30th August

These are the wonderful sunflowers that James bought me. Sunflowers are probably my favourite flowers so I was thrilled to get these because they are so cheerful looking. Lucky me.

29th August

After fears that Pumpkin will get sick from the toxic area that it our washing machine I have spent today giving it a thorough clean and running copious amounts of soda crystals through it on it's hottest setting. Having had the machine for five years and never having done a service wash before this has been a surprise to both of us. Fortunately we seem to be making some progress although I will need to rewash all the clothes I had already washed and will probably leave it a few days before I wash anymore of Pumpkin's things. These are my before and after photos. I feel strangely proud of myself, perhaps I am beginning to get the nesting instinct - James didn't believe that it would ever happen!

28th August

Today was kit club day. The new Studio Calico kit was revealed. No add-ons were purchased (except extra kraft cardstock) and I just have to count down the days until it arrives.

27th August

Today we put the chair together. I have lusted after a chair like this since I saw them in multiple episodes of "Bringing Home Baby". It's is so comfortable and relaxing I think that I will have trouble staying awake whilst nursing Pumpkin. I also had a midwives appointment and my blood pressure was only 90/68 Yeah! Most importantly of all Pat's scan showed that the cancer has gone. Celebrations all round.

26th August

Today was the last parentcraft class. The subject was feeding, mainly breastfeeding. Although there were lots of opportunities to ask questions I didn't really have any, although I am sure that I will have lots once Pumpkin is here! I plan on going to the Breastfeeding Cafe once Pumpkin arrives as I think that it will be good for me to get out of the house and to meet other mothers as I don't have any friends with babies.

25th August

Today I finally packed my bags for the hospital. Not sure why I had been putting this off for so long maybe it made it seem more real. I probably have brought far too much stuff and not enough of somethings but I am now ready to go!

24th August

Today we had to practise putting the baby seat into the car. Lacking an actual baby we needed a model. We followed the instructions carefully but I'm a little worried that it seems a little loose, but I suppose that the seat belt always has some give in it. We're planning on getting it checked out before Pumpkin actually arrives.

23rd August

Mum, Dad and Katy came to visit today. They brought the crib with them which is just sitting in the baby's rooom looking really sweet. They also brought some sheets - we are now swimming in sheets as I had bought some as well and another knitted blanket. I showed Mum and Katy the tiny baby vests and babygros that I had bought as the scan seemed to suggest that we were going to have a midget baby!

22nd August

Today was the final shopping trip to Exeter to purchase the last few things. Mainly clothes for me for the hospital (cheap things from Primark). Although we don't go to Exeter very often it really is a beautiful city.

We also bought Pumpkin two books. Things have obviously changed since our day but we were able to find the "Hungary Caterpillar" we James insisted we buy and a large copy so that Pumpkin could see it and a book board of Peter Rabbit. Although we are not intending to hot-house Pumpkin we thought that it would be nice to have some books there.

We then went for dinner to Pizza Hut which James loves for the free refils of Coke. This will probably be our last supper together and alone so we thought that we should record it!

21st August

The first day in the diary that I am trying to keep to remember what our lives were like before Pumpkin came along. Today, finally, the bathroom was completed. Although it took a lot longer to lay the boards than I anticipated, I thought that I was going to have to offer the workman dinner, the finished room looks surprisingly good, almost as though it had been planned to look that way rather than just see what we could find! We are pleased with the finished result although you do have to shut the door firmly otherwise it springs open!

Walking!

As part of my attempt to make my labour as easy as possible (!) I am trying to ensure that I get some daily exercise. Exercise is not my favourite thing but I am quite enjoying my walks and will try to keep them up once Pumpkin arrives. Yesterday we went along the Mill Stream. We hadn't been there for months and you can see the impact that Tescos is having. Unsurprisingly it was raining or at least threatening to rain, but I was able to snap a few pictures.

Tomorrow there is only one month left until Pumpkin arrives so I am going to try to complete a mini album using my Studio Calico kit about what our live was like before Pumpkin was here. I'm sure that in a few months I will look back on our pre-Pumpkin life as a bit of a dream!

New Camera!

I finally caved and bought myself a new camera. It's not a D40 as I decided that it was probably going to be too complicated and work out very expensive. Instead I bought a Panasonic lumix dmc fz18 which arrived yesterday and I love it. These are a few of the pictures that I took this morning.

We also had a wedding to go to yesterday. It's not very easy to find something to wear at 35 weeks pregnant without buying something new so I was pleased that I could still just about squeeze (squeeze being the right word) into a dress that I had before I was pregnant.

From the side I look more noticeably pregnant and people did seem a little concerned that I was about to go into labour then and there. Likely me and pumpkin arrived home safe!

Only 5 weeks of me and pumpkin left!

39 Days

As the ticker shows there are only 39 days to go until Pumpkin is scheduled to make his/her arrival. Progress on the nursery has slowed as we awaited the arrival of the carpet men to measure the room. We are going back to the shop today to book a fitting and then we just have to paint the trim and door and we are done. We decided to pay the extra and get the carpet fitted whilst we were doing everything else. The attic room looks like a bomb site - there is literally stuff everywhere that belongs to Pumpkin or is preparing for Pumpkin's arrival which is just waiting to be unpacked. I am also trying to talk myself out of buying a Nikon d40, my dream camera which I have been researching for about 8 weeks and is currently at a great price on Amazon. I struggle to get the pictures that I want with the Kodak , although this is more to do with my inadequacies rather than the camera so I think that it would be a real extravagance to buy it. It doesn't stop me wanting it though!

Purchases

For a couple that don't normally spend a lot of money the last few weeks have been crazy. Yesterday we went to the carpet shop to select flooring for the bathroom and possibly the baby's room. We returned home to find that we think that we might need a new fridge-freezer and sink. We figure that if we keep buying new things at least we won't have to replace anything when Pumpkin arrives! We then went to Tescos to buy lots of other things for the baby and the health food shop to buy raspberry leaf capsules as suggested by the midwife. By the time we got home I was exhausted and was ready for a rest!

Nursery

The nursery is finally taking shape - one more coat on the walls and just the trim and door to do. Although we don't really know what we are doing it doesn't look that bad! I can't wait to get all the furniture in there so we can start unpacking everything we have bought!

First parent craft lesson yesterday which was good. I was a little apprehensive that I would be the youngest, but quite a lot of the women looked younger than me. There was also a knitted uterus to illustrate the stages of birth. I couldn't wait to tell James when I got home as we had laughed over it when we read it in the book.

Early Starts

Pumpkin does not seem to enjoy staying in bed too late - I don't know if this is a bad sign for the future - however, by 5am s/he he had enough and had started to kick like crazy. I eventually got up and had a shower. The good news is that I was finally able to charge the camera battery so can post the first pictures of "My Freedom" class. I have followed the prompts but not that strictly - I figured that the class was all about freedom! I'm really pleased with the way the pages have turned out as the prompts really made me think. I also realised that I cannot do two page layouts.

Holidays

And so the weeks go by. Whilst I am on holiday I am always slightly surprised to find that I normally hold down a full time job, I mean, how do I do it? I still get up between 6-7am but somehow the days drift away full of craft activities, watching TV and surfing the internet. The good intentions that I have to take walks, visit local attractions and cook fantastic meals never seem to happen as I don't have enough time - but how can that be when I am not at work! I suppose that at the moment I have a good excuse to basically hibernate in my house (although I ensure that I go for a little walk every day) but it makes me happy and that's what holidays should be about, what you want to do, not what you feel you should do.

On another note I am able to produce masses of craft type stuff. I am currently working on "My Freedom" pages which are complete but the camera battery has ran out again (must buy a new one before Pumpkin is born) so I am waiting for it to charge up. These are the pages I made of my most inspirational/ favourite quotes. Enjoy!