Martial Art Baby

The guy on the right is me and the guy on the left is the baby in my belly...
Around 10.30pm the baby starts practicing its mae geri kick and I am in absolute agony from it. Sensei Baby, please stop...

Chicken Pox

I belive my little Ellen has got Chicken Pox (svenska: Vattkoppor). I found one big spot on her leg yesterday and today she's got another 3 on different parts of her little body. She seems as happy as Larry still, no temperature or anything like that, so all good so far. Hoping its going to be a mild one.
I'm not 100% it is, but 96% of my motherly intuition tells me it is...

So I will update later on to tell you all how we're doing.
Thank god I've already had it.

Oh Rennie my Rennie!

"You lift me up
And I'm touching the blue sky
You lift me up
I'm on top of the world
I'm getting closer to heaven
In every little thing I love
You lift me up"

Sleep

I find it extremely difficult to get comfy at night now. First I try my left side but after 2 minutes I get kicked in a spot just under my right rib, the same spot every time, and its got really sore now. So, with great effort, I move over to my right side...all quiet for a while, then BANG, a kick straight into that same spot again. I bounce up and try to lie on my back. After about 10 seconds on my back I start feeling dizzy and sick, and slowly roll over to my left side again... and it all starts over again...Left, right, back, left, right, back...
Then I sit up, swear a bit, chew another Rennie Dual Action heartburn tablet...and lie back down. Huff Huff Huff...

If anyone knows of a sleeping position that I haven't yet tried, please let me know. If there is some kind of contraption which lets you be suspended from the ceiling by your heels, so that there is no pressure whatsoever on any part of your body...tell me!

Exhausted

Let me tell you a bad combination - workmen in the house and a tired child!

I have had enough and just want to go to bed myself. My eyes are stinging and I am dizzy with fatigue. We've got a workman in the house sorting out a hole in the ceiling (where Steve almost fell through while moving some boxes in the loft) and he's making a hell of a racket up there. Meanwhile, downstairs, everything is covered in dust and bits of wood and Ellen can't really be let loose anywhere in the house without treading on something dangerous. So we've been watching a DVD all morning and she is now shattered. But because of all the noise she can't sleep. So I am stuck with a very grizzly child, while the house echoes with the banging of a hammer.

I've had quite productive morning though, before the madness began, and done lots of little jobs that I've been putting off forever.

Just had a huge portion of Korv Stroganoff and not sure what to do with myself now.
Please please sleep Ellen...

Aaah, I am so good

Today I've had sliiightly more energy than yesterday and I managed to clean the house, well half of it. Hoovered, mopped the floors and polished the wood surfaces with lovely smelling polish.
So now it smells nice and I don't have to walk on bread crumbs.

In the kitchen I've got a casserole cooking and I am just about to go and pick Ellen up from nursery.

I've even had a shower and done my hair! Can you believe it! I look half-decent!!!

Annexe - before & after

This is what our annexe bedroom looked like before we attacked it last weekend.



And this is what it looks like after!
I have now ordered a lovely bed set to go on the bed, instead of that horrid brown duvet cover. Then I'll hunt down some lovely decorative pillows and voila - a loooovely spare bedroom.

It helps being a Bitch!

What a morning! Its been such a busy morning with workmen and cleaners rumbling up and down the stairs - one making a mess and the other trying to clean it up!!
Anyway, the carpet was going down nicely in Ellen's new bedroom, when I got a call from the Carpet Showroom. They said they'd only quoted me for the bedroom, not for the stairs and landing...(when in fact the stairs and landing is part of the bedroom, like a little loft thing) and they were now telling me over the phone that to get the rest done it was going to cost me £480!!

But being a grumpy old hormonal bitch these days, I was having none of it, as it was definitely their cock-up and I was not going to pay double the price for an area that's tiny.
So I told them where to go and they rang back 10 minutes later and had chopped the price down to a mininum, which I was happy to pay.

Steve has had his fair share of grumpyness from me, and today it was the carpet company's turn.

Queen Bitch - hormones aren't all bad. They save me money too!

Chemical woman

This little bugger seems to be the source of all my troubles at the moment: Progesterone
The pregnancy hormone.

Reasoning with a brain that is pumped up to the max with this little fella, is like reasoning with a bloody tree trunk. No use what so ever.

New pram

I have been browsing around looking for a new double buggy. I came across this one and thought: Perfect!

Wide Awake

Yesterday I felt like this:
And today I feel like this:

A selection of Swedish horns...

This posting should have been posted a few weeks ago, about 90 minutes before Sweden got knocked out of Euro 2008. We had hope...
Steve pretending to be Helga!

Dakota posing as Ann-Marie.

And last but not least, Indy posing as Charlotta.

Things that makes me feel good

This lovely body butter makes me happy. I love the smell of it and it wakes me up immediately, if I am feeling drained.
Body Shop Monoi Moisture Balm from the Spa Wisdom range.

Washington DC & Babel

Steve is now on his way to Washington DC, British Airways style - flatbed style! I want to try one of those seats one day! He is back on Monday, so I'm on my own til then.


I wish I could have gone with him but I'm at home, looking after doggies and Ellen. We're going to have a lovely girly weekend (sorry dogs) with this film among others - Babel. That's my Saturday night treat.


Seeing Sarah on Friday and look forward to seeing their new place in Colchester. Barney touched down in Afghanistan yesterday evening and will be back in 3 months time, juuuust in time for the little baby!

Right, I am off to rest my eyes and my fat body for 1,5 hours, before heading down to Southend to see Clare, Ellie & Sarah.

Plaything

This afternoon I am picking up this jolly playcentre for Ellen. Have been looking for ages for something with slides for her, that she can climb on as well. Ebay had loads, but they are still quite expensive and I really wanted one for this weekend.
Luckily I bought the Wickford Gazette this morning and this beauty was being advertised about 20 min away for a fraction of the prizes on Ebay. Lucky Ellen! So at 5pm we're loading it into the car and should have it in the courtyard, all ready to rock, by tomorrow morning!
Hurrah!

Henry & I

We have just had our quality time for today, good old Henry and I.

I love it when he's been round the house and it now smells of Wood Polish and Grumme floor-cleaner.
I've also got my Summer Fruits oil-burner going and oooohhh it really is summer.

I can relax and concentrate so much better when the house is clean and tidy, which it is to 90% right now. Spotless no - Tidy yes!

Even the kitchen is sparkling. The only thing that's not sparkling right now...is me!
I need a shower badly and will grab one later on when Ellen's gone to bed.

Getting excited

This lovely changing station arrived today from Mamas & Papas. Ooooh I am getting excited now about the new baby but less excited about my evergrowing belly which is weighing me down.

Also, to go with it was this little changing mat. The one we've got at the moment I am going to throw away - it's seen too much crap!

The little toy chest and toddler bookcase arrived today as well, and I will ask my dad for help on assembling these pieces. I just can't bend!!

Just been out to water our plants in the garden (about 1,000 of them) and sweating like a hyena. My neck starts to hurt when I am on the laptop for too long, so I am taking regular breaks.

Lovely face

A quick update to recommend a few more products. Body Shop moisture lotion with SPF 15, combined with this one below:
The Vitamin E Moisture Serum, that makes my skin soo soft.
And before all this I use this lovely Body Shop Exfoliator Sponge together with my normal cleaner, which at the moment is a freebie tester from YSL, Rinse-off Foaming Water, which smells lovely too.

I am amazed that I actually have time to do this most mornings now. I usually have 5 minutes between hearing Ellen being awake in her room until she stands by her room-gate and shouts:
- Maaaammmiiii, hiiiilp!
And when I peer out from our bedroom door and she spots me I get a big smile and a:
- Heeeej!!!

Honey, snap out of it!

Love this new scrub that I treted myself to yesterday. Oooooh it smells soooo nice, almond and honey I think, and everytime I use it (yep, I've used it twice since yesterday) I want to take a big lick to taste it... I am sure that wouldn't be a good idea.
Anyway, my skin is now as soft as a baby's bottom.

Furniture and DIY

This beauty has just been ordered among other furniture for Ellen's new room, and the baby's new room. The chaise lounge is for the nursery, and I plan to spend many a sleepless night in it! I was "umming and errring" whether to go for a cheaper option, but this one is sooo comfortable it had to be worth it. If it saves me a wrinkle or two it's well worth it!

So a little toddler bed with matching bedside table, a lovely big wardrobe, a little bookcase in the shape of a dolls house and a little bookcase to keep all her little books has been ordered for Ellen's new room. The baby's room just needed a set of IKEA chest of drawers, a smaller changing unit and the chaaaaaiiiise loooounge... Wonderful.
I can sleep well tonight, knowing that its all on its way.
We've also got a date for the carpet fitting in Ellen's new room. In two weeks time it should be all done and we can start assembling the furniture, which I am sure will take another 2 weeks!

I've decided to get prepared earlier this time round, as last time I was pregnant, me and my mother-in-law were assembling Ellen's cot when I was 8 months pregnant, the summer was in full swing ie the nursery was about 100 degrees hot. God, we were both swearing at the bloody thing.
So this time, I am hoping to have it all done within the month...

So that was a typically boring blog post, showing what an incredibly interesting life I lead at the moment! But who knows, its Friday night...its the weekend, I might go crazy who knows!!!