Our Enchanted Woodland: August 2015

I did a post recently about how I'm a bit regretful about how Summer has gone. However now that we're in late August and summers coming to an end I'm sort of ready for it to just finish already. I mean its not like we're getting a final bout of good weather anyway!

So here's a few of the reasons why I find myself looking forward to Autumn..

Lily's birthday! I'm looking forward to planning a party for her again and celebrating the lovely little girl she's growing into. Even if it does seem like just yesterday since her second birthday.
Hot chocolate and marshmallows! Need I say more..
The end of my morning sickness (hopefully!) I'll be well into 20+ weeks of my pregnancy by the time we're in the thick of autumn so I'm preying this sees an improvement in my sickness levels and I can get back to my old self.
Halloween. Blady love this holiday! Even more so now we've got Lily and we get to dress her up. She absolutely loved answering the door to trick or treaters last year.
Autumn photography and orange and brown everywhere. I love these two colours together, so much so that my old bedroom even used to be those colours! They sum up autumn perfectly and I love the style of photos you can get in this season.
Oversized jumpers. Time to bring them back out! Exactly what I'll need for my growing bump and now I'll be in the perfect season to wear them.
Darker nights. Darker nights = Cosier evenings. I love the evenings when it gets dark earlier, they feel much more cozy.
Candles. Especially cinnamon candles.
Bonfire night and then the countdown to Christmas

Why I'm so ready for Autumn again

Wednesday 26 August 2015

A portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week, in 2015

The pure delight as she got in and out of the paddling pool in our back garden, splashing me as she went

The Weekend

This weekend has been as much about 'getting through' as the rest of my days are at the moment really. We've been out and about and done things but I havent really been able to enjoy them & I think Lily picked up on that a bit this weekend as she's been a bit more grouchy than she normally would be.

On Saturday afternoon we decided to go for a mooch to the playground. Truth be told I'd been throwing up all morning and wasn't really in the mood but Lily ended up having a 2hr nap at lunchtime and so we needed to do something in the afternoon to tire her out as neither me or James wanted to face the consequences of her staying up till all hours that evening!

Weekend Watch 22.08 & The 52 Project - 34/52

Sunday 23 August 2015

It's been aggges since I've done one of these posts, I've been so out of the loop! So much so that my favourite fashion linky has changed name since I last joined in!

Cardigan, Next | Boots, Next | Dress, H&M | Hair slide, H&M | Tights, Primark

Excuse the fact that James is trying to persuade her to eat her cheese sandwiches in these pictures haha. What I like most about this outfit is the fact that its quite autumnal. The rusty colours of the dress and boots and the pattern on the dress all just remind me of autumn time and who doesn't love autumn! The dress I picked up for only £2.99 which is amazing and H&M had so many other dresses for the same price that I'll definitely be going back and stocking up. The boots are a new purchase too. I bought them for Autumn and hopefully some of winter but I caved and let her wear them early as they go with so many of her outfits.

Lily's Saturday Style

Back pain is something I've suffered with since before my pregnancy with Lily. I first started noticing it at the end of long uni days after carrying around bags full of books or whilst attempting to walk back to my student digs with my mountains of bags full of food shopping.

Not long after I first started noticing the back pain I actually found out I was pregnant with Lily and from there on it just worsened until it got to the point where I was heavily pregnant and could barely move by the end of the day because of the pain in my back. Back pain affects pregnant woman in particular and a study from Deep Freeze has shown that out of 36% of pregnant woman who choose not to exercise in pregnancy, 20% choose not to specifically due to their back pain. This doesn't surprise me at all actually.
For me, the back pain never went away even after giving birth and the pain would be exacerbated by picking up Lily for long periods of time which I always found incredibly frustrating and less than ideal when you have a baby's needs to attend to.

My Back Pain Story

Friday 21 August 2015

Today I turn 15 weeks so what better time than to talk about the last week. This last week I've seen a tiny little light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to the hyperemesis as I've had a few 'better' days in between the bad ones which makes a nice change to simply having bad ones! At no point has the sickness ever actually dissapeared but I've found that I can at least be a bit more active than the week before without throwing up for hours as a result!

The tiredness seems to have eased off a little bit this week too which is good timing as the uncomfortable-ness seems to have kicked up a notch meaning I'm barely getting any sleep at night. It's leaving me feeling a lot less tired than I thought I would though, I think I might be going through a bit of insomnia. I'm at that annoying stage where I can no longer comfortably sleep on my stomach and I absolutely hate sleeping on my side so it's taking some getting used to again. Combine that with the fact I need to get up and pee every half an hour and the fact that Lily's sleeping badly at the moment too and I'm probably getting a few hours kip at most every night. Oh well! Good practice for February I suppose..

Another symptom this week is that foul taste in the mouth! Anyone else experience this!? I had this in first trimester and it's truly disgusting! It eased off a bit towards the end of first tri but now its back with a vengeance and I hate it. I must be brushing my teeth a million times a day but still it wont go!
I do feel like all I do in my pregnancy updates is moan at the moment but it wont be this way forever I'm sure! Or maybe it will haha. This pregnancy has been so intense in so many ways already but I'm hoping things will start to calm down in the coming weeks. My next midwife appointment is at 16 weeks and I haven't had one since my booking in one at 6 weeks so that will be nice and hopefully I'll get to hear the heartbeat.

14 Week Pregnancy Update

Thursday 20 August 2015

Now that Summer is coming to an end I'm beginning to look back on it with the harsh realisation that I didn't get to do half of what I was wanting to do. I had all these grand plans at the start of summer to do so much. 'Spontaneous' road trips for example (we haven't even done one..) visit some different cities (again, nope) and just generally make the most of our time by doing things as a family that are a bit different to what we usually do. But actually I feel like not only have we not done that, we've gone the opposite way and done practically nothing with our time.

On my list for this summer was the plan to see more live music, host more BBQs, drink more Pimms (!) and mostly out of everything I really wanted to take Lily back to the seaside. The first three on that list obviously can't be helped because of the pregnancy, and I'd much rather be pregnant than do that stuff anyway but the latter is my real regret. Not even specifically the seaside, just family time in general. I wish we'd had more of it. When I think about it we've hosted a grand total of one BBQ throughout the whole of summer and haven't had the paddling pool out since April and that's just kind of depressing.

Have we wasted our Summer?

Wednesday 19 August 2015

I have this dream about me and James one day being able to afford to do up our own house from scratch and see it grow from nothing into a dream home.

Years of watching back to back episodes of Homes under the Hammer has led to me to feel like I know all the tips and tricks to renovating a home and whilst I know in reality so few people actually get to carry building work like this out, it doesn't hurt to dream right?

When I picture my dream house I picture a white pickett fence and a big conservatory round the back with large windows that let in a ton of light. I picture the kids rooms being side by side on a separate landing, their own little space, and I picture a loft room at the top of the house for me and James, our own little space.

My ideal 'chill out' space! Image courtesy of veluxblindsdirect.co.uk

Dreaming of a Dream House

Tuesday 18 August 2015

This weekends been a pretty even balance of being hectic and being lazy. Saturday was busy busy busy and Sunday we did sweet F all!

On Saturday we set off early for a little road trip to Manchester to go and see James' sisters new house. It was a bit touch and go as to whether I'd be able to come what with the sickness still being ever present but in a last minute moment of madness I decided I'd join them and just deal with any unpleasant consequences. So armed with my anti sickness tablets, travel bands, a bottle of Lucozade and many plastic bags we set off on our merry way.

Weekend Watch - 15.08

Monday 17 August 2015

A portrait of my daughter, once a week ,every week in 2015

This isn't the greatest photograph ever taken but she waited ever so patiently at the restaurant for her lunch and I was proud of her.

The 52 Project - 33/52

Sunday 16 August 2015

I'm currently 14 weeks pregnant and throughout the last couple of months I've been keeping a little diary on my laptop of all the signs and symptoms I've been experiencing throughout first tri. I actually only started my old blog when I was 12 weeks pregnant with Lily which is annoying as I'd loved to have looked back on it now to see if I've experienced similar things at similar times. But oh well, I've learnt my lesson and will be thoroughly documenting this pregnancy instead!

So lets rewind back to the start of June...

My First Trimester Diary

Friday 14 August 2015

A - The Famous Five - Enid Blyton. Ahh this book..there's no doubt about it this book IS my childhood. I was obsessed! Me & my friends would pretend to be the Famous Five in the playground and always end up arguing about who got to play the boys haha. I had all the Famous five casette tapes and would listen to them at bed at night. Along with the Secret Seven they were just my favourite stories ever and I get wait for Lily to hopefully get into them the way I was.
B - I'm a big Sister - Joanna Cole. This is a book I've been waiting to read with Lily for ages and I'm so excited that we can now we've had the 12 week scan. The book talks about the importance of being a big sister and helping mummy and daddy out and its a book I think will really benefit Lily in terms of helping her understand what being a big sister means.
C - Guess How Much I Love You - Sam McBratney. Who doesn't love this story!? It's beautiful! I started reading it with Lily last week actually and she's made me read it to her almost every night since. She does the arm movements and says 'Mummy I love you THIS much' which is just the sweetest thing ever ♥

D - Harry Potter - JK Rowling. My favourite thing about the whole Harry Potter series was having my mum read it to me. She read me every book from the very first one to the very last. Me and my brothers were only allowed a chapter or two a night but it made it seem so much more exciting. Every night I'd race home from school and couldn't wait to eat all my tea up and get into my pyjamas because I knew that meant the next chapter was coming. My mum was just as much into the stories as I was and it was a great thing that we got to share together so I'm very much hoping I get to share the Harry Potter experience with Lily too.

E - The Magic Faraway Tree - Enid Blyton. Yes another Enid Blyton! Her books are just so magical in my eyes, they dont make stories like these anymore and this book just so happens to be my favourite of all time. It's about an enchanted tree and each day there's a different magical land at the top of the tree and the group of children who venture to the top never know what land it's going to be. There's something so special about this book and the way its written, it really allows you to easily get lost in your imagination and not many books do that for me these days. It's probably the book I'm most excited to read to Lily out of them all.

What books do you enjoy reading with your children?

5 Books I can't wait to read with my daughter

Tuesday 11 August 2015

A portrait of my daughter, once a week every week in 2015

Weekend Watch

The weathers been back on form this weekend! Just a shame Ive not been able to fully enjoy it thanks to the hyperemesis. It's no fun lying in bed with the windows open listening to Lily and James having a whale of a time in the garden without me!

I did manage to drag myself out of bed both days of the weekend though which is a massive achievement. Even if it was only for short periods of time and I suffered the consequences afterwards!

The 52 Project - 32/52 & Weekend Watch

Monday 10 August 2015

When it comes to house decorating I am one of those types of people that like their house to have the personal touch. Everywhere you look, haha! It makes everything feel so much more homely, don't you think?

For me the main reason why I take so many photographs is to capture a moment in time, moments that I can look back on and smile because I remember. I hate the thought of forgetting any moment that once meant something to me you see, and photographs give me the ability to never forget.

So when it comes to my house I like to enter a room and see pictures of all our vast and many memories, especially those that we've experienced together a family, what with this being our first proper family home together. Lily's first day for instance, mine and James' graduation and even photographs of nice walks we've been on in the pouring rain. These are the moments I want to remember and having those memories on display is what makes our lovely little house a home.

Snapfish Slim Canvas Range + My Love Of Wall Decor

Saturday 8 August 2015

Baby #2 is due Feb 11th :) I can't tell you how good it feels to be able to announce at last! The response we've had on Youtube, Twitter and Instagram has been overwhelming so thankyou.
It's not been an easy few months but I'll go into that in another post I think. We're so beyond happy to be adding to our family and to continue blogging our journey but as a family of four. Lily can't wait to be a big sister!

We've been keeping a secret...

Friday 7 August 2015

Today's blog post is a bit different to my normal ones but I want to talk about something that's very close to my heart at the moment and that is Thyroid Cancer. Thyroid Cancer is a type of cancer that a lot of people, including myself, didn't know existed and its taken my good friend Kylee's recent suffering to open my eyes to its existence.

The signs and symptoms of Thyroid Cancer are so widely unrecognised, yet the chance of being diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer has risen rapidly in recent years. It would be great if you could take the time to check out my friend Kylee's story >HERE< - She really is so brave and inspirational. Alternatively for more information on Thyroid Cancer you can check out my video or read the fact sheet below.

Thyroid Cancer - Know The Signs

Wednesday 5 August 2015

There's something about black and white photo's isn't there? They create a stamp on time that no other photographs seem to do.

I remember when I was younger going to visit my nan in Oxford and loving it when she'd get out the old black and white photos for us to look at. Of course in those days they didn't have a choice of having colour in their photographs but these days we're blessed to be able to edit our photo's at the click of a finger, in whichever way we choose.

My love for black & white photos

Monday 3 August 2015

29/52

Enjoying the first bun of what ended up being MANY at grandads 60th party. I still can't believe she wasnt sick with the amount of party food she ate that day!

30/52

Tantruming at our local gardens because it started to rain which meant she had to put her coat on, which of course was the worst thing to happen to her ever ;)

31/52