23 weeks today! x

I can't believe I am almost 6 months pregnant, I am feeling so HUGE but rather nice and glowing right now. I have treated myself to a new maternity dress-do you like? I say treated but it only cost me a few pounds from Ebay, it's actually from Matalan maternity. My bump feels huge in it but it's lovely and comfortable.

 

At 23 weeks we are only a week away from what is known as 'Viability day' which means that once you reach 24 weeks pregnant, your baby could be born and actually survive. Of course this is with a lot of intervention and nobody wants their baby to be so premature. I hope she stays in there for as long as she likes and keeps growing and getting stronger! She still kicks and moves a lot although has been quite quiet the past few days-she tends to move a lot when I eat something sugary and also during the night around 4/5am! She can now apparently hear music/voices and may react so I have been playing lots of music to see what she moves to. It's safe to say she is not a fan of Lana Del Ray lol.

My bump is really coming along.

 

Work is getting quite tough as I get bigger but next week I have a week off work and Michael and I are going on a little holiday to Ramsgate/Margate so it will be lovely to get away. I also have my next pregnancy check up on 5th June although this is just a general one to see that everything is going well. My 4D scan is on the 15th June so only just over 3 weeks away and I am SO EXCITED.

I have been a little naughty with buying pretty girlie clothes since I got paid last week but it's hard when everything is so cute :( Here are a few things I have bought the past few weeks:

 Pretty Next dress and cardigan

 Beautiful dress and white shoes-can't remember where they are from but I got it on Ebay. Obvs.

The Minnie Mouse coat and hat I got from Ebay, how cosy. The dress my Mum bought.

Right, I must STOP BUYING CLOTHES!

We are buying more essential things, honestly.

50 facts about me!

This weekend I thought I would do a non-pregnancy/baby related post, just for the hell of it! I am bored on a Sunday afternoon so why not :) I plan to do a little blog post next week for my 23 weeks of pregnancy plus I have bought a lot more stuff recently so when I can be bothered I will take some pictures of that! Overall I have been feeling ok apart from the normal hip/leg/back pain and she has picked up a gear with the kicking :)

I have seen this post floating around many blogs so thought I would '50 facts about me'. Sorry if you may have read these before.

1. I was born Cheryl Caroline Finch but many people still pronounce my first name wrong. Phonetically it should be CHeryl but it pronounced the same way as 'Sheryl'. It still annoys me when people get it wrong.

2. I am only just under 5 foot 3 and yet I have size 8 feet (and wear some size 9 shoes).

3. I much prefer Winter weather to the Summer. Anything about 20 degrees and I get cranky.

4. I got engaged to my best friend last September when he proposed whilst on holiday in Rome on our anniversary. It was a very magical experience-we have been together almost 7 years.

5. I love steak. I could eat it every day but I don't want heart disease. I have to have it very well done, almost burnt.

6. I have had long hair for most of my life and I'm lucky that it's quite thick. I plan to get it cut this Summer.

7. I have a serious Ebay addiction and must log into Paypal about 5 times a day!

8. I have been working in a wonderful primary school as a teaching assistant in Year 1 since last September. It's a truely great place to work and very rewarding. I have been a teaching assistant for nearly 3 years.

9. Michael also works as a teaching assistant but in a different school and in Year 3. We are lucky we both get the same holidays off work!

10. I love most types of cake but I hate cheescake. 

11. I have many favourite holidays but one of my best places to visit was Lisbon in 2011. It's a wonderful city and we had an awesome time there.

12. I'm an only child and very close to my Mum. She's my best friend and we love shopping together, going for afternoon tea and boring Michael with our reality TV addiction.

13. I took 10 GCSE's and got all grades A*-B. Only benefit of a private school education, however most of knowledge left me after the age of 18, lol.

14. I'm a very impatient person and hate waiting for anything. I frequently swear to myself if someone walks slowly in front of me.

15. I hate it when people don't reply to texts/messages/emails etc as I always make the effort to do so.

16. I have had 4 operations in my life, 3 of them on my toes! (Big feet syndrome!)

17. I studied journalism at uni and did pretty well getting a 2:1. Half way through I decided I hated journalism!

18. I am currently writing a time travel children's book.

19. I am slightly obsessed with Harry Styles.

20. I love west end musicals and have seen over 10 of them in the past few years. My favourite is probably Dirty Dancing!

21. I have loyally watched Big Brother every year since it started even though it's crap now!

22. I have been living with Michael for 5 1/2 years and we are both rather messy. Not the best combination.

23. I am really scared of pain and I'm a real wuss. Wish me luck for childbirth.

24. I still have to sleep with a light on in our room because I'm scared of the dark.

25. I hate drinking water!

26. I have suffered from depression and anxiety since the age of 8. I have taken medication for a few months when I was about 18 but otherwise I just find ways to cope.

27. I only own two pairs of trousers, I live in dresses!

28. The first cassette I ever bought was Wet Wet Wet 'Love is All Around'.

29. One of my favourite singers at the moment is Lana Del Ray. Just adore her.

30. I like chocolate but not solid chocolate bars-my favourite are Twix and Kit Kat.

31. I always wanted to be a teacher but left a PGCE after I decided it wasn't for me. It was one of the best decisions I ever made!

32. I get up at 7am every morning for work and I still hate it. I am NOT a morning person and don't like to talk to anyone.

33. I love 50's diners and try to always find one when we go on holiday. My favourite one so far was in Lisbon, they even had a Marilyn Monroe statue!

34. I am not spontaneous in the slightest and like things to be planned.

35. I can't swim!

36. I love 80's films-in particular my favourite which is Back to the Future. I could quote most of the lines and I drink tea out of my BTTF mug every morning.

37. I have a gap between my two front teeth which was a lot bigger when I was younger. I used to hate it but now I love it.

38. I play Candy Crush almost every day and have been on Level 133 for almost a month now.

39. I used to work in Claire's Accessories. The 50% discount was fab but that was about it.

40. I used to have really fair hair as a child.

41. I wear make up every day pretty much without fail. I couldn't live without my mascara and concealor.

42. I have a habit of picking people to be in my life who make zero effort. 

43. My favourite restaurant is Toby Carvery and we frequently travel about 90 mins to our nearest one!

44. I love wedding research and Michael and I plan to get married in 2015.

45. I hate talking to anyone on the phone other than my Mum and Michael. I usually get them to call anyone else for me!

46. I'm a very liberal person and totally believe everyone should be treated equally regardless of sexuality, race, gender etc. Narrow minded people bore me.

47. I have worn glasses since I was about 8 and my first pair were Mickey Mouse ones. I used to wear contacts but now I just embrace my poor sight!

48.  I scare really easily and I hate horror films.

49. My engagement ring was my Nan's engagement ring and is extremely sentimental as well as very, very valuable! 

50. Michael and I are expecting our first baby, a little girl, in September 2013. We were very lucky that it happened quickly for us and I cried (with happiness lol) when I found out I was pregnant! It's something we have wanted for a long time.
 xoxo

22 week blog video! x

I actually filmed this video yesterday, was meant to do one last week but finally got around to it! Apoligies again for the poor quality :)

xoxo

How I feel about pregnancy....x

Pregnancy has a funny way of messing with your emotions. It also forces you to face up to things in your life that perhaps before, you could always push to the side. Pregnancy is such a rollercoaster and coping with the ever changing symptoms and feelings that comes along with it, can be difficult. Already suffering from depression and anxiety (as some of you may have read about in my other blog), I was already prepared for the fact that pregnancy may make it worse. I wouldn't actually go as far as to say it has made me worse but it has certainly made me discover a lot about myself and made me realise that I should stop blaming myself for feeling this way. Sometimes it is hard to distinguish what is just those pesky hormones and what is genuine depression and anxiety. Either way I feel I am doing great with coping with it all. Whenever I feel sad, it doesn't take much to put a smile back on my face again. It just takes a little kick from my baby girl or looking at all her little clothes lined up in the wardrobe, ready for her arrival. I know now that I don't have to ever be ashamed of suffering from depression.

Pregnancy has also made me see, for the first time, who is genuine and who isn't in my life. I find it strange that some people find it difficult when someone finds happiness in their life and things are genuinely going right for them. I don't put it down to jealously because that would be awfully bigheaded of me and plus, who would ever be jealous of me?! I don't ever rub my happiness in anyone's face, I just simply embrace it because it really is SUCH a long time coming for me. I have spent most of my life with a dark cloud looming over me and for the first time I feel genuinely happy with the direction my life is heading in and my dream to become a mother, is coming true! I was told before becoming pregnant that during pregnancy you find out who your true friends are and this is so true. I am a pretty damn awesome friend so the way I see it is, if at the end of this all I only have a handful of people left in my life, at least I will know they are genuine. On the other hand, people who I never really spoke to before have become so genuinely interested in my life, offering advice, asking how I am etc...so much so that I am truely touched.

It actually took me a long time to accept that fact that I am actually pregnant, I am actually going to give BIRTH to a baby and have a DAUGHTER. It has only become a bit more real since I have felt her move and then one day, it clicked that I had a little growing human being inside me. With the extreme happiness, I am not afraid to admit, comes a lot of fear. I am scared of how my life will change and I constantly question myself-will I be a good mother? Am I grown up enough? Will I cope with the pain of pregnancy? All pretty normal questions I guess. 

To become a mother is something I have always wanted. To become a father is something that Michael has always wanted. So I know our daughter is coming into the world to two people who have wanted her desperately for so long and will love her absolutely unconditionally. That is all that matters. Having been together for almost 7 years we have built a wonderful relationship, spent so many special 'couple' times together but now we are very ready for the next chapter. We spend every single day talking about the future, what we will do with our daughter, what we will teach her and what she will be like and we call her by her name (which I am still trying to keep secret but failing slightly...) I cannot wait for the day I hold her in my arms because I know it will simply be the best day of my life and nothing else will ever compare.

xoxo

21 weeks and more baby stuff! x

I am now 21 weeks pregnant and tomorrow is our scan-yipeeee! So excited to see our little girl on the screen, will be nice to see her looking all big and hopefully we will get some nice photos. Most importantly of all, I just hope she is well :) My bump is growing nicely and I haven't felt too bad in myself for the past few days :) I am craving EVERYTHING sweet at the moment-marshmallows, chocolate...you name it, I want it!

 I will do a video later this week about the scan and other pregnany update bits but in the meantime thought I would share some more stuff that I (and my mum, who is an even better bargain hunter than me!) have bought recently.

We got this lovely Moses basket from Kiddicare for about £30, it is beautiful and has little hanging decorations which I love :)

I bought these hooded towels from Ebay for 99p! They are so soft and cute and worth over a tenner new! Money saved :)

Michael bought this cute toy box from Vertbaudet last week and we've been slowly filling it with various toys and rattles and things. Yet to buy any big toys but to be honest I don't know what a baby likes to play with?!

I got this big bundle of 3-6 months long sleeved tops for 99p on Ebay.

My Mum got this cute pink dress, Hello Kitty dress and babygrow from a car boot :)

The cot is now covered with pretty clothes! I also have a super cute changing bag (Hello Kitty of course) thanks to Michael :) xxx

Half way there! x

Just a short little post to share that I am officially HALF WAY whoooo! 20 weeks today and only 20 weeks until we meet our little girl! Time is going fast and I am feeling bigger and it's all feeling that little bit more real.

 At 20 weeks, baby is now starting to develop its senses and becoming more responsive to changes including activity from the mother (sure she can hear my stomach gurgling after a Maccy D's) and sounds outside. Baby is also starting to grow actual HAIR as well as the nose and ears taking their proper shape. How exciting.

Here is my 20 week bumpage.

xoxo

Baby Clothes Haul

This weekend has been rather rubbish in pregnancy land! My hormones have been everywhere and combined with my already existing depression/anxiety, I have been feeling pretty low. However my mum and Michael have been amazing at keeping my spirits up and also little baby girl has been moving LOTS the past few days (including what feels like a few somersaults!) which is such a wonderful feeling. On the plus side also, I AM HALF WAY tomorrow-20 weeks whoooo!

I have been suffering really badly with my hip, leg and back pain which I have now discovered is something called Pelvic Girdle Pain. It has been so bad today I had to call in sick to work as I got no sleep last night and it hurts so much to move. It really has been getting me down. I have decided to invest in a pregnancy pillow it's supposed to help with this type of pain. 

Today I have spent most of my time in bed not doing anything (except feeling girlie constantly moving) and it's been rather depressing which is why I thought I'd do a little blog post about all the lovely clothes I have got recently.

Michael and I discovered a lovely website called Vertbaudet last week and Michael purchased a few things he really liked. They haven't come through the post yet but here are a few pics from the website. They had an amazing offer on where, as a new customer, you get £15 off when you spend £20! Incredible! We also bought a cute little pink toy box to put all her bits in.

Cute Polar Bear Baby Grows

Little Pink Parka Coat

I also bought a few bits from Ebay and charity shops...

Gorgeous nautical dress (would so wear this in a big version myself!)-£2.60

Pretty pink ladybird dress-£2.19

Little pink baby shoes-99p

Next Cat Dress-50p from Charity Shop

Miffy booties (thanks Mum) and Hello Kitty booties-£1

Babygrow from charity shop-£1 (thanks again Mum)

Lovely snuggly onesie (£1) and snowsuit (50p) from charity shop.

I do love bargains! 
Will be back with a 20 week post tomorrow and a video next week after our scan!
xoxo

Bumps, kicks and heartbeats! x

I am officially 19 weeks today, can't believe I am nearly half way and I'm counting down the days until our next scan in 2 weeks time. Baby is growing very quickly now (just over 14cm from crown to rump), she can possibly hear and recognise my voice now so every now and then, I sing and have a little chat to her. Very sad I know.

I had a wonderful moment on Sunday when our baby girlie kicked me for the first time! I haven't really felt anything since but it was definitely a kick, whilst I was lying and resting on the bed and was actually a little painful! It was so special though and every night since Michael has been hoping to feel another kick but baby isn't ready quite yet. I have an anterior placenta which means I may not feel too much until I am about 22 weeks or so. 

However my bump is growing nicely and I am very lucky that I am only really putting weight on my stomach and nowhere else, for now! My bump still hasn't popped nicely but it is getting much rounder and harder and now the weather is improving, I am going to get out the summer dresses (the ones that fit!) to show my bump off and also treat myself to a few nice maternity dresses. There has to be something positive about being pregnant in the summer!

I am still suffering really badly from my hip and pain in my side but on the plus side, my hair is getting rather nice and thick and shiny which I believe is one of the only nice pregnancy symptoms! At 19 weeks, pains like I am having are to be expected and whilst the sickness is over I have to deal with (possibly to much info here) constipation, heartburn, leg cramps and needing to pee ALL the time. Baby thinks my bladder is a bouncy castle at the moment!  I have been using my doppler a little so we can hear her heartbeat and I managed to record this on my laptop-if you want to listen to a crazy loud baby heartbeat click the link below!

 

Babyheartbeatnew 

It sounds like a very fast train don't you think? I've tried to limit myself to using it once or twice a week now but it's lovely when I do find it and very comforting. I haven't bought much in the way of baby bits the past few days because I have been busy buying lots of pressies for my Mum's birthday this Saturday! We are going for yet another carvery but you can never have too much roast potatoes can you?!

xoxo

18 weeks!

I shouldn't have said I was feeling good! At 18 and a half weeks, I feel rather crappy! I had to come home from work today because my hip pain has just been awful and it's now travelled down my leg-it is horrible! I currently have my feet up on the sofa as that is the only thing I can do other than take paracetamol. I am lucky I don't really have any other symptoms at the moment other than being very tired but that could be just be the changing work hours taking its toll.

I can't believe soon we will be half way! I've had a lovely week with my doppler which I purchased from Amazon. It is called Angelsounds and picks up the baby's heartbeat-I decided to wait until now as I have been told by my midwife you generally can't hear baby's heartbeat before 16 weeks. Anyway it's wonderful to hear her beating away, I pick up my heartbeat a lot too but her hearbeat is very different to mine-it's MUCH faster and makes a completely different sound so I always know when I have found her. Michael and I have been listening lots and my mum has got to listen to.

Also our cot from Mothercare arrived this week and it is so lovely! Michael did an excellent job putting it up within about 30 mins and we have bought some pretty blankets and a sheet to put in, in the meantime I have put lots of cuddly toys in there. I wonder if you can notice a theme?! It may seem a little early but we saw a great deal and we had to get it! It's very good quality although it looks massive! We will be getting a Moses basket too for when she is a newborn and will see what she is most comfortable/happiest sleeping in. I will be looking for a cot mobile (although I can't seem to find any nice ones) and some decorations for the wall by her cot.

I haven't felt much in the way of movements I don't think but then it's pretty hard to tell?! I found out at an appointment I have an anterior placenta (placenta is at the front and cushioning baby I believe) so it may take longer for me to feel her. I am not worried because I'm only 18 weeks :) In just under 3 weeks on 8th May we have our next scan (at 21 weeks) so I am worrying of course that everything is ok and she is growing and is healthy and happy.

I have bought some more girlie clothes on Ebay as I haven't been shopping since last weekend (poor me) but I got some great bargains...wanna see? Do you like?

Minnie Mouse Outfit-£1

Red H&M Dress-£1

 Minnie Mouse Outfits-99p

xoxo

Welcome to team pink!

Hi all :) Back to work full time on Monday so I am making the most of my last few days off by doing a bit of baby shopping for our baby girl! I'm currently 17+3, I am feeling ok apart from my hips still aching like crazy and feeling very uncomfortable in bed. My bump is developing nicely and I am trying to keep a record of how my body shape changes as I thought it would be something lovely to look back on. I did a little photoshoot of my 17 week bump and despite my very poor photo taking skills, I got some nice pictures! My belly is getting nice and round but yet to 'pop'. I haven't felt any movements or kicks yet apart from those weird thuds I had a few weeks ago, it may not have been baby girlie but who knows! I will feel it soon and it will be wonderful :)

Michael and I took a little baby shopping trip out yesterday and after a lovely lunch at Frankie and Benny's, we headed to a massive 'Babies R Us' as well as Mothercare. We saw a few prams we liked in Babies R us but overall wasn't overly impressed with their range of goods. We bought some lovely soothers and a bath/room thermometer though. We headed to Mothercare and saw the cot of our dreams! It was beautiful and we were all ready to purchase when they told us out of stock. Michael called around all the local Mothercares but unfortunately we couldn't track it down. We were disappointed but we then found an almost identical one on the website at a similar price and we bought it! Mothercare were offering 20% off as well so it seemed silly not to buy it, early or not, it's fantastic to be prepared!

It is called the 'Darlington' cot and is so very pretty, we can't wait for it to arrive on Tuesday <3

Now we know we are having a girl, I have very much enjoyed buying some clothes (mostly Ebay!) and was also very generously given lots of cute baby clothes by a friend of mine. I have had some lovely offers to give us baby girl clothes and we are very grateful for everyones generosity! I have bought quite a lot myself but these are a few of my favourite little bits I have got this week:

Hello Kitty PJ's from Primark, £6

 

 Very cute pink baby snowsuit with the 'Little Tilly' design-got this for £3 on Ebay :)

Got these from Tesco's-both £2 each :)

 

And this beautiful Monsoon baby girl dress, got this for £2 from Ebay, what a bargain!

Baby shopping is very fun but think I need to hold off a bit now until payday lol :)

xoxo

New video+gender reveal!

Hi everyone, I made this little video earlier today! Excuse the hair/general roughness of my appearance! If you don't know already then we had our gender scan yesterday so I reveal all here-very exciting! xoxo

16 weeks!

I am now officially 4 months pregnant, whooo! Time has flown and soon enough I will be half way through! Now I am 16 weeks, the baby is starting to get bigger and bigger and is currently about about 12cm long I believe. I have been feeling a lot better in myself the past week (although obviously not working helps!) other than my bad hip pains, I have feeling pretty good. My bump has reached a bit of a standstill but to be fair it is still pretty big. Our early gender scan was originally scheduled for Friday afternoon but I got a call today asking whether I could do Saturday as the sonographer cannot make it to the clinic on Friday. It's a bit pants but I guess it's only one extra day to wait! ;)

Michael and I saw my midwife today for my 16 week check up, all is well with me and the baby and we also got the added bonus of being able to hear (we've only previously seen it on the screen) the baby's heartbeat through an instrument called a Doppler. It took the midwife a good few minutes (baby was shy apparently!) but she really tried and after a few minutes we heard that wonderful sound <3 it was lovely to hear and so clearly too, at 160 BPM it was a nice normal and strong heartbeat. 

Now I have a few weeks off work, I have been browsing lots of charity shops for potential bargains and I shared on Facebook that I got this lovely baby bouncer from a charity shop yesterday for £8-it's in very condition and after a good clean will be perfect! 

 I love the rainforest design and I really do believe that spending £50+ on things like this is just not worth it when you can get it second hand! There are a few things I would like to get new and I have already seen a lovely cot and bedding (boy or girlie style) on a website called Kiddicare. What do you think?

 This lovely cot is £59.99 and simple but very pretty!

 This is the boy's bedding I love called 'Teddy's Day Out'

And this is the girl's bedding called 'Tilly's Favourite Things' which is so adorable!

 I shall be back on my blog on Saturday to report the outcome of our gender scan...EXCITED!

xoxo