A UK holiday - first for me in a while!

Firstly, apologies for the delay with this blog - technically it should have been with you last week but I thought I'd use our holiday as an excuse to put it on hold for a few extra days . . . the cheek of it!! ;-)

We had a lovely weekend leading up to our Suffolk holiday, kicking it all off with Melissa and Kev's wedding in Reading which was fabulous and in the most idilic setting you could imagine. 

'Melissa & Kevin Board on their big day!'

It was lovely to catch up with lots of friends I hadn't seen for a while and weirdly three of us girls out of one very close group are all pregnant and due within a few months of each other, there has to be something in the air!! I don't live close to any of these girls unfortunately, with one in Nottingham, one Australia and the rest in Kent (outskirts of London) but we do make an effort to see as much of each other as possible so it will be lovely to have babies of similar ages. These ladies are the ones I met when Debbie and I first went travelling to Australia, almost 12 years ago now, so we've remained very close and I'm sure will be friends for the rest of our days. The Saturday morning after the wedding we met up at a pub in Reading, where a lot of people were nursing hangovers. We stuck around for one drink and then had to head off to Hertfordshire to my Dads, where he was having a BBQ for his birthday. I'd given him a list of food to buy so that I could make a variety of side salads and dishes (not a man's forte!) so as soon as we arrived I got stuck in with the help of my lovely cousin Leah. It was a family get together, so great to see some of my Auntie and Uncles and another cousin (Faye), as well as my Dads Uncle and Cousin too, who I hadn't seen for years. We didn't stay very late as had to get back for our dog (have I mentioned our dog before?? If not he's a soppy chocolate Labrador who unfortunately has pretty much every ailment going poor thing!) but it was lovely all the same. Sunday morning we packed our stuff for the holiday, filled the car up and then headed off to Suffolk to our holiday cottage (http://www.wenhaston.net/lemancottage) . . .

James & Woody at Walberswick

We were lucky for the first two days with sunshine and warmth-a-plenty so made the most of that, although I did have some work commitments to tend to on the Tuesday which took up most of my afternoon. Working for yourself has it's downfalls sometimes I suppose, but it's early days for the building of the business and the aim is to have managers employed one day to deal with the day to day queries and stuff - continually working towards the dream! The great thing is that with my business I could potentially work anywhere, so me, James and the baby could be in a luxury villa in Asia somewhere and so long as I've got wifi, a phone and laptop we can make it work from anywhere. James is particularly keen for things to take off more and more so that he can be a full-time house husband! In my mind I think it would great to run the business together in the future and share the responsibilities of that and the bringing up of our child - he can continue with the housework though . . . well he's so good at it! ;-)

The Tuesday of our week we jumped on a train in Ipswich to London and spent the afternoon wandering around Camden, until the rain started anyway and then we hit one of the pubs at the Lock for a cheeky beer and half a Guinness for me! 

After this we headed to the Roundhouse where we watched Beady Eye and got upgraded to the balcony seated area due to my convenient pregnancy! I never would have even considered playing the 'pregnancy card' but a guy that worked there suggested I ask about an upgrade at the help desk, as I think he was concerned about me being amongst the rowdy Liam Gallagher fans! I would never have asked off of my own back as am a stubborn so-and-so at times and don't like to be thought of being any less able than anyone else, however by the time we reached the Roundhouse I'd realised that perhaps at 32 weeks pregnant I'm not as agile and capable as I was 7 and a half months ago! I seriously thought I'd be able to continue as normal until I gave birth but my bump appears to have dropped and when walking I feel like I need to hold it up and have my legs a lot further apart than normal - believe me this is not a good look and I am trying my best to fight it, but it seems like I'm getting nearer and nearer to the point of having to give in a little!

Walberswick

Walberswick

James at Thorpeness

The rest of our week was filled with sightseeing (Walberswick, Southwold, Aldeburgh, Thorpeness, Snape Maltings, Halesworth and lots of walking locally in and around Wenhaston itself), seeing my brother and his partner James quite regularly as they live ten minutes down the road, plus we also had a BBQ on the final Saturday as my Mum, step-dad and Sister had stayed the Friday night on their way back from Gatwick, plus Karl and James and James' Mum, Sister and Niece all came over. We also went to watch an open-air cinema screening of Dirty Dancing in Ipswich, which was something we've only ever done in Australia before. It was a good atmosphere but a tad cold and uncomfortable for me sitting on the ground - what an old woman I am!

Southwold Harbour

Snape Maltings

Southwold

Snape Maltings

Southwold

That just about sums up our week really . . . baby / bump wise I feel like I've grown massively! I slept heaps better in Suffolk even though it's tough to get comfortable and I do wake every couple of hours but it's better than the last few weeks, although the restless legs seemed to happen during the day more to make up for it! I've also developed a craving for celery, radishes and if they're not available crunching on ice!! Strange but true and I'm quite happy with such a healthy craving! I only weigh 9 and a quarter stone still so have put on a stone and a quarter since being pregnant, which means I must have at least another three-quarters of a stone to gain by D-Day - better get some more chocolate and cakes down my neck and fatten this baby up! I'm going to wish I hadn't said that next month aren't I?!! ;-)

Bump at 32 weeks

Bump much bigger at 32 weeks!

 I hope you've all had a good week or so since I last wrote - anything to report?? Please feel free to comment to keep me inspired to continue writing . . . ;-)