Counting down the days

So since mums birthday I can’t say a great deal has happened! We are still in lockdown so not going anywhere.. Ant has been furloughed and I’m on maternity leave. So it’s just us 2, the cats and our wiggly baby in my belly.

We have been really relaxing to be honest, we have a mancave at the back of the house so Ant often goes in there and plays on his game and I watch tv or doing stuff around the house and then we meet up for food or chill together!

It’s actually been pretty lovely I won’t lie.

Oh we do spend a lot of time in the garden actually. The weather has been amazing and we love our garden. Ant especially loves it and takes a lot of pride in his now sprouting flowers.

Mum sent me an app where you take a pic of the flower and it tells you what it is. So I did this with Ant and he loved it! We are getting old... I have been spending most of my time bouncing on the ball in the sunshine. Trying not to burn.. which I haven’t mum!

I had a sudden spurt of energy yesterday, people say this is nesting but I feel like I got into nest mode as soon as we found out I was pregnant. I was straight away on the list of stuff we need to get done before she arrives!

Anyway I wrote like 3 different lists on what we needed to buy, do or change around the house. And yesterday we managed to tick the last thing off (carpets don’t count cos we can’t control when they’ll do it for us!). So we painting the decking which was the last job.. we did actually do this ages ago but ran out with 2 slabs to go and with the delivery times it’s taken over a month for us to get more.

So we can officially say that we are ready for baby to arrive now.. well in terms of materialistic stuff anyway. Ant keeps saying she can stay in my belly for a couple more weeks to which I massively protest!

On the note or pregnancy.. which is pretty much all I talk about soz!

I’ve been harvesting colostrum in the lead up to giving birth. This is where you hand express the colostrum out of your boobies. My mum hasn’t heard of this! I think that it used to only be advised for ladies with diabetes but now it’s pretty much promoted or just spoken about to everyone. A

This is referred to as ‘liquid gold’ because of all the nutrients and antibodies it has in it before your milk comes in.

So you can express this and freeze it for when baby is here. This also means you can feed them straight away if you have any issues with breastfeeding.

So I’ve filled my 5 syringes (1 has since been added to the packet) and I’m ready to take to the hospital with me. Sorry if this is gross but it’d be nice to look back on for me.

I thought it was going to be really hard but actually it was easy and I filled 2 syringes in my first sitting. Oh how proud I am haha.

Another couple of things I’ve been up to in lockdown is baking and watching TikToks..

I made banana and chocolate bread the other day and it was delicious! I’m really really not a baker... I’d much prefer to make a curry or a dinner dish. But I must say this turned out pretty well.

It looked burnt on top but it was just crispy and yummy. I added waaaaay too much cream *oops*

I have such a sweet tooth in this pregnancy. I really can’t stop with the sugar!

So I’ve also been watching TikToks a lot which I didn’t download for ages cos I thought it was too young for me.. but as I’ve not got much to do I thought I’d give it a go and it’s brilliant. It’s just people doing really silly videos or lil syncing to music and dancing etc. It’s just a good laugh and because we’re all in lockdown people are getting their families to do videos and it just so funny. People have such a great sense of humour. 

Including my mum and Andy who got involved and did one of the popular dances: 

There was also a dressing gown rope hair trick on there which I tried:

So that worked well! So easy and once I’d sorted out the front and sort of styled it, it looks really nice and like you’ve made loads of effort which I do didnt! 

So that’s me caught up on life to be honest. 

Antony and I are just waiting on a baby! I really hope it’s not too long now... 

Marge’s birthday

Mum had her lockdown birthday on Saturday and we wanted to try and make it as special as we could because obviously this year we couldn’t be together and she has just lost her dad so we really wanted to make sure she spent it happy.

So I had been chatting to Andy about getting her pressies delivered and sending wrapping paper for him to wrap it up and make it feel like proper presents. He had some so was happy to do this which I’m so grateful for cos it’s rubbish when it’s just an amazon box!

I told the brothers about 2 weeks in advance to get their pressies sorted cos of the long delivery times. This year was the first year I didn’t just sort it out cos I thought.. you’re at home with nothing to do. There’s no excuse!

Well.. Adam didn’t even manage to send a card. Really pisses me off... Connor and Emily actually went and surprised her at house but they went through the side and straight into the garden (from 2 meters apart as these are the rules, you can meet people outside as long as you keep your distance).

So they got her gifts and obviously seeing them would have been awesome! I was so jealous I wasn’t there but for us it’s a good 3 hour journey.

Anyway so Andy had planned that we do a surprise video call on the Saturday evening and we all do a round or 2 each of a quiz. So we had been preparing this over the next week or so.

That evening we got on the call, myself Ant, brothers & their other halves and then my aunty Helen and uncle Paul who are mum and andy best mates.

I text mum to come on the call so I could sing her happy birthday and she couldn’t get on. She was really pissed as well - she’d actually sent me a video of her singing on WhatsApp and I showed the guys on the video a bit of it. Didn’t realise this would bite me in the ass later when she found out and shared a really flattering picture of me I’d sent her!

Anyway she finally came and on and we sang happy birthday to her (badly) and all chatted away.

Mum was really drunk and I found this hilarious! I said to her the next day I’ve never seen you so smashed and she probably quite rightly said that I had I’d just been smashed too!

The quiz was really fun even though mine and Ants round I was really excited about failed cos no-one could hear it and drunk people are aggressive man!

Obviously Erika and I were sober and you really notice it when everyone’s pissed. I kept getting shouted at and moaned at to hurry up or I’ve not sent the videos through etc! Anyway I tried not to get stressed and realised later than it happened to everyone haha, nothing personal!

Anyway the games were fun and everyone had such a good laugh. Me and mum ended up signing Wham for everyone. Which was hilarious cos everyone just sat and listened, no1 even stopped us even though we were shouting/singing. It was so funny.

Andy’s round was funny and he was telling people the shut up every time he asked a question calling them mother fckers hahah.. there were many rude jokes and gestures.. Helen and Paul won and they were super happy about this! My mum and Helen are so competitive it makes me laugh!

Oh Adam and Erika did a round where you had to run around the house and find the objects they were referring to in a riddle. That was good, me and Antony started off strong but then Connor and Emily won cos they live in a flat. Mum and Andy had no chance in their mansion..

We stayed up till about 1130 which is so late for me and Erika! I was shattered he next day and everyone else hanging.

But I had such a good time, I actually felt like I’d had a night out. Which of course no-ones had in over 2 months!

Here’s some pics from the night. I really hope mum had a good time. In fact I think she wrote about it on her blog: https://gettingoldandlumpy.blogspot.com/?m=1 should give hers a read it’s much more interesting than mine!

You can see from the pics how much of a laugh we had. I’m surprised I didn’t wee myself! I absolutely LOVE my family, I just think we’ve all got such a wicked sense of humour and I feel like we’re not like other families.

Pmsl

So as always I’m looking back and catching up!

Just having a look at my last post I guess all I need to is update the fact that we whimped out of the monster mash a little as we didn’t think the pickled onions would actually be nice! Drunk us are stupid haha. But we did make it with everything else and it was really good! Oh.. we did only sprinkle some of the monster munch on top... cop outs!

We also finished the nursery other than the carpet which I’m in the middle of trying to sort out. They are starting to fit them for people who had orders before lockdown. I doubt it’ll be any time soon to be honest but I’d like to get the ball rolling! It’d be nice for us to have it before baby is here but I’d rather baby come first to be honest! My due date is in 3 days!!!

Anyway, so back to what I’ve been up to...

Mum had sent a picture of her and my aunty bev together when they were both pregnant.. so me and Erika are trying to get the same picture but obviously with lockdown we can’t actually meet up. Which really sucks because we’ve actually got so much closer since being pregnant. We chat a lot! So anyway we have been taking pics in the hope that mum can photoshop it and we look like we’re together. Obviously it’s all in fun. We don’t need it to look real! But it’s just a shame we can get loads of bump pics together and I’m gutted that all my bump pics are selfies! There’s no like casual pics where you’d look and be like oh yeah! Look at you’re pregnant!

So me and Antony did a little photo shoot in the garden which was hilarious. I don’t even know why but we just ended up laughing so much. Ant does it on purpose where I’ll do a posey smile and he makes me laugh to get a better pic.

I actually ended up wetting myself (yes literally) laughing because at one point he had a slice of pizza and went to kick the crust to the end of the garden and it went straight over to next doors garden and the look on his face - I am laughing now. It gets me every time. The look of ‘omg what have I done’ hahaha. I cried. I let wee out. I couldn’t stop!

So here’s some pics from the day:

We went in later on & had some dinner and I don’t know why but Ant was in such a wind up mood. He was draining the spaghetti but taking ages on purpose to wind me up and then he flung a bit of spaghetti and It fully stuck to my forehead. It again.. made me laugh so much I peed a little! He is on a mission to make me fully wet myself!

What day is it again?

So I’ve not got a huge amount to catch up on to be honest.. I’m on maternity leave and the country is in lockdown so there’s not many exciting things I can really do!

It was bank holiday week just gone but I wouldn’t have even known.. I genuinely struggle to remember what day it is!

Antony has taken voluntary furlough as of today so he is really happy that he no longer has to work! Although the reason behind him being furlough is obviously awful, if you look at the positives, Ant being off work is a big one.

Usually Antony would be working and I’d be on my maternity leave now and then when I had the baby he’d have 2 weeks off. Which to be fair, is generous! He gets 2 weeks full pay which isn’t always the case is some jobs. But now he’s on furlough until 30th June - which may change depending on the circumstances, who knows. But if I was 2 weeks late, we’d get 3 weeks together and then he can take his 2 week paternity right after or he can use this any time within the next 2 years. So really, it’s quite a nice time to be furloughed. I hear a lot about dads going back to work after 2 weeks and it being really hard, so I am really grateful.

I almost want him furloughed for longer but I also long for this virus to be over!

Anyway so Ants in party mode at the moment which is nice. Over the weekend we put a massive wardrobe up and I painted the outside wall. Old owners had it a bright blue and I’ve no idea why!
The wardrobe as well, has not only made our room look so much better, but it’s looooads of storage which makes me very happy!

 We had to take up the carpet because the wardrobe is so massive!

I have spent so long now working on the house and being obsessed with jobs and chores and stuff to do before baby is here and today is the first day I’ve really felt like I’m on leave.

We’ve done all the jobs now apart from putting the cot up (which could be done in 6 months if we wanted it to) and the carpet. We’ve ordered and paid for the new carpet and it should be done by now but the virus has obviously put that on hold.

But having everything pretty much done is awesome. The house looks so nice and I feel like we worked really hard and now it’s so good to look at it all and appreciate it. I’m feeling really pleased.

So today I’ve been for a walk, put my shopping away, organised the wardrobe, had a call with my dad & now just chilling until Ants in for dinner time! He’s gaming loads in the mancave whilst I do bits and bobs in the house. I quite like it like this because we spend so much time together which I obviously love.. but this way we don’t get under each others feet. It’s a really nice dynamic that we can have space too and enjoy doing our own thing.

So ages ago me and Antony drunkenly made a monster mash recipe and thought at the time it sounded amazing ... here it is:

Lazy mash (potatoes with skin on mashed)
Diced pickled onions
Butter
Cheddar
Chive
Pickled onion monster munch

We are making it tonight so I’ll have to come back and let you know how it was haha. I don’t expect it to be good!

I also finished my hospital bag today, I’ve properly organised everything into bags and labelled them so it’s really really easy for us when we’re in the hospital.

I’m so bloody excited! I mean I am absolutely terrified of giving birth but I am really ready to meet her now. Makes me emotional thinking about it, our baby girl. Almost time for us to see what she looks like!

I am also sooo over being pregnant. I’ve loved it so much and really have appreciated every aspect as I knew I would. Ever since I was little I have wanted to be pregnant and feel exactly what it was like.. I have done that! Now I’m ready to feel a bit more normal again and meet our little one.

Our due date is 2 weeks tomorrow! I’m trying to stay active and upright as my midwife friend has advised me .. I just really don’t want to go overdue! The sooner she’s here the longer we can be together as a little family for.

It’s just a shame we can have visitors.. but we won’t go into the negative. I’m feeling positive and intend to stay that way!

37 weeks pregnant

So just a little update on the pregnancy!

I am 37 weeks and 2 days pregnant at the moment and am SO excited, I am also pretty terrified of the birth, but honestly can't wait now.

I have a rather large bump which I will add pics of to this post.. and it's causing me so much backache it's unreal! I cant sit in any comfortable position, especially at a laptop! So once I've done this post I am going to lie down in the sunshine.

I have pretty awful heartburn and a MASSIVE sweet tooth too..

But all in all I'd say I've had a pretty sweet pregnancy, the above symptoms have sucked but they've been manageable. And honesty, the kicks, rolls and lots of movement make it all worth it.

And I'm sure when she's here the horror story I'll share of the birth will be worth it too.

So I'm on maternity leave at the moment and am keeping busy to be honest, doing more house bits, cooking, (failing at) baking, and watching baby programmes a lot.

I keep watching these shows that show people in labour and shares their birth story and am properly freaking myself out! EEEE.

I just wonder how mines going to go, how long it will last, if I'll end up having a c-section etc etc..

I am scared but mostly excited.. me and Ant will get through it and as long as there's a little baby girl at the end of it, we'll be happy.

I also spent a day properly sorting out the nursery recently so that everything in that room is purely for the baby and not my stuff as I'd pretty much moved in there..

We picked up more baby stuff that we bought off a friend.. so here's some pics of how it's coming along! I'm so excited!Also, 37 week is full term which is exciting because it just means if she was to come early, she's a good amount of cooked now.

Ant often speaks to her and feels her wriggling about which I love. So nice that he's connecting with her and I can tell he's super excited too.. also terrified but excited! 3 weeks till due date eeeek!

House updates

Antony and I have been working so hard on the house since we found out we were expecting.. so I just thought I'd add the progress pics!

Ant's mum and her husband have done the garden and the mancave for us last year and this year did the bathroom for us.

Absolute legends!! God, we appreciate them so frigging much, they've helped us so much in life with house stuff but also Ginette helps me a lot in life too about.. well life stuff in general! Lucky to have such a good relationship with her.

So these are the before and after pics, and I'll have to add the 2 bedroom pics too but we still need to put a wardrobe and a cot up and we were due to have the new carpet fitted by now but with the virus, I've no idea when this will be done now. It's a shame because that's what I'm mot excited about but it is what it is!

Lockdown living

In lockdown we obviously can't go and see our friends and family, which really really sucks.

Especially in times like these, we've lost someone, myself and Erika are pregnant, Adam and Erika were supposed to get married.. it's just rubbish.

So this means that video calls are basically how we are getting through! I had a video call with my mum whilst she was at my nans which was really nice. This was actually an hour after I had finished work for maternity so I was quite pleased to start it by chatting to mum.

It was really nice, we caught up and I hoped I'd helped in trying to make her feel a bit happier/more normal for a minute.

Then Hannah called me and showed me some baby clothes she'd bought for our little girl and for her/our niece so they match. SO cute. I just hope that I can get it off her before my baby gets too big! Anyway thats another moan/worry I have that I wont go into.

Then Adam video called me purely to show me his awful tash! Because no-ones leaving the house, they've (Connor and Adam) have decided to grow an awful tash - or try to anyway. I hate it so yeah, Adam called me just to be a wind up lol!

We have also started to do weekly family quiz nights, so each Tuesday a different couple hosts the quiz and it's so much fun!

The first week was Connor and Emily and we had a good laugh. The next week was me and Ant and it was good but I dont think it was as fun as Connor and Emilys. Especially when mum moaned and said no1 was gonna get the answers/the questions werent fun! But then we moved onto the personal round and finish the lyrics so hopefully she did actually enjoy it after!

So at the end of the quiz questions and just before we do the answers, we share quiz names with each other and then the hosts decides who ever's is the best gets a point.

Mum said that Adam and Erika's was 'Rory and Rudy' and we didnt really clock that these were their baby names! We didnt believe them for ages when we asked as well if they were serious.. I feel so so awful! I really like the names and just wish that we'd reacted better because I know if it was me revealing my name and people just carried on pissing about and not taking it in I'd be upset. But I'm hoping they're not as sensitive as me..

We've all messaged since and said we like the names and apologised for not taking it seriously!

Next week is Adam and Erika's hosting and I wanna make sure I listen and stuff cos I do worry sometimes that Adam gets annoyed at us all being silly...

I also had a video chat with my dad and sister Beth which was really nice.. it's nice to catch up with everyone and 'see' them.