Ruth Bennett

Ffion and her teddy/ blanket

2011-02-03T08:52:00.001Z

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Getting there ish!!

2010-06-16T20:05:00.000Z

Well it has been 6 weeks since my last post but that is a marked improvement on the last gap.
Not sure how I will keep this up when I have 3 children though but hey ho we can only but try.
So our holiday to France was really lovely, the girls spent loads of time by the pool and swimming, Martha just loves it sooo much and Millie was really independent and enjoyed going on the slides, even the big ones!! V. scary- close eyes are needed with Millie, she is just off with no cares in the world.

We had mostly good weather, in fact it was 29 the first few days we were there. We had lots of bike rides and just general holiday fun. The girls really enjoyed themselves and so did Liam and I, just can't believe its our holiday over for this year. We spent the last 2 nights nearer the ferry port in a tent and are seriously considering doing it all ourselves next year in a tent. A few reasons, cost- we will be going in school hols next year and what we paid this year would probably double next year. The girls enjoyed it and I was ok with it too (probably the bigger issue of the two). Plus I just think its fun, if we do it when the girls are small then they will get used to it and the sites are just as well equipped with facilities and plus we can choose from probably a wider selection of campsites. On the camping theme we are hoping to have a weekend away down the Gower in a couple of weekends. There is a lovely campsite there that we camped on when I was a lot younger, its also got a pick your own there. We are hoping to camp for two nights and pick lots of fruit whilst we are there. Its also near the beach so if it was really nice we can spend the day on the beach. We got a tent last year in the sale and have been dying to use it since. If we do decide to give the whole camping thing a go next year however we would need to get a bigger tent as the one we have currently is 4 berth and we of course will be 5 next year.

Whilst we were on holiday we put Millie into a big bed, it meant we didn't have to take a travel cot. Martha was in a big bed by now and so thought it time. Since she took to it so well we have moved her into the smallest room in the house, also in a big bed. The are a few reasons why we have moved her, one is it will save us having to decorate this year- the room she was in is the only room in the house with dodgy carpet. So wouldn't have just been walls and furniture it would have been a new carpet too. Also Martha has a fairly decent size room and plenty of girls toys upstairs. We thought that if the next baby is a boy then the room Millie was in would be better to store boys toys upstairs too. If the next baby is a girl then I am not sure what we will do. Probably keep them where they are!!!??. Talking of beds and sleeping, Martha and Millie shared whilst we were away. They were fairly good with it, there were a couple of nights where we had issues with them going to sleep. It was quite funny listening to the slightly one sided conversations going on in the bedroom though.

I am doing well, sickness well and truly over with and I seem to be blooming, everyone keeps telling me how well I am looking or the other comment I get regularly is 'you look nice today'??? It is nice though having all these compliments. I am 23 weeks now and can't quite believe how quickly the time is going. The first 12 weeks seemed to drag and now I turn around and already I am 23 weeks! I keep thinking about how quickly Millie transformed into a little girl especially now as she is talking a little bit more. I really must cherish every moment this baby is little as they don't stay small for long and then it gets to the point where you can't wait for them to do things like crawl, walk and talk etc.

I must just say that my bump looks bigger in the pic/ dress than it is in real life!
The weekend just gone saw me here there and everywhere. On Thursday night I was in Carmarthen Trinity College for my Welsh exam which went okish- will let you know how ok when I get my results. After the exam I went to Port Talbot ready to get train on Friday morning- off to a wedding. Emma and Neil got married on Friday and it was a really lovely day. It was all a bit surreal with all the travelling. I just seemed to get to the hotel quickly get changed and then the wedding was happening. Normally when we have been to weddings we are near venue night before and have seen at least one of the couple. Maybe it is just me and my preg brain being weird. Saturday it was back to Port Talbot and then down to Porthcawl for a BBQ with Anna and Peter. Another lovely afternoon. Sunday then was swimming lessons with the girls and then back to Twyn and back to normality and early nights all round. I think my parents were pretty shattered too. They have been doing a lot of travelling recently down west and back. My gran had bowel cancer and had an op to have it removed. The op was 5 weeks ago tomorrow but she is still in hospital. Everything seems fine but she had to go on antibiotics for a chest infection and just general recovery is slow. We are hoping she will be out on the weekend. My parents have spent a few days there and a few days in Port Talbot but the miles and travelling they have done is incredible- no wonder they are tired. Hopefully my gran will be out soon and things will get easier and they can go and enjoy their holiday in July- I think they both need it.

So that was a fairly long post won't need to post again for a few more weeks now- lol! Holiday pictures will be on facebook soon :)

Does anyone blog anymore!?

2010-04-28T19:18:00.003Z

Right well I was considering setting up another blog - reasons I won't go into at the moment but then I though why bother with another one with another theme when I can't blog on my own one!!!

So thats when I thought I would look at all the other blogs I read and low and behold no one else has posted for a while- should I continue with this or not. I would like to continue as I am sure it will be lovely for the girls to look back on when they are older and see what they did when- thats if blogs are still going then!!! Something else will be the craze then!

So a lot has happened since my last blog, birthdays, Christmas, a wedding, more birthdays and I am pregnant again with baby number 3. Morning sickness this time around has been something else, although my tastebuds are back now which is good, I was barely eating the first 8 weeks I knew I was pregnant. It hasn't helped that I have had cold after cold after cold plus tummy bugs and all sorts of other viruses. My bump seems to have grown quickly this time too, I am astonished at how big I am for 16 weeks! Maternity clothes and everything!! I wonder if the different things happening will mean its a boy?? Who knows (bets can be taken now- we won't be finding out) I would like it to be a boy as it would sort of complete the family, nice for the girls to have a little brother they can boss about! I am not bothered obviously if its a girls and its not like we haven't got any clothes for a girl! Only time will tell I suppose.

So Millie started walking over Christmas and seems like she has walked forever now, she loves being able to follow Martha around and Martha loves having someone to boss around too! They both love playing together and most of the time I can leave them to do so without worrying about them. I am not sure who leads who astray the most as you can tell Martha bosses Millie around from what she is saying but then I think if Millie is doing something that Martha thinks is a good idea she will just copy. Like last night when I left them upstairs playing, I should have known they were too quiet. When I did go upstairs they had plastered themselves in sudocrem and half the room. I managed to stay quite calm about it all- no point shouting and screaming about it- me and my sister were the same and no harm was done really.

There are loads of other things that have happened since my last post but seeing as my blogs do tend to go a bit I am not going to even attempt to go into all the things.

Liams sister Lisa got married in February and we all had a lovely day, both Martha and Millie were bridesmaids and loved every minute of it, Millie spent most of the day going round kissing people. How cute!

Martha and Millie have both had chicken pox the last few weeks, Millies spots still a bit scaby but Marthas are fading more and more each day.

Millie not talking a lot more than my last post but we are trying our best to encourage her, I think its worse because we know what Martha could say by this age, give it another month and at Millies age Martha could pretty much count to 10 in English and Welsh.

My Welsh classes are still going well, since the start of the year though I have done the bare minimum needed for class but now I am feeling better I know I need to get my head down a bit more. Plus I am sitting an exam that goes with the course in June.

We have booked a holiday to France for a couple of weeks at the end of May, its creeping up on us slowly, well quite quickly actually- I think 3 weeks today we are there. We have had some lovely weather recently so hopefully it will stay nice while we are away. We had okish weather last year in France and the year before in Devon well what can I say it was horrible- thirs time lucky?

So I am going to leave it there for now but I might just spur some of you other bloggers out there to post again soon!!?? Who knows when I will be on here next but hopefully not in 6 months time and a bit before then!

Cuddles

2009-12-21T22:49:00.001Z

All my favourite friends!

First steps

2009-12-21T22:47:00.001Z

Changes

2009-10-13T19:54:00.002Z

Its only been a month since I last posted on here but even in that short space of time things change. Millie can now say Mum finally, only taken her 13 months- I think Martha does all her talking for her, Martha picked up words a lot quicker but they are all different aren't they. She is also standing on her own now but then she comes down onto all fours, I think she might wait till she is steady on her feet to walk. Martha was somewhere between 16 and 17 months before she walked and when she went she was steady I am hoping Millie will do the same, not sure I am ready for the bumping into everything and falling over!!! She has been terrorising Martha lately, they both want what the other one wants and if its Millie wanting something then she goes straight for Marthas hair and pulls it hard. I tell her she isn't to pull hair but the little cheeky one thinks its hilarious!!! Poor Martha!! Martha was sitting in her chair the other day and Millie climbed up next to her and then pulled her hair for her to get off!!! She has also pushed Martha off the couch!! Its fair to say Millie is definitely her own little person now and definitely knows her own mind. Its funny cos when Millie was born I sort of forgot she would grow to do the things Martha does. Now its lovely she is becoming more and more independent and they do play together lovely most of the time. Well I think Martha bosses Millie around!! All good fun!

All the birthdays have come and gone and now I need to decide what we are going to do about Marthas 3rd birthday?? There is a soft play place we could hire out but not sure if i should just invite a couple of her friends over!!! Well got a few weeks to decide!

Welsh is gonig well, it is quite intense but its fair to say I am at a bit of an advantage on some of the other people in the class, there are a few English people learning and there is a girl from Hong Kong!! I think that this will help me a bit as it will mean there will be times it has to go slower for the others and therefore its a bit gentler. I had some friends over yesterday afternoon and one of them was speaking in welsh to her daughter and I understood what she said- I was so pleased. I think hearing Welsh around and about will be great but will need the confidence to actually speak it! Anyway got Welsh again tomorrow morning so have to go and do my homework! Its like being in school again!!! Hope to sort out my September pics and put them up soon.

Just a beautiful girl!!!

2009-09-11T19:40:00.003Z

Birthday cakes

2009-09-06T19:03:00.004Z

A mixed bag!

2009-09-06T18:11:00.002Z

Well that was a long few days!!! But busy too!
So lets start with my health problems. I had some more tests not long after I had posted on here, one of which was a cancer test, I was given the name of it as the doc I was dealing with was away during the time I had had the tests so that I could ask the receptionist about the results. Unless you know the names of specific tests they don't know anything. Anyway its a ca125 which is for ovarian cancer. I had thought that it probably wasn't that serious as my pain had gone away and come back- guessing that if it was something like cancer that I wouldn't have got better?? I did a bit of research on the internet and apparantly the test can show high for a number of reasons including having your period or anything gynaecological. So well anway results come through and receptionist says doc wants to speak to me about them, guessing they weren't clear, this was a tues pm, next day I could speak to her was Thursday, so a couple of worrying days even though I didn't think its that serious. Basically the results came back borderline, the doctor spoke to the lab and said the same as what I had already read on the interent that they can be high for anything but she also said that if it was likely to be cancer then it would be sky high. The next week I had another ultrasound scan where they scanned lots of my organs- all clear. So then it was a case of waiting for appointments with the specialists. I saw the general specialist in the middle of August and he said he was quite worried about the levels showing high in my blood but pointed out that its just an indicator showing something is wrong but not what. He suspected that he might need to do a laparoscomy and initial thoughts were that he would end up taking my appendix out. However he lay me down and was able to induce pain which led him to believe that it was most likely a ruptured rectus abdominus (stomach muscle). He still wants me to see the gynacologist and he has said if the pain persists he would still perform a laparoscomy. He said that normally these things take 12 -18 months to heal, if this is the same thing I had when I was in hospital before I had Millie then I am down 12 months already. I am not convinced as my periods are all over the place and also I do have pain the other side sometimes. I wish I had thought of these things whilst I was there to ask him but thats typical I suppose. So where are we, well pain is a lot lot better and sometimes I feel a niggle and then other times it can be quite painful and then other times nothing. I am now waiting for the appointment for the gyny. Watch this space!!
So what else is news, well Millie was 1 yesterday!!! Can't believe its been a whole year since she was born, so much has happened and she is really starting to blossom into a little monkey!! She is so cheeky. So is crawling, cruising and climbing!! Martha was never a climber so this is something new to us, eyes in the back of our heads are needed- if anyone knows where we can get these let us know! We did have a little get together with some of the family yesterday but she had a shared party with one of her little friends last week.
Millie has recently got into sucking the tag on her blanket when she is in her cot and using it like a dummy. I have decided enough is enough and have taken it away from her- she now looks for taggies on anything and everything!! It takes her seconds to find a tag on a toy now and starts sucking it- I am glad I didn't go with the dummy when she little as I am convinced she would have been a thumb sucker like Martha! Speaking of which the dentist has said we need to encourage her to stop!! Easier said than done! We are currently trying with the star charts but its hard going and doesn't seem to be working- anyone know of a good way of stopping a child sucking their thumb. There are times when she tries really hard and then others when she doesn't at all- ike when she is tired and needs a good ol suck!! Its so infuriating as I can see the way her teeth are forming and if something is not done sooner rather than later I know she will need some form of dentist/ orthadontic work.
Liam worked from home a couple of weeks during the school holidays which was lovely for all of us. The first week he did it felt like a week, however the second time it felt like a month and was sad seeing him go back to work last Tuesday after the bank holiday weekend. Martha has also found it harder this time and asked for Daddy quite a few times. She has started back a cylch though so at least that occupied her a little more. She was mostly good going last week apart from the first day hen she cried. There were a lot of children crying there last week when I was leaving so not sure how long she will last being good for. I do have a friend (who Martha knows) who is starting work there tomorrow so that might help her. Fingers crossed.
We have started the run of 1st birthdays a couple of weeks ago and have been to 2, one was shared with Millie. We have another 3 to come of the the next few weeks and also my grans 90th next weekend and a wedding at the start of Oct. So all in all a busy few weeks ahead for us all. I wasn't going to do anything major for Martha with her friends this year but with all these parties she keeps asking when hers is!? Will have to see nearer the time.
For Millies shared birthday party Liam made her a cake, I too then made one for her this weekend. I must say we did very well. We did have a mould but aside from that I think we did a very good job! I think I might continue in the future too! Will see. Speaking of hobbies I am going to start learning Welsh, I was able to drop it when I was in my first year of secondary school, something I deeply regret now but hindsight is a wonderful thing. With Martha going to a welsh school and quite a number of people in the area speaking Welsh I think it will be a great benefit. I would have started this time last year but wasn't able to. Be careful if I do well I might blog in Welsh! I think thats enough for now and will put some pics up later on.

Where does the time go!!!??

2009-08-24T18:51:00.001Z

I keep checking all my friends blogs to see whats news with them and nothing!!! Then I relaise its been over a month since I last updated mine, so with that in mind I am going to try and update mine over the next few days! Watch this space for some news!!!

Ooops

2009-07-14T10:25:00.003Z

Thought I hadn't yet put pics on facebook of our holiday but I did it a couple of weeks ago!!! Thats your lot then folks!

Slide fun!

2009-07-14T09:31:00.002Z

Holiday, crawling, blessing and news!

2009-07-14T08:22:00.006Z

Its been some time since I have written on here but I have had good reason!

I think the last time I was busy getting ready for Millies blessing. We had a lovely weekend with a family bbq on the Saturday and the actual blessing on the Sunday. The weather held off all weekend, in fact the weather was glorious. Millies blessing was really lovely and both girls were really well behaved during the service- true angels!!

That week then was half term for Martha so I was pretty busy keeping Martha occupied and we had a lovely day at Folly Farm with my parents. We even fed the goats!

The next week was busy getting ready for our holiday to Brittany in France. We had a car full of stuff- just for two children and us, I don't know how people travel abroad with the little ones but then I suppose I didn't want to have to wash clothes, we took food, milk and nappies for Millie and probably took advantage of having the car! We also couldn't be certain of having good weather so needed a range of warm and cold weather clothes. Our first week there was up and down with the weather more down though and we managed to fill the days with a visit to an aquarium, soft play place and a couple of the local towns. It was funny because the end of the rainy days it seemed to clear up and we managed a few hours by the pool!

The second week was much nicer weather wise and a lot of time was spent by the pool just chilling out. There was a baby pool and a slide going in, it took Martha quite some time to get used to it but once she had been down a couple of times there was no stopping her.

The journey over was relatively trouble free, the journey back however was not so good, I had a bad tummy, crossing not overly smooth but the worst was yet to come! We arrived in Plymouth at 8.00ish in the evening and thought then that the girls would sleep. They did.... for an hour and a half at which point Martha woke up and just screamed and screamed wanting to be hugged and out of her seat. Liam did a fantastic job of calming her down, then however she decided she needed the toilet. We stopped not far before Bristol and had a quick toilet stop, when we got in the car then Martha was fine but Millie obviously felt left out so she started screaming, we stopped the other side of the bridge and changed her nappy, that didn't help. So the last hour and a bit of the journey both girls were crying and Liam and I were taking it in turns to sing nursery rhymes!!! Fun fun!

Only a couple of images from holiday but will upload some more to Facebook and I have still been nagging Liam to sort out our website so that pics can be uploaded there!!

Millie starting crawling while we were away and since we have come home she has started pulling herself up on furniture!! So much so she is obsessed with it, she won't even sit still in the bath now she has to stand up! Great but dangerous in the bath!!! She can also climb up stairs so the gates were sorted out this weekend. There was already one at the top of Marthas stairs but we hadn't put any anywhere else when we moved as Martha was confident enough. There are a couple of stairs to our playroom and Millie can get up those so its all go!!

So as I mentioned earlier the day we came back from our holiday I had some tummy cramps again, it started the night before with me feeling sick. Martha was sick that night so just put it down to that. The next morning when we came back from holiday though I was in quite a lot of pain and the Saturday we did come back I couldn't move and had a fever. The sunday night and the Monday I had some spotting. On the Sunday I was felling okish but worried about the spotting I rung NHS direct, only spoke to a nurse but she said I should see a doc that week as I was managing the pain. I spoke to the doc next day with our stupid call back system and he just said rest!!! Totally ignored my spotting! I was feeling a lot better but not happy with what the doc said so saw a different doc on the Thursday. She asked a lot of questions, took a urine sample and had a little feel of my tummy. Her conclusions were like before it could be cysts, a grumbly appendix or irritable bowel. She also wanted bloods done. They came back a week later with something showing as inflammed, by which time I had been having some back pain which I can only describe as mild contractions! The doc then wanted more blood tests and an xray. They came back last week with the levels that were inflammed are higher and xray was clear. I am now waiting appointments for a bowel specialist and a gynacologist. Hopefully we will get to the bottom of it and something will be sorted soon.

So that was a lot of news and hopefully will be posting soon with some good news!

Yummy lolly!

2009-07-05T20:51:00.003Z

Millie on the snail

2009-06-03T08:45:00.001Z

Martha and Millie enjoying the swings

2009-06-03T08:03:00.002Z

Quick update

2009-05-18T18:57:00.002Z

I am concious of the fact that I haven't written on here for a few weeks now and I have quite a bit of news but have got a million and one things to do in the next few days before we have a blessing for Millie on Sunday.
Couple of new things, Millie is now feeding well and has 2 bottom teeth, she is also starting to sit more and is moving round on her front and slightly backwards, not properly crawling as yet.
Martha was singing and playing with her toys tonight in the bath and then went- dai iawn, which means well done in Welsh, she can count in Welsh and does so regularly but this is her first word that she has picked up from Cylch. I have been quite worried about her grasping Welsh but I think she will do fine! Dai iawn Martha!
Right well like I said it was only a quick update so will try and get on here soon with more news!

Sisters!

2009-05-02T20:49:00.001Z

Not a good week

2009-04-30T08:33:00.002Z

As the title suggests, things are not good here at the moment, nothing really wrong I am just having an emotional week.
For the past couple of weeks Millie has been getting a bit fussy with her eating, however the end of last week she had sickness and the runs so put it down to her not being well. She is now and truely on the mend and has been chatting and rolling about like normal. (Big rolls now too, from one end of the room to the other!) Yet the fussyness continues. She will eat bread, yogurt and fruit of a spoon but nothing else. I have given her some other finger foods the problem is that she can't hold them for very long and doesn't take in much, so much so that the knock on effect os beginning to kick in- up at 4.00 this morning hungry. Its so frustrating and is starting to get me down.
Martha is good and is enjoying Cylch Meithrin, some of her older friends have now stopped going and are going to Nursery now, but on the upside there are some new children there who will end up being her class as they are the same age. She tells me a lot more about it now aswell, initially it was just toast, milk and Alice! The other day she told me she had chocolate cake because it was Seans birthday and that they had sung Happy Birthday- in Welsh! So all good there.

I had my scan yesterday and after an hour of waiting I was in there for 5 mins and they checked my ovaries and my kidneys and both were clear. I asked about my appendix and apparantly you can only see them if there is a problem with them. So had the all clear there, which I think was good news!!? Problem is I have been having twinges so not sure what the next step is!? I think the scan looming and Millie not eating have been getting to me a bit and haven't helped with my emotions. Other things haven't helped either but thats another story. Hopefully this is just a blip and we will have the long weekend this week and a short week next week so I am hoping that will make me feel better.

No more doctors please!

2009-04-14T19:31:00.008Z

Well as the title suggests, yes more doctors were seen, not for Martha or Millie this time but me!! I had some stomach cramps, similar to whenI was in hospital before I had Millie so assumed I had pulled a muscle as thats what was diagnosed back then! Monday I couldn't move so thought I shoud check it out- doc thought it could be appendicitis, told me not to worry and have bed rest. I tried and was very lucky my parents came to my rescue. That night I felt awful and had shivers and my head was banging! However the next day I was fine, well not fine but a lot better. Unfortunately it didn't end there as Wednesday I was really ill again, another trip to the doctor and was taken into hospital. Inital thoughts were appendicitis, ectopic pregnancy or something ovary related. Well after a lot of attempts to get blood they finally got some and it showed something was inflammed, doctors thought it was unlikely to be appendicitis as they way it had been. By the Thursday I was feeling a lot better and as long as there was a clear scan I could go home. The scan didn't happen and I was able to come home. I now have a scan at the end of the month, so fingers crossed it will either be clear or something small. The hospital itself was a bit of a circus and I have had a laugh about a few ofthings that happened there since but the system in this country sucks. I can say that having been in quite a few hospitals now. No one person to blame just the systems in place and the lack of communication between everyone and doctors wanting to hear what they want to hear.

The weekend just gone was Easter and saw us travelling upto Liverpool. Liam and I had a wedding on Good Friday in Manchester. It was a lovely day (apart from the weather) and was the first wedding I had been to and not been pregnant since the start of 2006. So I let my hair down and had a really good time. We saw most of the family both sides of Liams and most of mine at some point over the weekend which was lovely and great to catch up. Thank you all for the chocolate and gifts.

Forgot to mention the birthday party that Martha went to, it was quite full on for a 3 year old- loud disco and quite grown up- it was what the brithday girl wanted and she seemed to enjoy, on the other hand Martha was a bit bemused and stayed next to me while we were there. She also had her Easter bonnet day- unluckily for me I was in hospital so didn't get to see her go- or the competition for that matter. It didn't seem like they had prizes but I am guessing Marthas was the best- you decide.

So we have quite a few quiet weeks now until our holidays and hopefully they will remain that way- in terms of health anyway! Liam is working from home this week and its nice having him around. Although I do have to keep myself more busy whilst he is around so that I don't disturb him- or at least Martha doesn't disturb him! She is getting used to him being out of bounds though so thats good.

Congratulations to Liz and Pete on the birth of thier little boy Pablo, he is so cute and had lots of hair- well done both!

On the final note - I went and got my hair cut today and have gone for the chop. So here is a pic so you can all see!

More rashes and doctors!

2009-03-26T20:00:00.002Z

Last weekend was a really lovely weekend away in Centre Parcs. It had been planned for ages as a surprise for my mothers 65th birthday but of course it had to be kept quiet. Although saying that planning a surprise is/ was easier than it sounds! Everytime I had a quiet whisper to my Dad my mother would chirp up what you talking about!! Nightmare! Well anyway Martha and Millie were both on the mend and we were off to have a good weekend. Everyone managed to get there before my mother but typical of my mother she spotted my car in the car park on the way in!! A good weekend was had by all and the concensus is that we will make it an annual event. There is plenty of stuff to do there for all ages old and young, I think the highlight for everyone was the swimming pool. My Dad especially was a big kid going on all the slides. Martha loved being in pool and is so confident in the water. Millie was a little on the young side for the pool as it was a bit cooler than where we go swimming and by this time she had started to come out in spots!!! Yes spots, great big ones! I wasn't too worried to begin with as they were the same as Marthas but by the time Monday came round and it was time to go home they were more like big blotches and Millie didn't seem her normal self. When I got back to Ammanford I called straight in at the doctors. The receptionist saw the state of her but unfortunately I had to go through the system of waiting for a call back. So got home and settled and started to unload the car- guess what- phone call had to go back up to the docs!! Met this very stern doctor who started slagging off the doc for giving antibiotics to the girls for common colds!!! Millie had bronchitus and I wish he had seen her the Sunday before I took them both to the doctor. She was so pale and lifeless. Anyway he gave me some 'advice as a mother' then thought it was an allergic reaction too. I then had to go back upto the surgery either Tuesday if things got worse or Wed. Tuesday the spots had started to fade but there was still plenty. So decided to wait till Wednesday, I took her upto the doctors and by now a lot of the spots had disappeared. He showed me a picture and a description of what he thought it was. It was an allegric reaction to either the virus or the antibiotics but quite an aggresive reaction. I think persoanlly it was the virus as I had some spots appear on my belly at the end of the weekend. Plus in Marthas cylch last week they said some children had come out in spots- I bet they aren't all allergic to antibiotics!!
The good news is they are both on the mend now and hopefully will be ok for a few weeks. Well they had better be as next weekend I am home alone with the girls whilst Liam is on a stag do and then the following weekend we have a wedding. Its all go here in the Bennett house. Promise pics to be on the way soon. Especially after the weekend- Marthas first fancy dress party.

Busy few days

2009-03-18T21:32:00.003Z

Since plodding along we have now gone to busy busy busy, more so with doctors and hospitals!!! Yes! Again! Martha and Millie have both had nasty colds for a couple of weeks and over the weekend both looked quite pale so I decided enough was enough and took them to the doctors. I don't normally go with colds but they had gone on long enough, plus poor Millie looked so ill. So saw the doctor and both were given antibiotics. Poor Millie had developed bronchitus, I knew she was coughing well but didn't think anythin of it, esp as Martha quite often sounds quite chesty but in the ast when she has seen doctors her chest has been clear. Shouldn't compare them! Monday afternoon Martha started to develop a rash and by the time 8.00 came she had had a couple of hours sleep but had woken up screaming complaining of a bad head and was covered in spots and had a temp of 40! A call made to primecare which resulted in a trip to yet another hospital, well actually I had been there once previously when preg with Millie. She was seen straight away and was told it could be viral but most likely a reaction to the antibiotics so was given some different one. Yesterday (tues) she seemed a lot better in herself but then in the evening the spots came up quite bad again and she had a slight temp. She was comfortbale in her sleep though so left her. I didn't sleep that well however! Today she was still covered and still running a temp so another trip to the doctor. She also thought it was an allergic reaction- i said I thought it would have gone by now but she said once its in the system it can take some time to disappear. Martha by this point was fine in herself and the spots were fading. So all good and keep a careful eye on them.
Martha and Millie both had a good sleep over lunchtime but when Martha got up the spots were huge and she was quite grizzly. I rung the docs and they had half day today- training. Again through to primecare. I had a phonecall back and the woman I spoke to said when they are running a temp and have a reaction like this, its quite common for the spots to be more prominent. Also she said if she is warm or cold it could make the spots worse. She said it could be an allergy to something completely different but it seems strange it started after starting the medication. It could also be just because she is unwell. Not long after I had spoken to the doctor the spots started to fade and she was quite well in herself. So fingers crossed! The doctor seemed to give me a lot more answers than any of the others and I was quite happy after the conversation. It seemed to make sense, especially as Marthas room tends to be on the warm side so could explain why the spots came up after her sleep. The doctor also said that the spots can come and go for upto 10 days after the last dose of medicine!! So we might have a spotty child for a few days yet.
Millie on the other hand is doing well and seems to be properly on the mend. Lots of smiles and giggles and less of the mucus from eyes and nose!
So hopefully I have seen the last of the doctors and hospitals this time around!! Oh its such fun being a parent of little children and their ongoing illnesses!
I must say a big congratulations to Jan and Murray on the birth of their little girl!! Well done, she will turn your world upside down, but its all great!
Will put some pics up soon, been a bit slack on the taking picture front at the moment so once I get snap happy again then I will be sharing with you too. Till then ttfn!

Plodding along!

2009-03-09T20:19:00.002Z

So the another month of birthdays is upon us! Last week saw a few, including Liams and my mothers 65th! Not sure why March is so popular!! LOL! Last week Martha, Millie and I went and spent the day with my mother as a surprise for her birthday, so that was nice. Liam then had his birthday on Saturday, I got him breakfast in bed and then got back into bed for a lie in- cheeky or what! He was going to get up as he wanted to plant the grass seed in the garden so I didn't feel too bad ;) That night I had arranged for my parents to babysit so that Liam and I could go out. We had a great night out and had quite a few drinks, we had a little chat about the girls but then most of the rest of the evening wasn't about the girls and we had a really good time. Its been awhile since we have both been out together without the girls and both been able to drink.
Sunday we went out for lunch with my parents, Peter and Anna, which again was lovely. All in all a really nice weekend.
Martha is doing really well with the potty training now and instead of her going when we want her too, she actually asks which is great, she also uses it for both wee and poo! (sorry TMI!)
Millie really enjoys her food and is now on three meals a day, can't believe we are there already, its so scary! This time again and she will be one! She is really coming on now and has rolled over a few times and is a proper chatter box! Its lovely but already she is no longer a little baby that I can just hold in my arms! I loved her being small, in fact I love small babies. A few friends of mine are due to give birth in the next couple of months and even though those first few weeks are tough new born babies are so cute and tiny. You just want to wrap them up and keep them safe. Which leads me to wishing Jan all the best for next week, it will be all be fine I am sure.
So things are good here and we are plodding on with things, nothing too exciting planned for the next few weeks, so it will probably be the same for a few weeks. Martha got invited to her first birthday party today and its fancy dress! Gives me an excuse to get her the Upsy Daisy costume I saw awhile ago. Then Easter weekend sees us in Liverpool for a wedding. I see another drunken evening coming, we don't know anyone at the wedding other than the bride and groom, I don't even know the bride!! Fun fun fun!
Anyway we shall carry on plodding on for now!

Big milestones

2009-02-23T14:26:00.002Z

So not been great with the blogging still but wanted to get last week over before writing on here- the reason? We have been potty training! Martha had a week off Cylch last week so I decided to give it a go. Previous to Millie being born Martha was showing signs of being ready to be potty trained- I was soooo not ready to do it then, although when Millie was born Martha took a few steps back and I was quite glad of the extra time. So now Martha goes mornings to Cylch we are bit more restrained as to when we can do these things so given the week off last week we gave it a go. Millie spent the first couple of days with my parents so I could concentrate only on Martha. So the first day went pretty much like this, lots of sitting on potty, nothing in potty and lots of accidents- great start! Second day- 2 wees in potty one I think was lucky and one she asked my Mum when she was here for a wee, still lots of accidents. Thursday we had a couple more wees in potty and I really felt like I was getting somewhere. By Friday it was back to like Tuesday (first day), didn't even know there was wee coming. Firiday night and I didn't know whether to carry on or not and felt like the week had been a waste of time. Saturday morning though Liam managed to get Martha to wee in potty, they went out and then when they came back Martha was going to sit on potty but asked for her trousers down and as soon as her pants were off she did a wee, not sure if that because she was going to sit on potty or because she knew she needed to wee. That afternoon she was in the park next door and wanted to come home, when she did get in she sat on the potty- coincidence we are not sure. Sunday she had an accident in the morning but we have managed since then to get her to wee on the potty by 'squeezing one out! lol!! Bless her. She has continued to do this for wees and just after lunch today she even did a poo! I am sure this blog is great reading!!! Well anyway I think we have cracked it- watch this space.
Millie has now finally started on solids, I have been putting her off as we had a weekend away in London last weekend so I didn't want to have to take food with me then too. We did have to put her onto hungry milk because she had started waking again in the night but that seems to have worked. She had her first taste of baby rice on Saturday and wasn't sure but enjoyed it yesterday, today she has had pear and again not sure but no doubt before long she will be having a range of tastes and I will have forgotton life before weaning!!!
So as mentioned earlier we had a weekend in London, Liam, Martha, Millie and myself all in one room in a travel lodge- it wasn't as bad as what I thought it was going to be so that was good. Both Martha and Millie seemed to sleep well, and we managed to catch up with quite a few people so that was great!
Photos on Liams website have been slow going on because we have a problem loading them on, plenty have been going on facebook though but will try and get Liam to look at it and see if we can get it working again.
Feeling good about things at the moment, still have good days and bad days but decided to try and get out a bit more and not worrytoo much about Cylch, at the end of the day its not compulsary so it doesn't matter if she misses a morning. Hopefully that will make a difference.

Martha and Millie

2009-02-18T14:28:00.002Z

Snowy days and Iggle Piggle

2009-02-03T20:12:00.004Z

Here are some pics of the snow we have had yesterday and today and the lovely Iggle Piggle!

Pics finally!

2009-02-02T21:12:00.003Z

Playing the piano!

First stamp at Nursery

First swimming lesson

Snug

Marthas first day in Cylch (pre Nursery)

So a whole load of firsts here then!!! LOL! I am actually as we speak trying to upload Liams picture website with a lot more photos but not having much luck.

Snow!!!

2009-02-02T13:41:00.002Z

New years resolution of writing on here has not come off so far but here goes. So as the title suggests yes we have had some snow! Our first of the year and also in our new house. Liam has not made it to London this morning, although I must point out that London it seems have had a lot more snow than us. Yet again we have some snow and the whole country seems to come to a standstill. I thought that we really didn't have much snow- my old school would have been open with this much snow, however Marthas nursery was closed, apparantly the head teacher couldn't make it in. Martha was very disappointed with this, since I last wrote on here Martha has become a lot more settled in Nursery, there are no tears when she goes in and she always says more school when we get home. Martha is also putting loads of words together to make sentences, her favourite phrases are oh dear dear and oh yes. I think these must be phrases I use without thinking about it but hearing Martha say them is quite funny.
Hormones are still up and down and some of the days over the last few weeks have been quite challenging. I think some of it is to do with feeling so tied now that Martha is in Nursery, I can't really getanywhere in the morning and then by the time they have both had a sleep over lunch time and then Millie has her feed there is no point going anywhere. I am hoping that over the next few weeks I will get used to it and things will settle down.
Millie has been doing well and she finally had her last lot of injections last week, she missed it at 16 weeks because it was between Xmas and New Year and there was no clinic, she then missed it two weeks later because she had a slight temp. She finally had them last week, although it was touch and ago as to whether she was going to have it as she still had a bit of a cold, in fact she still does today. So anyway she did have them- after the nurses spent ages looking for a thermometer!! In a surgery too!!! She is now a whoping 16lbs 10oz, well prob over 17 now and is thriving. She was sleeping through but the last few days she has been waking once in the night again, we have upped her feeds and hoping its a growth spurt. I don't want to start her on solids until we have done our trip down to London the weekend after next, we are going to have to take enough stuff with us let alone worrying about stuff for food!! Might buy a pot of extra hungry milk to keep her going a bit longer! Will see what the next few days bring. Its typical, if we hadn't been going to London then she prob wouldn't be wanting food!
So as I mentioned we are off to London in a couple of weeks. We are going down on the Friday and back on the Monday, its going be a hectic couple of days but will get to see lots of old friends which will be good.
Photos I know I have been a bit slack but will try and do it soon, if not this afternoon then hopefully this evening.

New starts

2009-01-14T19:02:00.002Z

A belated Happy New Year everyone! Hope 2009 is good for you! Someone sent me a text saying make a prediction and we will see what happens- heres mine, I will not have a baby this year!!! LOL!!
So as the title states new starts, that time of year when one is full of good intentions and thinks this year is the year!! Well one new start is Martha starting her pre nursery, here it is called a Cylch Meithrin and she goes every morning from 9-12 apart from a Friday cos thats when we go swimming. The first day Martha spent the whole walk there following me with her hands up saying up up up and crying, nothing to do with where we were going (howcould it be, she had never been!) only because she wanted to be lifted, I think she had a few times over Christmas where she was carried and she likes it surprise surprise! So that wasn't a good start but I rang after 5 mins and she had stopped crying and was all settled. The next day she cried when I left but the journey there was good, also when we got home that day she said more school. The following day (Thurs) I left and there was no tears- great! Again once we got home- more school. So a long weekend and Monday is here again. Tears when I left but fine, yesterday more tears when I left but once we got home more school. Today however over breakfast I had no school, home. Reality has obviously set in, its probably obvious to her now that this is happening every day and is not quite sure about it. Martha did walk to school no problem, pushing baba!! However once we got there she didn't even want to walk in and sat on the back of the buggy board! I have been very good and have just let her go in, she starts with the tears and I have walked away, not even crying myself! I did speak to the nursery manager today to see how she is settling in and she said that the last couple of days she has been more vocal. I am sure its all very daunting for her especially as they speak in both English and Welsh (prep for her primary school) Martha has been talking a lot of giberish lately and I am not sure if thats her copying the welsh!! Its so funny. Another thing which became apparant today (not ure if this is because of nursery or not) was that she can stand up for herself. I had a friend round with her little boy and he tried to take a couple of toys off her and on more than one occassion Martha decided she wasn't going to let him have them!! A result, previously she would let other children walk all over her!
So whats else is new, well I am going to go on a diet and do more exercise but that will start next Monday once I have had my birthday over and done with! LOL! Watch this space. My weight during the pregnancy actually went down and once I had given birth to Millie I was a few pound less than when I fell pregnant, however the drinking and eating since has been a bit excessive- Xmas doesn't help! So enough is enough!
Millie is gaining weight well and is now 15lb 9oz already and is fully on bottle now. I want to wait until she is 5 months before I start weaning but I have git some food ready, I have purreed some fruit and veg and the baby rice is waiting in the cupboard, roll on 5 months.
My hormones have pretty much been ok the last month or so but Mon and today things haven't been as good. I think since just before Christmas things have been pretty busy and I hd Liam and family around for a few weeks so time with the just the girls was quite some weeks ago. Last week was ok but then Liam had only gone back to work that week and then we had Martha starting nursery and other stuff going on. Not sure what has happened this week but had a few moments, not sure if its hormones settling now I have stopped feeding or whether not relishing waking up on my birthday with two little ones who don't know any different!! Today I met my antenatal friends and they surprised me with a load of cards and a birthday cake- full with candles and everything- it was lovely and a real pick up after my little down moments.
I have been trying to upload some pics direct from my phone but its not been working so will post them on here later.

Another Xmas come and gone!

2008-12-30T20:45:00.002Z

Been meaning to write on here from sometime now but with all good intentions and quite a few busy weekends it hasn't happened.
Martha is now 2 and is really coming on now with words and phrases and copying even more. I actually said shxx the other day and in the corner this little voice repeats me! That will teach me! We need to be a lot more careful now.
We had a lovely weekend the weekend of her birthday, starting with new swimming lessons for both of them, Millie wasn't so keen but more to do with being hungry than anything else as the next week she was fine! Martha really enjoyed it too. We had most of the family here for her birthday and had a little tea party for her which was lovely. Not sure she quite understands the concept yet but still fun anyway. It seems that since then and until a couple of days ago is all she has done is open presents and cards so her birthday and Christmas have all rolled into one. She must be confused.
The Xmas tree was put up the Sunday after Marthas birthday and she was very wary of it at first and all the other decorations, including my parents but she soon got used to them. Now she loves watching and looking for lights.
The day Jen, Lynn, Steve and Erin left to go back up North after Marthas birthday Erin was starting to get a cold, by the Monday we all had it and so did everyone in Liverpool, how quickly these things spread and also come round again. It had seemed so quickly, mind you we had gone such a long time since the last illness before that so can't complain and when Martha starts Cilch (pre nursery) next week I am sure we will start getting colds frequently again.
I am sure a lot has gone on since then but trying to keep things brief!!
The weekend before Xmas we were in Liverpool visiting family and friends which was nice, busy too. We then had Xmas day just the 4 of us which was lovely and quiet, although we did go to my parents Church Xmas morning as our local one down the road only had a midnight mass. Martha was sort of understanding that Santa had been but not fully and wasn't excited enough to rush down stairs in fact it took some coaxing to get her dressed, she was happy playing with her old toys!!!
Martha and Millie both had loads of presents, both toys and clothes and money, very spoilt little girls, not sure where we are going to put them all- well the money is obvious- a bank account!!! The one present rule was mostly stuck too but they still had loads.
Boxing Day was spent in my parents house and we were there for a few days, both Martha and Millie have been out of sorts over the Xmas week and Liam had some sort of tummy bug, which incidentally my mum has now got. Not sure if all the travelling and different faces, beds and environments in such a short period of time has been too much for them, you think they are fine but when they can't tell you much its difficult to tell. Everything sounded so good on paper but in theory its a different story, things might have to change next year but thats a whole year away now so don't need to think about it just yet!!
Sunday saw us in Ikea buying some bits of storage for their new toys but more so for bookcases for our office. Lately the office has become a dumping ground and getting worse and worse so we have finally decided to do something about it- well I have and I am bossing Liam round, he will thank me for it in the spring when he wants to be in the garden.
So Liam now has the rest of this week off and we are hoping to have some family time together. Tomorrow is New Years Eve and as in the past few years it will probably be a quiet night in with some nice food, wine and a film- maybe even to bed before 12 for me!!!
We hope you all had a lovely Christmas and all the best for 2009.

Elves disco style

2008-12-03T13:50:00.001Z

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Elves

2008-12-03T13:44:00.001Z

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

upsy daisy

2008-11-28T12:04:00.001Z

Create your own FACEinHOLE

FACEinHOLE

2008-11-28T11:52:00.001Z

Create your own FACEinHOLE

2008-11-24T21:16:00.003Z

Colds are over with for now and there seems to be loads of news so best get on!!

Martha had her very first haircut last week, how scary and exciting. I wasn't sure how she was going to react to having chopping at it, she doesn't like it being brushed much so I went in with my fingers crossed. Funny though went up to the hairdressers on the main road on Thurs morning hoping I could have it cut there and then- she didn't have her scissors!!!? Well anyway went up later that day and she got sat in the chair and the apron went on- first word to come out of Marthas mouth- off!! Great start, however I held her hand and she was fine, kept saying off off off and I think that was more to her hair coming off rather than wanting apron off. I think if sahe had wanted the apron off she would have created more fuss over it. Wasn't sure up until that moment whether she was going to have a fringe or not and in the end I decided to go for it, not sure how long it will last but actually it makes her hair a lot easier to manage as now I don't need clips and bobbles so even though it will need to be cut more often it might actually be worth it. So there we have it Martha had her hair cut!

Sarah turned 30 a few weeks ago and it was arranged that we would have a family meal last Saturday in Morgans in Swansea, very nice hotel and restaurant- I think CZJ has been there. We met early afternoon and had a really lovely meal and catch up with everyone. This was followed by the game (Wales v NZ) and then drinks down the 12. A really good night and a lot of Sarahs friends made it out which was nice for her too. She wasn't as drunk as I thought she might have been in fact it was me who was a little bit worse for wear, but then I have had 10 months off so who can blame me. I was actually ok until we left and got home and then I think the fresh air hit me quite hard! Not a pretty sight.

Martha is now really getting loads of words and putting them together loads now, I think when she goes to the cilch in Jan she will get even better, she is so busy and doesn't stop. She is great.

Millie is now coming along nicely now too and is gurgling loads and smiling loads too, such a lovely time, I know where she is if I put her down and just generally being very cute.

Christmas is fast approaching and I am quite glad to say we are pretty much sorted now and I know the next few weeks will fly by what with it being Marthas birthday next week- can't believe she is going to be 2!! I had a real problem getting to sleep last night and I was thinking loads about Christmas and getting excited about what it will be like in a few years- how sad am I!! Tonight I need to clear my mind and get a good nights sleep!

I updated Liams website the other day and just now have my November pictures to put on there and pictures from Sarahs birthday on Sat. Will do that soon but not tonight. Off to grab an earlyish night.

Playing at being mum!

2008-11-20T08:34:00.001Z

Colds, colds and more colds!!

2008-11-16T13:21:00.002Z

So as the title suggests we have had colds. Martha started the ball rolling a week and a half ago and I sort of got mine not long after that. Millie then also started with hers the end of last week and continued into this week. So horrible when they are so little. They both still have fairly nasty coughs too which is not nice. To top it off Liam has one now this weekend which hopefully will see the end of it for a few weeks at least. There is obviously loads of it around there aren't many people I have seen recently who either have had a cold or know of someone who has a cold. Last weekend was pretty tough too as both Millie and Martha both had one night of not being settled. Marthas was a strange one, we were in my parents and we got up in middle of the night to feed Millie, it was when I went downstairs that I heard Martha shouting haaaaa hooooooooo and singing. This was just before 4.00, I went it to see her and she creid and wanted to go downstairs, then she wanted to me to get in bed with her, I finally got her to lie down, however when I left and went back to my room she was still singing!!!!? I went back in, gave her some calpol in case that was the problem and she finally went to sleep around 4.30. My mother had also been up and her room backs onto where Martha sleeps- she had been up since 2.30 singing on and off!! What a strange thing. It had been very windy and rainy and the door next to my parents house had been banging and we thought that might have woken her and then she just couldn't settle. So that was the Saturday night, the Sunday night was Millies turn, she had been fine until she woke to feed, then she just didn't settle at all, she kept coughing and was full of cold and I think that was the problem. Monday then with me being shattered and Millie being ill we then left Martha with my parents to ease things a little bit. Health visitor came out that day and weighed Millie, after my worrying she put on 13oz!!! Made up for the previous week. She was a little bit worried about her illness. So we rung the doctor, not sure I have spoken about the weird system here, you ring up, then the doc rings back and decides whether you should see them!! We rung at 12.00 and were told we would be rung back in the next hour or so, 4.00 still no call. They did finally ring about 4.30 and Liam spoke to the doc (he was working from home on Mon) the doc didn't seem too concerned and said we were more than welcome to go up but we said we wouldn't and if she was worse the next day we would go up. She was better the next day so that was good. She did have a temp on the Sunday night and Monday morning but that had gone by Tues so all good. She still has a cough and a bit of a watery eye but hopefully over the worst now.
Liam is funny, we have a digital thermometer and he keeps saying he has a temp but every time he takes it is fine!! He is pretty under the weather though and he has been good this weekend, still letting me have a lie in this morning- love you!
Got our Xmas shopping pretty much finished last weekend, it was good to get it over and done with, although we did miss having a pram to hook bags onto, our hands were aching so much by the end of it.
This week has been a lot better for me emotionally and hopefully a sign of things to come!?
Oh by the way Liam has found an easier way for me to put pics onto his website so will be doing that over the next few days.

My two beautiful girls

2008-11-07T11:13:00.001Z

Chilling out with auntie Sarah

2008-11-06T22:34:00.001Z

Another little blip!!

2008-11-06T16:33:00.003Z

All has been going well and Millie is in a bit of a routine and is so far (touch wood) good in the nights, up once and then straight back. I had even been saying to my antenatal friends how positive I had been feeling. That was until went to have her first injections on Tuesday, they were fine yes she screamed but even I scream a bit when having injections so who can blame her! However, I also wanted her weighed to just check things were still going well. this is where it all goes wrong. Millie only put on an ounce last week, average is 6-8. So that set me off worrying, health visitor said not to worry but its easy for her to say and especially after what we went through with Martha don't want to do that again. Martha has been full of cold so that has been a bit of a challenge too, such hard work. So anyway looking on things I have probably not been drinking enough fluids for the feeding and also I think my milk had dried up a bit with giving the top ups, so yesterday Millie is still having top ups but I was putting her to the breast a bit more. Today I have noticed the tingling you get when the breast fills up or is ready for a feed and I have leaked a bit again so hopefully things will get back on track next week. If not then we will cross that bridge when we come to it.
On a more positive note Martha has been going down in her bed and not getting up and out again for us to spend quite some time picking her up and putting her back in!! She was fine when she first went in the bed and I think she didn't realise she could get out. Then I think it was not long after Millie was born we tok to getting out and playing all sorts of games, including pretending to cry then stopping when we arrived, pretending to have had a poo to name a few. However since the end of last week she has gone in and stayed in, she was even singing in bed the other night so hopefully we have turned a corner and that stage is over and done with for awhile.
Can't quie belive we are in November already! Liam and I are hoping to take full advantage of my parents this weekend and go to the cinema and go Xmas shopping without the girls. It is actually the only weekend we can do it, unless we want to go one of the last weekends before Xmas- not likely! We have already dnoe quite a bit of shopping (I should say I have!!!) so hopefully we can get it wrapped (get it!) up this weekend.
I have been totally rubbish with photos and I know Liams website needs updating but I don't know how to do it on this computer bu hoefully they will be updated soon.

A little blip!

2008-10-24T20:19:00.002Z

Well Millie is now 7 weeks old and Liam has been back in work 5 weeks and all well. Almost! Monday was one of those days where I didn't really have anything planned but was quite happy about that but after 2 hours of Millie feeding on me I lost the plot. I think for a few days upto that point I had been worrying that Millie was not getting enough from me, even though she was having top ups. Of course with Marthas early weight issues running through my mind too paranoia was setting in. Not good. Martha was testing the boundaries a little bit too so everything just getting to me a little. Of course when Millie was weighed on Tues she had put on a healthy 6 and half ounces, great. Although something had to be done as I could not go on sitting there for 2 hours constantly feeding, not with Martha to deal with and wanting to be amused. Didn't know whether to give up with the breastfeeding or carry on, half of me wanted to do give up and half of me didn't want to give in!! So anyway I have decided now not to stress too much about things and I am carrying on with the breastfeeding but if Millie is still hungry then she gets a little top up. If my milk dries up through this then I will give up but at least I will have tried. Plus Martha needs me too I am a mother of two now not a newborn only! Will let you know how it goes.
I had a couple of days with my parents this week too which was lovely and helped me too. Its so good having them close by, not sure how I would be coping if we were still living in Hounslow.
Not a lot of other news really, Liam and I are going out tomorrow night for a meal and a couple of drinks, nothing mad really as I am feeding but just a chance to be the 2 of us. Nice having parents close, we went out for our anniversary in the summer, aside from that not sure when we went out the two of us. Looking forward to it.
Will put some pics on here soon, doing better with that lately though don't you think?

My girls

2008-10-16T15:03:00.001Z

Messing about with Millies hat!

2008-10-16T14:20:00.001Z

Some pics!

2008-10-13T19:11:00.005Z

A good week, Millie was a little guzzler last week and it showed on the scales today, a whopping 14 oz gain. A lovely day yesterday and what better than to spend it on the beach, if only we had known how nice it was going to be. No towel or anything to sit on, I must admit when we set off I thought it would have been a nice walk along the beach but not sitting on the beach. Oh well a good day was had anyway. Anyway here are some pics as promised.

Ooppps same pic posted twice, no idea how to get rid of it!!! Oh well at least she is cute!

Its a hard life!

2008-10-09T23:06:00.001Z

Sound asleep

2008-10-06T20:34:00.001Z

Just testing out new phone!

Hospitals grr!

2008-10-04T17:53:00.002Z

Yet again we have spent some time in hospital and lo and behold it was a different one! Not sure there are many more we can sample now!! As I mentioned in my post the other day I was concerned about Millie being very sleepy. She did feed that night but it took a lot of work and was still sleepy Fri morning. I rang the health visitor and just left a message, in the meantime my parents and my gran came to visit. In the afternoon Millie was still sleepy and the health visitor rang me up to see what was up. I explained that Millie was very sleepy and that she had been hard work to feed, also she hadn't had a bowel movement since Tuesday morning. She suggested some tips to get her bowels moving but was concerned about her sleepiness especially as I had said it was out of character for her. So she wanted me to see the GP. Before we went to the docs I tried to wake Millie and give her a feed, I changed her nappy and lifted her legs to her head to hopefully get things moving below. It worked and she let out some wind followed by a very thick brown poo!- Nice! I then gave her a little feed and off we went to docs. The doctor did a pretty thorough examination of Millie and stripped her off to listen to her chest etc. Millie was still asleep and didn't cry, something she hadn't done the last couple of days. She couldn't say what was wrong and wasn't overly concerned but wanted us to go to hospital to be on the safe side.
So here we go another journey to hospital, good job my parents were here as my Dad was able to collect Liam from train station and my mother came with me to Singelton hospital in Swansea.
After examination from the doctor there and the registrar it was decided that bloods would be taken, urine collected and that she would be admitted overnight. No initial concerns though but could see that Millie was drowsy. Liam and I were both allowed to stay so he went home to get our things. Millie and I got onto the ward around 9.30 where we were seen by someone else. By this time Millie was starting to become a little more alert (typical!). They wanted Millie fed 2-3 hourly and nappies were weighed to see how much urine she was passing. The nurses were lovely and woke me up the first time to feed but then Millie woke the second time in the night to feed- whoo hooo!! It was more like 3-4 hourly though which was nice not sure I could have coped with feeding at 1.00 for 45 mins to be woken again at 3.00 etc. I was already tired and feeling worn out- not good for my milk.
This morning the doctors did their rounds and the outcome was that the bloods were ok and they were waiting for the urine sample results. Millie was more alert, had fed well and also cried. We were told that if urine came back ok we could go home but that it would be a couple of hours. I managed to sleep while Liam had some dad to daughter bonding. The nurse then came and told us that the urine would take longer because the lab people were not in on a Sat, so we could take another sample and they would do a general dipstick test, as long as that came back ok we could go home. It did and off we went, we haven't heard anything about the urine sample so hopefully everything is clear. As for what was wrong the only explanation was that it could have been a mild viral infection that cleared itself up. I think maybe the big poo helped!?
Millie was weighed when we got to the hospital and was down a bit from Monday but hopefully thats down to her not feeding much Thurs and Fri and when the health visitor comes out on Monday she will be back up a bit. I feel like my milk has decreased a bit since this has been going on and I know Millie will probably be a little guzzler the next couple of days and I am going to have to try and deal with it so my milk will be up. Liam has said he is going to take Martha out for the day tomorrow so that I can do just that but I think it will probably depend on the weather, what a change since this time last week.
So thats the latest hospital visit, hopefully now that we have been to 4 different one in the area thats it for awhile!!! I think Millie missed out on getting name labels when she was born that she wanted her own set and how else to get them than a visit to hospital!!!

4 weeks already

2008-10-02T20:04:00.004Z

Yes you've guessed it Millie is 4 weeks tomorrow! I don't know where the time has gone!

Millie has been doing well and is now 8lb 1oz which is pretty much spot on according to the health visitor.

Liam has done almost 2 weeks in work now and it has been ok, sure we have had a few moments but personally not as bad as I thought it would be. Last week was fairly busy which included me seeing Rachel and Daniel for the first time, what a little cutie and another sleepy baby- Millie obviously isn't the only one! Both mother and baby looking and doing well.

The weekend was fairly quiet and Liam was very kind in letting me have a couple of early nights- I love you Liam x

The start of this week Martha spent a couple of nights with my parents which was nice for me to catch up, life is so easy with one small baby!! I don't think I appreciated how easy it was back then when Martha was tiny. LOL! I met up with my antenatal friends for coffee and saw most of the newbies, only one baby left to pop out and one other girl who didn't make it this week but is hoping to next week. Its been every week we have met so far which has been great and hopefully will continue. Its great sharing our stories, concerns, advice and everything else baby or not!

Wednesday I took Martha with my friend Nic and her little boy Jac to a soft play place. It was pretty empty there but we both decided that it was probably better for Martha and Jac as they could play on the stuff on thier own and build their confidence. I am pretty sure if it had been very busy there Martha wouldn't have liked playing, it took her ages as it was to get into it.

Today has been a day of nothing and general household choreness, plus grabbing an hour at lunchtimeness!!! Great! PLus I now have an eye infection- fun!

Tomorrow my Nan is coming to visit and will meet Millie for the first time so that will be nice for them. Plus my parents will be here so yet another chance for a bit of a break. The tiredness is really over whelming at the moment.

Yesterday and most of my days since Liam went back to work have been good days without tears, however today was not one of those days, Millie has slept all day and hasn't taken as much milk as she normally does, she wasn't even waking for feeds I was waking her and she was asleep through the feeds too. I have been worried and I am concerned whether she will wake in the night- listen to me, other people would be praying for a long night!! I have reason though and esp with all the issues we had with Marthas weight. I have decided to see what happens tonight and see how she is in the morning, if she is still sleepy in the morning then I will ring health visitor for some advice.

So thats our news for now, Liam worked out how to upload pics to our website but I can't remember how to do it but for now here are a few for you to look at.

We are crying lots! (Round 2!)

2008-09-22T19:01:00.002Z

As the title suggests my hormones yet again have been just amazing!! (I had a similar post back in Dec 2006 ranting about my crying!) Last week was quite bad and all could think of was how was I going to get through this week and the following weeks without Liam being here to help. Plus Millies weight dropped to 7lb 6oz which is fine but after the problems we had with Martha I am paranoid! She was weighed again by Tina (midwife) last Thurs and had put on an ounce so was happier then. Health Visitor came today and she is now back up to her birth weight so a lot happier. Also without having Xmas and New Year to screw us over with weigh ins I am sure we will be able to keep on top of things this time.
The weeks while Liam was at home were good, we had his family down a couple of weekends ago which was nice but also quite busy with having Erin (just turned 1) here aswell. My hormones were pretty bad that weekend and then carried on into last week but hopefully things are settling down a bit now! The end of last week was a lot better and I did have a couple of moments over the weekend but nothing like what it had been like. Also today has been my first day with Liam back in work and no tears, apart from a teeny moment this morning with Liam. So quite pleased about that. I think if today had been bad then it wouldn't have set me up well for the week. Not sure who is going to find it harder Liam or me, I think we will both have good days and bad days and we knew this was going to be hard but things will settle down again and I am sure we will cope. If we were in Hounslow I would still be on my own for the majority of the day and night feeds I would be doing because Liam would be in work next day. Having family close by is going to make a big difference and also starting to get to know people in the area now too which is good.
Last weekend we invited a couple of the neighbours round to toast Millie, both Liam and I were very nervous about doing it but it was a good couple of hours and we were both glad we did it. Especially as two of the girls have now become Marthas new best friends!! They are 8 and 10 and want to play with Martha loads which is nice as it keeps her occupied. Also while Liam was putting up our new shed with my Dad on Sat the future son-in-law from across the road came over and started helping. These sorts of things would never have happened in Hounslow. Its just so nice to know the people who you live near and also I now feel like I could actually call on a neighbour if I needed to.
So the rest of the week is going to be busy and I think I will try to keep my weeks like that as staying in all day is no good for anyone. Sure I will have bad days but hopefully more good ones than bad!!
Off to do some household chores now while the two M's are settled. Will put some pics on soon when I take some!!!

Millie Rose Bennett has arrived!

2008-09-11T19:04:00.003Z

Most of you who read this will already know that Millie Rose Bennett entered the world on Friday 5th September 2008, 8.45pm 7lb 11oz. If you had asked me many months ago when I first found out I was pregnant and the dates were done I would have said that she was going to be born on the 5th of Sept and that I was carrying a girl! I know I should have said then but I did to some people. Only because Martha was due on 2nd of the month and born on the 5th so following that I thought the same would happen with Millie being due on 2nd and then the girl thing was because the first three months were pretty much the same as with Martha. Then people were saying things about the amount of movement and I felt Millie was moving a lot more so thought it could be a boy, then I thought I was carrying the same so thought it was a girl, then I just switched between and should have gone with my gut instinct! As for dates well with the ins and outs of hospital and the fact that head had been engaged so early made me think she was coming early. Well shouldn't have changed my mind should I!!!

So home birth, no I ended up in hospital but mainly because when my waters went there was old meconium (baby poo and a sign of distress) in my waters and the one midwife who was here thought it should be checked out. Also the heart rate dropped slightly but apparantly thats quite normal close to delivery. My midwife Tina wanted us to stay and just have the ambulance on stand by but the other midwife is a bit more traditional and wanted to go by the rules. The reason the other midwife thought it would be ok to stay is because the guidlines are changing and if old meconium is found then it isn't essential that it get checked out as long as everything else is ok. Also by the time the ambulance did arrive on stand by outside the house I was very close to delivering and my midwife Tina was worried that I would deliver on route- its a good 45 min drive to hospital. Anyway when two midwives disagree about what to do then it has to go by the rules so we ended up going in. I was very close to delivering and the ambulance guy was quite worried we would have to pull over. I wouldn't believe I was that close and also thought I was going because I wanted to go and was going to have an epidural!! Totally oblivious to anything else going on!!! I got to hospital at 8.10 and delivered by 8.45 so very close. I did have some pethadine when I got to hospital but it didn't hit me until after I had delivered and think it was given to me to shut me up! I was a lot more vocal this time in labour, even shouted at my mum at one point, last time I was a lot more quiet. The pushing bit surprised me and was over very quickly, less than 10 mins! During labour I wouldn't believe anything Tina told me and thought I was going to be ages in hospital hence the epidural, Tina had told me I was fully dilated but I wouldn't believe her! I didn't believe anything she said!!! I should be more trusting.

It also turned out that if a different midwife had been with Tina then I wouldn't have ended up in hospital. Oh well I had a lot of drama and a ride in an ambulance! Tina has said that as far as she is concerned I had a home birth and only went into hospital to deliver. I even ended coming home that night and was home by 12.30, that was really nice to not have to stay in over night and be in my own bed.

So details over with and now we are a family of 4!!! Martha on the whole has been very good with her and at the moment seems to understand that Millie is with is permanently. I am managing to feed again and so far so good, not being weighed again until 10 days so only time will tell if she is getting enough milk from me. I am trying to make sure that Martha gets lots of attention from me but it is difficult with me feeding. Hopefully things will get easier and I am hoping to do a couple of days next week as if I was on my own. Liam can then get some work done as his two weeks pat leave started last Fri so that would make up for the extra day too. Plus its how its going to be the week after next so need to get to grips with dealing with the two M's!!

Most of the pics will be on Liams website shortly but here are some for you to feast your eyes on. Oh btw a lot of people say she looks like Martha, I do see that but it seems to be more in pics than in real life!!??

Nope no baby yet!

2008-09-03T19:00:00.003Z

I did say the other night that I was going to post on here now once the baby has arrived but unfortunately no baby has arrived as yet but on the upside I have some news!
Martha has done her first poo on her potty!!!!! LOL!!! How exciting and great timing!! She has been very aware down below for some time, saying when she is having poo's and wee's so we bought a couple of potties. She has sat on them with clothes on but very reluctant without and when she has sat on it it has only been for a few seconds. So earlier on Liam went to the toilet and she followed and wanted to take her trousers off and go on the potty so Liam let her, she was then just pottering around in the bathroom when all of a sudden she pulled a strained face. I quickly put her on the potty and she stayed there- thankfully don't know what mess we would have had if she hadn't stayed put. So anyway there we have it her first official poo on the potty. We weren't going to do anything proper about her potty training until she was really ready and could pull her trousers down and also when baby was here and in a bit of a routine, so in a way it couldn't have come at a worse time. We shall have to see what she does tomorrow now!

On another note she is now on a reward chart as I was finding general things like changing a nappy, getting dressed, eating etc have become a little more on her terms and taking a long time. I am not going to be able to spend the time with this when baby arrives so she now has stars when she has been good, she now has 7 stars and is responding well to it. I am not sure she totally understands but she does like the stars. I think also with everything that has gone on over the last few weeks she has been out of a routine, has spent time with my parents and a bit messed about so I don't think that has helped her but hopefully now after having a good week here not being too messed around will settle her back a bit.

Back to baby news, my friend Rachel was due to give birth 2 weeks after me, well like all her friends who are/ have been pregnant and due over the last few weeks or so she went and gave birth early. Daniel Aneirin was born on Sunday morning 5lb 13oz! I predicted ages ago that she would as my other friend did the same to me when I was pregnant with Martha, then with everything that happened with me I thought no. She did very well and went into labour on Sat night/ early Sun morning and got to hospital 8cm dilated, she had been adamant she wanted an epidural but managed without- well done Rach! I am very proud of you and pleased for you and Dean.

As for my baby news I am now officially late and most bets are on for Friday, months ago when I found out I was pregnant and due on the 2nd Sept I said that it wouldn't be the 2nd but the 5th as Martha had been due on the 2nd but came on the 5th. Silly I know but you never now we could start a trend and birthdays would be easy to remember! Also my periods were always very regular but instead of being 28 days they were 31 days so going on that it would put it three days later like Martha, some docs go with your actual amount of days others go with regular 28 days. I suppose only time will tell and the baby will be born when its good and ready.
I am pretty sure now that I will be posting once baby has been born but you never know I might have a lot more news soon!!

Wish me luck!

What a couple of weeks!

2008-08-30T20:26:00.002Z

Liam has been hassling me about updating this as the last time I updated I had had what I thought was a tummy bug with my stomach being quite tender.
I felt fine the rest of that weekend and went out on the Monday to meet my antenatal friends, ate normally- tummy was still tender though. Anyway something was telling me after lunch to go and spend the afternoon with my parents, the afternoon turned into the evening and I was going to stay the night. Until just before 10.00 I had these unbelievable cramps right down at the bottom of my stomach, just like you get when you haven't quite made it for a pee!! Anyway out of range from my midwife was told to either get back home to Ammanford or go to hospital local to my parents. I then decided that if I came back here the midwife would have to come out and if still in pain prob end up making another 45 min journey to hospital. So in the end rung the local hospital and they sent a midwife out who said it could be a urine infection and I needed to go to hospital. In the meantime Liam had been called and was making his way to Paddington all set to come home which I decided he should do at that moment as I wanted him with me.
On way to hospital pain changed and I had pain in my back and front exactly like contractions but just one constant one and really thought I was in labour. Got to hospital and they checked me over, lots of protein and ketones in urine, asked if I had been sick or not eaten- answer no had been fine since the Friday before, told my I was not in labour and gave me some pethadine for the pain I was having- it did nothing whatsoever!!! The pain finally died away but then I was left with this awful dull but painful ache in my side. Liam arrived at hospital gone 3 in the morning and then stayed with me. Inital thoughts from medics was that it was indeed a urine infection. Next day the doctor had wanted 24 hour urine collection and a scan, neither of which was carried out and the doc I did see said it was most likely muscular as. I was then moved to the ward and just being monitored through the day, care was useless and reminded me of when I had been in hospital afterwards with Martha on the postnatal ward. Nurses chatting away and no answers or help. So anyway day goes on, parents come with Martha and I ask if I can go home, answer no as I was still in pain. Liam leaves and was just leaving the building as I had been put on a monitor- babies heart rate drops and I am told I am off to labour ward to have an emergancy c section! Liam comes back, I am on labour ward strapped up again and lo and behold heart rate back up, baby having a nice old dance!! Saw the first doc who wanted to know why I hadn't had scan and urine collected!!?? Anyway as heart rate was back up I was told that if heart rate dropped again I would be having a c section and that I had to be monitored all night!
Heart rate did drop once again but this time docs were in surgery and by the time they had come out heart rate was back up and didn't need c section.

Another disturbed night, no c section and then different docs, had to have a scan. No problem there- just the communication- had the scan at 11.00, it took them 3 hours to get the results upstairs to where I was on ward! Still in a lot of pain and prob getting worse because I was getting uptight with no answers. Martha also saw me in pain and now if I even pull a slightly painful face then she is Mummy ow ow. Not good! Anyway I kicked off and all of a sudden there were loads of people round my bed trying to find out what was wrong, did bloods and urine again and came back ok, checked for appendicitus to rule it out too. So in the end was sent home with what they thought was muscular pain!! Why couldn't I have gone home on Tuesday and saved all the emotions. It was really horrible on the Wed as I really thought we were having a c section, all the girls who had been induced on the ward the day before had their babies and I could see them it was not nice, I just wanted my baby.

So days of rest were what followed with the pain easing over the days- being at home helped. Friday I was to see the consultant to see if I needed to be induced so that the if the pain was not baby related then baby could come out and then more invasive tests could be done, well he was a bit useless and I was sent home without anything other than another date to go down after due date has passed. On that Friday I hadn't been able to give a urine sample and I was conscious of that all day. I hadn't passed water since 7/8 in the morning, a call to m/w suggested I needed to go down to hospital. Off we go this time to Carmarthen hospital and of course as soon as I get there I pass water! They strap me up to monitor, everything else fine so jsut watching me, again you get the usual nurses chatting and laughing but no care or answers- I really hate hospitals now! In the end I was moved to a ward but passed water again, they were happy with the sample and thankfully was sent home!

Still in alot of pain and discomfort over the weekend and quite tired so lots of rest was had and needed. Sat night arrives and I get this back ache like I had before I went into labour with Martha, didn't sleep well that night and thought I had a few minie contractions, well that didn't turn into anything and was still having back problems when Liam left for work Tuesday morning. I was seeing my own midwife that morning and she did an internal to see where we were at as she said with everything that had gone on and the back ache that something wasn't right. Things had moved on since last internal in first hospital which was good and she said cevix was nice and soft too, she also said a lot of other things and was explaining them very well I am sure but a lot of it was going over my head! I also got my parents over as didn't feel like I could deal with Martha on my own with my back the way it was and was also worried about being on my own. So my mother moved in for the rest of this week just gone until Liam came home yesterday. It was great having her around and support with Martha- all this would have been horrible in London. Saw midwife again on Thursday and she is off next week!!! But has said she isn't going anywhere and will do her best to be with me when I do go into labour. She did another internal and said things had changed slightly but no imminent signs of labour that day. However since then have had the odd contraction here and there and a few more today but that could be braxton hicks and could go on for awhile yet. Also had a show though so will see what the next few days bring!! Hope that wasn't all too confusing for you all and I am off to bed for an early night- trying to get as much sleep in as possible before baby arrives. Will probably post again now when baby has put in an appearance! By the way latest consensus is its a boy as only a boy could cause this much trouble! Bets are being taken on due date now.

Feeling rough!

2008-08-16T20:02:00.002Z

So for the last week or so I have been convinced things are moving with regards to the baby. Head has really been pushing down this week and that has led me to believe, rightly or wrongly that baby will not make due date! My mother was away yesterday and today and was so paranoid that something was going to happen. So Thursday night arrives and I lie down to go to sleep and I feel really sick, then I spend most of the night up and down on the toilet and tossing and turning in bed not really sure whats up. Yesterday morning when I finally get the energy to get out of bed and deal with Martha I feel rough as. Get Martha and myself some breakfast, however I can't eat mine as still feeling sick. Still back and forth the toilet, some say you empty your bowels before labour but this was crazy. Not sure what to do for best and just about managing with Martha decided to give in and call my Dad. He came over to give me a rest and looked after Martha. In the meantime I decided to speak to the midwife, not knowing really if there was anything she could do, in my mind it was a tummy bug. She came out and did a routine check and sent some urine off to be tested. She then informed me that the babies head is 3/5's engaged, something that didn't happen with Martha until the very end. She also thought the way I was moving that something might be happening. Poor midwife found it difficult to decide whether it was a tummy bug or something else, she also said if it was a tummy bug that it could set things off. My stomach was aching so much if it was something else yesterday I don't think I would have had the energy to go through labour at home. After trying to get some rest and trying to eat- unsuccesfully with both, the midwife rung to see how things were, as I was still feeling sick she said it was most likely a tummy bug or something I had eaten.
So anyway after a much better nights sleep last night, I am feeling a lot more refreshed and been able to eat a lot more today. My stomach still feels very tender and I am getting twitches every now and then - contractions, braxton hicks- who knows only time will tell, all I know is that I am very uncomfortable! Liam now doesn't know whether to go back to London on Monday or whether to work from home. I think we will have to see how I am feeling this time tomorrow night. My own feeling is that if he goes to London something will happen and if he doesn't then we will just be waiting and could be for another couple of weeks or even more! I am only 37 weeks now. So well thats the latest update and will try to keep you informed of any other developments- if I can!

Life in Wales

2008-08-03T20:12:00.004Z

7 weeks in or is it 8, either way can't believe we have been living here that long!! A nice week last week with Liam coming home early on Wed for our anniversary which was lovely and will probably make this week that much harder! Finished my antenatal classes last week also so that means the following weeks are going to be a bit quieter, well until baby arrives at least! Although was brave enough to suggest we meet up and are doing so next Mon for a mid morning cuppa. There are 7 of us I think and if I ome away with a couple of good friends then great, if I come away with 6 good friends then even better! They will be my first friends I will have made in the area, apart from a few conversations with the neighbours. I am sure when Martha starts her little welsh nursery in January then I will meet more parents there. Also there is the chance I will meet others when I finally start going to Mother and Baby/ Toddler groups. This week is a fairly quiet week with the only thing planned is my next antenatal appointment with the midwife. Thats on Wed so there is no chance of me meeting one of my friends either as thats her only day off. I suppose I could get on with sorting out the office and empting some more boxes but probably won't, hoepfully the weather will be nicer this week and Martha and I can get out and do some nice things together before baby arrives.

Liam and I had a nice 3rd anniversary this week and we went out for a really nice meal last night. We went to a place in Llandeilo which is about 25 mins drive away but it doesn't matter seeing as I am not drinking currently. Its a nice hotel and quite well known in the area and I am not surprised the food was really really nice. If I hadn'tbeen pregnant we might have stayed over and really splashed out but hey maybe next year. I have been reminiscing a bit the last couple of weeks about our wedding, can't believe it was 3 years ago but also feels like it was a few weeks ago. I have had the book which everyone signed out and its been quite funny reading some of the comments people wrote to us. Also looking at pictures has been really good. I said at the time that I would get married all over again as the day was so good, especially getting dressed up like that- I would still do it again! I wonder if I will ever lose that feeling?

35 weeks pregnant now, nearly 36 and can't believe the time has gone so quickly! Starting to get a bit uncomfortable now but don't want these last few weeks to go too quickly as trying to enjoy my time with just Martha. I am quite concerned how she will react when the baby arrives, I think a lot of spoiling her will be necessary. I am sure everyone around us will do that though anyway. Hopefully I will be updating on here before baby arrives and in the meantime here is a pic of me now. If you want to compare you can go right the start of my blog and find a pic of me about a week before I was due last time, obviously a few weeks difference but comments on shape, gender of baby are all welcome, the jusy is def out down here!!

Marthas new room

2008-08-03T19:48:00.004Z

Well did promise some time ago that I would put some pics of Marthas new room on here, here they are!

Back in the land of internet!!

2008-07-24T18:12:00.002Z

As you can see from the title I am back online, even if I did break two computers last week trying to get online, how desperate can one girl be!!! It is great being back online though.
Shame is we are not wireless yet, that will be even better, I am never happy!!!

So Marthas room was painted and decorated now we just need to set up her bed, put up some shelves and rearrange the furniture. Hopefully that will be done over the next week or so and then I will post some pics for you to see. We can then set up the babies room so thats all ready to go. Only 6 weeks left now!! Feeling quite positive about the birth at the moment and thats after watching a home birth at antenatal classes last week too, that sort of brought it home a bit but fingers crossed it will all go to plan. I really hated being in hospital last time after the birth, the post natal ward was horrific and I think if I keep remembering that then I will be fine!!! Scary!

Whilst on the subject of pics, some of you will remember that I posted a link to a photo shoot we had done a few weeks ago now. Well we decided to get hold of the CD and now have in our posession all the images. If you would like to order them then you can do so through us, we will be a lot cheaper than the website but might be slightly higher than the shops so we can make a bit of money back.

So far things are going well with Liam commuting each week, I did have a bad day last week and that affected Liam too, I got all emotional over broken computers- how sad but then the tears wouldn't stop coming! Hormones. I think the real test will be when the baby arrives and Liam is back in work.

Can't believe we have been here now for over a month, it is incredible where the time goes. Speaking of which its our anniversary next week, 3 years where did that time go!!! Liam has decided to come back Wed next week instead of Friday and work from home for two days. It will be a good test to see how he actually manages to work from home as we are hoping he will be able to make it 4 days in London and 3 at home after Xmas. I need to stay out of his way!
Lost the point there, wedding anniversary, lol, Liam will be home which will be really nice and then we are going out to a localish restaurant on Sat evening for a nice meal. Martha will be at my parents so a lie in too- yummy, can't wait!

Will post some pics soon, promise!!!

Settling in

2008-07-11T09:54:00.002Z

Well in a few spare minutes that I have got at my parents I thought I wold quickly update!
Can't believe we have now been in Wales nearly 3 weeks! The boxes are slowly disappearing and rooms are looking like the rooms they are meant to be now rather than dumping grounds.
I have been quite busy and I think thats why the time has flown by.

Met my midwife last week and I am hoping for a home birth this time, the midwife seemed to think I would be able to cope ok with it, on with the hypnotherapy CD and pregnancy relaxation CDs then. Also need to carry on with my yoga, when I get a chance. The midwife was really nice and someone who will hopefully be there during my labour. Can't believe we only have 8 weeks
left.

Last weekend Liam and I spent some time getting things for Marthas room which is very exciting and we are getting someone to paint and wallpaper for us next week, pics will be on here once its finished. Unfortunately the baby will have to put up with the room Martha is in for now and later on we will decorate it with a new carpet and a colour. Its not quite the same the second time around!!! Poor child!!!

As for the whole Liam working away thing, both Liam and I said it hadn't been too bad last week, I personally have felt the same this week, not sure about Liam this week though!?

This weekend is Erins Christening and Liam and Martha will both be going to Liverpool for it. I have decided not to go as I don't think I will cope very well with the journey and travelling such a long distance. I have been quite tired this week so think its for the best. So sorry Jen, Erin and Shea that I won't be there, hope you have a good day, will be thinking of you.

Pics (by Liam)

2008-06-30T14:25:00.010Z

Hi, Liam here, I am posting for Ruth as she has no internet access unless she drives 3-4 miles down the road and sits in Tescos car park. Anyway, I have a couple (well a lot actually) of photos to keep you going until she is online. Liam

P.S. The pics are in a really odd order because I can't quite work out how to move them. Hope it kind of makes sense.

This is the view from a road about 5 mins from our house. I was driving down it and decided to stop as it really shows the main reason we decided to move.

This is the upstairs bathroom.

The is the room currently known as "The room that will be Martha's room". That's because we are going to make it Martha's room. One day...

This is another bedroom at the front of the house, this is the one known as "The place where all the stuff to go in the attic goes." We try not to think about this room.

This is the upstairs shower room.

This is the landing, for completeness, should have been at the bottom but can't really work out how to move it. Don't worry, things do get better again.

Downstairs bathroom, complete with unopened boxes, this is a bit of a feature of the house at the moment - but we're getting there...

Alcove in our bedroom, there is a little bathroom behind me.

Our bedroom.
Another view of our bedroom.

This is the room Martha is sleeping in at the moment, but she will be moved into the other room when it is ready.

The dining room from the kitchen

The kitchen (extra points if you can spot Ruth, she didn't want to be in the pic so hid but you can play "Where's Wally" - or "Where's Waldo" for the Americans out there...)

Closer in on the dining room

Martha's toy room - she has far too many!!!

The office, it's a bad picture for a number of reasons, not least that you can see my pants in it... but it's the only one I have so here it is.

We live somewhere on the left of this picture, probably hidden by the trees.

Our fish pond (hope Ruth remembers to feed them while I'm not there)

The garden
The garden from the other end, and the back of the house.

The vegetable patch close up.

Moving soon!

2008-06-16T08:47:00.003Z

Well a week today we move house, I personally will be glad when this week is over, I can see it being very stressful and also very emotional for me. Liam will still be around in London during the week and will probably see his friends. However I have built up some really good relationships with people here and knowing that I won't see them as regularly is starting to hit home. Yes we are planning to make trips down to London but with 2 children its not going to be as easy as that! I was writing some cards last night and that got me started, I really thought that I would be ok this week and the move wouldn't hit me until next week at the earliest but it looks like I was wrong!! Get me a box of tissues now!!

Liam has managed to find a flat with a room share in Vauxhall now and that was a relief. He has also been upgraded to a double room rather than a single room for an extra £30 a month, which is great as he was worried about fitting his bike in, also it means that if we do make trips down to London there is enough space for all of us just for the weekend. It is a fairly basic room and the decoration isn't great but then I suppose you get what you pay for!

It is all going to be very strange this time next week knowing that we are in Wales for good, I think that we are doing the right thing and I know lots of people agree but we also have people say to us, "won't you find it hard", I know it will be a big change but if it really is not working out then we will have to reassess the situation. I know that for the children it will really make a difference and hopefully for our little family it will too. Hopefully we will have your support and fingers crossed it will work out ok!

On another note, Sarah, Anna and David bought us a photo session for Xmas which we finally got round to using last weekend. We had the photos taken in Richmond Park and they are now available for you to view as www.lifepix.co.uk/library then in the box you type in rb80608. This should allow you access to view the pics. There are some really lovely pictures there and we are going to struggle choosing just one, I was quite surprised as Martha was a bit of a grumpy grumps on the day and didn't think we would have had many good ones. In the end there are quite a few good ones, probably a good job she wasn't in the best of moods otherwise we would have even more of a difficult job choosing. Here is a little one for you to see!

First ice lolly

2008-06-04T20:38:00.003Z

Long weekend and Frans wedding

2008-06-02T18:37:00.004Z

Last weekend saw us jetting off on a plane, yes a plane to Italy for Frans wedding. It didn't start to well with Martha having a tummy bug which then got passed on to myself and Liam for the Saturday before the wedding, nice. On the upside Martha being ill the day we travelled meant she fell asleep during take off stayed asleep most of the flight and then on the landing she was asleep- great stuff.

We were in Italy for 5 days but stayed in a hotel, wouldn't do that again with children- no facilities whatsoever!! Not even a kettle!! Makes life a lot more difficult, I would definitely get some sort of apartment next time. Day 1 was travelling, Martha being ill and then going round to Frans for a bite to eat later on and meet some of Roddy's family (I think we became honary members while we were there!).

Day 2 we went to the beach, the weather was nice and the beach was empty, Fran later said it was too early- if it was this country week or weekend the beach would have been a heck of a lot busier! That evening we got invited out to dinner with Fran, Roddy and quite a lot of Roddy's family. It was lovely and Martha had a very late night but coped with it- I think it was 11.00 we got home possibly even later.

Day 3- Liam and myself ill- nice!

Day 4 Wedding day, what a lovely day, the weather was even warmer and it was just perfect fro Fran and Roddy. The wedding wasn't till 4.30 and after the service it was a bit of an eating marathon, tons of canapes, then 3 savoury courses followed by cake! The last savoury course was a steak and that came out at about 11.00- I had gone to bed with Martha at that point, she was tired and I was knackered to put it mildly! It was a lovely being at an Italian/ Scottish wedding, I think there was a lot of Britishness in it and only a little Italian- that being the food!!!

Fran and Roddy both looked amazing and every time I go to a wedding I wish it could be mine again!! Crazy or what!

Day 5 BBQ at Frans parents . Yet an even warmer day- possibly too hot dare I say it, it was one of those days you need to be doing nothing by a pool! It was great to see everyone from the day before and go over the days events.

Day 6 Home to rainy England!! with delays! Martha was very good for the flight home, we were delayed already and then piled onto the plane to find out we were going to be stuck there for another hour before we could even taxi to take off! Martha managed to fall asleep before take off so missed that part again and during landing she just looked out of the window! What a little star!

I am going to put more pics on Liams website but here are a couple from the day, incl Martha at Heathrow airport off on her travels.

Also meant to mention that it was also great to see Jo, John and Tony and meet his girlfriend Vanessa.

Super cool dude!

2008-06-02T18:26:00.004Z

Martha has had a pair of sunglasses for quite some time but has never liked wearing them much, so we had given up putting them on her. She has however taken an interest in wearing mine and smiling as she does so. Anyway last week I was with my parents and her things were emptied out of the car and she found her sunglasses on the floor. I thought I would give it a go at putting them on her, talk about serious cool dude, not smiles and showing off like she does in mine just serious cool dude face. It was hilarious, even more funny was that we ended up in Ammanford town centre that afternoon and it was raining. Martha preceded to walk down the high street in her cool dude shades in the rain!!! How funny. I didn't get a pic of her doing this but here is one and you will see what I mean by serious face!!!

Our new home

2008-06-02T18:12:00.003Z

If you tried to use the link to our new house, then it seems you wouldn't have got anywhere as no sooner than I put it up it got taken off the website.

Anyway here are some pics for you to feast your eyes.

We are moving!!!

2008-05-19T19:33:00.002Z

We have exchanged today on our house and our moving date is the 23rd June. Its starting to hit home now what we are doing. I have made some really good friends in London who I will really miss but will be nearer old friends which will be good too. I don't think the reality will really kick in until Liam does his first week at work in London and I am on my own. We booked some train tickets for him yesterday which was a bit scary. I will miss him dearly during the week but the reality is I will be in a slightly better position in Wales with two children as I will have friends with little ones I can meet up with and also my parents will be fairly close by, both of which I don't really have here at the moment and with Liam in work all day, Wales will be a better option that London is at the moment.
Also the move is gonig to be good for the children also, we will be close to a school which is a lot smaller than the schools here and the whole lifestyle for the children will be much better too. I am currently flitting between being very excited and being scared! Oh well its done now!
So for those of you who want to see pictures of the house you can visit the link on rightmove through the following link
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-20315051.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy
We are off to Italy this weekend for Francescas wedding, not looking forward to the flight with Martha but looking forward to a long weekend away. Pictures will be posted when we return.

Not much news here

2008-05-11T20:20:00.002Z

Felt like I should post a message before yet again its a month before there is any news on here.
Last weekend we spent in Liverpool, it was Heathers 18th and I was babysitting Erin and of course Martha, not bad is it- a 4 hour journey to look after 2 little ones! Erin and Martha on the whole were very good, well mostly, I think Martha decided she was gonig to get some attention in the night when I went to bed at 10 she decided it was playtime!!!! As for Liam, I am not so sure he was as will behaved- very drunk, very sick and very annoying at 2.00 in the morning, no I was not impressed. More so because I was sober!!! I am not saying I am an angel, I know I have had more than my fair share of drunken nights, just not good at being on the receiving end!
Sunday saw us saying farewell and good luck to Jan and Murray who are leaving Liverpool and moving to Scotland, hope it all works out for you both.
This week we have been playing tennis with the buyers of our house, back and forth phonecalls from estate agent. Long and short of it is they wanted to knock £6000 off the price of our house, we have now agreed on £1000 for some damp proofing. We are hoping that they will sign contracts and we will exchange this week sometime, fingers crossed. We are then looking to move at the middle to end of June. Details of the house will go on here once we have exchanged and have confirmation on a moving date.
As for other news there isn't any really, Martha is now loving walking, has quite a few words now and baby signs which is great as we have some sort of idea of what she wants now, plus its really cute seeing her sign for things or at things, lots more nteresting than there or that!

Some pics from Devon holiday

2008-04-30T18:10:00.006Z

Grr!!! and 20 week scan

2008-04-24T19:30:00.002Z

The gggrrr is over the internet, I just spent a good 10 mins writing a post, I then went to publish it and poof the internet went down!!! Its been doing my head in all day.
So anyway here is the shortened version of the original post as I can't be bothered to type it all again.
20 week scan went well today and everything was normal. Martha enjoyed watching it too and the little one even yawned, its amazing! We didn't find out what sex it is but I am going to go with my original instincts and say its a girl.
Batteries are currently charging and then photos will be posted on Liams website and then some select ones on here.
Marthas walking is really coming along now too, she had one sock on and the other off today. I told her to bring me the other so I could put it on, she did that but then just before she got t me she decided to tease me and spent ages just pacing up and down the room pretending she wanted it on!! Very funny little girl, such a lovely age.
Anyway photos coming soon watch this space.............

Another month passed by!!!

2008-04-21T18:12:00.002Z

Can't believe yet another month has gone by already!!! Although 2 weeks were spent in Devon on holiday so I do have a little excuse as to not posting. Plus I can't compete with the amount of news there was last time anyway so thought I would post a little news.
Liam, Martha and I had a lovely holiday in Devon, it was a shame the weather was so cold, mostly dry though so not all bad. The chalet was basic but can't complain as the price was quite cheap. Got to see an old teacher friend and catch up which was lovely and that day the weather was ok and we ended up sitting on a beach- lovely!
We also had many days out including a zoo and a farm, Martha loves pointing at animals and getting closer to see them, I think she wanted to get in with the elephant at the zoo!!! Although she doesn't like it at the moment when they move or make a noise!! Hopefully that will change, I really hope she doesn't get my fear of animals. Photos will be posted soon.

I am now 21 weeks and the bump is actually becoming a bump and getting quite a few kicks and nudges now which is lovely. 20 week scan on Thursday which will be nice to see little baba again.

Martha is now becoming more adventerous in her walking, especially the last couple of days, went to the docs earlier and put her down, she was off!!! Its nice to see but scary too, my life will be so diferent now!

Houses news is there is no news, its all just taking its course now and its a matter waiting, hopefully we will exchange within the next couple of weeks and then can set a moving date. Not sure its hit me yet that we are moving and our lives are going to change forever, oh well it will one day.

Thats it for now, watch out for pics soon.

Yet again lots of news!

2008-03-23T19:41:00.006Z

Why do these always seem to be title lots of news! I really should update more often, although I do have a few excuses this time. Some will become revealed as I write.

So as most of you will know by now I am pregnant and I have put off announcing on here as I wanted to post the scan picture alongside and haven't got around to scanning it until now! Sorry!

I am now nearly 17 weeks pregnant and my due date is 4th September. There will be 21 months between Martha and the baby which is exciting but also scary too, I am sure it will be hard work when the baby arrives but it will all be worth it later on. Martha will have a little brother or sister and I think that will be great for her.

Moving on, one reason I haven't been on here is because both Martha and I got struck down by the nastiest tummy bug ever, I wouldn't even wish it on my worst enemy! Marthas started on a Thursday with her vomitting and then the nappies were just undescribable. She didn't eat and was just really exhausted, she finally ate again on the Tuesday. In the meantime on the Sunday I felt and bit sick and lo and behold my breakfast put in a second appearance and that was it for me until the Thursday- I just couldn't eat or keep anything down. It was truely horrible, on the Monday when we were both ill I felt like I was dying I had to look after myself and Martha and had no energy. Luckily my parents dropped everything and came to our rescue, we really appreciated it. They came down and then took us back to Wales for some tlc, we were due to go down that weekend anyway so saved me having to do the driving and then Liam came down on the weekend to join us. So not a good week for us, especially as on the Friday it was Liams 30th birthday, poor thing! He had a nice day out with his mates but unfortunately Martha and I did not join him- we shall have to make it up to him one day!

Mothers day was a nice day out, we went to Pizza Express where Martha flirted with some twin toddlers on another table- highly amusing, it was like they knew what they were saying! We then followed this by a trip to the park which Martha loved. A really nice day- thank you Liam and Martha.

Our biggest news at the moment is that we have managed to sell our house and have also had our offer accepted on a house in Wales. It all happened very quickly, we had a viewing the Friday night that Martha was ill which I nearly cancelled. I cancelled a viewing on the Thursday nigh which never got rescheduled. Anyway the agent was coming out also so let it go ahead. I didn't think our house was suitable as it was a family with three children but it turned out they had been looking at 2 bed houses. It also turns out that the ladies brother is a footballer and he is buying the house for them. They put an offer that we were happy with on the Monday. Its good for us as it makes it a smaller chain for us and he is a cash buyer. We had been sort of considering a lower offer as the estate agent had been saying it was the most we were going to get, however we were still getting lots of viewings so unsure about accepting. We in the meantime had put in a fairly low offer on the house we like and were getting mixed messages from the seller. This was all going on while I was ill so not really that bothered about things. Then on the Tuesday Liam was looking at other options as it didn't look like we were going to get the house we wanted. Then out of the blue our offer got accepted, Liam was over the moon but I could not get excited as I was just too ill- I have since become excited.We have looked at a couple more houses in case anything backfires and I will post the website link when it is more official with contracts exchanged etc as I don't want to tempt fate. The people we are buying from initially said they were going to move into rented accomodation and we haven't been told otherwise so fingers crossed it will be a nice small chain. The house is in a little village called Garnant which is not far from Ammanford. Its about 30 mins from my parents which is ideal.

I am hoping that I can work till middle of June and then move after that that was I can get my maternity leave which will be a big help, its not going to be much but it will be something and as Tesco say (as much as I hate quoting them) every little helps!

Happy Easter to everyone for today, we had a nice day Sarah, Chris and David came over and had lunch which was nice and up until now no eggs have been opened even though Martha had 3!!! How spoilt! We did have some choc cake and as you can see from picture Martha thoroughly enjoyed it!!

Death by choc cake, not really just caught at a bad moment! Will someone please now believe me about photos of me looking drunk but me actually being sober- everyone has a bad pic somewhere!!

Anyway last but not least

WALES WON THE GRAND SLAM!!!!!

Yippeee!! I knew they could do it!! Go Wales Go Wales!!

Some news and Martha walks!!

2008-02-26T20:15:00.003Z

Another week gone by and so far no house sale and therefore no real news on our move. We have had a few more decent offers than the original ones but nothing we have accepted.
Liam came down to Wales last Friday and we saw a few houses together one of which we like but we can't do anything until we get an offer here that we accept. Also for that same reason I am not going to in too much into the ins and outs of the house as we might not end up there!

A good weekend was had for Wales yet again in the rugby, we are now the only team that can get the grand slam, however I am not sure it is going to happen as we have too quite challenging games left.

I have just had a couple of days away with work, we always go away on conference every year but normally in October just before half term, however this year it ended up being these 2 days before the new half term starts. Sometimes it can be quite boring but this year wasn't too bad. Plenty of amusing goings ons in the bar last night with some staff and the singstar with Year 3 was really amusing. One thing that wasn't too amusing though was the fire alarm being set off at 5.40 in the morning, the entire staff were out in the rain in their pj's not a pretty sight, something you don't want to see your workmates in! It also means I am tired now, normally people are farily tired after a late night at there away conferences, but to top it off with an early morning call doesn't help!

So to the main event! I got home today and picked Martha up from nursery which was lovely, she crawled right on top of me and gave me a great big cuddle, a proper bear hug.
Then we got home and she was showing of with her standing (she has been standing on her own for a while and walking with our hands and her walker), then she sort of stumbled as she has done previously, but then she took 4 steps to me. I was so thrilled and proud of her. She did it a couple more times so not a fluke. Also we were lucky that Liam was leaving early today so he also got to see her do it- we were both so amazed. Pictures on here won't do it justice but I might try and get a video put on facebook you can see. So as you can see I was so excited I just couldn't wait to tell everyone- so here it is!!!

Some recent pics

2008-02-19T20:41:00.003Z

Before I am 40!

2008-02-14T21:18:00.002Z

Well I know this is a while off but on a friends blog I found this list of all the 'fabulous' things one should do before they are 40. I am not sure according to who as it seems to be catered for the female spieces, anyway I thought I would share it with you

1. Watch the following inspiring films: Little Miss Sunshine, Mr Smith goes to Washington. Good Will Hunting (seen)and The Shawshank Redemption(seen). - 2 down 2 to go

2. Write a novel- not creative so never gonna happen, unless a childrens story will count, I might be able to stretch to that!
3. Learn a musical instrument- can play the piano, used to know clarinet and recorder
4. Learn to knit- frequently do this!
5. Learn a language - learnt 3 at school, not sue of them now but hey I have done it
6. Dye my hair- spent many a Sat night doing this when I was younger!
7. Spend a whole summer abroad- done it twice
8. Apologise to someone you hurt ages ago and never made up with- not sure I have fallen out with anyone for that long?!
9. Do a friend audit- a what??
10. Research my family tree- my Dads doing that for me!
11. Get out of debt once and for all- hopefully will be when we move
12. Go through and sort all my photos- always sorted on a regular basis
13. Paint a picture, frame it and hang it on my wall- maybe one day but again not very creative
14. Read the entire Narnia series- needs to be done
15. Do an extreme declutter- will be doing when we move but I think I am farily clutter free!
16. Learn to do one magic trick really well- I am sure I could do some in my youth!
17. Start a blog- your reading it
18. Do something for charity- plenty of swims and runs
19. Get a grown up jewellery collection - wedding and engagement rings count?
20. Go camping with my family- did once with my Dad and I am sure we will have camping trips as Martha grows up if Liam has his way
21. Complete a cryptic crossword puzzle- had to do one in Secondary school when I was in one of 10 to have the highest IQ's in my year!
22. Run a marathon- done a half, not sure I will stretch to a full one
23. Learn to fly- what- a plane!!!???
24. Learn to dance properly- did for our wedding day and I am proud of it too, also did plenty of dancing when I was a child

So all in all I am not doing too badly!! Bring on the list for 50 as I feel I should be working on that as this one is almost complete!

Anyway was just looking at a friends and thought I would share with you! Be in touch soon!

Busy busy busy

2008-02-07T21:31:00.000Z

Been a busy few weeks, we have decided to lower the price of our house and since then we have had loads of viewings, two silly offers but nothing serious yet, we have had a couple more yesterday and one lined up for the weekend so we'll see what that brings. I am sure one day someone is going to see themselves living here! As for the Wales search, Martha and I went to Wales last week to do a previsit before half term so I could tick off and cross off houses. I saw 3 properties inside and 2 run down ones from the outside. Only 1 was really suitable but of course Liam needs to see it, it is immaculate and wouldn't need any work doing, maybe some coats of paints here and there but apart from that we could move in straight away which would be cool. Of course we need to sell first and we are still looking at other properties too.

Martha has been ill again this week, she had the sunburn type rash last weekend till Monday and it was on her bottom, she then had the worst napy rash ever. She was very tired and had a long sleep and then was better...... until last night! She now has a spotty rash, it came up last night but had disappeared this morning, we went swimming as normal but when we came out of the pool she was covered again. Doc said it was just a virus, she has been a grumpy pants today and slept loads. I suppose I should be grateful that even when she is realy poorly she sleeps well still and barely wakes us up in the middle of the night.

She still isn't walking but is standing for long periods on her own so I think its only a matter of weeks now before she takes her first steps. Speaking of walking and feet, I have had a nightmare getting her shoes, I am hoping to go to a different shop tomorrow which stocks Start rite, she had Clarks first but they don't do many shoes in her size. She has wide feet and thats the problem, or as I call them fat!!! LOL!!

So thats our news for now, Anna and Pete are around this weekend and we will be seeing them both tom on their way to their hotel and then they are coming round on Sunday for a roast, Sarah is also coming round too so it will be nice to see her too.

Oh yes and before I go there was that tiny matter of a Wales v England rugby game that took place on Saturday, COME ON WALES!!!!

Another year older

2008-01-20T15:26:00.000Z

It was my birthday this week and I am now another year older, not sure if I am wiser though!
A big thank you to all for your cards and pressies, I am a lucky girl. Liam was very kind and took the day off- even though I was in work but it meant he could get me some flowers- which I love getting and also made me a cake. Thank you again Liam.
Martha has been doing well back in Nursery and so far no illnesses, although she does have a runny nose again! Yippee! Hopefully her immune system is a bit better now after all her illnesses before Xmas.
Met up with David, Sarah and Chris yesterday for a birthday meal out. We met in Central London and went to a couple of shops beforehand. Martha had a really good day out but was exhausted when we got home.
There is no news on the move at the moment, I am not sleeping very well either- not sure if its because of the house move or what as I certainly am not stressed about work. On the upside it has meant I have been able to watch some of the Australian Open Tennis.
Not much other news here but thought I would try and keep my blogs a bit more regular than they had been. TTFN

Happy New Year Everyone!

2008-01-07T21:33:00.000Z

So another year over and what a busy one it was, Martha has been amazing and still is and is the best thing in our lives at the moment, we are so lucky to have her.
Martha of course isn't the only thing that has been in our lives or happening to us but seems to be the main thing. Although if I thought last year was busy I am sure this year is going to be even busier! Hopefully we will be moving house and that on its own will be a biggy I am sure. Plus of course adjusting to our new living arrangements will be very different, exciting and scary. So heres to 2008 then!
Christmas in Liverpool was good, followed by quite a few days in Wales, which were also good. Liverpool was a lot busier than Wales and therefore the time flew by, we spent time with everyone and it was lovely to see everyone and spend Christmas with my little neice Erin. Wales was more relaxed but it also meant we could look at areas we are thinking of moving to in more detail, we saw a couple of houses but for one reason or another were no good, we are definitely set on the 2 possible areas we would like to live now too. Originally we were set on a particular place and a development being built there, however we know that it wouldn't be it for us and one day we would want to find our dream house. So know we are back to looking for our 'dream house' or something at least that is closer to our 'dream house'. Hopefully 2008 will be good for us, we will sell our house and find what we are looking for.
Lots happened over Xmas and New Year but I haven't got the energy to write it all, I might one day but probably won't so its tough!
Today was my first day back in work 'floating' and its definitely going to better for my stress levels!! I have definitely got the easy life but if our move is half as stressful as last time we moved then its probably a good thing.
Loads of photos have been put on the website and thats why I haven't put any on here, plus I couldn't possibly choose a few. I actually ordered some prints and I have got over 200 coming!!! Its not even been that long since printing any out but there have been so many things happening.
Right feel like I am waffling a bit, for those of you wanting to know its my birthday a week Tuesday, 21 again! I wish. Be in touch soooooon.

Another era over

2007-12-19T19:41:00.000Z

Well that was it, my last day teaching Year 2 as a class teacher for some time. As most of you will know we are moving to Wales, I told my headteacher that the house was on the market and due to this fact, plus the children will have had three different teachers by the end of this term and then another one when I leave, she decided to employ a full time teacher for my class, starting in Jan. I still have a job and will be doing cover for three days, it will make my life a lot easier and mean I can hopefully go in do my job and come home with no work out of school time- in theory anyway. So today was my last day in Year 2, I can't say I am that sad as my class were a real handful and I will be glad not to have the stress. The new teacher has started and been working alongside me for a few weeks, she is already getting stressed about the children and their behaviour issues. I think she will probably be glad when she gets them to herself.
On another note Martha didn't really recover from that last cold and on the weekend she had a really high temp and came out in the weirdest of rashes, it was almost like sunburn with the heat too. The doc said it was part of the virus she has, the temp has gone and the rash has now stayed away for long enough that we don't need the antibiotics she was prescribed.
She is doing well and becoming more and more cheeky all the time. She had another birthday party last week with her NCT friends, thank you for coming and the presents she had.
Tomorrow is a day of chores before my Xmas do tomorrow night followed by the long trip to Liverpool Friday morning. Hopefully the traffic won't be too bad, we are heading off early so we are hoping to beat it!? Fingers crossed. Its the second Xmas I will have been away from my family and I must admit I am probably a bit apprehensive about it. I think it doesn't matter where you live or how close your are to your family Xmas is always done in the same way and when you have had 28 years of Xmas done the same way things are going to be strange. Maybe thats just me being autistic and liking things the same. Liam and I have decided that next year (hopefully we will be living in Wales) we will have Xmas day as our own little family and start our own Xmas traditions. We will obviously visit family but prob before and after Xmas, of course that will be strange too but as Martha grows older there is just going to be too many toys to carry and she will want santa to visit her own house.
So a busy Xmas period, Liverpool Friday, Lynns 50th on Sat, a uni reunion on Sun with all the children, Liams Dads on Xmas Eve, Xmas day with Lynn, Boxing day another long journey to Wales and that will be followed by more meeting of various family and friends, nothing set in stone though there yet. So all in all a very busy time. Can't believe this time next week Xmas day will be over and we will be in Wales- how bizarre!
So anyway enough of my goings ons, I said I would put some photos up on Liams website last week and got sidetracked. I promise to do it before tom night and then will try to update over the festive period.

First Birthday

2007-12-10T19:15:00.001Z

Yet again another month has almost gone by without me managing to get on here and blog!

We had 2 good weeks of and ill free household and then Martha get a cold again, just in time for her 1st birthday, she is just about better now.

For her first birthday Liam and I took her to Pizza Express which she seemed to enjoy but was very tired at the end of the meal. Then we had family around this weekend and had a little afternoon tea for her which she thoroughly enjoyed and she was surrounded by presents- thank you all those of you who bought her something. It was nice to have everyone together and especially nice to see little Erin, who in my eyes is still so small even though I know she is growing quick. Enjoy this time Jen they don't half grow quickly!

I am having another little tea party for all her NCT friends on Thursday afternoon so that will be really nice.

On other news we have had a few viewings on the house but no offers as yet, so watch this space.

Can't believe how close Christmas is and how quickly this year has gone, I have loved having a new little person in my life and its great with her changing every day and doing new things every day too. Although saying that at the moment everything she picks up is a phone and she babbles away on it and even pauses like she is listening it is so cute and so funny.

A couple of photos here, if you want to see more check out Liams website.

More and more illness!

2007-11-17T14:29:00.000Z

Its been ages since I have posted on here and unfortunately its just news of more illnesses! I was ill then better then ill then better then ill again!!! Just recovering now. Liam has had this dreadful cough for what seems like an eternity and Martha has been ill also. She had an eye infection which then moved to her belly, which I had too, not a pretty sight I can tell you. Then for the last week at about 9.00 Martha has been coughing really badly and then been sick. We then have to go through changing sheets, clothes, washing her- all with her screaming! Its horrible, last night she wasn't sick and has been eating better the last couple of days, so fingers crossed she is better properly.
On another note while we were in Wales the other week we saw some new build houses that are being built next year in Burry Port. We really like them and they are right by the beach which will be lovely when Martha is growing up. We have since put our house on the market and fingers crossed we will get an offer here and then be able to secure one of the new ones. They won't be built until next Aug at the earliest so if anything happens here before then we will most likely move in with my parents short term. We have good days and bad days at the moment as Liam will still commute Mon- Fri to London and have a cheap flat or bedsit, but hopefully only for a few years. That is why we have bad days as its such a big step for us. The fact that Martha will be brought up in a small community and live so much closer to the beach and countryside will outweigh that though and its something we both feel strongly about.
Christmas is now approaching very quickly and we start practising on monday for the school play- fun fun!! we have done quite a lot of our Xmas shopping already and really looking forward to spending time both in Liverpool and Wales.
Hoping to update the photo website later on.
Those of you interested in the houses we are looking at you can find them at
http://www.edwardwarehomes.co.uk/developments/burryport/index.htm
Hopefully will blog soon

Illnesses!

2007-10-05T11:23:00.000Z

So since I last post on here I think it has been illness after illness. The week after we came back from Liverpool Liam had a really bad cold and cough which has only just disappeared! On the Friday Martha had a high temp and then came out in spots which apparently is very common so we will watch out for that one again!
Last weekend we had my parents here for the weekend which was nice, although my Mum ended up going home wth a cold and now Martha is full of cold again and a very runny nose!
Whilst my parents were here, Liam and I went to ee Ricky Gervais which was very funny and for those of you wondering I didn't heckle! We also watched the Wales V Fiji game Saturay afternoon beforehand but we won't mention that anymore!
This weekend we have got a quiet one which will be nice to have some quality time as a little family. As for the rest of the weekends coming up, they seem to be busy with different things.
Well it was a short post but then we have just been nursing for what seems like an eternity! I have been lucky to miss it so far! Fingers crossed.

Visit to Liverpool!

2007-09-16T19:55:00.000Z

Hi everyone,
Not long got back from Liverpool and after a long soak in bath am now catching up with some tv and household chores, at the same time.
We went up to Liverpool on Thursday and got to meet out lovely tiny niece Erin (can't believe Martha was that small once!) she is gorgeous and so peaceful- well when we have seen her she has been!
We also did some xmas and birthday present shopping- mad I know but we have a couple of months of it starting next month with 5 family birthdays all in December!!! Plus it means we have left some in Liverpool and don't have to pack them in the car with everything else a baby travels with these days!! Also it helps to spread the cost a bit!
Got to see all of Liams family, Mums and Dads sides and had fun with both, Martha had a couple of whinges but on the whole was the good little girl she always is! She is fantastic and is a pleasure round everyone.
Saw Dawn this morning and Martha gave her quite a long and enquiring look- don' t worry Dawn she does it to most people!
Pictures will be put up when I have time but for now its chores and TV!!!
Check back soon for pics!

A niece!

2007-09-06T19:42:00.000Z

Well as you can read from the title I have a new niece, Jens baby was born early hours of Tuesday morning with a fairly quick delviery after she had to be induced as there was meconium in the waters. Erin Catherine was 7lb 9ozs and is a little cutie. Liam, Martha and I are going upto Liverpool next week to see them all, we are also hoping to catch up with a few friends whilst we are there too.
First week back in school was ok and my class seem fine at the moment. No real major problems I don't think. Martha has settled in well into the nursery although routine wise, they tend to do their own thing even though they have asked us what her routine is!? Why bother if they are going to do what they want. I get lots of smiles and cuddles when I pick her up and there are no tears when Liam drops her off either.
Had a busy day, caught up with a little bit ofg sleep and then saw my NCT friends which was nice, all the babies are so grown up now, its time for baby number twos now - I wonder who will be first- can't imagine it will be Kathy or Vinni as they both have twins. We shall see!!!
Tomorrow I have tiny talk which will be good and then we have the start of swimming course number three in the afternoon, its a weekend of swimming which is a reason we couldn't go to Liverpool this weekend. Looking forward to that and then out tomorrow night and a friend round Sat night. Its all go here! Anyway thats it for now will be in touch soon and hopefully have some new photos to show you of little Erin!

Nursery visits over

2007-08-31T16:00:00.000Z

Well Martha has done 3 nursery visits this week and each one has gone better than the one before. The first visit Liam and I took her and we filled in a load of paperwork while Martha sat and had a little play. The carer there took Martha off me and she cried, but I think that is down to her not being very well at the start of the week. Yesterday she went for 2 hours and had her lunch there, which was purreed lamb something followed by jelly. She enjoyed that but I fed it to her before she came home. Today she got there for just after 10 and I picked her up just after 2.00. She was really good but didn't sleep for very long, only slept for about 40 mins. They didn't put her down until 1.20 so not sure why that was as she normally goes down at 12.00, 12.30 at the latest. We shall see how that goes, I am also concerned about the purreed food as Martha quite likes lumps and don't want her taking a step back. Its funny being on the other side as it were now I am a parent and putting my child in the hands of someone else. I wonder if it will make me a different teacher now!?
At the end of the day Martha seemed happy there and was happy to see me also when I picked her up. Will let you know how it all goes, going to sign off now and enjoy me last weekend before returning to work on Monday.

Marthas First Bike Ride

2007-08-29T15:24:00.000Z

Well a busy fews weeks, not exactly sure what we have done but the time has certainly flown by. Last week Martha and I spent a little time in Birmingham with my Aunt Chirs and Uncle John and also met my friend Liz and spent the day shopping. The rest of the week was in Wales with my parents. We had a great time and saw lots of people and both Martha and I were really looked after.

Anyway to my point Liam bought a bike seat for Martha on Monday and the idea was for us to go out yesterday and have a picnic. Unfortunately Martha hasn't been very well and has had quite a temperature. Last night however she seemed to perk up a bit and today we managed to take her on her first little ride down to Twickenham and back. Not very far at all, not sure what Martha thought of it, she didn't laugh but she didn't cry so can't be too bad. Anyway a pic here to show you all.

All smiles before ride

Not sure during ride

Also we are now waiting very patiently for Jen to give us some news on her imminent arrival of Arthur, I hope its not a boy for their sake unless they really like the name Arthur as I know I for one will have a problem getting that of my head! Good luck Jen let us know how its going.

What happened Wales!?!?

2007-08-05T18:12:00.000Z

Yesterday I went to see Wales V England for the first time ever live and for my first time to Twickenham so was very excited. In all honesty I didn't expect Wales to win but did expect more of a fight from them than what did happen!! Not a good performance Wales and not the best game for me to watch them play old rivals England for the first time. Hopefully this is not a sign of things to come over the next few months with the Rugby World Cup coming up in September it is not a good start! Anyway enough of my grumbling.

Today we have had Sean and Lindsay round for drinks and seeing as the weather was so hot we put Martha in her new paddling pool to keep her nice and cool. I could do with one of these just in adult sizes!!! My next job tonight is to actually do these photos I keep promising to do!! Hopefully there will be some new ones on there for you to look at. Here is Martha today in her pool, all posing!

Where did July go!!???

2007-08-01T19:13:00.000Z

Well most of it I admit for me was in work and those last three weeks went really quickly. It wasn't half as bad as what I thought it would be either. I think I have realised over the last few months since being on maternity leave and having Martha that I am definitely the sort of person that needs to be around people and have company. Being back at work was good, being able to see other adults and chat was really good. It might have been easier because I didn't have my own class and I didn't have to bring anything home with me either, hopefully I will still feel the same in September when I do have my own class and have more responsibilty. Oh well only time will tell, hopefully it will be a good balance of work and Mummy.

Liam got better but it took a long time, he was really knocked out by tonsilitus. Hopefully thats the end of it, he has got an appointment in September to see a specialist, Liam is quite nervous about it but if they take his tonsils out then I know it won't be nice at the time but at least it will mean he won't have that again. Martha had a cold last week and Liam caught it and of course we were both a bit paranoid that he had tonsilitus again, luckily it was just a cold, I don't think Liam would have coped very well if it had been tonsilitus again so soon after the last one.

Martha is growing more and more each day and is now desperate to crawl. She gets onto all fours but doesn't go anywhere, well actually if anything she moves backwards!!! She won't lie on her back for long though, she ends up on her front and then gets very frustrated. She is sitting up very strong now and does well at reaching for the toys around her, even if they are slightly out of her reach she still manages to get them which is great to watch.

She also has two teeth at the bottom and they are very sharp too- believe me I know! We didn't know she had them and then Liam felt them one day, so there were no signs beforehand either- lets hope they all come through like that!

I am hoping to update our photo website in the next couple of days but I am going to put a couple on here as tasters.

Hopefully it won't be another month before I update on here again. Be in touch soon......

Oh and just remembered when I put this last pic on that the cardigan she is wearing is one I have knitted myself- I was really proud of myself when I finished it.

First week back at work - what a week

2007-07-01T18:11:00.000Z

First week back at work was good and now only have three left before summer holidays, yippee!
By 10.30 on Monday morning, it truely felt like I had never been away. I am mostly based in Reception which is good but can get a bit boring. The week at school itself went ok and didn't find it too hard, however it was a tough week as Liam has been extremly ill. It started Saturday evening when he said he wasn't feeling too well so he went to bed. He then stayed there till Monday morning when he went to the doctors. As for Martha we were lucky that my parents came back from holiday early Sunday morning. They were coming to say hi anyway but ended up with me greeting them saying can you please stay!!! They stayed till Monday night and looked after Martha and even took Martha swimming which they thoroughly enjoyed. Liam went to the doctors and she said that she had only seen tonsils that bad in text books. He was given medicine and then was feeling a lot better. My parents went home and we all thought things were getting better. Tuesday Liam had a long day with Martha and was glad when I got home from work, still not feeling loads better. Wednesday evening we decided to arrange for someone to have Martha on Thursday and Liam went to see the doctor again on Thursday. The doctor told Liam that he had to go to a and e to see the specialist. They kept in hospital over night and was pumped full of drugs. He was told he had sever tonsilitus and had an abscess on the tonsil. He has also been told that if anything like this happens again then they will consider removing them. Very scary! Anyway my parents were able to come down and lend a hand and are still here now, they are going back home tomorrow. Liam is feeling a bit better but still not great. His sister Jen is coming down on Tuesday so will get some more support then. Yippee! Get well Liam we miss you!!

Shrek the Third

2007-06-23T20:15:00.000Z

We had a free afternoon and after an TV programme about Shrek the third and me moaning about how we hadn't been to the cinema in ages. Liam and I decided to bite the bullet and take Martha to the cinema for the first time. It helped that she was free, it costs so much these days! we saw Shrek the Third and Martha was great, she got a little loud but I think that was initially due to boredom from sitting in the same position because as soon as one of us got up to take her out she stopped crying, typical. The film was good, of course it was it was Shrek! Martha got some free Shrek ears, not sure she liked them but it was tough her horrible Mum and Dad couldn't resist! So anyway here is a picture of Martha with her beautiful Shrek ears, reminds me of our wedding day when I wore those terrible big ears- like Mother like Daughter!

Work news

2007-06-20T12:31:00.001Z

So after having over 7 months off work on Maternity leave, the time has come for me to return to work. I found out a couple of weeks ago that I will be in Year 2 next year with people I have worked with before, two of them being very good friends Theresa and Pinder. I am glad I am in year 2 as it is something I know well and it will mean that hopefully juggling working and being a Mum should be a bit easier- in theory.
I have also found out that when I go back to work next week that I will be based in Reception like I was in September and will have to be a bit flexible in that I may have to do cover in Year 1 or 2. I am pleased also about this as I was concerened that I might have been put in Key Stage 2 to do cover and all I really want these next four weeks are an easy life. Will let you know how it goes, as always.

More news

2007-06-20T12:23:00.000Z

Martha and I have been doing something recently which is called 'Tiny talk', its a baby signing class and the idea is that by doing some signs for things like milk, food, animals and manners to name a few, Martha will be able to understand what I am saying and then hopefully use these signs herself. A couple of my friends have done it previously with their children and I have seen them sign so I know it works. We have been doing it for a few weeks now and Martha certainly knows the sign for milk, so much so that I can't sign it or say the word unless it is made up as she goes mad if its not there ready. Its really amazing and great that I know she understands me now. I have got one more session this week before I am back in work on Monday and Liam will take her when he is off work and then my parents will hopefully take her for a week. Then they have a break over the summer holidays but as I have got the days I want in work I will still be able to go on a Friday. I will keep you updated on how she is doing with the signs.

Couple of recent pics

2007-06-15T12:03:00.000Z

Marthas first swimming lesson

2007-06-15T11:21:00.002Z

A couple of weeks ago Martha had her first swimming lesson, unfortunately cameras are not allowed by the pool so the only pic I have is before hand all ready in her little swimsuit. She really enjoyed it and so did I. This week in her second lesson she got dunked! twice! The second time came as a bit of a shock to her but thats because she was too busy watching what else was going on- as usual. Before the session started we got to see an advanced group of baby swimmers who were amazing, doing little dives and breathing exercises. I would like to continue taking Martha but unfortunately it runs on a Monday and I will be in work on that day so will have to see if I can do the next course on another day. Will keep you updated on how she is doing.

Martha and some of her friends

2007-06-15T11:14:00.000Z

Just some pictures of Martha and her friends

Eoin and Sara
Sara
Adi
Martha and George
Jac and Martha

Bank holiday week! Very busy!

2007-06-11T13:05:00.000Z

Bank holiday Monday saw me driving to wales with Martha, it was a miserable day and the sort of weather I hate driving in, oh well nevermind, I took it steady and both Martha and I arrived in one piece! That Monday was fairly quite and was spent planning out the week.
Tuesday saw Martha, my Mum and Dad and myself going down West (Wales) to visit my Gran, it was a lovely day and we spent most of the afternoon in the conservatory. We also spent a bit if time in my grans garden, its huge and it makes Liam extremely jealous every time he sees it, luckily he wasn't there this time. I know that one day both Liam and I want to move somewhere that has a fairly big garden, somewhere we can grow our fruit and veg and also where there is space for Martha to run around.
Wednesday saw Martha and myself head West again, this time we saw my friend Nic and her little boy Jac. When I arrived Nic had to pop out and get some milk so it was me, Martha and Jac. It really put into perspective how difficult twins must be, at one point I had both children on my knees and wasn't sure how I was ever going to move, especially when they seemed to be setting each other off. Anyway Nic came back soon enough and my crisis was over! We had a lovely afternoon and a good catch up.
Thursday was a bit more relaxed and I think it was good for Martha as she had a cold and needed the break from travelling. I also woke up that day with a very sore throat and needed to take it easy.
Friday was spent getting sorted for Saturday, first we went to Swansea, I had some bits I wanted to go back and Mam needed a few things. We then ended up in tescos getting food for Saturdays do.
Anna had been around most of the day and had spent the day with my Dad looking at bathrooms as she is looking to getting a new one.
Friday night Liam and David came down and it was really nice to see Liam after a week away. It was nice to see David too of course.
Saturday morning Liam and I went to view a couple of houses in Pembrey, not sure whether this was a stupid thing to do or not but we did it anyway and fell in love with one house, unfortunately when it came down to looking at figures etc it ended up being a little out of our league.
Anyway onto the exciting bit, back in December it was my Dads 65th birthday and in Jan it was my 30th and both my Dad and I had decided we wanted to celebrate with our family. However when it came to it back in Jan, Martha was stil very small and we just had a low key meal with immediate family and said we would have a bbq in the summer, well summer is here so thats what we did- well almost.
We decided that a bbq would mean someone cooking all day so though better of it and just had a buffet. We had nearly all my dads side of the family and then quite a few of my mums side. The weather was dry which meant people could sit outside, it wasn't too hot either which was nice. It was really good to see everyone and catch up with everyones news. Also a big thank you to those of you that made it, it was a truly lovely day.
So Sunday was time to come back to London and we had a nice packed car with Liam, David, Sarah, myself and of course Martha and all her gear. The journey wasn't too bad and I wasn't as squashed as I thought I would be, not something to do very often though I must say but once in awhile is fine.
Well feels like I have written an essay rather than just some short news so will leave it at that for now and catch up later with last weeks news and some pics too.

Bank holiday weekend

2007-06-09T12:14:00.000Z

On the May bank holiday weekend we had Liams mum and Steve down, which was nice for them to spend some time with Martha. I went into London and met my sister Sarah and was supposed to go out to a bbq in the evening with some people from work, however that ended up falling through which did make me a bit upset and it took sarah a lot of time to convince me to go out with her and some of her friends that were going out for a drink that evening. We ended up having a mad dash around the shops on Oxford Street of all places to find me something to wear!!! Totally unlike me and I ended buyinga totally new outfit including shoes.
Seeing as we had Lynn and Steve down Liam decided to come and meet us too, if I had known he was going to do that I wouldn't have bothered buying a new oufit! Oh well, I had wanted some new jeans anyway so no problems there! Liam and I had a really good night, we ended up meeting Sarahs new bloke Chris and caught up with my brother David too which was nice. It was also very good for Liam and I to be out together having a drink.
Bank holiday Monday saw me driving to Wales with Martha for the week, see next post!!

Just as everyone thought I was getting better at this!!!

2007-06-09T12:06:00.000Z

Looks like its been awhile again then. So we had a fairly quiet week after my 5km run and I haven't done any running since!!! I am going to enter a 10km which is in September so that will get me out there again. Also another reason I haven't done much running is because since I gave birth I have been having a problem with me knees. I have now seen the doctor and she was in two minds about the running situation. She obviously said that excercise is good but if my knees play up more when I am running then to take it easy. Basically she said that I have this condition which is an inflammation around the knee. Apparantly it is very common and is often associated with sitting for long periods, something I did a lot of just before I gave birth. Hopefully as soon as I get into the running again and just keeping moving rather than sitting then it will all be fine. Martha is certainly keeping me on my feet at the moment and no doubt as soon as she starts crawling its going to be even worse!!

Race for life all done! Yippeee!

2007-05-21T19:54:00.000Z

Race for Life is over, yippee!! Thanks everyone for sponsoring me, it was a great day and I managed to run most of the way, only walking for 2 mins and it took me a total of 33 minutes. I am really pleased as I didn't manage to put in half as much training as I would have liked. I have to try and keep up the running now so I can get nice and slim again, especially as I have quite a lot of lovely summer clothes I bought in 2005 which I didn't get to wear last year being pregnant. I was going to go out this morning but I am still tired after Saturday and my legs were hurting, maybe Wednesday or Thursday morning now as I have aerobics tomorrow night.

Not long now!

2007-05-17T11:19:00.000Z

Well I went for my last run before the Race for Life on Saturday. I am so proud of myself as it was raining too. I managed to run just about 2 miles in just over 20 minutes so I was pleased with that, not sure I will be able to run the full 5km on Saturday but will give it a shot. Looking forward to it now and a very big thank you to all who have sponsored me. I have raised a lot more than I ever thought I would and very grateful for that, in fact its that which has got me out of bed in the mornings to go for runs before Liam heads off to work.
Martha is doing well and seems to like baby rice but I don't think she has quite grasped these other foods, she has had pear and today she had some carrot. Her face is quite a picture when the spoon goes in her mouth, probably a bit like mine actually when I don't like something!!!
Oh and if you haven't yet sponsored me and feel you want to the website is
http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/ruthcarys
Thanks

Marthas first food!

2007-05-14T19:33:00.000Z

Just a quick picture showing you Martha after she had her first taste of food- if thats what you can call baby rice!! Its just a load of mush! Oh well Martha seemed to like it. Pear comes next, yummy!

Why I don't normally watch Eurovision

2007-05-12T22:09:00.000Z

Well for the first time in years and years I watched the Eurovision contest tonight, well mostly the results but still thats the main part! the voting is so one sided and now I know why I haven't watched it for so long. Scooch tried their best but they were never going to win - I don't know why we bother, we try and be cool that doesn't work, we try and be camp and again that doesn't bother. Well while I was watching I was looking at other peoples blogs and came across this lovely picture of Martha with her aunty Jen and uncle Shea and thought I would share it with everyone.

Also Martha had her first taste of solids today, she had a little bit of baby rice, Liam gave it to her and she seemed to enjoy it, in fact she was sucking her lip all afternoon looking for more. I think there will be plenty more rice and probably either carrot or sweet potato this week and either pear or apple. How exciting to be trying all these new things!

Going back a bit now!

2007-05-11T13:18:00.000Z

I think last time i did a quick update it was approaching Easter. We had a lovely time just the three of us and David came over for lunch on Easter Sunday. We had a nice big Easter egg to share between us, unfortunately Martha will have to wait a bit longer before she has any tastes of chocolate! On the Saturday we walked to Richmond and had a nice lunch followed by a drink along the river and then got the bus back home. Come on walking to richmond from here was enough! Easter Monday was me spent trying to get stuff ready before going to Wales for the week. I also went and got a new underwired bra- what a nice feeling to have some lift there after over a year of wearing maternity and nursing bras. Another event from that day was seeing one of the boys from Port Talbot in Mothercare with his expecting wife. He was one of the quieter ones in school and so you couldn't say conversation was exactly flowing but I managed to find out that he is expecting a baby in September.
The rest of that week was spent in Wales with my Mum and Dad, it was really nice seeing them. We also managed to see my Gran and my friend Nic with her little one Jac. I ended the week with a meal and drinks in the local with Rachel and Nic - I had too many not knowing my limits now after all this time but a good time had by all none the less. Thank you again to Mam and Anna who kindly looked after Martha for me that night and what a grand job they did too! Well I think thats enough updates for now and will try to be more on the ball in future. Oh and here is a picture of Martha on Easter Saturday.