Monday 27 April 2015

Our 20 week scan

I promised a little more detail on our 20 week scan so here's pretty much what happened. We were booked in at 10am on Thursday 2nd April, a date that definitely feels like it had been on the calendar for so so long and took its time in coming round. But of course it finally did and off we went, crazy excited to hopefully find out if our little Squishy was a boy or a girl.


We had to wait around for quite a while this time to be seen which is always a little bit annoying but I'm sure it probably wasn't even as long as it seemed we were just super impatient and over excited! Once we finally got into our ultrasound room we were told by the lovely sonographer that she would try to get all the measurements and checks that she needed out of the way & then talk us through everything.
Unfortunately for us Squishy definitely had other ideas and would not co-operate at all so it was tricky to get a look at all the body parts that they needed to check, in particular her little heart. Where most babies are lying on their back for ultrasounds (as you usually see in the pictures, above for example) our little madam was lying on her tummy restricting the view of her heart.
Our sonographer did really well given the circumstances & managed to get nearly all the details. Squishy's length, weight, diameter, head, hands, feet, kidneys etc are all present and well which was such a relief to hear. I don't know if all expectant parents feel like this but it was definitely always at the back of my mind that we wouldn't know whether Squishy was entirely healthy until our 20 week anomaly scan. Obviously this is only from what they can tell so far and touch wood everything is looking great with Squishy's development at this stage so hopefully it will continue.
Then our sonographer had me trying everything to try and get Squishy to change positions. I was jumping up and down, jiggling my belly around, she sent me off for a wee, she made me drink something cold and fizzy....but no joy! Our little girl definitely seems to have inherited her daddy's stubbornness and would not budge. 

Somehow even though Squishy was shy on the day our sonographer still managed to sneak a peek in between her legs and confirm we were expecting a little girl!! I'm truly amazed that they can see details like that so clearly when I didn't have a clue what I was looking at. This honestly was the weirdest but best moment when she told us. I was absolutely convinced that we were having a boy so I was a little shellshocked I think, but in such a good way. 
We really didn't mind what sex Squishy turned out to be as long as she or he was healthy, that was the main thing on our minds and I'm such a girly girl so having our own little princess to dress in pink & pick out hairbands and tights for is a dream!

As we didn't managed to get a good look at Squishy's little heart the sonographer recommended that we come back for a rescan at 23 weeks just to double check everything was okay. I think maybe because G has a slight heart murmur this is something they wanted to be particularly cautious with as well. She did really reassure us that everything looked fine and she had seen all four chambers of the heart and each valve but all in picky little bits where Squishy kept moving and restricting her view so they would be happier if they could review all aspects of the heart in one clean sweep next time.

So last week I trotted back to the hospital on my own for our rescan. Unfortunately as G had just started a new job he couldn't get the day off but we figured he  probably wouldn't be missing much. To be honest we were right, I was pretty much in and out. The sonographer this time round first of all checked Squishy's heart which is exactly as it should be thankfully and she was very happy. She then checked all Squishy's other measurements again just to make sure she was progressing nicely since we were seen three weeks ago and everything is looking just fine. All of Squishy's measurements are average on the scale apart from the diameter of her tummy funnily enough which is right up high on the scale! Haha bless her!
The sonographer doubled checked for me and it definitely seems like Squishy is still a girl! Not that we were expecting a change of course but it's good to get a second opinion especially considering how awkward Squish was being first time round. Plus our house is full of far too many pink items for any late changes now!!


Funnily enough she hadn't actually moved at all so is still on her tummy in the breach position but they reassured me that was nothing to worry about at this stage and Squishy still has plenty of time to change position. Thankfully our sonographer at the second appointment got lucky and managed to complete all the checks she needed to.
They're estimating Squishy weighs 1lb 5oz already which is crazy! The fact that we've reached this point and Squishy is already that size and technically a viable baby now and not just a diddy foetus has definitely made this seem far more real.

Have you had a 20 week anomaly scan recently? I'd love to hear about your experiences!
If you're enjoying our pregnancy updates I'd love you to follow our story either here or on Bloglovin
XOXO

Tuesday 21 April 2015

Bump update - 21 & 22 weeks

I seem to have got rather carried away with life these last two weeks and missed out on a whole update so I thought it'd be best to lump these two together.

Bump

I don't think my bump has changed massively over the last fortnight. I've definitely becoming more confident with it though. We went out to a friends 30th birthday party last Friday and I happily wore something tight fitting to show it off rather than cover up like I would have a few weeks ago. I also managed in heels for the evening with no problems at all which I was pleased about.

 
What have we been up to? 

This week we painted Squishy's bedroom which was very exciting! Just a plain magnolia as we only rent our house and aren't allowed to do anything too crazy but it's freshened it up loads and looks so much nicer already. Once I've finished with the room adding all the little pink touches it will be amazing I'm sure.
We also went to the South East Baby & Toddler show yesterday so I will do a post all about that at some point this week.

Weight/Cravings

I've put on another pound and a half taking me to 202.5lbs now. 9.5lbs weight gain in total since finding out I was pregnant which is definitely making me nervous considering I'm sure the worst is yet to come! Eeeek!
I've definitely been craving more sweet stuff again - I know they say this happens with girls but I never really believed it. Plus I had a super sweet tooth even before I was pregnant so it's hard to tell whether its really got worse or not.
 
Symptoms/Movement

In my 21st week I was suffering quite badly with heartburn for a few days in a row. Something that luckily I hadn't experienced up until now. Thankfully a couple of spoonfuls of Gaviscon seem to sort it right out and it doesn't hang around for too long so lets hope things stay that way.
Typically just days after turning down a surgeon appointment as I hadn't been suffering, didn't want surgery whilst pregnant and felt like I was wasting everybody's time - the gallstone attacks have come back with a vengeance! It really isn't very fun at all! Nothing in particular seems to trigger it, it's totally random and there is nothing I can do or take to ease the pain until my gallbladder decides to stop having spasms all on its own :( the only thing I've found to help is a really hot hot water bottle and not moving or eating until the pain stops - which is sometimes 13 hours. I've had 2 attacks over the last week but they were so bad I had to call in sick for work but before that I hadn't had one since January so fingers crossed they don't start becoming more regular.
Squishy's movements are so so lovely to feel now. Still slightly strange but lovely all the same. It's reassuring feeling our little girl kicking away. We can't wait for the movements to get strong enough for G to feel from the outside now - hopefully it won't be too much longer because G is definitely getting impatient!

Mood

Generally I'm feeling super excited and happy. I'm getting impatient and just want to meet our little Squish now! God knows how I'm going to cope waiting 18 more weeks!! I was in Squishy's room sorting out all her little clothes last night and got a little bit overwhelmed and emotional. It's all seeming much more real now

Baby's gender

Still a little girl :) To be honest I'm not expecting this to change anytime soon! haha...it better not anyway the amount of pink stuff in our house now!

Appointments

I had my 20 week check-up with a new midwife last week, so actually at 21 weeks, but I'm so pleased I took the gamble and went to a new clinic to see a new midwife because she was lovely and totally set my mind at ease. My blood pressure came back normal again so that's looking much better. I got my MAT B1 form to send off to work so again that's making everything seem more real now. It seems crazy thinking about going onto actual maternity leave - I keep thinking that is miles off yet! We also listening to Squishy's heartbeat again which is really strong and sounding good and the midwife had a good feel around my belly and says little lady is a good size, which seems crazy to me because when I poke away I can't even feel her at all! Let alone how big she is!!

Shopping

Again the shopping is pretty much off the scale! This little madam has SO much stuff now it's not true. We're seriously not buying another single piece of clothing...you are my witnesses!
I was however waiting for the Asda Baby & Toddler event which started online Saturday and in-stores Monday so we picked up a few bargains. Obviously going to a baby show as well I was tempted into buying things that definitely weren't essential but cute all the same so I'll include them in a post soon for you to see.

I think that's about all for this week. If you're enjoying our pregnancy updates I'd love you to follow our story either here or on Bloglovin'
Are you around the 20 week mark? I'd love to hear from fellow August mummy-to-be's
 
XOXO

Monday 20 April 2015

Juice to U 3-day detox - Review

Keeping fit and healthy while staying in shape is definitely something that is important to me. The thought of my figure changing forever really does terrify me whilst being pregnant and I'll definitely be making a conscious effort to lose my baby weight as soon as is healthy for me and baby.
The Juice to U detox was something I thoroughly enjoyed doing and will definitely be reaching out for once Squishy has been born so I thought I'd post my original review up again for any other mummys or mummy-to-be's who might be interested.

For a while now I have been looking into Juice to U's 3-day detox*
They are a company that I have found through twitter and have been super impressed with all the rave reviews and testimonials they are getting from both regular people and celebrities. They offer a range of plans but the basic detox only lasts 3 days and they send all the juices to you already made up!! What's not to love right?
Last week I saw they were looking for bloggers to review their product, very quickly responded to show my interest and was thrilled when they picked me to do a review.
 
So a little bit about the product: Juice to U is a totally natural and fantastic pre-prepared juice detox service using fresh local produce delivered to your door. The detox consists of 4 juices to drink throughout the day with a 3 hour period between each juice. No other food is allowed, 2 litres of water is recommended and only fruit tea can be consumed (no green tea!). All juices are gluten, wheat and nut free and also suitable for vegetarians.
 
Juice to U claim that each detox will "leave you feeling fully revitalised, refreshed, rejuvenated and invigorated with smoother skin and your mind clear. Not forgetting the weight loss!"

Feelings of tiredness, nausea and headaches are to be expected when following a detox. This is due to your body getting rid of all the toxins that are in your system.
 
The lovely people at Juice 2 U made sure my juices were delivered on Tuesday morning as promised (all juices arrive on either Tues or Weds and you begin your detox the next day - very important as everything is fresh and would need to be frozen if you wanted to wait any longer to start). My juices were packed very securely in a cardboard box, complete with ice packs and fresh lemons to be used in hot water to speed up metabolism. The little juices are so so cute, all in their own little individual bottles with ingredients and time that they need to be drunk written on the side of the bottle so the plan really is dummy-proof. Straight away I put them in the fridge excited to start the next day.
 
 
Each day on the detox is made up of the same 4 juices:
9am: Clean Green (Spinach, Celery, Cucumber, Apple & Lime) - contains more nutrients than most people get in a week
To be honest even though I was excited to get started I was definitely dreading Clean Green and assuming would be my least favourite as I have a very sweet tooth. I was right...it is my least favourite but it really isn't awful. Not as bad as I was expecting anyway. You really can taste all 5 ingredients in the juice, which sounds like a bizarre claim but it's true! I would say the cucumber and celery come through strongly but there is definitely a refreshing after taste of lime which is really quite pleasant. The juice isn't blended entirely so there are very very small pieces of fruit and veg to swallow so i can understand that the texture might be off putting for some people but this wasn't an issue for me at all. I like chunky smoothies and soups so the texture of all the juices was similar to this.
 
Midday: Let's Glow (Orange, Apple, Kiwi, Grapes & Strawberries) - to cleanse the digestive system and radiate your skin
Let's Glow is definitely my favourite out of the three different juices. To me this just tastes like watered down strawberries and you can clearly taste the grapes as well. Really lush, refreshing, sweet fruity and goes down super easy, whereas Clean Green is taking me a bit longer to finish.
 
3pm: Clean Green (same ingredients as above)
 
6pm: Berry Good (Pineapple, Blueberries, Strawberries, Apples & Raspberries) - contains anti-oxidants to keep your cardiovascular system in tip top shape
I was definitely expecting this juice to be my favourite, I usually love all things berry and eat all these fruits like they're going out of fashion but surprisingly it wasn't. Don't get me wrong, it is really nice tasting, enjoyable to drink and I did really like it - much more than Clean Green! - but for some reason i just prefer the taste flavour of Let's Glow. Berry Good tastes like ever every so slightly over ripe Raspberries, you know when they don't taste at their absolute peak and sweet but they haven't gone off yet, that in between period? Well they taste like that. Pretty scrummy any how. Berry Good does definitely seem to be the gas-iest juice and I was upset to see that my Day 3 juice had exploded slightly.....see below for more details on that
 
Day 1
 
Thoughts: Excited to get started, anxious about what to expect and what the juices will taste like.
 
Side effects: Mild headache just before 3pm but this quickly went away after my 3pm juice. I also felt groggy and had a headache for a little while later in the evening. Nothing huge that really bothered me and an early night sorted it out.
 
Feeling hungry: Surprisingly not at all, i thought i would be missing food more than this.
 
Enjoying juices: Not mad on Clean Green but it is definitely okay, love Let's Glow and definitely like Berry Good but i was expecting it to be my favourite and it's not.
 
Noticing changes: I feel more energetic and definitely less bloated. My mind seemed clearer this evening and I was definitely aware of a situation where i may usually have picked a fight with my boyfriend but had the control not to.
 
Overnight Weight loss: I know you shouldn't weigh yourself everyday bla bla bla...but i'm afraid i can't resist! I weigh in while i'm getting ready for work each morning at around 7:30am......Weight loss from Tuesday 10th September 7:30am to Wednesday 11th September 7:30am is.......-2.4lbs. I'm thrilled that i can be losing weight already!!
 
Day 2
 
Thoughts: Thinking about food but i think that's to be expected on any detox. No food at all is hard!!
 
Side effects: Nothing noticeable today, just tummy grumbles.
 
Feeling hungry: Yes today was much more difficult than yesterday. Come mid afternoon/early evening i am definitely hungry and watching my boyfriend eat dinner is painful. haha
 
Enjoying juices: Yes i really am. Clean Green is much more bearable, even slightly more enjoyable than yesterday and i like the taste of all three juices now.
 
Noticing changes: I still feel full of energy and am noticing my skin is full of life. Normally i would have some dry patches on my cheeks and a slightly oily t-zone but this all seems to have evened out and my skin feels plump and fresh. My concentration has also been much better at work today.

Overnight Weight loss: -3.1lbs
 
Total Weight loss so far: -5.5lbs
 
Day 3
 
Thoughts: I have throughly enjoyed taking part in the detox but am excited to eat a proper meal again tomorrow.
 
Side effects: Constantly needing to wee but i think that's a given considering all the liquid i am consuming! (should have included this in Days 1 & 2 also!)
 
Feeling hungry: This morning i woke up hungry but the pangs definitely died down 2 juices into the day. It comes and goes and i find myself hungry just before a juice is due and once i have finished it my belly seems satisfied for a few hours more. It seems 3 hours between juices is the perfect amount
 
Enjoying juices: Again all juices have been enjoyable today, Clean Green still the least and Let's Glow still my favourite. Stupidly i left my Berry Good juice underneath my desk at work last night, so 6pm came and i had to drink my day 3 juice on day 2 (if that makes sense) but all the Berry Good juices are exactly the same so i was hoping it wouldnt matter too much. However i got to work this morning and day 2's Berry Good had exploded all over its cool bag and ice packs and i've probably lost a third of the juice. Obviously this may all be to do with me leaving it unrefridgerated all night but this does seem to be a common problem with the Berry Good juices, but it didn't happen the first 2 days.
 
Noticing changes: My clothes are feeling looser today, i still feel less bloated, my skin is clear and glowing, my hair seems shinier and all in all i feel great in myself. Full of beans and energetic....and this is coming from somebody who is notoriously a sleeper and take forever to wake up everyday. These last three days it certainly seems easier.
 
Overnight Weight loss: -3.2lbs
 
Total Weight loss: -8.7lbs
 
My opinion of the Juice 2 U 3-day detox plan really couldn't be any higher. Yes it is difficult to not eat for any significant period of time but your body adapts really quickly and soon realises it is still getting all the goodness and nutrients that it needs through the juices. I did find myself missing food but that is definitely just out of habit as the hunger went away as soon as i got my juice fix.
I feel happier, healthier, have more energy, more confidence and fresh (if that makes sense!). This detox would be perfect repeated a few times a year to rejuvenate and refresh the body.
The weight loss is really an added bonus so again this would be perfect for quickly dropping a few pounds before a holiday and ensuring you would feel great before you went.
 
So does the 3-day detox do what it claims?
 
Lose weight? YES
 
Improve energy levels & feel less slugish? YES
 
Gain greater vitality, mental clarity & concentration? YES
 
Improve complexion? YES
 
Healthy hair & nails? YES
 
Stronger immune system? Not noticeably but that's not to say it hasn't improved. I wouldn't be getting sick so this is a hard one to measure
 
Boost your metabolism? Again hard to measure in the long term but i would assume my metabolism has increased from the weight loss
 
Change of mentality towards nutrition? My feelings haven't changed hugely. I'm pretty clued up on what is good for me and what isn't i'm just very bad at practising what i preach! *easier said than done eh girls?* The detox has opened my eyes to the qualities that certain combinations of fruit and veg have and the particular area of the body that they are working on which is useful.
 
Will i be recommending the detox and using Juice 2 U's services again? ABSOLUTELY!
 
You can find out more about Juice to U on their website here
Currently a 3-day, 5-day and Yummy Mummy detox are available.
 
Get juicing dolls!!
 
XOXO
 
** This post first appeared on my original blog Sparkle Bug which you can read here **
 

Monday 13 April 2015

Seventeen Brow's That Brow Kit - Review

For a while now I've been trying everything in my power to get my hands on one of the illusive MUA Brow Kits which are simply sold out absolutely everywhere! Soo I was thrilled to see that if you spend £8 on Seventeen makeup in Boots at the moment you get their brow kit (worth £6) for absolutely nothing! Got to love a freebie!
I've been wanting to try out Seventeen's Stay Time foundation (review to follow shortly) for a while now so I was already looking to buy that so I simply bumped up my spend with a nice clear top coat nail polish for £2.99 as I seem to have run out of all of my top coats at the moment and keep forgetting to pick one up.
I was thrilled to see this little kit included everything I wanted in the MUA one...and more!
 
 
 
The packaging is so sleek and shiny I was instantly drawn in like the magpie I am. It doesn't take much trust me!
To be honest I think this brow kit contains absolutely everything you could need to transform your brows completely. There does seems to only be one shade available which isn't ideal but I am pretty fair and its absolutely fine on me so if you were after a darker brow you could definitely build the colour.
 
 
The brow kit contains: a wax, powder, highlighter, mini pencil and mini brush.
They also include a handy hints & tips card to assist any nervous brow artists. I think this is a great idea and it's definitely something I would have appreciated the first time I filled my brows in.
 
 
I know the kit doesn't come with mini tweezers like some brow kits do but lets face it, that's probably the one thing you already own if you're particular about your eyebrows and it's always better to have slanted tweezers, which the ones included in little kits very rarely are.

I really do love this kit and have been using it daily since I bought it.
Which brow kits do you recommend?
XOXO
 
** this post first appeared on my original blog Sparkle Bug which you can read here **

Squishy Haul #1

Yes yes I know I have been promising cute baby hauls for weeks now and I really have no excuse for taking so long to post them up. As I think I already mentioned after both our 12 and 20 weeks scans me and G hit the shops in a BIG way. More recently we've been buying pink girly bits obviously but back in February just after we got the all-OK from our 12 week scan we finally hit the shops - something the shopaholic in me had been dying to do ever since we found out we were pregnant!
 
So here are some of the bits we picked up:
First stop, probably not surprisingly as we are definitely restricted by our budget, was Primark. To be honest I've heard mixed reports about their baby clothing, some of my friends with little ones love it and some say you get what you pay for and that the quality is poor. So the jury is definitely still out and we will see how Squishy gets on with what we've bought so far. I'm trying to remember the prices on these best I can so they might be slightly off.
 
4-piece newborn set £8 - Primark
This cute set consisted of a short sleeve bodysuit, a longsleeve sleepsuit, a hat and bib. All in this adorable teddy print. To be fair I think we now own the entire collection of this cute little bear so he is definitely here to stay!

pack of 7 short sleeve bodysuits £7 - Primark
Hooded towel £5 - Primark
Giraffe all-in-one pram suit in 3-6 months £6 in the sale - Primark
 Ummmm.....how cute? Obviously just because every little girl needs a giraffe outfit in their wardrobe right? We got this in a bigger size so hopefully it'll be perfect for Squishy throughout the winter months.
 
3-pack muslins £5, 2 hats & 2 scratchmitts pack £3, 5-pack socks £2.50 & 7-pack bibs £3 - Primark
Obviously a baby shopping spree would not be complete without a trip to The Disney Store right? Don't get me wrong I know their clothing is so over priced but it's all so gorgeous we couldn't resist a few special bits. Funnily enough I'm not keen on the blue or pink items this season so we'll probably be stocking up on some more Dumbo items.

Dumbo sleepsuit £18 - The Disney Store
This is definitely one of my favourite sleepsuits we have for Squishy so far...maybe even a contender for her coming home from the hospital outfit!

Dumbo soft toy £16 - The Disney Store
I am obsessed with this Dumbo toy. It is up there with one of the softest toys I have every felt and elephants are my favourite animal so it was always going to be a winner.
 
H&M is another one of those stores that I definitely will be buying a lot of Squishy's clothes from. Where I live we actually only have a kids H&M - no adult one - so we tend to have a really good selection of their stock. I just don't think you can beat them on price, they always have great 3 for 2 offers on basic baby bits and I always love their bits.
 
2-pack long sleeve bodysuits £7.99 - H&M
3-piece set £9.99 - H&M
I love this little set. We haven't got a lot of colour for Squishy at this stage. Most of the neutral items we tend to pick up are cream, white or grey so I love this green. The set comes with little stripy leggings (so cute!), a short sleeve bodysuit & hat. All in matching dinosaur print of course! Raaaw!
 
2-pack leggings £2.50 in the sale - H&M

2-pack leggings £5 - H&M
I think baby leggings are super cute and are something I would love Squishy to wear a lot. I think as she is due in the summer it's probably going to be too warm for actual little person clothes so I'm thinking a bodysuit and leggings will be perfect for lazy days at home.

2-pack sleepsuits £9.99 - H&M
These sleepsuits are ador-a-ble! Who doesn't love Winnie the Pooh? Especially baby Winnie the Pooh!
 
2-pack short sleeve bodysuits £12 - Man Utd Megastore

As I mentioned on one of my previous posts we were pretty good and didn't buy any little bits for Squishy until after our 12 week scan...that is apart from these little Manchester United bodysuits. These were literally the first item we bought Squishy just a few days after we found out we were pregnant. We were up in Manchester for the weekend for G's birthday and being the huge football fans that we are it would have been silly not to stop by the megastore at Old Trafford as obviously it's not somewhere we can just pop to every day living down in Kent. I know lots of people won't understand buying football baby clothes for a little girl but it wouldn't have mattered to us what sex Squishy turned out to be. I love football and I'm a girl so who says our little princess won't love it too? Obviously we're never going to force football onto our little girl but until she's old enough to make up her own mind I think these are really cute. And she will of course need an England kit in time for Euro 2016!!

3-pack sleeveless bodysuits £2.50 - George at Asda, 3-pack short sleeve bodysuits £3, 3-pack long sleeve bodysuits £3 - both Primark

Now for the boring, but oh so essential bits. We've picked up lots of plain white bodysuits in all different sizes and sleeve lengths. As Squishy is due in August (hopefully) we've got mostly sleeveless or short sleeve bodysuits in newborn and 0-3 months and then have stocked up on some long sleeve suits in 0-3 and 3-6 months for when the temperature will be dropping a little bit and Squishy will probably appreciate more layers.

Teddy blanket £5, Cellular blanket £4 - both Primark, Humphrey's Corner pram blanket £12 - Mothercare
 
These are Squishy's neutral colour blankets all of which I love! Being a big elephant/Disney/Winnie the Pooh fan in general the gorgeous Humphrey's corner heffelump blanket was an absolute must buy as soon as I laid my eyes on it. It is incredibly soft. It's cotton on one side and fleece on the other, so so thick and of amazing quality.
The other two blankets are just cheap bits from primark. The teddy one was too cute not to buy - I think it would make the perfect gift if you are looking to buy something for a friend expecting a baby. It is presented so nicely!
The cellular blankets from primark are actually cheaper and softer than anywhere else I have come across - even  George at Asda!

So that's it for today! Those are pretty much all the bits we picked up in our first shopping trip back in February. We have picked up a few more neutral bits since then but I didn't want to bore you with too much at once so I'll save them for another haul another day.

XOXO

Thursday 9 April 2015

Bump update - 20 weeks

Bump
 
Bump is well and truly here and I'm starting to love it! I definitely feel more comfortable now it's more obvious that I'm pregnant. I had my first strangers ask me how far along I was so I must be showing properly!!
 
 
 
Cravings/Weight
 
No new/old cravings, in fact that's a pretty boring part of the updates now isn't it? 
I'm weighing in at 201lbs now - ridiculously depressing crossing 200lbs but I keep reminding myself it's all for a good reason. So I've gained 8lbs in total so far now.
 
Symptoms/Movement
 
Little Squishabelle is well and truly wiggling around now. I felt her a teeny bit last week, more like flutters but this week I think she must be doing somersaults in my tummy or something because the movement is much stronger. I've also gone from noticing her once or twice a day to easily 5/6/7 times, probably 10 minute wiggle sessions at a time.
 

Mood
 
So so happy. It's really starting to sink in now that we're going to be welcoming a little baby into our family in a couple of months and we are both so excited.

 
Baby's gender
 
Little lady!! - although I will get them to double check in our scan in 3 weeks time.
 

Appointments
 
Definitely the appointment we have been waiting for we had our 20 week anomaly scan this week :)
All went amazingly well, apart from our little munchkin lying awkwardly on her tummy for the entire time so we have to go back again in a couple of weeks for them to finish all their checks.
I think I'm probably going to do a separate post on our 20 weeks scan so I'll include all the details and some pictures in there.
 

Shopping
 
There's not even any denying it anymore - the shopping is OUT . OF . CONTROL!!
Just like when we had our 12 week scan we hit the shops straight after finding out we are having a baby girl so naturally we shopped all things pink until our hearts were content.
There is far too much to list here so I will get a baby girl haul up as soon as I can.
We've also received a couple of gorgeous gifts already from some friends and Grant's sisters so it has been lovely that they are sharing our excitement.
 
I think that's about all for this week. If you're enjoying our pregnancy updates I'd love you to follow our story either here or on Bloglovin'
Are you around the 20 week mark? I'd love to hear from fellow August mummy-to-be's
 
XOXO

Wednesday 8 April 2015

Palmers Butter Massage Lotion for Stretchmarks - Review

Like many other women, I expect, the dreaded word **stretchmarks** has definitely entered my head since finding out I was pregnant. In fact I think one of the first things I did, even before buying any teeny neutral clothes for Squishy, was go out and look for some lotions and potions to keep the stretchmarks under control.
 
I headed straight to Boots and one of the first products that caught my eye was the Palmers Cocoa Butter Formula Massage Lotion for Stretchmarks.
I have always been a huge lover of the Palmers brand and am constantly using their original cocoa butter and gradual tanner so this was a natural choice for me.

 

                   
 
Palmers massage lotion for stretchmarks can be used all over the body and is designed especially for pregnancy stretchmarks. Palmers claim the lotion is "enriched with new Bio C-Elaste, pure Cocoa and Shea butters and Vitamin E" and with regular use it can help reduce the possibility of developing stretchmarks. Obviously this is a pretty broad claim and Palmers aren't promising to work miracles but any chance that this little bottle of magic could help prevent stretchmarks is a bonus right?
 
I bought this lotion when I was around 9-10 weeks pregnant so obviously I wasn't growing much of a bump just yet but I wanted to be prepared. I've only really started using it religiously since I turned 17 weeks and have really noticed my tummy stretching. I tend to use this every evening before bed on my tummy, sides, thighs and boobs or after I have had a bath.
 
And you know what? So far so good! Although the stretchmark lotion doesn't smell quite as delicious as the usual Palmers products it does definitely have the signature cocoa butter smell. It smells exactly the same as their Firming Butter if you have ever tried that? Still compared to Bio-oil (which I cannot stand the smell of!) and usual pregnancy products this is an absolute treat!
 
The lotion itself is a pale yellow in colour and very thick in consistency. It does take a little while to fully soak into your skin but it definitely does its job and leaves my skin feeling amazingly soft and supple so I really don't see waiting a little while to put my pyjamas on a problem.
 
Another great perk to buying Palmers pregnancy products is they are all: Hypoallergenic, Paraben Free, Phthalate Free and Dermatologist Tested. These are all things that are important to look for in body & beauty products but even more so when you are pregnant to ensure no nasties are being passed on to the baby.
I imagine Palmers massage lotion for Stretchmarks would also be perfect for relieving itchy and dry skin which I know is something a lot of women suffer with in pregnancy. Luckily I haven't had any problems with this so far but I am prone to dry skin so I'm sure it will come as the weather gets warmer.

I have been very very lucky and so far in my pregnancy I don't have any stretchmarks. My mum told me she didn't get any during any of her pregnancies either so perhaps good genes are my saviour but I definitely think lathering this product on my belly every night like it's going out of fashion has helped as well.
I love how it makes my tummy feel and it genuinely does seem like my skin has more elasticity & is more supple than before.

Palmers Cocoa Butter Formula Massage Lotion for Stretchmarks comes in a handy pump bottle of 250ml and retails at £3.09 in Boots

Have you tried any magic lotions & potions to help with stretchmarks?
I'd love to hear your suggestions!

XOXO

Tuesday 7 April 2015

Finding out.....

So even though it feels like a lifetime ago I thought I would share our story of how we came to find out we were expecting. This was all back in December, so an entirely different year ago, and it definitely feels like we've known for a long long time.
 
Around the 10th/11th of December G and I were in the living room wrapping Christmas presents when I though I would bring up a topic that was on my mind. My period was late. Not crazy panic stations late but a couple of days late...and I am never late. I've been on the pill as long as I can remember - well quite soon after G & I first met when I was 15 - and my cycle is like clockwork.
Obviously been a natural born worrier I had also self diagnosed myself with a baby bump, sore boobs, extra tiredness and started questioning had I been feeling sick? etc.. all the usual symptoms, but had been putting it to the back of my mind.
 
So not wanting to keep it to myself anymore I asked G "would it be total disaster if I were pregnant now?". Now let me explain a couple of things. In no way shape or form is G anti-having babies. We have been together for nearly 11 years and for nearly all that time I have been cohabiting with a man-child. G is very much the boy who will never grow up - but in the most amazing cute fun way. I love watching him goof around with our friends kids and I know this is one of the qualities that is going to make him the best dad.
 For a good few years when people asked he would always say that he definitely wanted to have children just not anytime soon, but over the last few years, having watched a lot of our close friends become parents he had definitely softened to the idea. We had discussed and pretty much decided we were going to start trying to have a baby in Summer 2015, so not all that far away but still I figured a pregnancy now would be a shock.
As predicted G didn't react well. I didn't receive the worst reaction in the history of all the reactions ever but it was definitely up there. Of course he simply pointed out all the realistic things that I had already thought of 100x over. I hadn't even been at my airline for 6 months yet and was due to pass my probation in the next couple of days, definitely wasn't entirely settled in to long haul flying yet, G had recently left his job to go self-employed and being in the construction industry winter was particularly stressful and work had been very quiet for a few weeks and was looking like it would stay that way for a while and probably the biggest obstacle of all...our finances were definitely not in the best shape.
Anyhow we had a pretty brief conversation about it and left it there. Neither of us really wanting to give it much more thought and burying our heads in the sand again. It was my mum's birthday that weekend and we had a weekend away planned, going for dinner and to the theatre and we decided that if mother nature hadn't put in an appearance by the Monday we would do a test.
 
So the Monday came and I had a trip to Tel Aviv, Israel with work. Only a brief 24 hours in Tel Aviv and then back again late Tuesday night. Naturally on the Monday night in my gorgeous hotel bed, with the comfiest pillows possibly ever found I couldn't sleep a wink. I'm not exaggerating - not . one . WINK! I think I was up for the entire night googling pregnancy symptoms and looking at prams and cots and trying to sort out our doomed finances. Literally you name it, I thought 3am Israeli time was the time to fix it! I think by then I knew I was pregnant. I think a girl can just tell can't you? My period still hadn't come, despite me checking every 10 minutes and my boobs were feeling really really tender.
I landed that night at about 9pm, went straight to the 24hr Tesco up near Heathrow airport and bought a pregnancy test. Not just a cheap one either, the most expensive - spells it out for you - no arguments - one that I could find. I was sure I was pregnant so I didn't want to be phaffing around with any is it? isnt it? faint line result. I wanted it in clear black and white! In fact I was so sure that the result was going to be positive that I actually bought some folic acid to start taking as well (something I learnt all about the night before during my google sesh!).

So a 90 minute drive later I was finally home, rushed into the house and rushed upstairs to the loo with G to do the test. I didn't even stop to take my uniform off which was definitely a first, I HATED my work uniform. So there we were sitting on the step outside our bathroom watching that little timer tick tick away for the longest two minutes of our lives. It's crazy the thoughts that go through your mind in those two minutes. I remember being so so anxious, I knew if the result was positive I would be happy but I was worried how G would react after our conversation the week before. I was panicking that he would react badly but I had absolutely no need to worry AT all!


So there we were Tuesday 16th December 2014, about 11:45pm and our lives changed forever. Obviously the test came back positive and it actually confirmed I was "3+ weeks" which by the ClearBlue instructions meant I was approximately 5 weeks pregnant already.
I definitely felt 100 emotions all at once in that moment. Excited . so so Happy . Scared . Anxious . Nervous . Amazing and loads more thrown in! But somehow in all the chaos I don't think I expressed any of those feelings very well. It's now abit of a running joke that G handled the news much better than I did which surprised everybody, especially me. I never ever even once for a minute was anything but happy with the news that we were pregnant but I think I was so worried about how G was going to react that was all I could think about. It actually turned out that G said he had been thinking about what we would do if we were pregnant since our last conversation and the whole time I had been in Israel. He had a strong feeling that the test would be positive as well so was totally prepared for the outcome. He'd already decided that having a baby right here right now wouldn't be such a bad idea after all, he just forgot to fill me in & unknowingly left me worrying like crazy!!

So there you have it, a little insight into how we discovered Squishy was on the way. Most definitely a moment we will never forget!

How did you discover you were pregnant? 
I'd love to hear your stories?
XOXO

Saturday 4 April 2015

GENDER REVEAL!!


Morning everybody - Happy Easter!

Just a quick post really to excuse my lack of blogging the last couple days. You might have seen me already mention a few hundred times that we had our 20 weeks scan on Thursday morning...and yes we found out the sex of little Squishy so we've been pretty preoccupied shopping and painting ever since then really.

Sooooo....without further ado. I am over the moon to announce that we are expecting a:


!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are so so excited! Even though I was CONVINCED Squishy was a boy, like CONVINCED...I would have bet some serious money on it, it turns out we actually have a little Squishabelle on our hands.


After our scan we went straight to Westfield Stratford City shopping centre and shopped until our hearts were content! Plenty of cute little dresses, tights, hair bands, teeeensy shoes and little cute teddies - mostly pink of course!! You might have seen on my Instagram the absolute pink fest that our house has turned into already, God help us!



Hope you all have a lovely Easter weekend. I'll be back in a couple of days with some unisex and baby girls hauls and now doubt a proper 20 week bump update

XOXO



Wednesday 1 April 2015

Bump update - 19 weeks

Bump

Bump is slowly growing I think. I still feel like I'm at that awkward in between stage that I've mentioned the last couple of weeks but I definitely feel like I'm getting rounder now. I caved and bought some maternity black trousers for work this week as well so I must be getting bigger.


Cravings/Weight

I can't get enough tuna (which I'm trying to limit to twice a week as advised) and chocolate this week. I also found myself really fancying chocolate milk and toast with marmalade.
 
Symptoms/Movement

No new symptoms really, my lower back is being abit of a pain still and it's hard to get up off the sofa sometimes. Once I get moving I'm fine again though, it just seems to seize up if I sit down for too long!
And after weeks of me moaning & wishing I could feel Squishy move I definitely definitely can now. Literally the day I turned 19 weeks movements started and now every evening around 10pm Squish has a good old wriggle around in my tummy - plus a couple of times during the day now as well. Bub is actually having a good old dance right no as I type this! G likes to try to talk (or sometimes shout! - I'm convinced we will have a deaf baby at this rate!) into my belly and see if he can get Squish moving, most of the time it actually does work and he thinks it's hilarious. Men eh? Still can't feel any movements from the outside of my tummy yet but I'm looking forward to that starting so G can feel it too.

Appointments

No appointments this week but I am dying with excitement for our 20 week scan on Thursday. It's at 10am nice and early and then we're going to go shopping for the rest of the day once we know whether we can start buying pink or blue bits. I honestly don't think I've ever looked forward to something so much in my life!!

Shopping

Not much again this week, the novelty of buying cute baby things has definitely worn off as we're restricted to white and neutral colours.
I'm not sure whether I've mentioned before but we've decided after lots of friends recommendations that we will be buying Asda's Little Angels range of nappies for the baby. I've been stocking up on boxes whenever they have them in stock and have a few size 2's but for the last 8-9 weeks now our local Asda never seems to have the boxes in size 1 in stock. I don't know whether there's a national shortage or something but it's very strange? We did go to a larger Asda living store over in Maidstone and bought some smaller packets of size 1's just in case nowhere gets any in. Not sure what to do about that really?
I also ordered a baby book finally! I'm not sure why its taken me so long because I'm so excited to start filling it in. We went for Bump to Birthday in the end so I can't wait for it to arrive now so I can get started.
I was also very naughty and bought two coloured items from BHS (as in the pink/blue out of bounds for now section!). I won't tell you which sex we bought for in case I jinx myself but I decided that I would simply be distraught if this little snowsuit and tracksuit set was sold out by the time we went shopping - they were in the sale and the last left in the size we need. There's plenty of other items I love for both sexes so I'm sure I won't have any trouble finding something to exchange for if it turns out I've bought the wrong sex.
As I mentioned above I finally caved in and admitted that my black trousers for work are a little bit snug under the bump now so I bought some maternity bits from New Look. I tried on about a million things but in the end I tried to spend as little as possible & just got some trousers and a t-shirt. I absolutely wish I'd done it sooner because maternity clothing is the comfiest thing ever! I genuinely quite concerned that I'm never going to want to wear normal clothes again once Squishy is here....but we'll see!

XOXO