Wednesday 30 July 2008

Hospital Appointments

Today was my 32 week appointment at the hospital and everything was perfect. My blood pressure is low, my urine is normal and most importantly Pumpkin is growing beautifully. I will have to have weekly blood pressure appointments with the Midwives and go back in week 36 but I am thrilled that everything is going so well. The best part was that we got a really detailed look at Pumpkin courtsey of a lovely ultrasound technician. We got to see Pumpkin's hands and feet, his/ hers slightly grumpy face (James is convinced that we will have a grumpy baby) and best of all a few hairs on the baby's head. What a miracle it all is.

Tuesday 29 July 2008

Baby Items

It really is amazing how much stuff one little person needs. Our beautiful gliding chair arrived today and I also received an email telling us that out Mothercare order has dispatched, at least I hope that is what it say as one item is mentioned separately to the rest. If they deliver one item at a time I think that Pumpkin will be here before our order is complete. We just need to find somewhere to store the items until the room is ready. My sister also created this incredible height chart to go in the room. Pumpkin is lucky to have such a talented aunt. The picture is in black and white because it was hot and I really don't look my best - black and white minimises the horror slightly!

Sunday 27 July 2008

Busy Week

For us this has been a very busy week. We had a lovely visit from friends, went to see family and the bathroom project is finally near completion. All we have to do is have the shower reattached to the wall (3 weeks of baths at 32 weeks pregnant has not been a lot of fun) and choose new flooring. Today we need to order all the items for the baby's room which we need to start redecorating in the next week or so. However, I have been able to complete some pages.






Sunday 20 July 2008

What I want you to know




Finally finished my mini-book and been able to get some half decent photos. Saw this idea in Simple Scrapbooks a few months back and with Pumpkin's birth only 9 weeks away I thought I would have a go at making my own. The Baby has no decorated room, no cot, no pram, and very few clothes but it is now the proud owner of it's first mini-book!
















Saturday 19 July 2008

Busy Week

This week has been really busy. James has been writing his E3 "stuff" so I have barely been able to see the computer, hence the lack of blogging. I spent the week making cards and scrapbook pages with the kids on Activities Week which was great fun. I also managed to make these two cards myself which I am really pleased with. Very excited as I am off to collect my new apple ipod shuffle in a few hours. I am finally joining the modern human race!



Sunday 13 July 2008

Sunny Sunday!

Lovely day today. Lunch with an old friend from work. Spent today crafting mainly finishing my mini-book (which needs better pictures) and creating this layout of James. Activities Week this week. Can't wait!

Saturday 12 July 2008

Competitions

Today I actually entered a competition. You had to post a layout using the Sarahs Cards July kit to win a voucher. I never win anything but I thought that I would give it a go and I really liked this layout I made, even if it is a total scraplift of a Cathy Z layout. Oh to have original ideas like this!

Wednesday 9 July 2008

Mail Day

Today was a good day as I received 3 parcels in the post including my new Studio Calico kit (very excited about this one). In the new spirit of photographing more day to day things I have taken pictures of all my new goodies (I really should get out more)




Day three prompt is about travel and as I'm sure you all enjoyed my epic answers from yesterday I have decided to answer the questions on my blog again.
1. Where were you born
Luton
2. Where have you lived?
Wiltshire, Liverpool, Exeter
3. What travel experiences do you remember from your childhood?
A farming holiday in Yorkshire, Camping in Dorset, Several trips to France and Europe as a teenager.
4. Where do you travel to on a day to day basis?
Work. It takes about 35 minutes. I hate it. The only thing that makes it worthwhile is car sharing with James.
5. For what reasons do you travel
To see family who live away but apart from that as little as possible
6. Do you travel light
Yes because I'm a weed that can't carry much.
7. What modes of transport do you use?
My feet - I like walking places. Car if I have to. I hate boats of any kind and James hates planes. I quite like travelling by train though, especially overnight.
8. What place in the world has left an impression on your soul? How did this happen?
A three part answer!
a) Auschwitz. Visited on a trip round Central Europe simply indescrible.
b) Charles Bridge in Prague. The spot my husband picked to propose to me in a extremely romantic way. I am a very lucky girl.
c) The hills surrounding Pescia in Tuscany which is were we spent our honeymoon.
9. Has there been a time in your travels when you wished that you stayed at home?
To be honest that would be most of the time. Although I am quite a calm and relaxed person travelling stresses me out and I don't really enjoy it. Luckily I married a man who feels the same way.
10. Given any option where would you trvael to right now?
The only place I would really like to visit would be America. I would love to take a train journey through the Rocky Mountains in Autumn to see the leaves. I would like to say that I would hike but really that's not going to happen.

Tuesday 8 July 2008

Prompt Two Writing

Today is day 2 of Shimelle's class and it is about writing, something I like to do and something that I am not that bad at, unlike Maths or Science which I totally suck at. So here it goes

1. What is your earliest clear memory?
Being woken to be told that I had a new sister. I was nearly 5. My mum doesn't think that this really happened but I am sure that it did. Apart from that I remember being bribed with sausages for lunch on my first day at school because I didn't want to leave and come home. I don't remember anything about school but I remember sulking in the park on the way home because I wanted to stay.

2. What three things seem to take most of your time
a) School - not the fun creating lessons stuff but the boring marking and form filling
b) Crafting - I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time producing "stuff"
c) Currently sleeping and feeling very tired and stiff.

3. If you had one day woth no obligations what would you do with the time.
I would have a lovely breakfast with a perfect poached egg, which would be perfect as I wouldn't be trying to do lots of things all at once so the egg wouldn't get overcooked. I would have a lovely parcel in the mail full of new scrapping things. I would go to lunch at my favourite pub with my husband. I would spend the afternoon creating something and watching episodes of Law and Order. I would watch my stomach move as my baby kicked. I would have a pasta dinner and a glass of red wine (something that I haven't had for several months) and watch a good film with my husband.

4. Imagine childhood you at any age that felt as happy and carefree as you can imagine. What would she do with a day of free time?
Probably read - I was a little bit of a geek like that.

5. How much do you rely on a schedule? Do you wear a watch?
I am an obsessive list maker and always had a plan for every day. Although I hate lateness I never wear a watch (driving Year 12 mad as I constantly ask the time) due to my tendency to lose them.

6. What is your favourite time of day?
When I'm not working early morning 6-7am. I get up early even at the weekend and on holidays. The day always seems full of such promise at that time.

7. Is there a day of the week or a time of the year that you find particularly lovely?
As a teacher I love the Summer - all that time off for fun. But I also love September as it was my Gran's birthday (now hopefully my baby's birthday) and it seems like a time for fresh starts and new beginnings in a way that January never feels for me.

8. What hour of the week would you skip given the opportunity?
That's easy Friday 5pm-6pm which is when we clean our house.

9. Think back to a time before the most recent milestone in your life. How was your day different compared to now?
My life hasn't really changed for the last 5 years - same house, same job and same relationship. Even getting married didn't really change my life as I was already so happy. I can't imagine that the change that the arrival of Pumpkin will bring. The little glimpses that I can imagine seem magical.

10. How do you make time for things that are important to you?
Decide what you want and don't get sidetracked by things that you don't need i.e. TV watching endless internet surfing (although I could probably do with taking my own advice here) and unnecessary house cleaning (not something that I could be easily accused of).

The second part is a schedule of my day. I'll have to finish this tomorrow
1am sleep
2am sleep
3am wake for my now nightly bathroom visit
4am sleep waking at 4.50am
5am doze until the alarm goes off at 5.30am then doze a little longer until James finishes in the bath.
6am get into bath (redecoration means that there is no shower yet). Feel a bit like one of those seals you see heaving themselves onto the shore as I am 7 months pregnant when I get out of the bath. Dry hair get dressed and eat breakfast. Nag James to leave the house before 7am
7am Drive to work. Check my emails and surf internet sites.
8am Prepare for briefing. Go to register my tutor group. Explain several times what the concept of silence during the register actually means. Collect a small fortune in pennies for the activity at the end of term. Feel that this is something that we could actually win after coming last at Sports Day.
9am Teach sweet Year 7 class.
10am Free lesson attach a billion files to an email so that I can print them out later.
11am Teach Year 12 who are a little more awake than yesterday. Watch some of Angela's Ashes.
12pm Open email to find that it was too big to send. Fortunately manage to print documents off in another way.
1pm Eat lunch, surf internet. Horrible indigestion courtsey of Pumpkin afterwards.
2pm Teach Year 8 who are making PowerPoints on Martin Luther King which results in high noise levels.
3pm Drive to MIL to collect husband and drive home
4pm Admire new bathroom suite with mixer tap on the sink (a luxury for me and the only thing that I wanted our new bathroom to have)
5pm Cook dinner (courgette risotto) and wash up.
6pm Use internet. Create this massive blog post.
PLANNED
7pm Watch Law and Order. Craft. Eat choc ice and expensive chocolates from France.
8pm Hot chocolate. Find something to watch on TV
9pm Bed (how rock and roll) Read chapter of book on Mary Queen of Scots
10pm Sleep
11pm Sleep
12am Sleep

Monday 7 July 2008

Today was a significant day as it was last Monday at "proper" work for 9 1/2 months. The next week and one day are mostly taken up with craft activities (I love my job) and then there is nothing for the next 9 1/2 months - with the little exception of birth sometime in the next 11 weeks.
Today was also significant because I started my new Shimelle class. This weeks themes are travel and time. These are the pictures I have selected/ taken. I think that the stories are tomorrows task.







Sunday 6 July 2008

New pictures


Yesterday, when it finally stopped raining I was able to snap a few pictures on the camera. I am considering an up-grade for the camera so I wanted to explore what the current camera could do. This was the result when I played around with the camera settings. It all seems quite technical so I'm not sure what to do.
I also made two 12x12 pages, the first for about a year, to prepare for the arrival of my American Crafts albums which I have just ordered. The idea is that because they are 12x12 and use a ring binder I can mix and match different sizes. I'm still not entirely sure about the layouts but at the end of the day it is only paper and pictures right!

Saturday 5 July 2008

Rainy Saturday Morning today. Finally recovering from my illness and counting the days until Pumpkin is born (11 weeks). So far today I have already prepared the spinning cards for activity week. This is yesterday's creation!

Really looking forward to starting Shimelle's class on Monday - must go and prepare my album!