Monday 10th September 2012

We took little man to a local wildlife park. The boys enjoyed watching the white lions:

Unfortunately Daddy didn’t approve of the ears so I wasn’t allowed to buy them, too cute!!

Wednesday 22nd August 2012

Last Friday I mentioned I have caught the organisation bug. So far the new cleaning schedule is working brilliantly!! So brilliantly that for the first time in forever, I had a couple of mum’s from our baby group popin for coffee with their babies without a mad panic about them judging me. It was so nice!!

Incase it’s of interest here is what I’m doing…

Firstly I have a daily checklist;

1. make the baby’s bottles
2. spray the shower cleaner
3. tidy the bathroom
4. tidy the living room
5. vacuum around downstairs
6. bring down any dirty washing
7. washing-up
8. clean the kitchen worktops
9. take rubbish out
10. feed the cats
11. top up the cat’s water

Secondly we have a weekly plan;
each day includes dinner, a laundry category and a couple of household chores. I’ve also colour coded the chores, pink for me, blue for my OH and purple for whoever gets it done.

Monday
Baby clothes
Vacuum upstairs
Food shopping

Tuesday
Towels
Litter tray
Bathroom

Wednesday
Laundry basket
Tidy and dust spareroom

Thursday
Weekend clothes
Litter change
Vacuum and mop downstairs
Bins

Friday
Work clothes
Kitchen
Cupboard inventory

Saturday
Bedding
Tidy and dust bedroom
Strip bed
Make bed
Mow lawn

Sunday
Nappies etc hot wash
Litter tray
Menu planning
Ironing

Tuesday 14th August 2012

Drink: instant decaf with glug(s) of milk
Soundtrack: my iPods ‘genius mix – contemporary country mix’

My Mum and Gran are visiting today so I’m doing that mad rush through the rooms to hide the junk and dirt. Postman Pat is the babysitter of choice whilst I get sorted #badmum

On Sunday I went back to Church. It’s the first time I’ve been to Church except for when visiting my parents in a loooooong time. There was a greater being at force because the readings were so appropriate it was scary. I wanted to share with you the prayer that was included in the newsletter.

Finish Every Day

Finish every day and be done with it.
You have done what you could.
Some blunders and absurdities no doubt have crept in;
Forget them as soon as you can.

Tomorrow is a new day;
Begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense.

This day is all that is good and fair;
It is too dear, with it’s hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on yesterdays.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Dear my 14 year old self

Dear my 14 year old self,

Moving to secondary school has been hard.  Primary school wasn’t easy and you were so determined to go to the local private school, it was your escape from everything negative about school.  An opportunity to enjoy learning without punishment from your peers.  But the fees were too high and you didn’t get a scholarship.  You should know that even at the age of 27 you won’t have confessed to your parent’s that you think the reason you didn’t get a bursary is because you didn’t check the back page of the maths paper and so missed a heap of questions.  Just to re-assure you though, you never make that mistake again.

Do you remember sitting in IT with James Davies talking about what your future looked like?  Telling him how you were going to get away from the life you knew.  How you are going to start afresh, be successful and not come home until you can drive past all those people that spent so much time and energy in putting you down and show them how wrong they were, about everything.  You spoke with such confidence, not because you believe it is possible but because you know the daydream so intimately.  The daydream where you get to feel smug and superior to all the popular kids from school.  You know the ones who kick mud up your uniform, take the piss out of your polished English {because not speaking slang is a crime} and who make you feel stupid for wanting to learn, for being capable of learning.

Sometimes when you walk down the stairs in the quiet during lessons, you pause and look longingly at the large single-pane glass windows.  You wonder how much force you might have to trip with to penetrate the glass.  At night you try to hold your breath for as long as possible…longer than is possible.  Please don’t cry, don’t feel ashamed.  I know how much it hurts.  The pain of trying to figure out who you are as well as wishing you were who they want you to be…whoever that is.

It’ll be ok.  You see you do escape.  Today I we got my second promotion in 4.5 years.  We got a bonus that means we can buy new sofas for the house that we own.  Plus a little payrise which should help us take a bit of reduced-pay time off work.  Friday is our last day in the office {one of those big shiny glass offices in central London that you dreamt of working in when visiting in 2000} as we start maternity leave, so don’t live in fear of infertility because you manage to kick it’s ass!

Oh and those girls who said all that stuff…they add you on facebook.  They update their status’ worried about the world that their children are going to live in.  They are hopeful that their family is kind, considerate and well spoken…everything you are now, everything that they mock you for.  Inbetween the exchanges there is a silent recognition that they were wrong about you and so many other things {including the bleached little strips of hair that used to dangle in their face}.

Kid, we did good.  You’re going to do good…

My goals for 2012

There is something beautiful about a new year. 

366 days {this year} full of possibility lay before me. 
I love the sense that I can achieve anything I wish to. 
I dislike the expectation society has that you will turn into superwoman overnight. 

Are you the same? 
If so and incase you didn’t see my post about an alternative approach here it is.

So alongside and inkeeping with my own #7things here are my goals for
this year, split across the different elements of my life.

~~~ Family ~~~

complete phase 1 renovations

work on babyH’s 101 list

make the house feel homely

~~~ Mother ~~~

have a natural birth

breastfeed for upto 6 months

get out of the house once a day whilst on maternity leave

~~~ Personal ~~~

grow the book group to have 10 members by the end of the year

remove makeup before bed

set monthly goals

~~~ Blog ~~~

25,000 views in 2012

post a recipe each week

consistency and freedom in posting

~~~ Health ~~~

be able to run 5km comfortably

build in exercise to my ‘normal’ life

eat more wholesomely

Alternative New Year’s resolutions

The website ‘Day Zero Project’ is where I track my 101 list.
I really enjoy having my goals and aspirations set out.

For the New Year they have introduced
‘7 things x 2012’

Learn how to… {a new skill or hobby}

Start… {develop a habit}

Stop… {break a habit}

Take a vacation to… {where would you most like to vacation?}

Find… {what are you looking for?}

Try… {one new thing you want to try}

Be more… {a personal characteristic to improve}

You can see my #7things here.

What would your #7things be?

Foto Friday

We’ve painted {ignoring glossing} the first room in the house, the front bedroom which is going to be a spareroom/office.  I was so nervous choosing the colours and took a risk on a slightly deeper grey than I had originally imagined in my mind’s eye.  But I am soooooo pleased with it.  We are going to do our room in the same colours although the accent colours will be different.

Walls: Dulux Chic Shadow in silk
Ceiling: Crown Sail White in silk

These photos were taken on different days which just shows how the lighting can make the same lighting look totally different.  We painted sheets of paper, stuck on different walls and peeked at them at different times of day.  A lot of the greys we considered had too much of a blue undertone which could make them look cold.

~~~~~

A quick trip into Ikea – here is what caught my eye

{Aftonsang £39.99}

This photo doesn’t truly show the size of this – it’s huge and I love it!
Desperately trying to think of where it can go hehe

{Tidafors Sofa starting from £329 and Footstool starting from £129}

I really liked the height and depth of this sofa
We will be needing new sofas soon {read once we can afford them and have flooring}, these are definite contenders!

~~~~~

My Mum turned 50 yesterday so this weekend is celebration weekend!

I braved the garage to dig out some heels.

Mark laughed and told me I was ridiculous to even consider heels

I hate to harp on but my hip is pretty ruined by pregnancy.  Like I limp most of the time, walking is painful and driving at times isn’t possible as I wouldn’t have adequate clutch control…the pain goes past my knee now and rest and paracetamol is the best I can do.

So I’ve ordered some ballet pumps from Marks and Spencer, shoe staples for me really and we’ve compromised that I’ll wear the pumps there and for stairs but can wear my heels in the restaurant so I feel a bit dressed up.

~~~~~

A pre-party and pre-Christmas treat!
Gel nails with a hint of sparkle
#prettynailsmakemehappy

~~~~~

BabyH has been playing up this week which meant a trip to the fetal assessment unit, a few tests and an extra scan.  We didn’t get any pics as it was a different hospital and we didn’t realise until afterwards that they only do pics if requested and charge £6!!

Tomorrow we hit 28 weeks, only 12 weeks until our due date now.
BabyH is weighing around 2.25lbs, about 15 inches in length and is estimated to be around 8lbs at full-term according to yesterday’s scan measurements.

you could save a life just by reading this post!

Today’s blogpost is one of the most important I’ve ever written.
I am not about the number of views – normally.
But please read this, please tweet it or link back to it. 

Why am I being so pushy about this post over all others?

A year ago today I watched a man lose his life
because of a stupid, split second decision
by a man who hoped to save a few minutes on his commute.

For all the coverage of the M5 accident, there are countless others
killed on our roads who’s story barely makes the local paper.

According to the government site:

• motorcyclists account for 1% of total road traffic
  but 21% of all road user deaths
• they are 50 times more likely to be killed or seriously injured in serious or fatal  road accidents than car drivers

Now I am guessing that you probably think this is because they choose to ride a bike with less protection than a car, weave in and out of traffic or travelling at high speeds. 

Here’s a video put together by a Dublin motorcyclist documenting the daily dangers he encounters:

So please take a little extra care to look for motorcyclists, 
drive carefully and to obey traffic laws. 

You might be 5 minutes late for work. 
But one day Ron just never made it to work…

ABCs of love Amy x

Age: 26 years and about 11 months

Bed size: super kingsize, 2m by 2m – it’s a relationship saver!

Chore you dislike: taking the rubbish out

Dogs: I’d love one but I couldn’t give them the time they would need, instead we’ve got two huge cats! lol

Essential start to the day: pre-pregnancy a huge serving of coffee from Starbucks would have been my answer, now it’s going to the toilet lol

Favourite colour: hmmm this is tough so I’m going to cheat – black, purple and pink

Gold or silver: silver…or white gold

Height: 5ft5

Instruments you play: a little piano, a little recorder…mainly I sing

Job title: girlfriend, sister, daughter, friend, blogger, tweeter, mum-in-training.  I don’t talk about my IRL job on here

Kids: love them most of the time, we have one of our own on the way!

Live: in Waltham Abbey, Essex, United Kingdom

Mum’s name: Val

Nickname: mucksquercal by my Dad and stinky by Mark

Overnight hospital stays: only one I can think of is after surgery due to my miscarriage

Pet peeve: rude people who don’t attribute credit accurately or fairly

Quote: “respect the difference”

Righty or lefty: lefty and proud!

Siblings: three, Thomas, Hannah and Joshua

Time you wake-up: about 6am every day

Underwear: Marks and Spencer, no VPL high legs – super comfy!!

Vegetables you don’t like: olives if they count as a vegetable, brussel sprouts, I’m fussy about cauliflower and cabbage

What makes you run late: Mark, normally due to him leaving washing clothes until the last minute

X-rays you’ve had: as a 5 year old I cracked my head open…some dental x-rays, when I broke a bone in my foot and early this year when I was in America and they queried a blood clot on my lung.  I’ve had some cool MRI scans done too!

Yummy food you make: I make some tasty random pasta dishes and a mean steak dinner

Zoo animal of choice: probably an elephant, lion or giraffe…I am fascinated by lions, the lion king is my favourite Disney classic

if mastercard sponsored today…

house: £192,600

fees: £3,000

initial planned renovations: £7,500 {ish}

tesco supplies: £51.36

pets at home shopping trip: £42.49

prezzo lunch: £38.85

BUT…

being able to tell you there are three people in this photo: priceless

roll on the 10th March!!

more info to come but if you can’t wait that long I’ve been writing weekly {up until now private} blogposts which you can read here:

Pregnancy: Week 9 (green olive)
Pregnancy: Week 8 (raspberry)
Pregnancy: Week 7 (blueberry)
Pregnancy: Week 6 (pea)
Pregnancy: Week 5 (appleseed)
Pregnancy: Week 4 (poppyseed)
Pregnancy: Week 3 (tiny)