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. :-)

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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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Ta-dah! Mini quilt for my Nan x

Finally I have finished the mini quilt made for my Nan's birthday and it's in the post to her, so she should get it today when they return from having a few day's away.

I hope she likes it, I've sewn a few mini curtain/blind rings on the back for her to hang it up somewhere. I've said she can put it up somewhere that people won't have to look at it too much if she wants! 

I used a paper-piecing template that my auntie gave to me and used fabric that I had bought at The Make Lounge, it did take quite a while... but that was solely down to me being lazy and putting it aside about a hundred times!

I did my best at embroidering a label to go on the back of the quilt for her but the handwriting wasn't as neat as I would have liked but then again, I'm not a very experienced embroiderer!

Rose is becoming a bit of a bean-pole, she seems to be getting taller and taller every day. She's already the same height as my friends little girl that is over two now. I always remember being quite tall when I was a child though so she'll probably end up the same as myself. We had a bit of a disturbed night's sleep last night, as she seems to have caught a bad cold. There was a Lot of runny noses at the Wednesday toddler group that we go to, so I suppose she was bound to catch it off of somebody there..!

Right, I'm off to package up some parcels. I've been having a bit of a clear-out and have sold a load of clothes and things on eBay to raise some funds. But now it's the boring bit of having to get everything ready to post... not my favourite job in the world I have to say!

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May round up - Part two (even though it's nearly the end of June!)

Well I'm now 15 weeks pregnant and definitely looking like I have a bun in the oven... rather than just looking like I'd been eating my weight in cake! Everything is going well so far, fingers crossed! Although yesterday and today I am struggling to do anything with my left hand as my wrist feels about as strong as a twig... even typing at the moment is pretty uncomfortable but I will get a blog post written, even if it kills me!! Ray thinks I may have a spot of Carpal tunnel syndrome related to this pregnancy so I'm going to get myself a wrist support tomorrow, it's only in my left wrist at the moment but then again I broke that wrist when I was younger so maybe the bones are still lined up a bit funny..!?

Here are the rest of the photo's from our trip to Dorset, which feels like agggess ago now. Once I publish this post, I will get started on my most recent one which I already have the photo's for...

Nan had Rose for a good few hours on one of the day's when we were back in Dorset so we made the most of the opportunity of a bit of 'just us' time and had a lovely lunch out next to the beach followed but a nice walk.

We were So lucky with the weather and I think our minds went into shock at not having to constantly watch Rose and we both dozed off laying on the beach in the sunshine... very responsibly neither of us had any sun cream on and I burnt my arms quite spectacularly. No tan for me after it all just peeled away! 

We had a lovely walk around Langdon hill and got to enjoy all of the gorgeous bluebells, it was lovely to just be walking with one another on our own for a change as we end up talking about other subjects apart from the usual baby/toddler/rose related things... although, Rose still features in most of what we talk about!

On one of our day's away we drove half way down to Cornwall to meet up with Mum so we could spend a bit of time with her and she could have some quality time with Rose. We had a lovely picnic in the park enjoying the sunshine, it was so hot that we even went paddling in the stream along side the park to cool us down a little. It's really difficult living so far away from Mum when I'd like her to see Rose a whole lot more but hopefully it won't be long until we're living a little closer to her and in the mean time, we get to look forward to a visit from Mum in July. :-)

Our friends Matt and Amanda got married and their wedding was just perfect, absolutely beautiful. Rose was with Nan and Grandad for the whole day and evening so Ray and I really got to enjoy every moment without struggling to keep Rose under control! It's very difficult to get her to stay still and in any one place for any good length of time these day's.

Rose and I had a lunch date around Sarah's a couple of weeks ago and as it had been so lovely and sunny they still had their swimming pool set up. Sarah gave Rose a chance to dip her little toes in the water and she got a taste for the water... 5 minutes later she was in a swimming costume and walking around the pool with myself trying desperately to keep my shorts dry, I was having to stand up very straight!

Ray and I have had a bit of 'date day' instead of 'date night' today as my lovely friend Danielle has kindly taken Rose for the day and in return I will have her little girl on Friday, the girls love having one another to play with. So we've been to the cinema together (Ray has the day off after working the weekend) and I'm now enjoying the piece and quiet before my little girl comes home. :-)

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A quick photo round up of May - Part one

Even though I haven't quite got around to blogging much this month, I've still been taking quite a few photo's so I thought I would get a good load of them on here before they get swallowed up and forgotten in a folder somewhere in my laptop.

I have a really good friend here in Chichester who has 3 kids and her youngest is around 7 months older than Rose. The girls get along like a house on fire, which makes it really handy when either of us needs someone to watch the others child. Rose seems to want to copy everything that my friend's little girl does which makes her try loads of new things faster which is great, I suppose it's similar to when children have older siblings to learn from. It's so funny hearing them have one of their conversations as Rose hasn't really got the 'talking' thing down yet so it all sounds like gobbledygook to anyone listening! The other day at the swing park they were both so impatient to let each other go on the only available swing first, that they ended up going in together. Fortunately they safely wedged each other in and absolutely loved going in together, Rose was actually holding her around her shoulders... so sweet! :-)

Ray had a few days off work so on one day we had a lovely picnic in the park and had a trip to the beach in the afternoon. When we got to the park Rose was sleeping in her buggy and I thought we'd have trouble with her running away from us as soon as she was up and active but fortunately she was more interested in playing peek-a-boo from behind the big tree we were sat next to. :-)

I now have to hide the lens cap from her if I'm attempting to take any photo's though as it seems one of her favourite games is trying to replace the cap whenever I'm pointing the camera at her! Very cute at first and then it gets a little frustrating...!

Here are a few photo's from our afternoon on the beach, it was the first time we went to the beach where she actually just enjoyed playing with the sand rather than eating it. I bought a bucket and spade for her from the Pound shop and it was the bet £1 I ever spent... she must have been playing with that bucket and spade for almost an hour straight!!

It's the perfect kind of beach to take small children to because the sea is really shallow for miles, so you don't have to worry that they're going to get dragged out to sea when only going down for a little paddle. Well that's what I thought until there was a really sad case a week after we were there where a man drowned saving a little girl that got into trouble in the sea. So sad... 

On another completely random note... I don't seem to have been blessed with this whole 'pregnancy bloom glow' that every one goes on about yet. If anything, my skin on my face has gotten a lot worse! I'm starting to feel a bit rubbish about it and was wondering if anyone can recommend the best foundation and cover-up to disguise my current spottiness?! I'm willing to pay a little more than usual if it helps me feel a little better about my skin!! (Sorry that this blog isn't one that only talks about the nice pretty things in my life!)

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When Mum came to stay...

A few weeks ago my Mum came to stay for the weekend, it coincided with a stag-do of a good friend that Ray was going on and so was actually really good timing. Having Mum here definitely helped keep my mind off all the mischief Ray and the boys good be getting up to! :S haha 

While she was here we weren't very lucky with the weather and it rained quite a bit! So instead of venturing out into the awful rainy weather, we had a couple of lazy mornings where we were still in our pyjama's at 10 am! But we both enjoyed spending a few hours crafting (she has a lovely stall at a few craft fairs down in Cornwall) while Rose went down for her morning nap.

On the Sunday we were really lucky with the weather in the afternoon and took Rose for a little day out. We went to the Aldingbourne country centre which is up the road from us, where Rose could see the animals. 

I hadn't been there before and thought that the animals would be in stables or something like other places we've been to before but this place was just a couple of big paddocks where most of the animals were completely free to walk around wherever they wanted and you just went in with them. I then realised Rose was wearing a completely inappropriate outfit of white tights and nice shoes.... she should have been wearing wellies at least!

She managed to run straight into a verryy muddy puddle within the first 5 minutes of us being there... we used a massive amount of wet wipes to clean her up but she still needed a good scrub in the bath that evening! :-)

I'm not sure Rose was Too impressed when this very friendly horse tried to say hello with a good sniffing! haha

As you can see, she was very excited to see all of the different animals... At one point Mum was having to restrain her from climbing into the chicken coop With the chickens, I think she thought it looked like a great wendy house to play in!

Although her clear favourites were these two Very friendly pygmy goats, they were so gentle and although it took her a little while to get the courage to touch them herself, eventually she couldn't stop stroking them. I say stroke... but really it was a quick touch with her fingers before grinning excitedly. We don't have any pets at the moment in this house and so it's still a very novel thing for her to be able to touch an animal that size!

Right, I'm off to do a little crochet before getting a relatively early night. Yet again I had trouble with Rose last night and she was awake from 2:30am til 5am! It's such an awful time in the night to be awake, I wish she'd either wake a little earlier or later so that it wasn't right bang in the middle of my sleep..!

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Life according to my Instagram.

I've been using Instagram on my iPhone quite a lot lately and thought I would give you a little peek at some of the photo's I've put on there.. 

I meant to put a few of these photo's on my blog before but never got around to it so here's a little catch-up!

 

(Rose's new favourite place, she climbs up onto the buggy to have a peek through the blinds to see what's going on in the street outside.)

(This photo reminds me of the lovely sunny weather we were having a little while back... where has it gone!!?)

(It's been a very gradual process but I've been working a little English paper-pieced patchwork.)

(Hot milky time before bed!)

(Now that's a whole lotta citrus!)

(Apparently this is the new way to travel... not in the comfy padded buggy seat no, but down in the shopping basket..! Sooo normal, haha..)

(I've been busy sewing pin cushions to go in my Etsy shop, now I just need to actually list them on there!)

(It was a day for polka-dots)

(Mum came to stay and we were pretty unlucky with the weather, so we enjoyed having mornings in our pj's while crafting together.)

(Rose has discovered a love of tomato ketchup... I'm rationing it!)

(and finallyyyy... I'm actually almost finished sewing all of my patchwork shapes together, it's only taken me Months!)

If you fancy following me on Instagram you can find me by searching 'countryrosecrafts'.

I can't wait until I can get my iPhone upgraded, the camera picture quality is pretty pants on the one I have now. It does the job okay though..! :-) 

I hope your all having a brilliant bank holiday weekend. Ray is working lots to try and get us some extra pennies but we have the whole day together tomorrow, pleassseee don't let it rain, again!

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