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

Hello

Hello everyone! It has been so long again! I have been so desperate to blog over the past few weeks, but life has a habit of getting in the way sometimes. I have been so busy this past month. The wedding planning is suddenly getting very serious as we have only 5 months to go now, and I've had the end of year exams at work, and Lily is getting more and more active, and technology hasn't been my friend- but I've finally had a fairly quiet Sunday, and time to pay some attention to my blog!

Sorry for such a picture heavy post, but I'm trying to catch up then (hopefully) resume regular blogging as normal again. Life lately between working, housework, and wedding planning, has involved family trips to parks and rivers with Lily and our nieces and nephews, trips to London, silliness with Lily (her new game is putting her toy balls up her sleeves!), little Laura Ashley shopping trips, reading in Lily's book corner, enjoying my parents new garden, buying cute lamps, having gel nails done by my sister now she is a qualified beauty therapist, Lily being all grown up and getting her first toy baby and buggy, and eating lots of yummy food in the garden in this gorgeous weather we've been having!

As you can see, I have also redesigned and renamed the blog! I have never had a blog name I've been happy with. It started as Rosie Posie Rosie which I never liked, but was playing around on blogger not really knowing what I was doing when I started and never expected my blog to come this far and be so important to me! Then I changed it to just Rosie but really wanted to come up with a proper name for it. Peppermint Rosie has been a name I've been considering for very long time now but was worried I would change my mind and be unhappy again. But as I've liked it for so long, I've decided to take the plunge and finally do it! I am also looking into getting a custom domain, so I will let you know if and when that happens. I'd love to know what you all think! I was a little nervous about making the change.

The name peppermint Rosie comes from my addiction to peppermint tea, my love of peppermint creams and mint being my favourite colour. I do hope you all like it!

♥ x

MY ATTEMPT AT A 15 MONTH UPDATE

Hi everyone! 

For several months now I've been wanted to do one of my usual Lily updates. You know the ones where since she was born, I've taken pictures of her in similar places/ poses so you can really see how she is growing and changing, and the most recent ones being in her little white chair? Well, I've been trying to take more recent ones for a new update, but it just isn't going to happen! If I sit her in her chair, she gets up and walks away. I try and take pictures of her standing, facing the camera, and of course that is extremely boring no matter what I try to distract and bribe her with, so she walks away to play with something else. It is impossible! I end up either with pictures of her back, or pictures where she is just a very happy blur! So I thought I'd share some of these with you- a little selection of photo's from several failed attempts at Lily update posts!

Lily is now 15 months old. She walks, she talks, she sings, she dances, she plays, she giggles. She throws tantrums. She draws & colours. She feeds, cleans & cradles her baby dolls. she knows the theme tunes to her favourite programs & sings along. She kisses & cuddles, she explores, she copies, she uses my makeup brushes to her makeup in the morning, she brushes her hair, she tries to put her shoes on the wrong feet. She dusts the living room with me, feeds the rabbits & pets them gently. Her hair is still a vibrant red, her eyes are a deep blue with flecks of green & gold. She knows her own mind, but is affectionate & loving. She is funny & sweet & will always be my baby, though I'm realising recently she has most definitely become a little girl. I am so proud of her & love her more than I could possibly explain. 

I think I will do a proper Lily update when she turns 18 months now. Like the others, with proper update pictures & a letter to her. But this is the best I could do for now!

x ♥

4 months

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Dear Lily

You are 4 months old sweetheart! You are growning too fast. You have to stay this age now, ok?! ok. 

You have got loud. Really loud! You have definitely found your voice! You shriek and squeal all the time, so noisily! You love it, you find your own voice so fun and exciting ! It is adorable and so funny. Pople keep telling me they've never heard a baby so noisy! You especially like 'chatting' at ceebeebies, auntie Isabelle, Uncle Ollie, your cousins, bluebird and the curtains!

You've also started eating proper baby food too! You absolutely love it and you have had no problems at all with spoons and the change. You are such a greedy little thing, and really enjoy trying new flavours. We get lots of smiles and 'mmmmm's' and gurgles (which makes eating a little messy!) We have lots of laughs at lunch time!

You are beginning to find your hands. You stare at them a lot, they are so interesting to you, and you are figuring out what to do with them. Every now and again you'll reach for something and look amazed at what you can do, then suddenly put whatever it is in your mouth, hehe! You are staring at your toes a lot too, but mummy doesnt blame you, they are adorable, aren't they?

 

You have got rather attached to your knitted blanket from Auntie Anne. You love sleeping with it, cuddling it, chewing it, and sticking your toes through the holes too! I think it tickles. Mummy took it away for a minute to take these pictures, and you refused to smile until you got it back!

I love you, my little red headed sweetheart.

Love,

Mummy

x x x x

Home

We finally have a house! This is just a quick update to share the news and let you all know where I have dissapeared off to. We wont have internet for a little and I miss blogging a lot, but there is plenty to keep us busy. Our new house is little, cute, old and cosy, oposite a river with lots of ducks as neighbours. It has a red front door and a little vegtable patch in the garden. We love our first family home and I will be sharing lots more pictures and news with you very soon...

        x ♥

1 month

(This is a week late! oops! But here is Lily's 1 month update :) )

My sweetest Lily,

You are a whole month old! Mummy and Daddy can't believe how fast the time has gone, and how big you are getting!

In these past 4 weeks, you have grown from 6lb 12oz to 9lb 4oz! You are such a greedy little piglet and you are getting big fast, you want 7oz of milk every 4 hours, which is a crazy amount for such a teeny girl, but apparently you get it from your Daddy's side. Your aunties, uncles and cousins did the same when they were babies!

Everybody has fallen head over heels in love with you. You have had lots of people desperate for cuddles and spoiling you with lots of presents. And you are such a beautiful little girl, and mummy and daddy are told constantly just how perfect you are! And we completely agree. We are besotted with you Lily Belle. We can't get enough of your little pout, red fluffy hair (that is on your back and shoulders as well as your head!), your fast growing round tummy, your lovely smell of baby shampoo and parma violets, teeny toes that get lots of kisses, and your little frown that is the double of Daddy's! You use your frown a lot when you are staring at and discovering new things, and taking it all in, concentrating really hard!

You have lots of pet names too. You are the ginger fluffy cookie monster (which sometimes is just 'cookie' now!), mummys little strawberry, little lady, ginge, beautiful, orangutan (because of your orange fluffy hair!), gorgeous, Lily Pops, Lily Chops, little grump (on your not so happy days!), and grandad pat calls you angel face! We all love you so much my sweetheart.

As well as your bright red hair (which mummy and daddy are still shocked about!) your eyes are the most beautiful dark blue with a light blue ring around the middle. We wonder whether they will stay blue like daddy's, or whether they will turn to a brown/ hazel colour like mummy's. you have daddy's frown, ears and chin, and mummy's lips, cheeks, and hands. We are stunned at how combining our features has made such a beautiful little girlie. Grandad Pat is right when  he calls you angel face!

Your sleeping isn't too bad. You wake up every 4 hours for a feed and  a nappy change, and go back to sleep quite quickly. You don't like not being held very much, you want constant cuddles, and if I am honest, I haven't tried too hard to get you out of that habit, because I want constant cuddles with you too! For the first 3 weeks, you have barely slept in your crib, you have been in bed with us. Oops! But we have started to try and get you to sleep on your own now, and you have got used to your crib quite quickly, with the help of the noise of the hair dryer to send you to sleep. You LOVE  the hair dryer!

You have just started to smile too!! We spend so long each day trying to get you to do that beautiful smile of yours. And very occasionally, after lots of talking and playing and getting you all excited, we see that big gummy grin of yours that makes us melt! The first time we saw it, mummy was changing you, and picked you up when you were in just your nappy and told you how gorgeous you are, and you did the biggest smile! It was lovely.

You are spending more and more time awake each day, and love kicking around on your mat, while mummy or daddy or grandma talk to you. You get very excited and kick your legs, wave your arms, raise your eyebrows, your eyes go really wide and you try so so hard to talk back! and you have started to make cute little noises and gurgles at us! You are amazing Lily Belle.

Mummy and Daddy can't imagine life without you. We love that you have made us a little family and it feels as though you have been around forever. You are our beautiful little strawberry and we love you so much.

Love, mummy  x x x

♥