A little update :)

Hi all,

well as you can see from my tracker, I am 30 weeks and 5 days pregnant! I am started to get quite excited about this little squish face and how well everything seems to be going.

I had another scan this week and he is doing well. His tummy fell off the growth chart this week so they are bringing me back in for another scan in two weeks to see if it has picked up again. They told me not to be concerned yet but to wait and see what the results come back as. Worst case scenario is that the placenta isn't doing it's job properly in feeding him but they don't think that's the case as he has been on track up until this point. Otherwise he is healthy and active. Me and Ryan {I know...not proper English but I hate typing "Ryan and I"....it seems too proper} like to poke him at night when he is most active. He always kicks back in the exact spot you poke. Ryan thinks that the baby doesn't like it but I said it's probably good for his motor skills ;) I am still dilated but my stitches are really holding up! The specialists didn't think that they would for this long. They are happy if he is born any time between now and when they originally planned to take out the stitches {36-37 weeks}. What's so cool though is that the end goal is so close now.....they thought 28 weeks would be a push. I will be so happy if I make it to when they have to take out the stitches and get to take home my baby just like any normal pregnancy. We'll see though, even if he was born now, he is already facing a much shorter hospital stay then when they thought he was coming at 26 weeks.

So here is his scan pic from this week and the previous one from two weeks before that. I have so many side profile ones I asked for one of his face this time. Not many people are able to make it out. He is sideways {on the right} and other then his eyelids...you can really just see his skeleton.

Scan on August 26th, 2013

Scan on September 9, 2013. Can you make out his little face?!

Otherwise we are keeping busy. Our rental house is now up for sale, which actually is a pain in that we have to clean and vacate for all the showings. It was SO EMBARRASSING when the realtor was around taking pictures of the house. She had already noted her dislike for cats and then out of nowhere, Smithy arrives at the door with the biggest rodent in his mouth he has ever caught. Not only that...the rodents eyes were gouged out. Lovely. So before she saw, I tried to get outside to get if off him {yes imagine a pregnant girl chasing a naughty orange cat around the garden}. I managed to get him to drop it and quickly threw a flower pot over it. Of course my heart DROPPED when she asked to go outside to take pictures of the back garden. I ran out with her and stood by the pot so she wouldn't move it herself and get a fright. Luckily she didn't seem to notice me standing by the pot while kicking Smithy away from it {as of course he was still trying to get it}. Anyways, I am hoping this house won't have alot of showings and won't sell before our new house is finished! Otherwise, two adults, one baby and four cats will be looking for a place to stay. Any takers? ;) xxx

Great Gastby

We were shopping this weekend and I picked up the soundtrack for the new Great Gatsby film. I am IN LOVE with the song Lana del Ray contributed. She is AMAZING and was a perfect match for Leo DiCaprio's acting skills in the movie. Every time I listen to this song I see Leo's anguished face. As you can tell, I am quite a fan :) Baz Lutherman produced it {Moulin Rouge} and you can see his trademark work so evidently throughout the film. It's fantastic and worth a watch just for the theatrical value.

Anyways, take a listen to this little gem and go watch Leo's amazing acting skills!

P.S. Just on a side note....we went crib shopping this weekend! It was weird to actually be purchasing

furniture for this little bump but it was so fun. My Mother in law wanted to purchase the crib for baby, so transferred us some money for it. Thanks again Lynn! We went with a pretty classic looking white crib to match his nursery. It wont be here for 12 weeks but I will take a picture of it in his bedroom when we get into the new house. xxx

                            

It's time to clean the oven

Almost every night this week has resulted in a mini oven fire. Nothing unmanageable....just a big enough fire to pose a risk to dinner. Confession: I am a terrible one for cleaning ovens {I know that surprises you...especially considering the ever rotating dish pile in my sink}. I'm pretty sure in the almost three years we have lived here, I have averaged one clean a year. Even MORE embarrassingly....it's a self clean oven. Shame.

So after Friday nights fire, I have decided it is time to do a proper oven clean. I am even doing it the old fashioned way and NOT using the self clean! This is not because I am trying to attempt any type of extraordinary domestic achievement...it's because my current body temperature is waaaay to high to be turning on ovens for four hours. Thank you bump.

My Mum had told me about these handy bags they sell in England that you put the racks inside of overnight. When you wake up, all you have to do is rinse them and they are brought back to their previous glory. I looked everywhere but they don't sell them here yet. You can order them online but I think Ryan's heart will give out if I yell "Oh my God, it's on fire" one more time while melting plastic cook wear trying to smother it {smart I know...I am really bad at panicking}. So I have doused the entire thing in Easy Off Oven Cleaner and am currently waiting the two hours for it to magically clean my horrible oven.

To be honest, during the wait time, I have lost all interest in actually completing the job....so am hoping I can appeal to Ryan's better nature to finish it. Not that he doesn't work enough during the week ;)

Anyways, enough about my boring oven. I must quickly tell you about the new addiction I have developed to tarts {the kind you eat of course}. They are sold at the French bakery we go to every weekend for breakfast. A few weeks ago, they were seriously calling my name. I have never been a big pastry lover but I honestly couldn't stop looking at them while eating my breakfast. Anyways, I ordered the blueberry one and haven't looked back since. I am now on week four of pastry consumption. Every week I have ordered a different one to see what they all taste like. So far I have had blueberry, strawberry mango, blackberry and today I had plum. By the time I have finished my tart, I am ALREADY looking forward to the one I will try the following weekend. Don't worry though, my Mum said all the fruit on the top of the tart MUST mean it's low in calories ;)

Well I have better go sort out this oven {by that I mean watch Ryan sort out this oven}. Wish me luck!! xxx

New chairs

We went on a chair hunt this weekend for the new house. Currently we have two couches but our new living room is smaller, so we decided we need a couple chairs instead to go with only one couch.

Look at the beauties we found!!! A pair of cream Ralph Lauren Home club chairs. They were discontinued so were $1200 off the pair (how could I refuse?!). Even with the discount they are the most expensive chairs we have ever purchased but we are looking for long term furniture. Plus our current living room chair is the ever so reliable $150 Ikea Poang.....so that was pretty easy to beat price wise lol ;)

The only thing I am concerned about is the cream colour. We did get them scotch guarded and I will just have to remember no tea drinking/ no cats/ no food and no baby on on these chairs. Very practical ;) xxx

Scan

I had another scan yesterday at 28 weeks and 3 days. It was cute to see the little monkey {who is ALWAYS sucking his thumb}.

Everything is pretty much the same {which is a good thing!}, I am still dilated up to the cerclage but so far it has really held up to the pressure of the baby. The specialist even started talking about week 34, which just a few weeks ago they thought I would never see.

So we'll see how everything goes but I am getting really excited at the possibility of having an almost full term baby! I had prepared myself for the potential of a little babe with a lengthy hospital stay but maybe we will just defy all the OB's predictions :)

Baby Mele is now 2.5 lbs with little chubby cheeks. No hair to report as of yet so maybe he will be a blondie like me!

In other news, I FINALLY changed my name to Amy Mele. It was a really weird feeling and I wish I could have hyphenated. However, Willis-Mele doesn't go together very well.....especially when you put an S in front of Mele LOL. So Amy Mele it is but I do like the fact that out little family will all have the same surname :)

Anyways, I am off to the post office to mail a little parcel to my sisters in England. I will update if anything abnormal does happen but my Mum has given bump strict instructions not to come week 28 as she and my sister are away on holidays. Obviously bump has to listen to my Mum, so I don't think there will be any more baby updates this week ;) xxx

28 Week Update

I thought that it was about time I did a bump update. I am 28 Weeks! We made it to the first big goal!!! Good job little bump for hanging in there ;) I have had alot of appointments these last few weeks. Plus my doctor had me in hospital for steroid shots to further the little bumps lung development {in case he does come a little earlier than expected}. I also had a scan last week and he is still really healthy and on track for his age {almost 2 lbs!}. So below are some pictures of how the bump is looking and a little summary which I thought I would start doing to track the differences every few weeks :)

Last scan on August 12 {when bump was 26 weeks}

27 weeks and 5 days

How far along? 28 weeks

Total weight gain: 7lbs...ish   

Maternity clothes?  YES, they are amazing. I have two pairs of capri pants with the belly band. I don't know how I will give them up when I am not pregnant anymore...they are so comfortable!

Stretch marks?  None yet. I finished my Mama Mio tummy cream really quickly {$45 a bottle!} so have switched over to the more cost effective Bio Oil. I grease up every night before bed and it seems to making my skin alot more smooth in general. You can even use it on your face for moisture!

    Sleep: I am obviously not working very much and what I do try to do is from home {thanks husbie!}. So that being said, I manage to get alot of sleep! I like to sleep a little longer in the morning {8:30-9:00 AM} and prevent getting tired in the afternoon. I have also gotten over the guilt of Ryan's alarm ringing at 6:45 am every morning. I used to get up with him and see him off but now I barely utter goodbye haha.

Best moment this week: His movement! He is moving SO MUCH now and I love being reminded of him throughout the day. Ryan was playing the bag pipes the other night and he was literally doing flip flops in my belly. It's really cool.

Miss anything?  Not really, maybe just a more strict schedule and the ability to move around more!

Food cravings: None that are strong enough to think about. 

Anything making you queasy or sick?  Yes! Onions and garlic are HORRIBLE when pregnant. Ryan can't even have them as I can smell them for hours afterwards...even if he uses mouthwash. He know's by now it's not even worth the headache of eating them :)

Gender: Boy!

Labour signs: During my last ultrasound there was a small contraction noted while measuring my cervix. They didn't seem that concerned though.

Belly button in or out?  In!  

Wedding rings on or off: On {when I remember to put them on}.

Happy or moody most of the time: I'm happy to be pregnant and pretty lucky to be at home. So I would say happy :)

Looking forward to: The next goal of 32 weeks!

Pregnancy purchases

I was meaning to do a 27 week bump update but time got the best of me, so I thought I would wait until I am 28 weeks this Saturday {since it is so close now!}.

In the meantime I want to share some awesome things that I have bought/received lately.

First of all {which I am SO EXCITED ABOUT!} is the little package I got from my Mum a couple weeks ago. I was too busy to blog about it at the time but I am still buzzing off the arrival. I will let the pictures do the explaining.....

YES PEOPLE....ROYAL BABY CLOTHES. Well clothes that were released in celebration of the Royal babe. Anyways, they really are so soft and lovely and I cannot wait to put our little prince in them. I do get sad that my family is so far away sometimes but how else would my Mum get me all these cool things so easily?! She is my direct connection to the Royals haha. She also picked up some stuff in London the other day at Greenwich Market {yes she is that cool} but I haven't received it yet. Here are a couple pics she sent me....the royal wedding date baby grow is amazing LOL.

There is a Mummy one too but I can't find the picture.

The other day my Mother in Law surprised us with a box full of cute baby clothes as well. When I say cute, I mean cute as in Ralph Lauren baby rompers!!! Need I say more?! This little boy is going to be so well dressed :) He also got a winter coat from our Italian house guest which I think is so cute!

My baby purchase this week was actually nothing to do with the babe and more to do with his delivery. Being in hospital last pregnancy with Ada's delivery and this pregnancy for the cerclage surgery, I have come to the conclusion that I hate hospital gowns. There is nothing nice about them. I was getting my hospital bag ready the other night and thought there must be something I can wear instead. Say hello to the gownie :)

Although it is still a hospital gown, it is a much more modest one. The back actually does up with clips in MANY spots and it is a little longer then the ones they provide you at the hospital. It's also just a little brighter then their drab white ones. So needless to say, I am much more excited to wear my gownie then any hospital gown they have :) Well that is the latest for me and the bump. Next up is my 28 week update. Have a good Thursday! :) xxx

Sweet family

I have been MIA these past few weeks but am planning to do an update post tomorrow. In the meantime, let me leave you with these pictures of my sweet family. The first is a picture if my little sister Hannah in her school uniform. She looks SO CUTE and grown up. The next is a picture of my Grandad that my Mum sent me last Sunday. He is always so happy, I can't wait to see him again and show him little bump!!! xxx

Grandparents

In a card from my Mum for our first anniversary was two old pictures of both sets of Grandparents. It is so interesting to see how they looked when they were young. Sadly, only one of the four is still living {my Grandad Bill...the one sticking out his tongue} but little things like this remind me of how much I loved them :) xxx

My Dad's parents Grandad Fred and Granny Joyce 1952 

My Mum's parents Granny Mary and Grandad Bill {who is still cheeky to this day!} 1960

Saturday evening

This evening after dinner, I convinced Ryan to go for a drive to attempt getting some pictures of the baby ducks around our area. I have been meaning to do it for a while and was afraid that if I waited too much longer that they would be fully grown!

So here are some shots from this evening. Ducks in England flock to you when you feed them but these ducky's were a little shy. The shots weren't as close as I had hoped but they are still super cute! xxx