30 weeks down, 10 to go!

I can't believe I'm into my 31st week of pregnancy already! Time has really flown - it doesn't seem like yesterday when we first found out in December and here we are thinking about things like packing a hospital bag!! I've been told by a few people that we should be doing this now but as much as I think about it I can't seem to get my head around this just yet, let alone consider actually doing it. I suppose I can see the sense in it, as it's one less thing to worry about when the time does come and I guess it could be quite stressful if I suddenly had to go to hospital and hadn't sorted it, plus being out in the sticks it's not a two minute drive to the hospital so if James had to come back and do it, who knows what he might miss?! Maybe we'll think about it more next week then . . . by the looks of the lists I've been given and emailed it'll take a month to get all the stuff together! For some reason getting things like breast pads, nappies and sanitary pads is just not as a exciting as all the clothes and nursery things.

I don't feel like I've grown much more since I last blogged, but the comments I've had from people this week has been a different reaction. Some people going as far as saying I'm 'huge' and even 'fat' - thanks guys! In actual fact according to the experts I'm quite small and luckily those that have had children themselves appear to notice that and kindly describe me as 'compact' and say that I have a 'lovely, perfect bump' - that's better! ;-) For the record I do only weigh just a fraction over 9 stone and am three-quarters of the way through my pregnancy (*smug grin on my face*). I never thought I'd be bothered but for some reason I do feel a little sensitive about the whole size thing (can you tell?), stupid I know as after all it would be virtually impossible to not grow when pregnant and it's not like it's a long term arrangement - perhaps I do actually have some sensitive pregnancy hormones kicking around . . . 

There has been lots of movement from the little one this week and I've grown to enjoy this action, where I wasn't so keen initially when it became this obvious. It's quite enjoyable watching my stomach contort into all kinds of weird shapes as she rolls around and kicks inside - she definitely seems to be awake heaps more nowadays making it all seem so much more real and exciting. Talking of exciting, this week the nursery furniture arrived so her room is coming together now - I keep peeping in there, still finding it hard to imagine an actual baby being in there too though, the furniture is one thing but our baby . . . SURREAL!!

 I've had a lovely social week seeing so many people, it's really taken my mind off of the whole restless legs and sleeping issues, which are still going on but I'm residing to the fact that I'm just going to have to get used to it so am not stressing about it anymore. I will probably have a chat to the doctors this week to see if they can suggest anything (they're not as cautious as the midwives) just in case though so fingers crossed. 

Monday, my friend Jody (who lives in Australia), her Mum and our other friend Jodie and her lovely daughter all came to visit on Monday, staying Monday night and spending half the day Tuesday here too. It was great to see them all and as they were here another good friend of mine, Sally and two of her children, popped over for a drink on the Tuesday to see us all, which was lovely too as I haven't seen her for ages.

Thursday morning my friend Kerry and her son popped over and later that afternoon me and my Sister went on a road trip to Suffolk to visit our Brother until Friday. We had a lovely relaxing time there and I checked out the holiday cottage that James and I have booked starting next Sunday, which looks lovely so I'm really excited for that break now. Plus I spied countless places offering cream teas, so I'll be in heaven!

Saturday, was pretty action packed as I met my friends Hanna, Frances, Lisa, Clair and Kerry for a few drinks in Norwich early afternoon and then headed straight from there to the supermarket to pick up a big birthday cake for my friend Anna and then went to get changed at Morris' house before 10 of us headed for a night out at Jongleurs comedy club for Anna's 30th birthday. There were four comedians and it was good fun, despite no air-conditioning and my legs going crazy with the heat. I made the mistake of taking my shoes off for a bit and then struggled to get them back on again, school girl error!!

Today (Sunday) James and I are chilling out, I've been doing a bit of studying in the garden but came into the cool to write this blog as it's boiling out there today. Then we've got a roast dinner at my Mums this evening so no cooking to worry about, plus I think I'm in for a reflexology treatment and hair cut - what a great Mum I've got!! How I'm going to live up to that as a Mum myself I really don't know!!

In addition to all of this fabulous socialising I managed to get heaps of work done too and am getting more and more excited about how my business is progressing. With a new client under my belt and quite a few businesses requesting more info and quotes it looks like I'll be able to meet my aim of the amount of clients that I wanted before the baby arrives. James is particularly excited about this as he's pretty keen on being a house husband - believe me, he'd make an awesome one too and it would be lovely for him to be more involved in the business so that we can continue to grow it together. Sharing this and lots of time with the baby everything would be just perfect - you know more forever working for the dream and I won't stop trying until we've succeeded. The dream, to remind you, by the way is having plenty of quality time as a family, to be able to travel the world together and have a steady business bringing in enough income for us to do all this, nothing extravagant required just enough to mean we don't have to be dictated to by the rat race and if we can help family out where needed to that would top it off nicely. The thing to remember though, is to make sure I spend as much time with James and our new addition whilst working towards this as I plan to after, as otherwise what's the point - I know people who have been working so hard for something for most of their lives but make the mistake of missing out in the meantime - fatal mistake, as life is for living and without being negative you never know how much time you've got so keep working towards your goals but live for the moment in the meantime too as otherwise it might be too late by the time you look back. I think if you master this you've got it sorted!

That's all from me folks, apart from to say that I'm not going to publish the challenges anymore as didn't really get as much support for it as I'd hoped but if enough of you request me to start it up again of course I'll spend time on putting some more together . . . after all it's for you guys, so if you want it I'll do it! ;-)

Until next time . . . keep smiling lovely people x