New Year......New Life....

For James and I this couldn't be truer!!

This New Years Eve we are not only preparing to welcome in the new year but also a whole new exciting life!
Yesterday I was admitted into hospital to prepare to have our baby by Cesarean section, today, New Years Eve 2010!
Our 'little' bundle of joy is not looking so little and after a thorough growth scan last week we were advised that, for both my safety and the baby's, we should choose an elective c-section.
I was hoping that I would have a chance to have her naturally and am a bit sad that I won't get to experience a natural birth but my instinct is to trust that the doctors' advice is the best course of action to keep our baby safe.

So very excited and a little scared I wish you all fabulous New Years!
Enjoy your celebrations and I'll see you all in 2011!!!!

Lots of Love


xxxx

The Night Before Christmas...................

And I thought I'd take the opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas!

It's been a busy, busy time and we have finally finished all of our baby preparations!
So I, at last, get to have some blogging catch up time just as all of you guys are wrapping up (pardon the pun) for Christmas!
I hate to have missed all the fun!

I'm going to spend my evening catching up with you all and relaxing in front of the TV and maybe planning a few future posts for the new year to show you all what we have been up to!!

So until then......

Lots of Christmas Love


xxxx

A Quick Hello.......

From our little VIP!






Just thought I'd share a couple of images from our 3D scan!

Have a lovely weekend!

Lots of Love

xxxx

A Room Of Our Own!

James and I have spent a lot of time preparing for the arrival of our little girl, we have decorated, cleaned, ruthlessly cleared out (mainly me!), fixed and adorned the house!
We are happy with the results and are as ready as we will ever be for our arrival!
(I may even give you all a tour soon!)
We chose to live in my house but during the last few months have amalgamated and combined tastes (and compromised!) and made our family home.



The only room we hadn't changed at all was our bedroom.
The thought of completely decorating was far too much to contemplate for us but I couldn't help feeling that we should have a bedroom that we had chosen together!

Then a friend told me that she had just had her house decorated professionally and was really pleased with the results!
When I mentioned it to James he was just as enthusiastic as me!

I know paying a decorator may seem a bit extravagant but we couldn't take any more on, and having done it I have to admit I would do it again in a heartbeat!!!

So after 2 days (where we didn't have to lift a finger!) we had a beautiful, professionally finished bedroom! (seriously it was like magic!)

I'm going to be mean and make you wait till next week before I reveal all as we are waiting for delivery of a few finishing touches!
I'm not so mean as to not give you a sneak preview of one of the paint colours though!


James chose 'forest fruits', a far cry from my usual choice of pastels!
I love it!!!
What do you think?

Lots of Love

xxxx

Cleaning Up.....

The Original Source white pear and avocado hand wash, it might not be as posh (or expensive!) as my usual brand but it certainly smells as good!

I've never washed my hands so much!!

Lots of Love

xxxx

Cakes For The Boys!

Having gestational diabetes doesn't mean I can't indulge my love of baking!
Luckily for me James' workmates are only too happy to assist in the eating part!
I'd been neglecting them lately so when they did overtime on Sunday I thought I'd make them a little treat!


James chose lemon cupcakes with lemon icing from the Primrose Bakery book (with added bling in the form of sugar sparkles and a touch of lime green glitter!).
I am ashamed to say that, despite having the book for a year, this is the first recipe I have tried!

According to my lovely 'testing panel' they were pretty good, but they need to try some other flavours to judge properly!!!

Lots of Love

xxxx

Life Is Sweet....

But not for me!!

I'm sure some of you have noticed my absence from our little world recently. hanks to everyone who has E Mailed, I'll be getting back to you :)

I've been taking a bit of time out after finding out I have developed gestational diabetes 4 weeks ago.

After beating myself up, thinking I had done something to harm our little girl, the diabetes midwife explained to me that this annoying condition is thought to be caused by my pregnancy hormones increasing my resistance to insulin resulting in elevated blood sugar. This, in turn, means that our little baby is making her own insulin to keep her sugar levels down which can result in her growing too quickly (as insulin is also a growth hormone)

James (as fabulously supportive as ever) and I have had to really concentrate on being as healthy as possible to control my glucose levels, analysing each meal and drink, walking as often as possible and remembering to test frequently. We have done really well, keeping my daytime levels within limits without the need for drugs! Unfortunately overnight I need a bit of help in the form of a little injection of additional insulin


At the moment things are working out just fine and after a growth scan I'm pleased to report that we seem to have caught things in time and Baby is well within the 'normal' range for her growth!
I am being well looked after, both at home and by the hospital, and am doing my very best to look after my precious load!

Apparently I'm in good company......both Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek suffered from the condition during their pregnancies!


Now I'm just hoping I can get into shape as well as them after Baby arrives!

Lots of Love

xxxx

Halloween...............

This is about the time of year when I just love to prepare the house for Halloween! (click here to see last year's effort!)

I am sad to tell you my usual decorations will be staying firmly packed this year

We have too much to do in the house to even consider 'Haunting' it like I usually do, and with our ever growing bump we are trying to tie up all the loose ends ASAP!

That said I just couldn't resist this gorgeous bunting from John Lewis

And it was a bargain too!

Lots of Love

xxxx

A Little Treat!

My friend Robyn and I were bored at work (and a but put out that we were working on the weekend!)

We decided that a little sweet treat would make us feel so much better!

Yum!!!

Lots of Love



xxxx

Show and Tell Sunday....

I can't believe It's October already!! but here we are, another month and another 'Show and Tell Sunday' hosted by the lovely Joe @ Josie Mary.

This months topic is 'one thing I would like to do before I die'
Wow! What a question! There are lots of things I would like to do before I die!

The most important to me is that I want to make sure that everyone I love is happy and knows how much they mean to me, I never want to regret not telling someone I love them enough.
I am so lucky to have met my gorgeous Husband and intend to enjoy every moment with our family.
I know this may seem a small thing but to me it is everything!

But that makes a very short post so I thought I would add a few more wishes!

James and I (and bump) would like to go on a safari to see animals in the wild! (I love giraffes!)

I would like to go back to Las Vegas

Take our baby to visit Micky in Florida

And of course own a pair of these!

(Hey! if I mention them enough surely someone will take note!!)

Cant wait to hear all your wishes!!

Lots of Love

xxxx

Christmas Cupcakes!

Look at the fabulous Christmas cards I picked up in BHS last weekend!

Have you got yours yet?

Lots of Love

xxxx

TCakes Creates.......

Look at these amazing wedding cookies and wedding card T @ TCakes made for us!

They were such a lovely surprise when we met up on friday!

There were loads more (3 layers in a gorgeous box!) but they were a bit yummy!!!

Aren't they great? T is so clever, they must have taken ages to make!!

She even made me some of my favourite shoes!

I really want to keep them and was thinking I could varnish them? Do any of you have any ideas on how I could preserve some to keep forever?

Something I can keep forever is this goregeous CK hankie T gave me for good luck!


I think I'm very lucky to have such a lovely friend!!!

Lots of Love

xxxx

Good Enough to Eat Swap....

I know what you are all thinking! That was ages ago!!

Well yes it was! I signed up for this fabulous swap, hosted by Claire and Em, and then my life got a bit hectic!!!

My lovely partner Penny @ Planet Penny was fantastically understanding and patient with me and was pleased with her package (when I finally got it to her!)
Pop over to Penny's blog if you want to check out her post on the swap!

I am long overdue in posting about the gorgeous goodies I received from Penny!
I was very excited, on opening my package, to find this beautiful box


The minty smell when I opened it was 'good enough to eat', look at all these goodies!


Penny had made me a perfect little felt teapot decoration and a lovely little felt heart brooch with teapot charm, I love it! Also she had made a mint scented coaster, which releases a great scent when a hot cup is placed on it (sooo clever!)
There was some mint tea 'teapigs' which worked wonders with my mild morning sickness (thanks for that Penny!) and some peppermint foot spray (which was a godsend on my painful, pregnant feet!)

Penny had obviously spent a lot of time and effort and put a lot of thought into my package, I felt thoroughly spoiled!!!!

Thank you so much Penny you were a great partner!!!

Lots of Love

xxxx

A fabulous Weekend!!!!

Well, we had a lovely weekend with Michela!


(Victoria has already written a post about our whereabouts for the whole weekend, click here to see what we have been up to!)
We certainly packed as much as we could into the weekend and were all exhausted!

I have to confess I don't think any of us took many pictures (we were having far too much fun to remember to take photos!!)
Here are a few though!!!




I can confirm that Michela (and her suitcase full of goodies!) are home safe and sound and she is all unpacked (so I am sure that she will share with you all soon!)

We are already planning her next visit!

Lots of Love

xxxx

Wishing You All A....................

Lots of Love

xxxx

Home Sense

Recently Victoria and I treated ourselves to a girls' day, getting our nails done and then a spot of shopping!

We came across this fantastic shop! (I'm sure we are the last to catch on!)
Home Sense is a treasure trove of loveliness, part of the TK Maxx family it has all the fabulousness of the TK Maxx home department without looking like a jumble sale!
James and I were discussing getting some decent, new towels so imagine my excitement when I spotted these!!


DKNY towels for £8! Bargain!

Lots of Love

xxxx

Dragged Into The Modern Age...... (kicking and screaming!)

Last week I swapped this.....

for this!



I normally stick to Nokia phones (Because I can normally work them without too much stress!)
I was well overdue an upgrade (something that striked fear into my heart!)
James picked out this HTC Wildfire for me.

I have to say I was scared but we seem to be getting on just fine at the moment!

Lots of Love

xxxx