30 Weeks!

30 weeks pregnant today! Only another 10 weeks (roughly) left until we can hold our little one. The countdown begins...

Third Trimester!

And here we are, in the third trimester already! Wow, that has gone by so quickly!

The last few weeks we have been busy clearing out the spare room ready for it's transformation into a beautiful woodland themed nursery. We have also bought pretty much all the big, expensive stuff and this weekend, J and my Dad finished the path outside our house so our wonky drive can now accommodate a pushchair. The last few weeks have just flown by as we've been frantically trying to get things done on the weekends and in the evenings. The nursery-to-be is still looking like a small elephant has charged around inside, but we have some of my work friend's family coming to collect the big bookcase and two DVD shelves soon that are currently taking up lots of space. Once they've gone, and a few small bits packed and tidied away, we will be able to start decorating the room. You can see my inspiration board for the baby's room here.

As to the big stuff, we now proudly own this:

Quinny Buzz 3 

and this:

Quinny Foldable Carrycot

and this:

Maxi-Cosi Pebble Car Seat

and this:

Maxi Cosi FamilyFix Base

and this:

Mamas and Papas Aruba Natural Changing Unit

and this:

Motorola MPB36 Video Baby Monitor

And we bought all of this stuff in one day, after a manic weekend of price matching and bargain hunting, for the grand total of £780! We actually managed to save over £450 because of the royal baby promotions going on that weekend. Great tip - Mamas & Papas price match products that are in stock online from other websites, and in stock in-store from stores within a 50 mile radius. So, we were ecstatic with our huge saving! 

The path outside the front of our house took a while to do. J has been cutting back the bushes around the slope of our driveway on and off for a few weeks now, getting ready to clear and prepare the space. As you can see from the photos, there was a lot of work involved and a great deal of earth to shift. 

Before:

After:

At night:

I love the solar powered lights, I think it makes our home look very welcoming. And I love, love LOVE having room to actually get out of the car now without being attacked by a bush, the fear of treading on cat poo and the room to manoeuvre out of the car with the door fully open, reducing the risk of me getting whacked by the car door. 

Anyway, enough about material things for now. As you can see, this had been a huge update since I last wrote. The biggest news about our little man is that J has finally been able to feel him kick inside me. This was such a massive, special thing for us to experience together. For weeks now I have been disappointed that J hasn't felt him move, despite his strong kicks. I'm not sure why it bothered me so much, but maybe it's because I wanted us to feel and share in the intimacy of the moment together, and J would normally feel grumpy and despondent when he couldn't feel him kick. It didn't help that our contrary little man stopped kicking as soon as his Dad put his hand on my tummy! But the other night, Peanut started kicking and moving quite hard, just as we settled down to sleep. I moved J's hand onto my tummy just as Peanut gave an almighty kick and wriggle. J was very sleepy but happily confirmed he'd felt him. He kept his hand on me for a while, feeling our little one jiggle around. The next day he sent me a text saying 'Forgot to say as I was sleepy, but I felt our little man kick last night and it was amazing!! Love you both very much xx' I have been riding high on that text, and the special shared moment ever since. 

My bump is stretching out even bigger now and I am enjoying going to Aquabump classes where I can at least keep cool and have fun in the water. It's been so muggy that I am eternally grateful for the air con in our bedroom. It has been a life saver as when I get home from work on hot days, the first thing I do is just strip off, lie on the bed and let the cool air soothe me. 

In just a few weeks the air will turn cooler and the leaves on the trees will start to change colour. I have always loved autumn, not least because my birthday is in October, but this year will be so special, to know that I will get to hold our baby soon. It's 3 months until my due date today, and I just cannot wait to meet our precious little boy.