Apologies for not blogging again last week. I really wanted to but needed to take some photos which I still havent gotten round to yet. But I will this week.

I was ill again last week - had a cold, a proper one this time!! The difference between a cold and hayfever is quite marked when you're looking out for the differences. That wiped me out for two days and then Craig was off gallavanting in Germany (ok, not quite, he was there for work reasons). So it was a bit of an uneventful week.

This week is half term and I'm determined to get the house tidied and sorted out. We've done quite well so far but still have a fair way to go. But I'm feeling very pleased with myself (and the children) and hopefully the enthusiasm won't wane before we're finished.

I have to admit I'm not being very good when it comes to sorting stuff out for recycling etc. Most of the rubbish is just going into binliners although the old clothes we're getting rid of are going to a textile bank. I just want to get rid of it all asap so it's not hanging around the house.

I'm really noticing the fact I'm pregnant though - the old back is aching from hoovering etc and I'm finding it hard to get up and down when tidying.

Anyway, that's it for my quick update. The blog I've been meaning to post all week should be here soon, when I get round to taking the photos.

Giveaway

Ninny Noodle Noo are giving away some gorgeous Ostheimer chickens on their blog (see the link in my blog list or click here: http://www.ninnynoodlenoo.com/blog/?p=179 ) Their products are just gorgeous! Oh to win the lottery and be able to buy everything!!! (Would help if I actually did the lottery mind you!!!!!)

Changes afoot!

My last few posts have been a bit negative and I don’t like it, so I want to make this more positive. One of my favourite blogs is by a lovely lady and is called A Smile a Day, it’s so positive and always makes me smile. I've finally gotten round to listing my favourite blogs on here - if I've added yours and you'd rather I didn't then please let me know.

So, what lovely things are happening here? Well, I had a lovely package yesterday from Conscious Chocolate. It’s raw choc that is healthy (or so it is claimed) as there are no sugars or unhealthy fats. What’s more important though is the taste and it is gorgeous - especially the orange one. Sadly I only ordered one bar of the orange so I’m afraid I’m going to have to place another order with them. What a shame!!! They only charge £1 for postage and are incredibly fast. The coconut one is yummy, as is the nutty one. I did order a mocha one which is very very strong so I can only manage one square of that a day. The idea was I would make the bars last for as long as possible. I was thinking more in the region of a few weeks than a few days but we polished off 3 bars yesterday……. Ah well, its good for us.

Got some bars of raw chocolate from Raw Living today. Now, until I tasted Conscious Chocolate they were my favourite, but now I have compared tastes I’m not so sure. But still, very yummy. My only gripe is their postage charge - £6!!!!!!! I wouldn’t mind if it had actually cost them that to send but the label on the package says £2.40. So they lose marks there I’m afraid. If they lower their postage I’ll continue to order, if not then I’m sticking with CC. Mind you, Raw Living do raw cakes as well which sound gorgeous but at £30-odd a cake I’m a little scared to risk it. Any chance of selling it by the slice guys????

A few weeks ago we collected loads of conkers from the trees near school. Sadly they went mouldy in the box the girls put them in and they were too far gone to just wash. We put them on the fire last night and umm, well, lets just say it wasn’t the greatest idea, lol We had a night of explosions as they burst. Luckily we have a screen which kept the sparks in the fireplace. Millie and daddy have gone off to see if they can find some more, hopefully they’re not too late. Next year we will learn our lesson. I love conkers so I hope we will have another nice pile of them very soon.

Has anyone else found themselves suddenly motivated to make changes? Either in their lives or homes? I’m finding I want to do both. Our diet is really awful at the moment, far too much convenience food so I have vowed to start making much more healthy meals for us. I want to be far greener than I am at the moment. Again, it’s something that has slipped so we need to take some time out to see what needs changing and do something about it. It’s so much easier to chuck stuff in the bin rather than take a moment extra to put it in the recycling bin. Another lovely online friend of mine has a blog devoted to Zero Waste and charts their attempts to live a zero waste lifestyle. Very inspiring and no preaching. Lots of ideas of small steps that you can take towards living a zero waste life, and even if you never get there at least you are doing something!!!

Homewise, I have the urge to have a massive clearout and get rid of all the stuff we just don’t need. I wouldn’t say we have a huge amount of clutter but we do have lots of stuff we could easily live without. I have this fantasy of getting rid of all the children’s plastic toys and replacing them with beautiful natural ones, not helped by the arrival of the Myriad catalogue the other day.

We also have a room that is just a dumping ground. It might not be quite so bad if it wasn’t the first room you come into when you walk in the door here. It’s called the games room simply because it has a TV and the games consoles in it, not because it’s a posh games room with pool table etc. You walk in the front door into a teeny tiny hallway (too small to call a hall really) and then into the “games room”. It’s just a complete mess and never stays tidy. Shoes, coats and bags are all dumped here. The shoes never go back on the shoe rack and its just so messy you can’t find anything.

My latest idea to tidy it up is to remove all Craig’s books and things and put them on shelves under the stairs (an open space where the children’s toys are currently stored). Move the filing cabinet out to somewhere else and also the other misc things that are stored in there because there’s nowhere else for them. Then I want to put up a shelf above the radiator and on it have a box for each person where they can just dump their bags, scarves etc and underneath it have more boxes for everyone to dump their shoes, boots, slippers into.

Then I want to move the computer desk from the lounge into the newly tidy room so Craig has somewhere quieter to work now he is working days and put the toys from under the stairs in the space the computer desk will leave.

We shall see!! I would love to be able to post here in the next few days to say we have done it and it seems to be working….

Jack has a little book at playschool where they write what he has been doing. The latest entry is about him drawing a picture. His key worker asked him what it was and he told her it was mummy. She then asked him “what’s mummy got in her tummy?” His answer? “chocolate”!!! He knows me too well, lol

I forgot to mention the other day, when I’d had my scan and got off the couch Jack tried to climb up saying “is it my turn now??” He was most disappointed when we told him it wasn’t.

Anyway, I am now off to get some hoovering done.

Rant and rave

In my last post I mentioned hay fever and that I hoped I wouldn’t get it next year. Ha ha ha. Guess what? I have hay fever. I’ve had it for years. I have all the classic symptoms of it. But because my stupid/ignorant mother always told me I just had a cold I grew up believing that.

She didn’t spot the fact I was having classic allergy symptoms either. So again, I have grown up not realising that what I thought was just “normal” was something more serious. And because I have unwittingly carried on exposing myself to the things that I have been reacting to I have now developed asthma. I am swinging between being angry that I am now unnecessarily ill and feeling stupid that I didn’t realise that the sneezing, itchy watery eyes, itchy ears and throat, constant running nose etc etc wasn’t normal but were all signs of something wrong. And I’m angry that because I was totally unaware I spent most of the summer feeling ill and dosing myself up on Lemsip which was for no reason as it doesn’t do anything for hay fever.

Yet another reason to hate my parents!!!

Anyway, rant over for now.

A few weeks ago I was sent an appointment for an anomaly scan at the hospital which I intended to cancel but forgot to do. The appointment was today and we decided to go along and see if I got in before we had to leave to pick the children up from school - I’ve had to wait anything up to 3 hours to be seen there before so I wasn’t confident. But, shock, horror, I got in less than 10 minutes after my appointment time!!!!!!!!!!

So, we had another scan. All is still well, which we expected. Baby is fine, head measurement was what you’d expect but the tummy was a bit bigger, but she didn’t seem to think it was a problem. She confirmed what we already know regarding the sex.

She asked if we wanted photos so I said we didn’t have any money for the machine (you have to put £5 into a machine if you want pictures) but she accidentally printed some off anyway. At the end she told us we’d need to put some money in on the way out so I said again that we didn’t have any money for it. I could see her debating with herself as to whether or not to let us have them anyway but as they’d have gone in the bin if we didn’t have them she gave them to us as it didn’t really make any difference.

One of the photos I have added here because I think it is so funny. It’s actually the back of the head but looks like a scary face with big eyes and a toothy grin.

I have to admit to being torn when it comes to scans. While part of me thinks it’s nice to see the baby, and it was lovely to see the little arms and legs moving, and to be reassured that everything is ok, I also worry about the safety of them.

There is so little research done into the risks and it’s a very good argument that you shouldn’t have them because there is so little research and if the findings of the scan wouldn’t change the outcome of the pregnancy for you why put your child at any possible risk?

I definitely think the 4d scan distressed the baby. The movements afterwards were not His normal ones, there were more jabbing ones which I hadn’t had before and haven’t had since that day. I just feel that it wasn’t a good idea to have exposed my baby to such strong ultrasound waves and I do wish I hadn’t got carried along by the enthusiasm of the consultant who did the scan.

Having reminded myself of the "joys" of NHS scans and experienced a private one I would definitely go for he private one again if necessary. It was just a nicer experience, the lady who did the scan today was quite snappy with us whereas the consultant we saw was so lovely, even seemed to be more excited about the whole thing that we were.

After today’s scan I did wait to see the midwife afterwards however after waiting for 20 minutes we had to leave to pick up the children without being seen. There was no one around to ask for my notes back so I had to ask the receptionist to let them know and to make sure my notes were posted back to me. She kept telling me I had to let them know myself and had to wait. She didn’t seem to understand that when I said I had to leave “now” I meant I had to leave right away. She stropped off to tell them for me. We shall see if I actually get my notes back now and I bet they will have some comment about me leaving without being seen - but if there is then I will simply write in them that I had to leave and it wasn’t exactly my fault they didn’t see me before I had to go - its not like they were busy either. But that is the last time I will go up there.

Normally I want my pregnancy to last forever but this time round I can’t wait until the baby arrives. I just want to be holding my baby in my arms. I’m really looking forward to meeting Him.

Asthma and Eczema

Whoops, accidently posted twice.

Asthma and Eczema

I went to see the asthma nurse (she’s actually a respiratory nurse specialist or something similar but asthma nurse is easier to type) on Monday. It was a really useful appointment and I have come away feeling more knowledgeable about the whole thing. I am extremely allergic to cats!! Also dogs to a lesser degree, so we’re not to have any more furry pets - I wondered how long it would take Ellie to ask if that means she can have a tortoise when I told her (answer, about 5 seconds!!!) I’m also allergic to timothy grass (no, I didn’t know what that is either) and tree pollen, so by rights I should have hay fever… I am hoping I’m not going to start with that next year.

I was given a prescription for a new daily inhaler, a lower dosage one this time rather than the strong dual inhaler I was given 2 weeks ago (it also has a steroid in as well as the other thing that I can’t remember off the top of my head). I have to admit to being a littler concerned about this as I have started to have to use my inhaler again. But I will give it a go and see - first day with it tomorrow.

I don’t know if it is just psychological but I am finding myself reacting to the cats more and more. My eyes are sore and itchy and my nose streams when I go from our room into the rest of the house. When I go out I’m fine but within 10 minutes of being home the symptoms start again.

So, the kittens definitely had to go, and I will give it a couple of weeks and if I’m still having problems sadly the older cats will be off to new homes as well. I do feel sad as they were cute, especially the littlest one, but they were also a bit of a PITA as well and kept breaking and ruining things.

Craig took them to their new home in my car tonight and then I took Sophie to her club and by the time I got there my eyes were really sore. Was it just coincidence or am I becoming so sensitive to them that just having had them in the car for a short time was enough for the dander to affect me later?

Millie has an appointment to see the psychologist again next week. I’m hoping it will go ok and she will see the odd behaviour Millie has. Craig is coming with me which will be better as I tend to forget things until afterwards which is really annoying.

Did I mention Sophie has got eczema? It started off as a small dry patch on her scalp and has now spread to the whole of it, it’s sore and itchy and the poor thing is always scratching it which makes it even more sore. We’re waiting for an appointment at the hospital with a specialist - hope it comes soon!!!! I’m wondering if it’s an allergy to the cats as well??

Craft wise, well, I bought a few bits from craft day on QVC last week and they have arrived. I’ve been having a little play with them, but not as much as I would like to. I have loads of ideas for scrapbook layouts, I just wish I had the time to actually make them!!