Willows Farm Village

Completely forgot to post this.... brain cells already disappearing!! A couple of weekends ago, we met up with some good friends at a place called Willows Farm Village, in Hertfordshire. It's a lovely place, and really huge so lots to do. Emily even got to "hold" and pet an animal other than a cat for the first time!

There was a pig who was expecting a litter of piglets any day. They seem to have been born since we visited, you can try and get a peek at them here on the live webcam!

Squiggle

:)

Thank you for all the wonderful comments of congratulations. I let the announcement post bask in the limelight for the rest of the week because nothing else seemed to be able to top or even match it! But now it's time to carry on, and I'll do a little pregnancy round-up before carrying on with regular posts.


We found out about this pregnancy while we were in Malta. Our families and close friends all knew from day one. It would have been silly to leave the island not having told them (not that I'd have been able to keep it secret long enough anyway).

Despite being very excited, the first few weeks were laced with dread, with a ridiculous dose of positive thinking. I believed that if I thought it away enough, I'd have no morning sickness this time.

Readers who were around when I was pregnant with Emily might remember just how bad it was that time - and how long it lasted. I was at the time (perhaps jokingly, but often not) advised by people not to bother with a second pregnancy. I, perhaps naively, kept hoping my next would be the pregnancy I'd always hoped for: one I could enjoy.

I always knew I wanted two children. Even that amount of pregnancy sickness wasn't going to put me off, I think it would be selfish of me to deny Emily a sibling just because of a "few" (me in 2010 would kick myself for saying that) months of sickness. In the grand scheme of things, that's a silly thing to use as a deciding factor. Having said that, I have no idea how I would have coped with that amount of sickness as well as a toddler to take care of. I am already struggling enough to keep up with her simply because I'm still so tired most of the time.

I am now in my tenth week of pregnancy. Sickness with Emily began in week 3 and began calming down somewhere around week 23. I have not yet needed to run to the bathroom, nor have I needed that bucket that so loyally waited by my bedside - day and night - when pregnant with Emily. Lately some kitchen smells have made me think I might be sick, but nothing yet. I remain hopeful.

So to all the people who advised that I shouldn't even try to get pregnant again, there are a few words in my mind that I'd like to say to you, but I'm nice so I won't. Sure I'm tired. Ok, I'm exhausted. Emily has born the brunt of it - for which I feel terrible and am really trying to be as patient and as entertaining as I could possibly be. Sometimes it's way more difficult than others, but she is easily pleased and I'm sure I'll be able to make it up to her in a few months' time.

We had an early scan done last week. Want to see 2cm long Squiggle?

(See how I was even nice enough to specify what you're meant to be looking at?)

Chalk Board Message

Emily has a little secret she'd like to share with you all...

...almost there...

Yay!

A new little baby is due to join our family at the end of March 2013!
I'll update more later, but suffice to say, we are absolutely thrilled
(and I'm no good at keeping these things secret!!!)

The Milkshake Battle

Morning folks... a little contribution from David and an event that happened over the weekend! Enjoy xxx

Sleepover

We had Emily's cousin (and my niece!) Rebekah sleeping over last night. Rebekah is Gabriella's older sister but as she is of school-age, doesn't get much air time on my blog. Emily adores her, calls her Baka, and laughs at anything she says. After Emily went to sleep, Bek and I made muffins, watched Anastasia and snuggled. Emily was so pleased to see her again this morning, the smile has barely left her face.

Recently

Here's what we've been up to recently...

Nannu visited for a weekend and lots of time was spent playing together!

Growing feet = new shoes

We caught up with little NCT friends

And had lots of fun with Daddy

She is really, really trying to colour within the lines :)

Emily's Mickey obsession has reached new levels.
He even gets given her beloved Cloth to sleep with... now that's special treatment right there!

We also visited Willows Farm Village with some good friends... but that deserves a post to itself.
Watch this space.

The Pet Shop

Last week started out as one of those really, really, really boring weeks. The type of week where there are no plans, not many people around and to top it off, I wasn't very well. Emily, bless her, had been very patient but on Tuesday afternoon it all become too much.

So we got into the car and headed to the pet shop.

We saw rabbits, rats, guinea pigs, more rabbits, bearded dragons, lots of dogs, and hundreds of fish. She loved the rabbits and the rats. The bearded dragon caught her attention for a few minutes, until she started shouting at it and I had to move her away.

The fish were in aquariums piled high so I had to lift her up to see most of them and she didn't want that, but when I put her down she made a beeline to the closest open aquarium, and it was pretty easy to read her mind, and one word covered it: SPLASHING!

So back to the rabbits it was. And after that, the week got much better. We had a few playdates and caught up with friends, and that makes us happy.