Pumpkin mania!

Once upon a time there were three pumpkins.

One of them escaped being cut up, gutted, and then covered with glue and glitter. 

The other two were not so lucky.

The pumpkin contents were added to a bowl of flour, sugar, spices, eggs and baked in an oven.

 
 And dolloped with cream cheese icing with cinnamon. :)

Then the third pumpkin was then treated to a run around in the park. What a lucky pumpkin!!

                                                                             The end.

Nursery on a budget!

So, me being all OCD about organisation it's not very surprising that I have already planned every detail for the anticipated arrival of baby Abbott number 2. Despite it only being the size of a cauliflower (according to google.)

I pretty much have everything all ready. I am armed with a breast pump, super-dooper sized sanitary pads and nipple cream. Nice, eh?

It feels good to be prepared.

Now I just need a baby.

I thought I would share a few photos of the sprog's nursery, as I am quite proud of how little we have spent this time around. We already had most things saved from Lizzie, but this one being blue we had to make a few changes.

I must admit I have found decorating a boy's room no-where near as fun as a girl's. My love for all things floral has had to be tamed.

...I'm sure I will manage to squeeze in a flower somewhere.

We kept the same colour for the walls that we had with Lizzie, and just touched up the walls with the leftover  paint in the shed.

The cot was originally mine (believe it or not, it has been through eight babies.) I just sanded it down and painted it after Lizzie had had her share of chomping on the sides. The mattress is obviously brand new, I got a great deal off amazon, it was reduced from £80 to £40. Bargain!

The wardrobe and chest of drawers (which you cannot see here) are off the lovely freecycle and painted up. The frames I made, inspired from pinterest. I had the frames already knocking about in my craft cupboard and bought the letters off ebay for about £15. I just painted them with cheap emulsion which was already in the shed, and used scrapbooking paper to back them.

The bunting I bought when I was expecting Lizzie (again, boy bunting is so not as exciting!.)

I made his door sign from a poundland plaque (gotta love poundland!) I just painted it and again glued scrapbook paper.

I feebly attempted to replicate the applique frames I have made for Lizzie. Again, the choice of fabric for boys is much more limited. I didn't buy any new fabric, just rummaged around to find some vaguely boy-like patterns. The frame I already had from a car boot, so I just painted it.

And the baskets I just collected from car boots and painted white. Again, in OCD fashion, I like to label each basket. Ahhh, it makes me feel happy!

So total spend; £55! Not including the stuff I already had and bought previously. But still, I am quite impressed!

There is still stuff to add; I am planning on crocheting a blanket, and we have a mobile I am currently working on but so far so good!

Staying on track

Way back in May I wrote a post about goals, where I came up with 20 goals I wanted to achieve before I turned 30. I am slowly working my way through them!

http://xxxlifeisbeautifulxxx.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/goals.html.

We all have goals. Some are big ones like buying a house, and having children. Other's less so, like riding a hot air balloon, or going bungee jumping (the second one I'm not so keen on!).

But they are all important to us.

I think it is easy to lose track of our goals when we are busy living everyday life. I certainly have become culprit to this. Children and work make things difficult to have fun in life sometimes.

I propose that we make the time to revisit our goals regularly throughout our life. And make them happen.

Come on people!!!!


The other day I was browsing the charity shops and I came across this gem.

No, we didn't need it. But I wanted it. I want a real one one day. But for now it will have to be a ceramic one.

You might not be able to tell, but it is a money bank. I see it as a representation of our dreams, that we are working towards.

Lizzie has a little campervan too that she keeps in her toy box. I tell her that one day we will have a real one and go round the seasides in it ;)

The one in which I moan.

I apologise in advance for the slightly negative slant on this post.

If I am honest, life is currently great. I have a wonderful, caring husband who works hard for a living. A dangerously cute, chubby-cheeked daughter who makes me smile every minute of every day. We are also expecting an addition to our little family who practices kung-fu inside me daily.

So why the moan?

I'm just so fed up of feeling ill. Ever since becoming pregnant with this baby it has seemingly been non-stop.

2 days after the positive pregnancy test I had a little bit of bleeding and cramps. After having tried for a year to concieve we were terrified. After that subsided I had little time to feel overjoyed. The morning sickness and exhaustion kicked in. Having not had this with Lizzie, I didn't know what to expect. I can honestly say I have never felt so ill in all my life. I barely had the energy to look after Lizzie and the perils of potty training. Her nap times were my aim every morning so I could just lie down and wallow in self-pity. It went on for 2 months. (Shudder.)

Once I was starting to feel better from the sickness and my energy levels crept up, I cautiously started to get on with life once again. I had my first scan, and saw the product of my suffering. I had made a baby! Awesome!

A couple of weeks after I could really say I was starting to feel myself again I developed a DVT (clot in my leg.) I looked like elephant man. Plus I had of course not shaved my legs in a while when I presented in A+E (sod's law.) So I was feeling sexy with my hairy, swollen leg for all the doctors to see. I could barely walk for a week, but it soon went down thanks to the lovely twice daily injections.

More time off work.

After finally returning to work a couple of weeks ago, I was starting to get my hopes up of having some respite. Nope! On my days off last week I had a nasty cold immediately followed by a lovely dose of tummy flu.

So am I due some 'normal' days? Please?

I never used to be a poorly person. Maybe this will be all my illnesses over for the next few years.

So now when I wake up in the morning feeling fine, I praise the Lord for that day. And I suggest you do too. Cus ya never know guys, when you will end up like me :)

Rant over.