Happy Anniversary

A year ago today I married my soul mate and best friend in St Lucia.  Everything about the wedding was perfect, the rain stopped for the ceremony and the sun shone, we even had a rainbow! 

A lot has happened in a year, we had a great day out drifting courtesy of Buyagift – Mark won the day and I was third!  I learned how to wakeboard and then how to snowboard which then caused me to have a nasty accident when I spent a night in A&E and was laid up for a week – I am sticking to skiing!  I returned to dog agility and unfortunately retired again as it was discovered my youngest dog has a collapse condition caused by exercise and stress.  Such a shame as he was doing very well, my sheltie qualified for 3 finals, one of which I missed due to morning sickness and two which are in July this year which I suppose I will miss as baby is due 27^th June!!  No doubt she will be late.  Oh yes and we got pregnant and are expecting our first daughter.  Not forgetting the fact we bought a house!!

We’re really happy with the house, it’s an ongoing project as is very dated however we aren’t going to decorate just yet as we hope to extend so it would be pointless to redecorate, the location is fab and the garden is the best bit – dogs think so too!!

Unfortunately I spent most of yesterday being sick with a virus, at one point it was 4 times an hour - horrendous!  Thank goodness that is over with and can start getting some food and liquids back inside me!

Customer Service NVQ Level 3

I started this course with work before I found out I was pregnant, well I signed up for it September and didn’t start it till November.  It should take 12-18 months but as I am finishing for maternity we had to get it done quicker and then my assessor was leaving so she wanted to sign me off as I was almost complete, we crammed the units in in just 3 months and completed everything today!  Hoorah, I don’t get my results till at least November as that’s 12 months, assessor says everything is okay though so there shouldn’t be any reason for me not passing.  I really enjoyed completing it as it was quite practical and I could apply it to my job – I hate writing essays etc where you can’t apply them to anything, it’s a waste of time.

13 Years Young

Cas was rescued at around about 6 months old from Border Collie Trust, she was in a poor way, she was scared of everything and anythings, scared of life!  After a lot of hard work she has turned into a fantastic dog who was one of the first to dance on Britains Got Talent but was told there was no future for dog acts so there was no point in bothering - they changed their tune when they realised the public liked it!  

Here is a video I did a couple of years ago and it really does sum her up completely:


I was worried how she would take to Mark when we met 4 years ago but she loves him and wants to be with him all the time, this is the dog that hated men! We would be lost without her she is such a character and always wants to please.  So Happy February birthday Cas!

Highchairs

I had seen a really funky highchair online from John Lewis - the Bloom Fresco and had been looking at them on Ebay as they're a lot of money brand new!  So I thought I would have a look at them on a trip into John Lewis today - I have to say I was disappointed!  It's a shame as I love the look and it matches our dining table set.  However I found the seat unit really wobbly and it just felt cheap and nasty - not matching the price tag!! It was also very heavy and the way our house is set up we would need to have something we can move around.

I therefore looked at the Bloom Nano which felt very sturdy and can fold up as well as having removable seat covers for cleaning. 

I want something that looks contemporary, is quite plain (I don't like the patterned seat units) and is light to move around - does anyone have any other suggestions?

Maternity Clothes

Well I bought some clothes online in the Next sale and at the time ordered a size 10 as that is what I was wearing at the time, I had been size 8. However now I have a bump and can't fit into normal trousers I still can't fit into the size 10 maternity trousers, they are way too big. Are maternity sizes a little bigger than normal sizes? 

I had spent all Saturday walking round Telford looking for maternity work trousers. New Look - no size 8s, H&M - no work wear, Matalan - no maternity section, Asda & Tesco - again no maternity sections. I could not find maternity wear on the High Street - does anyone have any suggestions? 

After feeling uncomfortable all week wearing the size 10s with a belt (hate belts at the best of times!) I had had enough and took a trip out to the nearest Matalan with a maternity section. Only to find they said we are stopping stocking maternity wear in store, it will only be available online so we only have this one rail! Luckily they did have some trousers that fit and have an adjustable waistband. But this is crazy - surely there are some shops that still stock maternity wear, aren't there? If so where?  I really need to try them on!

Petsafe's SlimCat Interactive Feeder Review

Clee is a 2 year old neutured moggie and I had recently noticed he was losing his waistline a bit!  So I decided to do something about it and had given the dogs food balls before to stop them getting bored so I wondered if they did a similar thing for cats, really to stop him just having the ease of his dinner in front of him and gobbling it all quickly!  I looked on Ebay and there I found the Petsafe Slim Cat Interactive Feeder and ordered it.

When it arrived the instructions were inside the ball and I spent ages trying to get into the ball by unscrewing half of the ball - oops, I can blame the baby brain!  It actually just has a small cover which unlocks and you put the food into.  The ball is then adjustable and the holes which allows food out can be slightly covered over so it is more difficult for the cat to get food out, but obviously to start with you have the holes fully open.

To start with I shook the ball so some biscuits fell out and put the ball on top of the biscuits, this encouraged Clee to move the ball with his nose or paw to be able to eat the biscuits.  It did take a few attempts like this for him to be happy with the way the ball moved, at first it frightened him a bit.  He got the hang of it quite quickly but I did have to sit with him while he used it the first few times to give him reassurance and confidence.

It's brilliant as it does make them work for the food and it's not just as easy as eating it out of a bowl so it doesn't cause them to over eat.  Here is a video of the ball:

Lamaze Baby Gym

I found the Lamaze Baby Gym on offer the other day and fell in love with it as I love the Space theme.  It’s a fab little gym as the arms have a motor attached and they move gently which in turn moves all the toys.  We tested it on my sister in law’s 4 month old and she was fascinated by it so hopefully baby Stokes will be the same. 

 

20 week NHS Scan

We attended Telford hospital today for our 20 week scan and I was amazed at how much they looked at.  They checked how her heart was working, watching the blood flowing in and out.  Measured her all over to make sure her growth is on track.  Checked that her digestive system was working and that her lips were all okay.  Apparently she was smiling and had her legs and arms crossed - hypermobile joints taking after me?  So everything is fine and her growth on track.

However when we got back we have a letter to see the consultant in April, only thing I can think it is for is because our chosen hospital is a midwife unit so am assuming they need to thoroughly check I am okay to deliver there?  I don't have a high BMI nor any problems so am assuming this is what it is, appointment is 1-2 hours long though and it advises you to bring a friend or partner (a little worryingly!) but Mark comes to all appointments anyway.

Bottles

It's a minefield, I never knew there was so much you needed to know about things when you're pregnant.

My sis in law said we could have her avent steriliser, we just need bottles and she recommended Tommee Tippee ones as thats what her little girl preferred best.  While I was in Tesco and getting carried away looking at all the lovely baby clothes!  I spotted that the bottles were half price, great I thought, but no it wasn't that simple.  Some were 150ml and some were 260ml, both said from 0 months on the front and I turned the packaging over to see when the different sizes were used but no information at all!  Completely lost with it all I put both packages down.  Sis in law says we need both sizes as am assuming the 150ml is newborn up to a certain age and the 260ml is when they are a bit older - but why doesn't it say that on the box? 

Do they assume we know what we're doing?  Well I haven't, I have not got the foggiest about any of it, sometimes I feel like I am in the middle of a maze and I can't find my way out!!

Henris, Shifnal

We dined on a saturday night with family, we managed to get a table the same day but only had the option of one time to dine at - always a good sign when somewhere is busy!

I thought we were dining at a French Restaurant, however on entering the restaurant we were greeted with Spanish music which I thought was a ltitle strange.  The waitress then explained it is actually a Mediterranean restaurant with a French twist - ah ha that explains it!

The decor is lovely and modern with a gorgeous patio area outside which must be lovely in the Summer months.  The restaurant also has it's own car park which is a bonus in Shifnal!

To start, my mum and I shared the whole garlic baked camembert which was lovely and runny.  It came with some really tasy olive and other sorts of bread, it was also presented nicely.  I am allergic to pears and it came with a pear chutney which was a shame, I think a nice red onion marmalade would have worked nicely with it.

 

For mains I was going to chose the rack of lamb but unfortunately they didn't have it and only had chops which I don't like so I decided on the lemon and thyme poussin with dauphinoise potatoes and a tarragon jus. This was beautiful, the poussin was lovely and tasty, the dauphinoise potatoes were scrummy and the sauce was to die for!!  We had a lovely selection of vegetables consisting of baby corn, carrots, sugar snap peas.

I still had room for dessert and settled on Eton Mess, this again was lovely and sweet, plenty of meringue and good sized pieces of strawberry!

So overall we all had lovely meals, couldn't fault anything.  The service was attentive and the staff ensured we always had exactly what we needed.  We shall be returning!  http://henrisbarandbrasserie.co.uk/

It's a girl!

Shropshire charge £50 to find out the gender at the 20 week scan so we decided to spend the money on a 3D scan instead!

It was such a shame baby was happier tucked up in a little ball and didn't want to show us her face, yes HER face - it's a girl!!  I have to say I didn't think I was that bothered but I am really excited to find out it's a girl, friends of mine seem to have a bit of an easier life with girls when they're little and I keep hearing stories from them about their naughty little boys lol!!

So we didn't get a brilliant picture, this was the best and you can see she's hiding her face behind her hands - shy girls!

The 4d scan was only the gender scan and it was very quick, we we're in and out in 5 minutes, I did think we would perhaps get a bit longer to get a better picture but once she stretched out she curled back up again anyway.  http://www.4dbabyface.co.uk/

It's funny though I feel a lot closer to her now she isn't just baby anymore, we have our NHS 20 week scan next week to make sure everything is okay.

Nursery

It's finished.  We ended up with the cambridge furniture set from Toys R Us and were a bit disappointed as there were quite a few panels damaged.  They did send replacement panels easily enough but we had to wait another 10 days for them to be delivered.

The cot is a sleigh cot bed from Toys R Us which we felt was a lot sturdier than the cambridge cot bed.  We just need to put a Starry Nights border up but they're never in stock anywhere local!!