spout it off again! Of course, they're all lovely thoughtful people who care about me, so it's all lovely, but it doesn't half get tiring telling loads of people the same information over and over.

Anyhoo, in brief: going into hospital tomorrow evening and then having a caesarean the following day. Probably morning but they don't know for certain since it depends on whether there are any emergency ones at the time, as they obviously take precedence. The reason I'm going in the day before is because they starve you before the op, and obviously that can get complicated for an insulin-dependent diabetic...

Yeah, you know I don't want a caesarean. But I also want - no, need - to do what I possibly can to help the baby... if it's going to be dangerous to give birth naturally then really, whatever I think or want, I've actually got no choice against my motherly instinct!!

The good thing about having a c/s on friday is that I will no longer be huge. Boy am I looking forward to that. Roughly speaking, my tummy is about as big as a big 42-week pregnant woman. At nearly 38 weeks, I really shouldn't be that large!

And of course the most exciting thing of all is that we're going to meet our baby!

(Photo: link)

Bump Update

Bump size update... just one new pic this time. Probably the last one I'll do now that we've changed the bedroom round and I can't get in front of the mirror like I did before anymore. That said, I expect there'll be lots of token photos on the day...

So here it is, put against the previous pic for reference.

                                             (33 weeks)                                                           (36 1/2 weeks)

Can't believe that in just a few days I'll have a baby. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!

C to the S

Just realised I've not posted the latest baby news yet...

We went to the hospital on monday expecting the usual scan and clinic stuff, and I was armed to ask about whether they would want to induce or not - since the midwives had been hinting for ages but the consultants had not said anything about it. Of course, armed with a question which was probably going to have an answer of "38 weeks", I expected to be told at that visit anyway. Didn't quite expect what I was told, though.

It was a bit of a pooey visit to begin with - waiting around for ages since it was a late appointment and it's always busier later on, and I was getting so hot and claustrophobic too. We had, as usual, forgotten to take books to read, so I found myself counting the pregnant women (10, 9 of which were bigger than me - so boo sucks to those weirdos who are rude enough to tell me I look huge...) So yeah, by the time we went in to the scan room we were already fed up!

The first thing I noticed about the scan was that the visibility was terrible. Apparently that was due to all the water in my skin, which would make sense, although I didn't think it was all over, just at the bottom (I have a lovely malleable lump there, mmm yum). It was weird though, like looking through a fog. So the lady tries to do the usual measurements, repeating them to get them as accurate as possible.

Sleep on a bed of dreams

Guess what? We finally have a bed! Shock horror! That said, sleeping on a mattress on the floor is hardly the worst thing in the world, but it was getting to the point where heaving myself up each morning was a bit annoying; oh the joys of weighing nearly two stone more than usual…

Of course the reason we’d been without a bed for so long was that we needed to get the rest of SJ’s stuff out of storage, and of course he’d been putting it off for yonks. I’d been on at him to phone the people up at half term (March?), so he finally does so right near the end. This would have been ok if it hadn’t been perfectly timed with the van needing to go into the garage. Ok, so slight delay there. So we went anyway, to see what we could pick up in the car. A fair bit, it turned out, but not everything, obviously.

So tired!

Soooo tired.

Just all the time, now. Not entirely sure if this is from being bigger than I should be or just what happens by this stage! If I want to get anywhere into the evening I've got to lie down/nap in the afternoon, or I'm out by 8pm. I'm actually starting to enjoy these little breaks in the day to be honest... liking my bed a little bit too much at the moment I think! Of course there are days when a rest just doesn't happen, and then I get way to tired and grumpy and wishing I wasn't pregnant! If I look after myself it's not too bad though, so it's funny to get to that stage quite so often when the next day I can feel fine.

Bump Photos

I've been attempting to remember to take some bump photos throughout the pregnancy. I've got 5, so not entirely successful, but better than nothing! The first one isn't terribly good (Simon took it) and the other ones are all mirror photos so not brill either! You get the general idea though ;)

8 1/2 weeks                                                     18 weeks

Polyhydramnios and Other Interesting Terms...

I looked up this whole excess fluid thing a bit more. Because it really does feel to me like I'm bigger than I should be. Today I feel even tighter than yesterday. Up to about 4 or 5 days ago I felt big, yes, but nothing uncomfy. Then in the last few days I've felt like my tummy has suddenly just got really tight. It felt stretched and large before, yes, but it never felt so tight and uncomfy as it does now. So when they said 'excess fluid', I thought, yeah, that makes sense...

The trouble with it being my first pregnancy is that I don't know what feels normal and what doesn't!

Stuff, Things and Pickle

Haven't posted in a while. And these days, the times when I haven't posted for a bit are not coz nothing's happened... it's coz too much has happened.

We went to the hospital today. They still think the baby has a fat tummy! Or, in other words, they're concerned it's getting a bit too big. Stupid diabetes. I can cope with it doing stuff to me, but to the baby is a different thing entirely. Also, there's now a lot of fluid apparently. At first when the lady doing the scan said this, she made me really worried... I mean, I was reasoning with myself that it'd probably be nothing anyway, that the baby would be fine at this stage, but I still nearly cried when I went to the toilets! Shows how it affects you emotionally... Anyway, later on the consultant and midwife explained that it could be a cause of something problematic, or it could be a "common symptom in diabetic mothers" - implying that if it was the latter, it wasn't actually much of a problem. I have to say I was pretty relieved. I've got the stage now where I don't care if they have to do stuff to me as long as the baby's ok! Of course, I still believe strongly that often there is intervention where there doesn't need to be - and it's clear that intervention leads to more intervention, too.

Online, on digital, and on... wait, this isn't radio.

There are definitely some advantages to online social networking. I mean, aside from the obvious - that it helps you keep updated with people you don't see often (particularly if you're like me and have an aversion to phoning people), it's free (on top of an internet bill anyway), it's 'instant', etc etc. 

But it's also very useful if you're shy or a bit lame at talking to people (like me). I mean, I'm fine with people I've known for ages, or in groups (where the conversation tends to flow much more easily), or with really talkative people, or those people who can just keep thinking up really interesting subject topics for ages or that I've got lots in common with. But anyone vaguely quiet or with little in common to me, and I really struggle!

Penguins

I'm sure I've got the waddle.

Perhaps only some of the time, but I'm pretty sure it's there! Walking to Elev8 last night I noticed my steps seem to be that bit shorter and wider apart... lol. Whoopee. Ah well, guess there's not much time left... and I'm certainly walking as little as possible at the moment!

It's really bad, I should be keeping fit, but it's just so tiring!

To like or not to like

I'm feeling a lot better today. I was soooo tired at the point of writing yesterday, and my tummy was just hurting. After a lie down for an hour it was much better though... damn gravity! To be honest I think I'd rather like it if I could spend the entire remaining pregnancy in bed, but sadly that wouldn't really work, I'd get really bored! Just anaesthetise me for the rest of the time, maybe?

Yeah, maybe not then. I do like being pregnant, it's just very tiring now! I know yesterday I put that I was 30 weeks but if we're counting along with the hospital (est. due date 21st May) then technically I'm now 31 weeks. I'd love to go along with that except that I still think that they're wrong!

Also I love how the NHS website works out that my due date is 27th May. If that is more like it, which is more likely since my cycle is 32 days, then that makes it even more likely that they'll want to induce me. Sorta sucks. Of course, I'd like the baby to come sooner rather than later (who wouldn't?) but inducing has bad press and also extends the labour and makes it harder. Yay.

Yeah....

Yeah, I thought I'd want to write tons about this stuff, but turns out complaining to people is much more effective!

I'm now 30 weeks. Yep, thirty, that means only ten (or less) to go!

It's not like I haven't had anything to write about. I mean, I'm huge now, there's no pretending I'm not pregnant, my belly looks on the brink of popping and I'm wondering how much longer I can last! It's fine when I'm feeling healthy, but the last two weeks I've been sick proper, which hasn't exactly been a walk in the park. On Monday I thought I might have to go into hospital to get a drip or some such thing because I couldn't keep any food down and was just low all the time. Thankfully I managed to get a few sugar tablets in me in between throwing up, and apparently they work ever so slightly faster than my vomiting episodes were happening. So, two bugs and lots of bed rest later, I'm feeling a bit pooped.