30 weeks

Hello everyone! 

I'm now 30 weeks pregnant, and, as per usual, things haven't quite gone to plan recently! I expected to finish work at the end of term for the summer holidays then go straight into my maternity leave. I imagined my summer at home with Lily blogging, getting back into doing something creative and crafty and preparing for our little boy to arrive. However, with just two weeks to go, I had an incident at work with one of the students. For those who don't know, I work in a secondary school as a learning support assistant to special needs children, primarily boys aged 13-15. 

I obviously won't go into details, but I had quite an unpleasant and stressful incident with a student, resulting in a couple of days off work. People were advising me not to go back and to be signed off work but I was determined to finish the term. However, just a week later, I had yet another incident with a student which was rather traumatic and stressful again. Yet again, I had everyone telling me I should just be resting and taking care of myself and the baby, but despite it being a challenge, I love my job and wanted to finish the term for myself and the students I work so closely with. However,  after experiencing some pains and contractions, I began to bleed (sorry if tmi!) and had to go into hospital. After many, many tests and seeing many many doctors I was told I had been putting myself under too much strain and pressure and my body wasn't coping, and I needed to stop. I was told I am no longer allowed to bend, lift, or do any physical activity for any length of time and needed I just rest until baby arrives, otherwise I was at risk of going into labour early. This meant no work, no cleaning, no lifting Lily. Just simple things like if I'm cleaning I'm not allowed to get pans out of the bottom cupboard, I can't bath Lily because of the bending involved, I can't do washing because of bending to put the clothes in the washing machine. It's extremely frustrating! I've felt so much better this pregnancy than I did with Lily's, but I'm now able to do less. I didn't finish the term at work, and am spending most of my time at my parents house while David is at work so they can look after me and Lily and make sure I'm getting rest, and David has had to take on most of the chores around the house. I feel so useless and restricted! My pregnancy was quizzing by but it's all started to go an awful lot slower now. I cant wait to have my baby boy here in my arms and my body back so I can regain some independence. 

Other than those issues though, baby G is growing well and very healthy. You can now see my belly moving around as he wriggles, which Lily absolutely loves and finds so exciting! She is understanding so much more than I was expecting her to. She talks about her baby brother lots of comes over just to give my tummy a kiss or cuddle several times through the day. Is so lovely. I have a huge craving now too- for ice! I get such sudden strong urges to crunch on ice several times a day, is crazy! I have been eating so many ice pops and just ice cubes, which has been great in this heat. I've also been living citrus flavours and drinking Los of lemon and lime drinks, whereas usually I mainly only drink water, but I just don't enjoy water at the moment and find it gives me horrible heartburn when I do have any. 

We have almost finished Lily and her baby brothers bedroom now too, and I plan to blog about it as soon as we do! I'm also putting together a well overdue post about Lily and how much she has changed and grown up recently. I may try and do some maternity style/product review type posts too. What do you all think? I don't do much at the moment other than read books, take baths and watch films with Lilypops, so I've been a bit stuck for ideas of what to blog about!

Hopefully I'll have some interesting posts for you soon!

xo

Baby G no.2

Hello everyone!

I thought it was about time I wrote my pregnancy post! Fingers crossed Lily will let me finish it quickly.

We had decided while planning our wedding that sometime in the year following might be a good time to start trying for Baby G number 2. We did not expect that just 4 weeks into our marriage we would be seeing those two little lines on a test!! We got ourselves a little honeymoon baby and could not be more thrilled! 

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while may remember how much I hated my first pregnancy. Vomiting several times a day every single day until 16 weeks, severe anaemia and fainting from 20 weeks, PUPs pregnancy rash making my bump burn and itch like crazy, then the return of the sickness from week 30 alongside acne and uncontrollable greasy hair followed by a 6 day labour all resulted in a stressful, exhausting and all round horrible experience. I really thought I'd never do it again, but of course, how head over heels in love we fell for Lily made me change my tune. However, it still caused mixed emotions when I discovered I was pregnant. I was torn between being incredibly excited to be growing our family and terrified about putting my body through it all again for 9 months.

Luckily, this pregnancy has been a completely different experience! I still got morning sickness, but not so constant and severe. I was able to keep some food down and control it to a certain extent. It still wasn't pleasant, but compared to last time so much better and was gone completely by 12 weeks! So far, touch wood, no anaemia either so I haven't had the exhaustion and fainting that came with that. My skin is better than normal and my hair shinier and cleaner for longer which is amazing! The only symptom that has been worse than my pregnancy with Lily is my hormones. I cry at EVERYTHING! All the time! Lily, bless her, can't watch any films since I've been pregnant without having me a sobbing wreck on the sofa next to her. Dumbo, Tangled, Frozen, The Heffalump Movie- literally anything reduces me to a blubbering wreck, no matter how many times we watch it! 

Because of this pregnancy being so different, it definitely was not a shock when we discovered that our newest addition was a little baby boy!! And we are SO excited! I cannot wait to meet our little man, and introduce Lily to her baby brother. She has some understanding of what's going on- she strokes my tummy and feels his kicks and talks to her baby brother. She tells people mummy has as 'tumbley baby' and tries to share her toys and food with my bump! It is adorable. I have a feeling she is going to make a pretty wonderful big sister. 

I am now 2 days away from being 24 weeks. Time is flying by but I do want to start more regular bump updates and maybe do some baby boy hauls too! Is there anything else you'd like to see baby related on the blog?

xox

HELLO!

// pinterest //

Hello everyone!

The last time I posted was the 27th December 2013. Just over 4 months ago. So, I think I owe you all an explanation of where I disappeared off to!

Two days after that post was my wedding day! The most amazing day! I have been writing my wedding post and hopefully will have it up very very soon. I'm finding it difficult not to go on and on about every little detail of the day. It was wonderful and I can't wait to share it with you all!

We then went off on our little honeymoon and I decided I wanted a month off from blogging. Last year was crazy, what with the wedding planning. I wanted a month of calm to just enjoy being The Gowers and dedicate every spare moment completely to my little family without any distractions. I also felt like all of my blogging last year was a little half hearted. With so much else going on, my posts were always rushed and I had fallen out of love with it a bit. This year I wanted to dedicate time and effort into making my blog the little corner of the internet I want it to be and enjoy it again. So my big plan was to make a fresh blogging start at the beginning on February, starting with a post about the wedding.

However, February arrived and with it, so did some news. We discovered I was pregnant! We had thought perhaps after we are married it would be a nice time to start trying for baby number two. However, we did not expect it to happen quite so quickly!! We are completely over the moon and cannot wait for October when we officially become a family of four! So February became a month of excitement and attempting to get through each day of going to work and coming home to a very active Lily while battling morning sickness and exhaustion. Blogging was the last thing on my mind!

March came and our little Lily Belle turned two. Two! How did that happen?! I want to make her a proper little two year update. She is changing fast at the moment, growing so much, saying so much, learning so much and has such a huge personality for such a little lady! So in March, not only did I still have the struggles of early pregnancy to contend with, plus a two year olds birthday to plan, but the opportunity arose for us to move somewhere bigger, better and lovelier, so we took it! Life got even more hectic and again, blogging wasn't high on my list of priorities!

So in April, we moved house! Our old house was a small terraced place with the smallest rooms you've ever seen, the steepest stairs (not ideal for having a toddler) and a bathroom that was quite literally rotting away and needed rebuilding. I have spent the last month decorating and filling our new much more modern apartment with much more space, no scary stairs and a lovely balcony for Ronnie the Rabbit! 

So here we are, with May almost upon us and I'm back with a new marriage, pregnancy and home, and finally feel ready to put my heart and soul into blogging again! It feels so good to be back.

xo

soon...

Hello :) I know I keep saying it over and over again, but I really do want to put more time and effort into this blog and get back to posting regularly!! I will try harder...

I can't believe it's february already!! January went so fast. Mine was filled with shopping trips, housework & organising ready for a certain someone's arrival, dinners with friends, cooking for my family, making jewelry, lots of cuddling Milly, our puppy, taking Milly on her first walk, reading and preparing for birth, being scared, being emotional & being ridiculously excited!!

Little Lily's due date is just 5 weeks away. I feel like I am 5 again and it's christmas eve, everyday! It is so exciting and I can't wait for her to get here. Pregnancy is also now very uncomfortable, my ribs hurt and I really don't think my tummy can stretch anymore!! Lily is so big now, there is no room left. I can't wait until I can give her a cuddle for the first time!

This week I want to have a little pampering evening before I officially have no more time to myself, David and I start our antenatal classes, lots of snuggling on the sofa watching films, and I have lots of dog walking and making things to do :) I am also going to fit in a blog post at some point too!!

How are you all??

x ♥

Hello :) I have badly neglected this blog, for a combination of reasons. I have lost the key to my studio, where I like to take my pictures, so I've been locked out, I was ill for some time, worked lots, had a busy christmas etc etc... but Im back now!! (though still haven't found my studio key) sorry for being gone so long...

Christmas was lovely. I spent lots of time with family, ate far too much and was spoilt with lots of lovely gifts. I was given lovely jewelry, pretty clothes (mainly cardigans as they can be worn with bump and post bump!), bits and pieces like photo frames and ornaments for when my David and I finally get our own house (hopefully very soon), lots of pampering toiletries and lots of chocolate!! My craving for chocolate during pregnancy has been ridiculous, so I can't tell you how excited I was to be given so much! Even little Lily was given some lovely presents and she isn't even here yet! I have a feeling friends and family are going to spoil her lots!

I think my favourite present this Christmas was actually a present for my mother. She got a puppy!!! Little  Milly, who is just the cutest little thing ever! She is adorable and so affectionate, always wanting cuddles :) Some of you may know the childrens TV program 'Come Outside' from the 90's? with Aunt Mable and Pippin? Our Milly is the grandaughter of Pippin! :)

As you can see, I am now rather huge!! It is only 8 weeks until our little Lily Belle is here! It is scarily close and so exciting. I am now on maternity leave and trying to get everything ready for her arrival, which is so surreal. I can't believe our little girl is going to be with us soon!

Oh, and a late happy new year to you all!! I was far too tired to go to any new years parties, so watched fireworks from our conservatory in my pyjamas instead! My new years resolutions are:

1. To get my little girl here safely, and do everything in my power to make sure she is happy, healthy & safe

2. To get a home with my David for our little family

3. To apply for a PGCE and find a job that will help me get some experience in a school

4. To lose my baby weight

5. To keep on making my art and jewelry and not let it get forgotten

How were your Christmases and new years? I feel very out of the blogging loop, I must catch up with all your posts!

x ♥

p.s: even when my blog goes quiet, Im always on twitter! I'd love to follow some more bloggers on there too :)

short & sweet

Just a little update. I have been trying to post for about a week, but my technology wont cooperate, so I don't have all the pictures I wanted to upload. But I am determined I will very soon!! I have some new things I have made I want to show you all, and I want to show how big my bump is now :)

Things have been a little busy. I have been doing long hours at work, and keep fainting, which is not fun! There is nothing serious, apparently its very normal in pregnancy, but it makes doing anything difficult as I don't know when Im going to go next. 

But I have had some lovely times too. Meeting up for lunch with old friends, getting excited about christmas and planning gifts and things to make, enjoying all the festive decorations and bits and pieces in the shops. Being disappointed I cant buy lots of christmas gifts for Lily, but enjoying planning for her first christmas next year. Spending rare days with my David, and just cuddling on the sofa & loving watching his face as he feels Lily's big, strong kicks and movements in my tummy. starting to feel the nesting instinct- I am wanted to clean and tidy and organise everything. I want the whole house to be sparkling and clean, smelling of christmassy candles and flowers!

Hopefully soon I will finally be able to share all of pictures and going on's with you. until then, I am getting rather addicted to pinterest and am on twitter lots too! I am also still making new bits and pieces for my etsy shop all the time!

Hope your all well and happy :)

♥ x

p.s: slightly cheeky, but my David was involved with making this entry for a competition, its a really cute little animation! if you could spare a like for it, we would be very grateful :)

Lily Belle Rose Gower ♥

our 20 week scan was today, and we found out we have a very healthy little baby girl!! We are so happy. our little Lily Belle Rose Gower ♥


♥ x

autumn

I love this time of year. I love the weather changing, the colours, the cosiness of wrapping up warm, roast dinners and hot chocolate. I'm even getting excited about christmas already!

I'm also enjoying my new job, even though I have a lot of hours and when Im not working all I want to do is sleep!. The people there are so nice and have made me feel really welcome, and most of the customers are lovely. I love helping the customers find a product that really works for them and they are really happy with, it feels like more than just a job in a shop. Im being trained to do peoples make up too! It means I haven't made anything for the shop this week, but Im still getting orders out and am definitely going to start making christmas items soon!

My little bump is coming along nicely! Im now 19 weeks. I can't believe how fast time is going. My 20 week scan is just a week away, and we have decided we want to find out the sex!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited! The baby has been really active too, and is getting so strong! you can now feel it kicking from the outside of my tummy :) David was the first to feel it, which was so lovely, as I only see him about once a week. I think the baby wanted to show off for daddy :)

Dressing bump is getting trickier as I get further along, I am having to get lots of baggy jumpers now ready for the colder weather, and I needed a new coat as none of mine would do up over my tummy! My family went to london last week for my sisters birthday (I had to go for my flu jab instead!) and came back with the lovely jumper I am wearing in the picture above, with the cutest bear on the front! I love it!

How is everyone else? are you enjoying autumn the cooler weather?

x ♥

♥

Thank you everyone for your lovely, kind words on my post. I will get round to thanking you all!

And I apologies for my quietness here. I have been feeling fairly rubbish and ill, and being pregnant definitely doesnt help! I fainted on sunday with it, and have been feeling all achy and sick- yuck. but the doctor has given me some anti sickness tablets, which has helped me feel a bit more normal, but have left me so drowsy! I feel like my eyes are about to close all the time!

My tummy, as you can see, is growing bigger by the minute! I had my first stranger comment on my pregnancy the other day, and tell me I look like I am having a 'very radiant pregnancy' which put a smile on my face :) I am 16 weeks now, time is going fast! 

Our little collection of goodies for the baby is growing- bump has a little baby grow I couldnt resist, a cardigan knitted by our neighbor with cute duck buttons, two pairs of booties (the red ones are handmade and I bought a matching purple pair for myself!), a little lamb bought by its daddy, and some other toys I got for free from various mummy and baby clubs I've been joining :)

I've been knitting lots of little bows too, which Im thinking of lots of different things to do with- I think I will use them for decorating lots of different things, and maybe make some into some jewelry and hair slides?

I am starting to get in the christmas mood too- a little early I know, but  I've started making christmas decorations and planning the craft fairs I'm selling at this year!

and I have a job!! I work at the body shop now, hehe, not amazing but better than nothing, and I get a 50% discount! :)

I hope your all well! whats everyone been up to?

x ♥

p.s: dont forget about the offer in my shop, which I explained in this post!!

holiday & excitement & winner

I am back from holiday :) I had scheduled some posts for while I was away, but neither of them worked unfortunately! I have no idea why, but those posts will be up soon!

My holiday was lovely. Luckily my morning sickness has passed, and I could really enjoy it! It consisted of many beaches, long walks, card games in the caravan, collecting shells, lots of pebbles, paddling in the cold sea, rock pools, finding crabs, finding jellyfish, old fashioned arcades and fun fairs, spotting boats, rainy days, sunny days, little zoos, white lions, ice cream, petting farms, gift shops, sweet shops, homemade fudge, fish and chips, roast dinners, swings, standing on cliff tops, lovely views, feeding white doves out of my hand, and the swan. Our friend the swan. Our caravan had a little private beach, that had one swan living alone there. We went to our little beach only feet away every morning, and the swan would immediately come over to us and nip at our legs and feet until he was fed! It was a little scary at first, but he was lovely.

And we returned home to have my scan a few days later. I was so nervous and scared!! eek. It was yesterday. I was having nightmares for days before about everything going wrong, and it being bad news. The lady rubbed the gel on my belly, and as soon as the little ultrasound thingy was on my tummy, there it was on the screen, our little baby!!! I have felt so happy. I knew immediately everything was ok, our little one is so energetic and playful! It was jumping about all over the place, kicking its little legs and waving its arms. We saw it sucking it's thumb, and even saw it drinking the amniotic fluid! It was opening its little mouth and swallowing!! I couldn't believe how much detail we could see, we could even see its tiny toes wriggling. It was so so amazing!! Heres our baby:

In the picture, it is sucking its thumb, and the other arm is down by its side, and you can see its little toes curled round too! I can't stop smiling. Its about the size of a banana now :) Now I can't wait for our next scan!

***

More exciting news now!! I have used random.org to choose the winner of my giveaway. and the winner is:

LONE ALASKAN GYPSY!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will be contacting you about sending your prize very soon :) thank you to everyone who entered!!

I have also put more items up in the shop today, if anyone would like to see :)

x ♥

announcement ♥

So, the big news I've been waiting to announce... I'm pregnant, as you have probably guessed from the first picture!!!!!!

It was a massive shock. It wasn't planned! When I found out, I couldn't stop shaking.

My David and I have always wanted children. we both love children and get very broody! We've always said we can't wait to have our own family. We had everything planned out, we would go to uni, then when we graduated, we would move back home, David would get a job in the animation and CG industry, I would start my little business. We would save, then get married, then get our own place, then have children. But it hasn't quite worked like that!

We took all the 'precautions' and everything to make sure it didn't happen yet, but this one time they didn't work.

And now, WE ARE HAVING A BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of course, it was a huge shock. There is lots to think and worry about. But we are SO thrilled and excited!

I  was worried about telling my family, and I felt guilty. David and I have been living together for 3 years while at uni, and now I have moved back home, I get pregnant!! But they are so excited, it's been amazing. As has David's family. We're really lucky. 

Davids going to have two jobs, I'm trying to get this shop together (I'm still waiting for some materials to arrive!! Argh! But I have lots I can't wait to show you), and we are going to make this work and save save save! My parents have been wonderful and supportive and said we can live with them for as long as we need, but we are hoping to get enough money together to get our own place as soon as possible.

Oh, and the proposal!! It wasn't a shotgun thing, I know people will think it's only because of the baby, but as I said in my last post, David's been planning the proposal since last year. It was going to be this august in Rome. But that money now needs to go towards other things, so it was on my doorstep instead :) but it would have happened, baby or not. We are waiting to have the actual wedding until after the baby's born, so I don't look like an elephant!! :)

So, yes!!! That's our news :) I was waiting until our 12 weeks scan to announce it, to make sure everything is ok, which has been hard, not saying anything. I am 11 weeks at the moment, I'm on holiday when I'm 12 weeks, so I have to wait until 13 weeks for my scan, which is frustrating. However, I bought an at home fetal heart monitor, which I have been playing around with, and getting faint sounds and things that I thought could be the heartbeat. Then last night, I heard this:

I was so happy I cried!!! So, I thought I would announce it all now. I couldn't wait anymore!

The pregnancy so far has been hard, which explains why I haven't blogged very much! I have really bad sickness that lasts all day. From 5 weeks to now, so for 6 whole weeks, I haven't stopped feeling sick. I have gone off all food except mash potato, peas, and plain pasta. 

I have really awful exhaustion too, to the point where by about 5pm everyday I literally can no longer keep my eyes open. My hormones are all over the place. The stretching pains have been bad. I feel so ill all the time, it's horrible!! I never realised the first 3 months were so hard! But it should be over soon. I'm on holiday in the isle of wight next week and really hope I'm feeling a bit better by then.

I already don't fit in my normal clothes! My bump has grown fast. I am in maternity jeans and comfy tops all the time. Not very stylish, but Im hoping to go a bit prettier and more creative with maternity clothes when I'm feeling better!

So thats my big news!! Don't worry, this isn't going to suddenly become a pregnancy blog. I will obviously write about how the pregnancy's going and baby things but I won't suddenly bombard you with lots and lots of pregnancy and baby posts all the time, there will still be all the usual stuff! I am thinking about starting a new blog just for the pregnancy. What do you think?

I was so nervous writing this post, but it's such a relief to finally be able to tell you all!

♥ x