September 2006 Archives

Here is Emily, all kitted out in her first uniform! Its just so cute isn't it? In fact this one is just on loan until our new one comes. Emily is such a crafty madam. One morning, when picking her up from playgroup, the teacher told me that Emily had said "If I get my t-shirt wet will you give me a teddy bear shirt?" As you can see Emily just couldn't wait for her one to arrive, so the lovely teacher let us borrow one, just in case Emily decided to somehow get wet enough or mucky enough for a clothes change!

On another note I had my 34 week appointment today. To be honest, there was lots of things I wanted to talk about but the doctor was so unfriendly and really didn't seem too interested in me. After being told I had a really big baby she said everything was pretty average and average weight, which surprised me. Then when she showed me the chart she said the baby was in the top percentile for size. So as you can see, after being given conflicting information in the space of 5 minutes I hardly felt very reassured by her. She also said I had a lot of fluid but then kept saying 'nothing to panic about' every 2 seconds in a very patronising way. I certainly didn't feel like I could talk to her about anything. It left me feeling very annoyed and frustrated. Although this should be my last big appointment she said I should come back in 4 weeks for another check up - I just hope its not with her! Also 4 weeks?!!! I hardly feel like I can last that long.

Finally got around to taking some pictures of my bump. Its so funny how some people say I look really big and some people say I look neat. All I know is that its bloomin' heavy and feels massive to me! It will be interesting to see what my 34 week appointment says next week.

I can't wait to get my waist back now and be able to do up my jeans without the use of a mirror and bend down to put on my shoes and socks. I tried putting on my converse boots the other day but had to give up as it was too much effort! Stroll on the thin days (hopefully thing anyway!).

Oh and if you want to see another view of bump and compare it to when I was pregnant with Emily
click here.

My lovely Canadian friend Tamara was touring Ireland with her brother Geoff and his fiance Liv (who is from Norway) and they came up to see us on Monday. It was so lovely of them to make the effort and I hadn't met Geoff or Liv before so it was great to finally meet them both at last too (Emily is pictured with Geoff and Liv).

Tamara stayed over on Monday night and it was great to catch up with her and have an excuse to order Chinese food! I couldn't believe it had been so long since we last saw her. It really cheered me up having her around and we just hung out and went to lunch. Emily totally adored Geoff and played with him the whole time, saying that he was her best friend!

When they had to go Emily asked if Geoff could stay and then she took hold of Tamara's hands, looked bashfully into her eyes and asked if she could stay. It was such a lovely moment. So sweet and sad at the same time!

Today is Em's second day at Playgroup, but it is her first full morning, 3 whole hours. I have been completely happy and fine about this big step but as I walked away from the school this morning I was overcome with emotion and the tears just flooded out. It was totally unexpected, but then maybe I have been too calm about the whole thing and it was just a matter of time before it hit me that my baby is growing up. I just felt sad that she would be having lots of fun and doing lots of things without me. Although Warren reminds me that I have felt guilty lately because I have been unable to do all these things with her and I have wished that she had the chance to do more than just watch TV. I am sure after today I will be thankful of the few hours a week break!

Right, I am off for a lie down and cup of tea!

Today was Emily's first day at playgroup! She has started going two mornings a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays. She has been so excited about going to 'school' for such a long time now - probably because I have been talking to her about it a lot and pointing it out when we drive past. She was absolutely no trouble at all and was happy for me to leave her there. She was just there for an hour to 'settle-in' today and Thursday she will be there for 3 hours. I knew she would be fine. She is so independent and such a social butterfly that she was chatting away as soon as we walked through the door. In fact she went straight up to the teacher and demanded to do painting!

As she was there an just an hour, I had taken my book and went to sit in the coffee shop next door for a cup of tea and some quality reading time. Unfortunately as soon as I got in there I felt like I was going to pass out and one of the women took a chair outside for me to sit on, I am sure they were worried I might give birth there and then! I didn't even get sipping my tea. I just felt awful. Basically it seems I can't stand up for any prolonged period of time without the blood rushing to my head. Even now I think I am going to have to go and lie down.

But it didn't spoil Ems first day and it certainly didn't cloud just how proud I was of her when she came out with the things she had made and a 'Best Girl' sticker. My little baby is growing up.

I am a little late posting about this but things are quite topsy turvey around here at the moment! We both had a lovely time over the week we spent in Bilston, at Nanny & Grandads house. I managed to somehow get lots of rest and do lots of things at the same time - how did that happen?! We went to the Black Country Museum, which I haven't been to in ages and was great! Em played with the old fashioned toys, we queued up for traditional fish and chips (which were YUM by the way) and went on the canal boat through the limestone tunnels and into the mines. It was a long day but I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone passing through the Midlands! There are a few more photos here.

It was great that I was able to get some sleep in the day too, something I really needed. I was even made redundant at bedtime and only Nanny was allowed to do the bedtime story. It was so lovely. By the time we got back home after the week Emily had gotten used to her new surroundings and has asked me a few times if she can go the shops to buy a dog! Maybe one day little lady...!

Thanks for looking after us and for a great week Mom & Nige and thanks Chris & Claire for coming down to see us while we were there, Emily just loves playing with Sam and Ciara. Hope to see you all again soon. x

Well its 3.40am and I can't sleep so here I am, along with my milky Horlicks. Usually when I can't sleep I just lie in bed with the hope that I will drop back off again and this doesn't seem to work too well. So tonight, after an hour of lying rearranging furniture in my head I decided to get up for a hot drink. Its a worth a try.

Warren and I were talking tonight about all the lovely cute and just amazing little conversations that we have with Emily sometimes, or that she has with us or her teddies! So I thought it was about time I recorded these details. Here's a conversation I had with her in the car, on the way to the hospital yesterday (it seems like still today).

Emily: "Mommy? Where will baby sleep when it pops out of your tummy?"

Me: "It will sleep in Mommy and Daddy's room in a little basket, just like you did. When its a bit bigger it will sleep in the cot."

Emily: "When its a bit bigger can it sleep in my bed with me?"

Me: "Do you think there'll be room?"

Emily: "I can move over and then you can snug us in and baby might give me a hug."

Me: "That's so lovely Emily!"

How totally adorable is that? I also forgot to say that when the doctor was checking me out, Emily insisted on having the scan, even though you could only see the head. She got it off the doctor and gave it a big kiss!

At moments like these I am so overcome that I could pick her up and squeeze with a billion hugs. Either that or cry! This is what makes it all worth it.

I love you Emily Black! x