Finally...

He's here!

I say finally but he was actually 8 day's earlier than his due date but never the less, I was still verrry relieved to have not gone over the 10th...

I introduce to you:

Arthur James, born on the 2nd of December at 3:10am, weighing in at 8lb 4oz (a little less than what the consultant said I was having... where is my gigantic baby!? After Rose weighing 9lb 3oz when she was born, I was expecting at least 10lb's!) and he's beautiful. :-)

I'm already totally in love with him and can't imagine being without him. Rose is loving him just as much, thankfully... and she's constantly wanting to give the baby cuddles and kisses at the moment. It's very sweet.

The last couple of day's have been pretty exhausting but I'm sure we'll get into the swing of things soon enough..!

Love Ashley xxx

My attempt to get back in the blogging world before baby arrives!

So, tomorrow I will be turning 38 weeks pregnant. Believe me when I say that I already feel way further along than that though! This pregnancy has been a whole lot tougher second time round... probably mainly down to me having to care for a hyper toddler at the same time as growing this baby. I probably sound very dramatic as I know so many of you women have done exactlyyy the same thing at some point along the line. I'm an only child, where as Ray is 1 of 7 sibling's and I now have a wholeee new respect for his Mum!

I've been measuring rather big this pregnancy and at my 35 week appointment my midwife measured me as over 40cm's when I should have only been 35. This meant that I went for a growth scan on my birthday last week and the baby is actually measuring 3 weeks bigger than he should be at this stage... and apparently has a rather large head!! (Ouch!) So after having a perfect homebirth with Rose first time round, my plans have changed somewhat and instead I'll be going into the birthing centre at the hospital to have the baby. I felt quite upset about it originally but have now come round to the idea of it and after going for a tour around the maternity unit today, I'm actually feeling really positive about going into hospital. The most important thing is mine and the baby's safety and I'll still have a gorgeous bundle at the end of it all... even if he is a big bruiser! haha

So I thought I would update you all (unless you're on Instagram) on how much Rose has grown! She's now 22 months and a complete handful! She seems to have reached the 'terrible two's' a bit early and we've been having plenty of tantrums and tears around here... I have everything crossed that it's just a phase she's going through and we'll all come out of it at the end okay! One thing's for sure, she's not gonna know what's hit her when this baby brother of hers arrives!

Even though I've not been blogging much recently, I have been doing a bit of crafting... I'll give you a quick catch-up. I'm afraid these are all Instagram photo's so some of you may have seen them before but I need to get using my Canon much more again!

I made this little snuggle comfort blanket for the baby... I'd seen quite a few other baby's with them but they were sooo expensive, so I thought I would give it a go making my own instead and I was really happy with the end result.

I knit/crocheted this tea cosy for a lovely lady who's a family friend of Ray's family, she loved it which I was relieved about!

I finally got my act together and finished knitting this little cable vest for the baby. I made a couple of little mistakes on it but thankfully they don't really notice unless I were to point them right out. 

I've been working on my 'Alice Caterpillar' mitts, I've Almost finished them but am working on Christmas presents at the moment so they've temporarily been put to the side...

I started a blue baby blanket for the baby and I've actually finished it! I just need to take some good photo's on my camera to show you the end result. I knitted it in Debbie Bliss 'Glen' yarn that I bought at the Knit and Stitch show in London and am over the moon with it, it's so so soft and cosy.

 

I've sewn an apron for my Nan for Christmas. (I've made her aware that getting down on the floor to cut up the fabric was pretty much impossible with my size at the moment and so she'd better wear it at least once even if she hates it!)

And here are a couple more shots of Rose... just in case you forgot what she looks like! haha

(Ray took her for a trip into town yesterday to get an all-in-one rain suit, it's fleece-lined and means that she can now have as much fun as she wants splashing in puddles! Before, we were getting through countless changes of clothing because I'm just Not quick enough to keep her out of the water... seriously, she'll spot a puddle a mile off and just Run for it!

This was my size 2 weeks ago... 

...and I'm now at this stage, of feeling the size of a whale and bouncing on the birthing ball daily trying to tempt the little one to come say hello already! 

Sorry, I know it's been a bit of a long babble this post.. at least I've kind of caught up with myself now so I can get back into a regular routine with my blogging. Oh how I've missed it... :-(

I hope you are all well and I'm planning to come on by to your blogs to catch up with them too...

Love Ashley xxxxx

Pregnancy diary - Week 29

I call these the pregnancy diary posts but they are so sparse that they can't really be called that... more like 'occasional when I get my bum into gear' posts. Ah well, a couple of pregnancy posts is better than nothing and will always be interesting to look back on in the future.

I'm officially 29 weeks pregnant with our second baby today but I took these photo's during last week when I was still technically 28 weeks... so obviously I'm a little bigger now. I'm starting to feel reallllyy tired again these day's, I remember feeling really exhausted from about 7 weeks until around 12 and then it eased up slightly and I felt like I had a lot more energy. Well, that energy has now been used up! I feel absolutely fine in the mornings, it's just the afternoons that can be a bit tough as that's when Rose has her crazy hyper time and I struggle to keep up with her! We went for a walk into town and to the park this afternoon when the weather had cleared up and by the time we got home, I just felt zapped of Any energy I thought I had. It doesn't help that Rose and I are both suffering with colds, yet again. 

I feel a Whole lot bigger this time round, maybe it's because it's a boy this time or maybe it's because I'm having to carry this big bump around with me whilst I keep up with Rose. She's started to show a lot more interest in my baby bump these days and has learnt to stroke it now rather than give it a good thump! I think she just wanted to see what my reaction would be. She now seems to be fascinated by my 'outy' belly button and 'beeps' it when ever my belly is bare. I'm so excited for Rose to have a brother but at the same time I'm clinging onto these last couple of months where it's just the three of us. 

Apart from having some pelvic-pain which seems to have settled down a bit (now I'm trying to take it more easy!), I'm doing ok. Just have the general aches and pains which are normal... I never remember having any complaints when I was pregnant with Rose though, I probably did have but I'm most likely just noticing things more this time round because I'm already tired after looking after Rose. She's normally not hard work at all but she just keeps on catching these cold virus'! As soon as we seem to be getting over one cold, another one starts to show signs of appearing!

Right, time for bed for me... I'm not managing to stay up that late these days. Probably best to get in as much sleep as I can before December is here!

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Crafty goings-on...

How pretty are these stitch markers!? 

The only stitch markers I had before were these awful ugly plastic ones that kept catching on my knitting so I decided to look for something a little more pleasing to the eye and hopefully something that wouldn't have an opening for the yarn to snag on. I found these stitch markers here on Etsy for a brilliant price and they came in the post today. One of the cute little blue ones was put straight to use on my current knitting project.

I've been crocheting a little too.

I made up a couple of sweet little coasters that will be a present for a friend, well... they will help to make up the whole present anyway.

I had enough of the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino aran yarn to make up 3 coasters and one of them now has pride of place on my desk in the living room. :-)

The petals of the coaster look really pretty even when it is in use and you can't even see half of the coaster. I'm definitely going to be having a search through my little stash to see if I can find anymore aran yarn to make up a few more. I came across the pattern on Pinterest and here is the link for you.

Here's a little sneak peek of what I've been working on most recently for the little bubba that's due in December. I'd only tried knitting cables once before on a pair of hand warmers but this is the first time I've used them in knitting a garment and especially when there are so many of them! I made on mistake but I don't think it's tooo noticeable. You can also see one of my new knitting stitch markers in use, So pretty!

It's been one Busy day today so am definitely looking forward to my bed tonight, I'm going to attempt to catch up on some of my emails first though.

xxx

(This was the bump just over a week ago)

A little photo round-up post...

I thought I'd just share a few photo's that I'd uploaded the other week of recent goings on around here before it's way too late... I just didn't get round to it before and I'm now running behind on things I need to share with you all.

Rose is getting bigger and bigger every day, she's starting to grow into those big feet of hers! She's now 19 months old and I'm 24 weeks pregnant with this little bubba, he's been kicking like a good'un lately!

We've been enjoying time outside when the weathers been nice, thank goodness we've finally had some sunshine!

The gardens looking... okay-ish! It took a bit of a battering with the awful weather we were having and now it's just been so dry. This wouldn't be such a big problem if I actually remembered to water the garden! Our little courtyard garden is so sheltered which is lovely most of the time because the wind never bothers us out there but the soil does tend to be quite dry as the rain just doesn't reach some parts of it very easily.

 I try not to do the watering when it really hot in the day but then when it comes to the evening I'm focused on sorting Rose out for dinner then bed, then our dinner... and then I just completely forget to go out and do the watering. Can I blame it on baby brain and the fact I have an awful memory at the moment!?

This is only a very small post as I'm currently writing another about my crafty makes at the same time... keep an eye out for the next post soon. :-)

xxx

A cute little hat to match.

I've been enjoying my knitting over the past couple of weeks since I finished 'that blanket'. It's so lovely to have the freedom to get on with whatever I want to make now...

I used up the remaining Debbie Bliss Fez yarn from the booties I finished the other day and set to work on knitting up a little hat to match. You can find the pattern to the hat here, it's a lovely simple knit that came together really quickly because of the Aran yarn I was using.

I especially love the little tassel's at the top of the hat, I think they're going to look so so cute on a little boy.

I'm so glad this baby is due in the winter time as well, otherwise I'd be a lot more limited on the amount of knitted goodies I can put the baby in... I'm now working on a cute cable knit vest. I had to frog the little cardigan I was working on before, I went wrong on one of the increases and had gone to far with the mistake to make it worth only pulling back a few rows. Plus I hadn't paid proper attention to it being so diddy and I very much doubt it was going to be big enough for this baby... well maybe for a day or two!

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The highs sometimes comes with the lows...

Today started out as a lovely day, we were all up early. Ray and I took Rose to get her first Proper haircut, my Nan has given her hair a little trim once or twice when we've been back in Dorset (she's a hairdresser) but it really needed a good all-over neaten up as it all seems to grow at a slightly different rate. It was definitely a challenge to get her to stay still, I was glad to have had Ray with me to help distract her!

We went to Petworth house for the day to meet up with Ray's Mum and brother, even though it's only about half an hours drive from us I'd never actually been and it was such a perfect day to go with today's sunny weather. Ray's brother that we were seeing today lives up in Scotland, which means that Ray rarely gets to see him so I think they really enjoyed each other's company.

We had a little picnic in the grounds and then eventually went for a walk through the house. Rose had on her backpack with the reins attached so I had some control over where she went and she had a great time, walking through the rooms pointing at the statues and paintings on the walls... The poor people walking through the house were trying to have a quiet and peaceful visit to the house but there was no way I could quieten down Rose's squeals of delight! Oh well, at least she was happy and not crying eh!?

I've been doing a spot of baking... only some basic fairy cakes but they were pretty yummy! I think I'm probably eating way too much at the moment but currently I have such a big appetite and I'm not hugggee yet, so I think I'll just carry on enjoying a fairy cake or two..!

So after our lovely day out, we got home about 4pm. Ray had to pop out for a couple hours at 5pm which was perfectly fine as Rose had been brilliantly behaved so far today and was looking exhausted so I thought she might even go down for an early night! Ha! I wish... 

...The next 2 hours ended up being absolutely awful. Rose usually has a beaker of warm milk before I take her upstairs and she goes to sleep by herself. I've probably been really spoilt lately with how easy she goes to bed as this evening she refused to stay in her bed.As soon I left the room, banging on the door.. crying hysterically! I'm not used to her acting that way before bed so I kept going up to bring her back downstairs when all she did was cry and whinge, she was Definitely tired but just refusing to go to sleep! A sort of vicious circle really... as the longer I kept her downstairs to try and make her happy, the more upset she was when I eventually attempted to take her up to bed again.

So anywayyy... to cut a long story short. Ray came home just before 7pm and I had only just managed to get dinner ready. I've never felt so tired and drained of energy in all my life... it was as if my lack of tiredness these past few weeks had been saved up for tonight. I ended up sobbing in the utility room with the relief of knowing he was home to help with Rose. I'm never like that! It must be the pregnancy.... must be! 

But on a positive note! I saw the baby kick as well as feeling it this evening, I've only been feeling small fluttering movements recently but over the last couple of days the little guy in there has gotten really strong! It's so exciting and every time I feel the movements, I feel so ridiculously happy. :-) Even after an evening like I had!!

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Did anyone see.....?

On Tuesday night on BBC2 at 9pm it was the second episode of 'The Midwives', the episode was called 'Make me a Midwife'. 

I was absolutely glued to the TV. It was a refreshing change to watch instead of Channel 4's 'One born every minute' which in the last series, I thought tended to show only the really dramatic births or the the strange kinds of people that make good TV. It was also nice to watch on the BBC and not have a million advert breaks that keep interrupting the programme...

I definitely recommend watching it on BBC iPlayer if you get the chance... it was Such an interesting programme and made me even more sure that I want to be a midwife eventually. Although, I plan to be a stay at home Mum for a good while yet whilst I have my babies... I have a few years until it's too late and I have to start hurrying up anyway!

I'm going to try and get a little more knitting done this evening (this is what I'm working on at the moment) before I go to bed, I planned to get a whole load more done today but it just didn't happen one way or another!)

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A couple of finished items to show you...

Yesterday evening I finished sewing these little booties together whilst catching up with some of the Olympic action on my laptop... it felt like I was the only one who hadn't yet seen Jessica Ennis win her Gold medal. I don't know if it's because of my pregnancy hormones or not but I got quite emotional watching it! Very exciting. :-)

They are made with a Debbie Bliss yarn called Fez, which is an Arun wool so they knitted up really quickly. The pattern was one that was given to me by my auntie, I don't even know the name of the pattern though so can't share it I'm afraid. The booties look very cute indeed and are so soft and squidgy. That's one item finished for the little boy in my belly anyway..!

I haven't been getting much crafting done recently as I have been getting on with this blanket. I said yes to a friend of a friend when she asked me to make it for her but that was before I even found out I was pregnant and began to feel totally exhausted. 

So it's been a bit of a chore to work on as the colours aren't really to my liking and everything just kind of felt like it took a huge amount of effort to do, let alone crocheting a big blanket.

But it's now finished! :-)

I can't wait to hand it over and get working on a few projects for myself that I really want to start...

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Our 2nd wedding anniversary!

I had a lovely day on Tuesday as it was our 2nd year wedding anniversary. Considering we weren't Supposed to be 'doing' presents this year (we are trying to save our pennies for Ray's big GP exam and our little arrival due at the end of the year, not to mention that big occasion in December that tends to cost quite a bit of money....!) I was thoroughly spoilt! 

Not that I reallllyyy minded all that much though! ;-)

Ray had hinted that I had to stay in for a morning delivery of the floral kind, he couldn't get to the shops to buy some nice flowers due to work apparently... but when the doorbell went I was surprised to have the delivery man hand me one Huge box, I thought it must be one Huge bouquet of flowers! haha

But inside the massive box was This shiny new laptop! :D I will point out that my previous laptop was really on it's last legs and as well as the hinge being so broken that the screen couldn't be adjusted at all, there were  dodgy wires on show... (not great when you have a very curious toddler in your home!), you couldn't unplug it even for a minute and the fan was so loud that Ray would have to turn the TV up high just to drown out the noise! So it was only a matter of time before it died and we Had to get a new one... but Wow was it a great surprise as I had no idea Ray had even ordered it. :-) 

I'm sat here tonight,  laid back on the comfy sofa as the laptop stays alive without being plugged into the plug point at all times... and it's pretty much silent as the fan is So quiet on this laptop. I'm chuffed to bits with it as you can Probably tell! 

I didn't expect flowers after that extravagant gift but in the afternoon the doorbell went again and I was given these beauties! The lilies are just Stunning and fill the room with the most amazing scent - Thank you my lovely xXx

Ray really earnt his brownie points that day as then in the evening my friend had Rose to stay for the night and we went out for dinner, then to a show at the theatre, it was amazing and it just felt so great to be out for a night out together in the evening time!

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Pregnancy diary - 21 weeks.

So, I'll be 21 weeks pregnant tomorrow with our little boy. (I'm not sure 'little' will be the right word to describe him when he arrives going by the size of my bump already!) 

Rose was 9lb 3oz and I've had a whole load of people telling me to expect at least 1lb heavier just because it's a second baby and then up to another lb as it's a boy this time. I know most of the time that they're just scare stories but I'd rather not be giving birth to a hugggee baby at the end of the year!

I'm starting to get the odd kick here and there now, usually when I bend over and it feels as if baby boy is getting squished so he pops into a different position. I started to get quite worried before my 20 week scan as I hadn't felt any movement that I could definitely put down to being just baby but it turns out I have an anterior placenta again, just like I did with Rose. It just means that I feel movement later on as it's like having a cushion inside the front of my belly that they baby is kicking against.

I'm getting more and more excited everyday about this baby... I can't wait for Rose to have a little brother to look after. Well, it'll probably be quite a while before she is 'looking after him', I caught her submerging her dolly right under the water in the paddling pool the other day... not worrying at all!! The fabric body of the doll was soaked right through and the baby had to me hung on the clothes-airer overnight in the garden, I dread to think what the neighbours thought when they saw this very life-like looking baby strung out to dry!

I've begun to get that really itchy feeling again all over my tummy as it stretches... for some reason I thought that wouldn't be as bad this time round as it's already been pretty stretched out with Rose! No stretch-marks yet though, keeping my fingers crossed there!! 

There are definitely some bonuses to being pregnant though... We were at the beach when we went back to Dorset last weekend and I popped up to the toilets to go to the loo, there was a huge queue but the nice friendly toilet attendant took one look at me and asked if I'd like to use the disabled toilet instead. I took him straight up on that offer! I seem to be making trips to the loo every 20 minutes at the moment, it doesn't help that I am Always thirsty! It's only going to get worse though!

I sound like I'm just moaning about being pregnant so far but if I'm completely honest I absolutely love being pregnant. Ray says I've hardly moaned about any pregnancy complaints this time round, so far anyway... I didn't realise I complained last time round! haha. I suppose I'm always occupied with Rose these day's though so I don't get a minute to think about any aches any pains. 

I've been feeling so fortunate to be pregnant at all lately, the book I'm reading at the moment has a women in it that is desperate for a child but even after 2 attempts at IVF she still can't conceive a baby. It really got me thinking how it must be so heart-breaking when you can't have a baby of you're own. I realised that I kind of just took it for granted before that I had become pregnant again and would be having another baby... so tonight I will be going to sleep feeling very thankful for everything I have in my life (even if I do have to get up multiple times in the night to go for a wee!).

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We had the 20 week scan today for baby no.2....

 ...I'm pleased to be able to tell you that all is well with baby no.2, everything looks normal and healthy... always a nice thing to hear! :-)

....and we found out that I'm growing a little BOY inside my belly at the moment. Come December Rose will have herself a baby brother! 

We're absolutely delighted and very pleased we found out the sex, we'd had a few moments of doubt about whether to find out this time round. We never knew if Rose was going to be a boy or a girl but this time it just felt right to find out, the last month has felt like a build up to Christmas!

So I've got myself some gorgeous new wool today (even better, it was on sale!) and the knitting has already begun!

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