broken

This wordpress was broken for a while and clever hubby has just fixed it, hurray. It seemed the amazon media manager plug-in had broken it so has been removed. I’m sure you will all sorely miss knowing what I’m reading! Since I last posted I gave birth to our son. A full report on his cuteness and photos to follow.

Filed Under my life | Leave a Comment by emma on 07-02-2010

gorgeous free printable calendar

A print a day has this cute matryoshka free printable calendar.

Filed Under cute, crafty, cool, pretty | 1 Comment by emma on 07-12-2009

36 weeks pregnant

A couple of weeks ago I saw the midwife for a routine appointment and she measured my fundal height (how big your uterus is, gives an indication of baby development and size). I was measuring 3 weeks ahead so she booked me into the day unit at the hospital for monitoring. I had scan and it turns out I have too much amniotic fluid, a condition called polyhydramnios. This in itself is not the end of the world but means I have to be monitored more as different factors can cause it, some serious, some not. I had a test for gestational diabetes which I passed and a growth scan to see what baby was up to. He seems to be healthy in there but his tummy is a bit large and the sonographer called him a chubby chops! She pointed out that he has hair on the scan. It was lovely to see him again looking like a big “real” baby.

I’ve had regular appointments at the day unit to test my blood pressure which has seem to have shot up - I have pregnancy induced hypertension. They have to keep a close eye on this in case I develop pre-eclampsia which can be super scary.

Last weekend I had a bit of a scare as they found protein in my urine which is an indication of pre-eclampsia and I was admitted to the hospital for a 24hour urine monitoring (there’s no glamour in being pregnant). I had to record everything I drank and collect all my wee in a plastic bottle, nice. I was also having my blood pressure and temperature checked every few hours. I was lonely and bored and a bit teary. I’d only gone into the the day unit thinking I was going to have a few checks and suddenly I was on the ward with other ladies who had just given birth! I was most surreal to be eating dinner with new mums and their tiny babies. You never leave you child alone so if you don’t have a visitor you can wheel your baby about in a cot/trolley. I was let out Saturday afternoon and subsequently didn’t have any more protein in my wee (dipstick tests can give a false reading if becomes contaminated with umm something else lol don’t want to give tmi!).

Basically I have high blood pressure and my life revolves around being pregnant at the moment. I have a problem with acid reflux also and trying to get to a decent night’s sleep is impossible. Still I’m so looking forward to meeting our son it will all be worth it. I must say that the staff at The Countess of Chester hospital are great and I’m being well looked after.

Filed Under my life | 2 Comments by emma on 04-12-2009

pregnancy links

8 ways to determine your baby’s position in the womb right now

10 things I wish I’d known before I became a mum

Baby and bump forum - an excellent forum for everyone from trying to conceive right through to raising children

Arm’s Reach - co-sleeping without the worry

Lizzie’s Real Nappies - reusable nappies

Cheeky Baby Wipes -a hassle free washable cloth Kit that’ll do your bit for the environment and save you money

Sleepy Wrap - a lovely way to wear your baby. My friend has kindly bought me one of these and I’m so looking forward to using it.

A list of worthwhile sites for baby freebies

How to swaddle a baby:

Filed Under useful | Leave a Comment by emma on 09-11-2009

goodbye to geoshities

Yahoo has shut down GeoCities! Ahh sad news. Well not really because although I look back at Geocities with fondness, they really produced cringeworthy efforts. It’s fairly easy to build a sophisticated looking webpage these days, with the advent of wordpress and blogger layouts. I certainly had an embarassing geocities webpage complete with scrolling text (oh god I actually remembered the html code for that), a visitor counter and a guestbook that no one signed. Happy days of the late 90s!

Filed Under news | 1 Comment by emma on 27-10-2009

should you use comic sans?

Filed Under funny | 2 Comments by emma on 26-10-2009

nantwich food festival + victorian fair

Last weekend we went to Nantwich’s Food Festival. There was a big marquee with lots of stalls showcasing thier wares and plenty of samples to try. Good news for a greedy person like me! I admit I sampled alot of cheese that day.

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First stop was the Vegetarian Society’s “veggie sausage fest”, lots of meat-free sausages for us to try.

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Boxfresh Organics had a lovely array of organic vegetables, including rainbow carrots and some pretty looking aubergines.

We went on a walk about eating wild food. This man is talking about plantain. It was really interesting. Make sure you know what you are picking, whose land you are on and that it’s not been urinated on by a dog before you eat anything!

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I was given a 100% vegetarian sticker which I proudly wore on my bump to show baby will be a vegetarian too.

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We wandered into the town centre where a Victorian fair was being held. Lots of stalls with people dressed up in costume. Here’s a policeman, he was handcuffing children.

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Saw this not very Victorian but gorgeous long-haired Akita. Love those bear-like paws!

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This is a very sleepy ferret.

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This is a very cross owl.

Back at home and Mr C made me a birthday cake (I’ve just turned 31). He made me a carrot cake with cream cheese topping. He doesn’t like it so I ate the majority of it haha.

Filed Under my life | 1 Comment by emma on 05-10-2009

mr penguin the tea-timer

Mr Penguin the tea-timer looks like a super cute way to brew your tea to perfection!

Mr Penguin’s beak lowers the tea bag into the hot water when the timer dial is turned. At the sound of the bell, his beak will lifts the tea bag from the water. I must get one!
Available at Amazon for $11.39.

Filed Under cute, cool | Leave a Comment by emma on 23-09-2009

how big is baby?

If you are pregnant it’s quite hard to imagine what size your baby is. If you need a visual clue then check out this from The Bump. I’m on week 25 so I have a little baby aubergine (eggplant) in me!

Filed Under my life, cool, useful | Leave a Comment by emma on 15-09-2009

if you play zelda

you will find this cartoon amusing

Filed Under funny | 1 Comment by emma on 08-09-2009

most annoying advert ever?

Doing a poo at Paul’s house:

Can’t decide which child I hate more Paul’s poo friend or the “it’s all gone, it’s all gone boy”.

Filed Under my life | Leave a Comment by emma on 04-09-2009

baby @ 20 weeks

We had an anatomy scan at 20 weeks and we are having a boy. Everything was normal, he’s healthy and a good size.

He was being a bit naughty at first and wouldn’t show one of his arms to the sonographer. I had to go to the toilet to empty my bladder in the hope he’d move (I had a chat with him and asked him to show his arm). Went back in the scan room and this time he showed his arm but bless him he did a thumbs up as if to say “look I’ve done it”! The sonographer was laughing her head off. Actually we didn’t know it was a boy until we were all done. It was like the sonographer wasn’t going to bother mentioning it unless I prompted her. Though of course the most important thing is that he’s healthy.

I went into town and celebrated by buying him the cutest pair of monkey trousers a tiny top with bears on!

By the way the photo is not him doing thumbs up as she didn’t take one of him doing that.

Filed Under my life | 2 Comments by emma on 31-08-2009

moved in

Well we are all moved in and have a fully functioning internet again. Only took TalkTalk a month to reconnect, well done (idiots).

We finally have the room in the kitchen to display our spotty crockery which was a wedding present. It’s by Spode and called “Baking Days”. Lovely.

Filed Under my life | 4 Comments by emma on 05-08-2009

happy news

Just a little annoucement to say I am 14 weeks pregant and very happy!

This is our little bean at 12 weeks

Because of our need for another bedroom we are moving house on Wednesday. We will be still in Chester but this time in a house with a good size kitchen and two bedrooms. It will feel like a treat to not be living in a flat anymore. We are off to ikea tomorrow to spend a small fortune on beds/sofas/chest of drawers etc; expensive but great fun. The internet is being cut off and then transferred to the new house on Wednesday and it may take up to a month to get it back! How will I cope?!

Filed Under my life | 1 Comment by emma on 29-06-2009

sad news

My grandad Les died this morning. He’d been in hospital for over two months. He was admitted orginally with a stomach ulcer and then he contracted Clostridium difficile and then a chest infection. In the end all they could do was make him comfortable. He was 88.

I’ve been meaning to catch up with my Cuba posts (taking an embarassingly long time to complete!) but I’ve since had a lovely holiday in Holland with friends Miki and Steve. I’ve also got lots of studying to do and some other things going on making life a bit hetic right now.

Filed Under my life | 4 Comments by emma on 16-05-2009

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