Author: Deborah

31 weeks pregnant 4d scan picture

31 Weeks Pregnant

I’ve been off work for a few days now and the pressure has definitely eased. I am still stressed, overwhelmed and feeling a bit down but not as much as I was. On Saturday me and my partner went out for a meal with our NCT group. We went to a local Thai restaurant and the food was absolutely amazing. It was lovely to catch up with everyone and hear how they’re getting on.

I made an effort to go to Aquabump on Tuesday, which is an exercise class in a pool run by a midwife. Some parts of it were actually quite tough but it felt good to get some exercise in. I really love being in the pool, so I hope I get to go more often.

Heartburn has started this week but I feel lucky that it has been quite mild. Well, I’ve never had heartburn before, but it doesn’t feel that bad so I think I have it easy.

Baby has started to get hiccups this week which was a lovely surprise.

This week I also had my 31 weeks midwife appointment. Everything was normal except the size of my bump. As soon as she said it measured 29 cm I knew that was the same size as my previous appointment 3 weeks before. She told me not to worry as I looked bigger. She booked me in for a growth scan at the nearest hospital for that afternoon. My husband was working unfortunately but my mum was able to come with me. Baby was measuring normal so there was nothing to panic over. The midwife also said that my placenta has moved up so I don’t need a scan at 32 weeks to check on it, which is a relief.

32 Weeks Pregnant

This week marked my return to work. Not until Wednesday though but oh my it was uncomfortable. I’ve not been sat at a desk for 7 hours straight for a couple of weeks and I forgot how much it hurt. I have three monitors at work and I think all the twisting to look around at them does my side in. My right side was so painful yesterday! Also, the toilets are far too far away from my desk.

My colleagues are being super supportive. I’m able to work from home when I need to now and I can go to Aquabumps on Tuesday, which is a swimming exercise class with my midwife. I am also not worrying about whether I get all the work done. I can only do what I’m able to and I’m not going to put pressure on myself to get anything done in the 11 working days I’ve got left. I’m crossing them off as I go.

Symptoms wise this week I haven’t been too bad. I think it’s just getting more uncomfortable now. Now my bump is bigger I’m finding it much harder to turn over in bed or get off our sofa. I get stuck in our sofa. It’s really uncomfortable as it is and it dips at the back so if I lie down on it I get sandwiched between the back cushions. I literally have to roll off the sofa onto the floor (I’ve put a pillow down) to get up.

This week

Baby is now the size of a – Squash.

My favourite moment was – A trip out with my mum to look at baby clothes and have a cream tea.

My worst moment was – Nothing

I’ve been feeling – Happier and excited.

I’m missing – Nothing.

I’ve been buying for baby – Nothing.

I’m craving – Still wanting eclairs!!

I’m looking forward to – Counting down the days until maternity leave.

Author: Deborah

pregnancy parenting books

I bought a few parenting and pregnancy books to read. With the increase in apps, websites and videos telling you all about pregnancy, I decided to go for mainly books about experiences and the first few years of baby’s life. Here are a few of the books I’ve been reading to get ready for baby.

Effective Birth Preparation

A friend lent me Effective Birth Preparation: Your Practical Guide to a Better Birth by Maggie Howell and I love it! As soon as I started reading it I felt like I didn’t need to worry about labour. It’s a perfectly natural process that loads of women and animals go through. It goes through the history of labour and why we fear it so much. It then moves on to what is hypnobirthing and how the mind works. I found the first section of the book really fascinating and it made me wonder why I was scared of labour. I’m not going to lie, I’m still a bit scared but I definitely feel like I have some tricks up my sleeve to use when the contractions start.

The last part of the book gives some really helpful tools and skills for you and your birthing partner to help you get through the labour. I also went and bought the relaxing audio CD and the birthing audio CD from eBay. I’ve been listening to the relaxation one as often as I can. I worried at first that I kept falling asleep in it, but if it’s making me that relaxed, surely that is a good thing! I’ve just started using the birthing CD which I’m going to use a few times a week from now on.

I will definitely report back once baby has arrived if this helped during labour.

The Unmumsy Mum

The Unmumsy Mum by Sarah Turner is hilarious. It’s not about preparing you for labour, but it definitely prepares you for what real life with a baby can be like. This has been the book I’ve been taking into the bath and has kept me giggling away to myself. Sarah’s not scared to tell you how it is, even if it’s really embarrassing. It’s made me realise that things won’t be perfect and that I must not worry if things don’t go as planned. I think I’ll probably be picking this back up for a re-read when baby is here.

I also recommend checking out the free ebook called The Unmumsy Mums, which is a collection of other mum’s stories. On my lunch breaks I was laughing out loud to this book.

Minus Nine to One

Minus Nine to One: The Diary of an Honest Mum by Jools Oliver is a really lovely read. I questioned whether I’d enjoy this book as I’m not interested in the lifestyles of famous people. It feels like she is just talking to me about her journey to motherhood. It’s nice to read someones experience of breastfeeding and tears for example, whereas in a pregnancy book they’ll be mentioned but not go into detail. It feels like I know a little more of what I can expect. I found her pregnancy quite relatable, like how she read all there is to know about pregnancy and symptoms! It also has lots of heartwarming and real photos spread throughout the book.

Commando Dad

I bought Commando Dad: How to be an Elite Dad or Carer by Neil Sinclair for my husband, but actually I’ve stolen it off him. Whereas the other books aren’t a manual for parenting, this one definitely is. This is the step by step guide to parenting and it’s also really funny and down to earth. You can flick through it to find out how to do something without all the waffle. The instructions are short and to the point which is what you need when you have a baby. I like hearing peoples experiences like in the previous books but this book is a definite must buy for me. This is the one that will be staying by the bed when baby arrives.

Have you read any of these? What’s your favourite pregnancy or parenting books?

* This post contains affiliate links. In plain English, this means that I may receive a small commission (at no cost to you) if you purchase something through the links provided. I won’t post a link to a product that I haven’t used myself and love. Thank you for the support!

 

Author: Deborah

bullet journal budgeting savings and expenses tracker

With a baby on the way I am looking at how to budget in a bullet journal. I need to be able to keep a closer look at our finances when I go on maternity leave and a few helpful budgeting spreads are going to help me do this.

The idea of budgeting was sparked by looking at getting another car and whether we could afford the monthly payments. Obviously I fell in love with a car I couldn’t afford – typical, isn’t it? So with the thoughts of a new (used) car out of the window, I cracked on with some bullet journalling.

Monthly budget

I started off with a monthly budget. I’ve called it an August budget as this month is a bit of a test run for it. I fully expect that my “budget” and “actual” will differ quite a lot for certain things and that’s okay. When it comes to the next month I can make the budgets more realistic. This means I won’t need to write a new monthly budget each month and I can just add more ‘actual’ columns until the end of the year.

bullet journal budgeting monthly budget august

Yearly Bills Tracker

I’ve included a bills tracker so that I can see what should definitely be coming out each month. It’s also a way to see what bills we can try and cut back on. When certain things are up for renewal, like car insurance, I can mark the month on there and make sure I look around before that date for a better deal.

bullet journal budgeting yearly bills tracker

Savings goals

It’s useful to have an idea of what you want to save for and then squirrel money away each month or when you can to save for it. We’re saving for a holiday, some new bedroom furniture and a better camera. Each time I add £100 or whatever amount into our savings accounts, I can colour a box in in the relevant colour for that saving goal.

bullet journal budgeting savings tracker

Monthly Expenses

I’ve tried doing monthly expenses before and used apps to track it but I’ve never stuck to it for long. This month I am going to really try and fill this in. You add the date, the item, where it came from, how much it cost and then whether you paid by credit/debit card or cash. As you can see at the bottom of the page there is a key. In the item column I’m going to put a coloured dot next to the purchase to indicate what category it falls into.

If you go back to the monthly budget, you can see there are categories near the bottom of the list which these expenses will fall into. This means I can quickly add up each category to input on the monthly budget.

On a side note, I have switched from using erasable pens in my bullet journal to Staedtler Triplus Fineliner 0.3mm. I found my erasable pens were smudging more, especially in this hot weather. The Staedtler ones are 0.3mm which I love and although I can’t erase any mistakes, I am finding them much better to write with. I picked up my set from Tesco as they are having a back to school sale – haven’t the kids just broken up?!

bullet journal budgeting august expenses and spending log

bullet journal budgeting expenses categories

Do you have any tips for keeping track of your expenses?

* This post contains affiliate links. In plain English, this means that I may receive a small commission (at no cost to you) if you purchase something through the links provided. I won’t post a link to a product that I haven’t used myself and love. Thank you for the support!

Author: Deborah

30 weeks pregnant bump shot

I’m coming up to 31 weeks pregnant, so here’s an update on the last two weeks. They’ve been hard but I’m sitting here now feeling like I’m working through it all. There’s also been some really special moments to cherish.

29 Weeks Pregnant

Wowzers it got hot this week! I can’t budge my wedding rings and I’m definitely feeling the heat. Sleep has completely passed me by as I toss and turn trying to be cool and get comfortable. I’ve also been a little bit of a bitch if I’m honest and poor hubby took the brunt of that on Sunday – an IKEA trip didn’t help.

I had a health visitor visit on Monday to talk through what they do and to see how my pregnancy is going. I mentioned that I was getting a bit emotional and stressed with work and at home. I’m putting a lot of pressure on myself (and husband) to get everything done before baby arrives, which is wrong. So I went straight into work and spoke to my line manager. Now I can work from home a little bit more, which will make me a lot more comfortable and give me time to work on work projects that need doing before I go off at 36 weeks. Getting it out and talking to someone definitely has helped!

We had our first breastfeeding class in the NTC course and it was really helpful! She showed us what positions would give baby a good latch and we got to ask lots of questions.

30 Weeks Pregnant

This week has been tough, I’m not going to lie. My emotions have been all over the place and stress levels ever increasing. I seem to have a knack of putting myself under immense pressure to get things done, whether that’s at home or at work.

One amazing thing that happened on Saturday was seeing baby at a 4D scan. We went along to Window to the Womb for a 4D scan and saw baby pouting, opening and closing it’s mouth and it’s cute little hands. I was beaming, it was such a magical experience.

However, about an hour before the scan, as we were driving along with the air con on, my pulse went crazy. I was sat there and the vein in my neck was visibly pulsating really quickly. I felt fine though so we carried on. We were early for the scan so we went for a walk, that’s when I decided to actually check my heart rate on an app. Simon checked his first to make sure the app was working and his came back pretty average for him. Mine though was 186bpm! It’s usually around 60-70bpm. I still felt okay though so we headed back for the scan.

While I was sitting it just went back to normal. I rang the midwife centre after the scan and they said next time to call 111 or if accompanied by any chest pain to go to A&E or ring for an ambulance. It felt reassuring to know what to do if it happens again.

During the rest of the weekend my stress levels increased – my mind was racing and I was crying a lot feeling overwhelmed. I’m now taking a break from work to help relieve some of that pressure and give myself time to manage my stress better. It has given me the time to go swimming, do more walking and listen to my hypnobirthing cd. The doctor made me realise I have to start putting myself first and stop worrying that I’m letting everyone down. My body is doing a very important job and I need to look after it.

This week

Baby is now the size of a – cucumber.

My favourite moment was – seeing baby at the 4D scan. It’s pouty lips make me smile.

My worst moment was – Feeling so overwhelmed and stressed. I just couldn’t switch off.

I’ve been feeling – Stressed but also relieved that I’ve given myself time to cope.

I’m missing – Yoga, it was my last session earlier this week for the summer holidays. We also finished our NCT course so I’m going to miss meeting the lovely couples every week.

I’ve been buying for baby – I bought a paint tester for the nursery.

I’m craving – Nothing.

I’m looking forward to – We’re going to do a tour of the midwife led unit this weekend.

Author: Deborah

Can I just say, where did July go?! I can’t believe we’re in August already and I’m back with another monthly bullet journal setup.

July was mega busy so I stuck to weekly layouts and really simplified them down. I’m definitely wanting to take this simple weekly spread forward into August.

Monthly spread

I am sticking to the calendar view like I did in July’s monthly spread. I definitely prefer just being able to quickly glance at the calendar and see what days appointments are on. I’ve removed the monthly tasks as I just wasn’t using it. I found that having a weekly and daily tasks is much easier to manage.

bullet journal August monthly spread

I have created a ‘master task list’ spread which has been separated into tasks to do before the baby arrives, important tasks and then tasks which need to be done at some point. I can then refer to this when looking at tasks to add to each week.

I’m using my habit tracker more. I’d tried it before and never used it. This time I only included tasks that actually matter to me like walking and hypnobirthing. I found that having things that matter to me on the list have made me want to tick them off.

Weekly spread

bullet journal august weekly spread

I am loving my simple weekly spread layout at the moment. It’s easy to see what appointments I have and I have limited space for tasks so I don’t put too much pressure on myself with a humongous to-do list.

I have a meal plan space on the right but I keep it numbered rather than by day, so that we can swap and choose what meals to have during the week. I found that when I set the day I would want something else or just end up with cereal for dinner – anyone else?

Collections

bullet journal social media stats

This month I’ve added another calendar to keep track of blog and video content. I’m either going to use pencil or post it notes to add in blog posts and video ideas, so that I can easily move them around. I’ve colour coded the days with a circle to when a post or a video is due to go out.

On the opposite page I have a social media and blog statistics tracker. This looks at the followers on certain accounts at the end of each month. It also shows the monthly page views and unique visitors to the blog, and the most popular video and post that month.

Author: Deborah

We have finally bought a pram: the Bugaboo Cameleon 3 Classic in navy. It’s gorgeous! We went to John Lewis and had two prams in mind and I just couldn’t decide. The decision was made for me when the other pram I liked, the Uppababy Vista, didn’t fit in our car boot at all. I’m glad the choice was taken out of my hands otherwise I don’t know what would have made me decide. Maybe we just need a bigger car!

We opted for the classic design because I loved the quilted look and I really like navy prams. We don’t know the gender and I didn’t want to go with grey, black or anything too bright.

First Impressions – The Good

  • I love how the pram looks.
  • It’s a lot lighter than other prams I tried so it’s easy for me to pick up and put in the boot of the car.
  • The wheels are easy to take off which I need to do to get it into the boot.
  • The handlebar can be moved from front to back, giving you the big wheels at the front for all-terrains.
  • It feels so good to manoeuvre. It’s easy to push around one handed too.
  • Well made and it looks really durable and secure.
  • The fold was actually really easy after a couple of tries.

First Impressions – The Bad

  • The basket is hard to access with the carrycot on.
  • The hand brake is stiff at first and takes a bit of getting used to.
  • You have to take the carrycot/seat off to fold the pram.
  • Bye bye pennies – it’s not cheap.

Bugaboo Cameleon 3 Assembly

We also picked up the car seat adaptors too as this fits our Maxi Cosi Pebble Plus car seat. I’m debating whether to buy the little organiser that attaches to either the handlebar or the carrycot/seat to put my keys, phone, wipes, etc in so they’re easily accessible. Then I will keep the changing bag in the basket, as putting it over the handlebar will void the warranty.

I’ll report back with a full review of the Bugaboo Cameleon 3 after we’ve been using it awhile.

Author: Deborah

New Look Dress 28 Weeks Pregnant

Debbie 28 Weeks Pregnant

New Look Dress 28 Weeks Pregnant

Accessorize bracelet maternity OOTD

I am in love with this New Look flower print maternity dress. Last weekend we headed out to our local lakes for a chilled out walk. The sun made a surprise appearance and my husband brought his camera. We managed to capture some photos while everyone else was walking their dogs or out for a run. We met a lovely man with a dog called Flinn, who was just adorable. He waded into the lake but stayed clear of me before drying himself off as dogs do.

We also bumped into a friend while we were there who had come for a bit of fishing. We spotted a few trout in the water so I hope he managed to catch something.

There’s something very relaxing about walking by water. I can’t wait until baby arrives and we can wander around together with the pram or a sling.

The dress is a fake wrap dress with a tie on the side. It’s really comfortable on my bump, although I’d recommend a bigger size if your boobs have grown a lot. It can be a bit of a job to get it off in the evening. I paired it with a simple bracelet from Accessorize which I grabbed in the sale recently. I love it because it’s easily adjustable and I have tiny wrists.

You can see the dress in my recent New Look and ASOS maternity haul video but it doesn’t seem to be on their websites any more.

New Look maternity dress OOTD

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About me

Hi there, I’m Deborah. I live in Hampshire with my husband and spend my time baking, making and getting out in the fresh air. Find out more or get in touch.

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