HEADING TOWARDS DISASTER...!

I might be getting bigger (rounder?!) but the last couple of weekends have been fab! Yesterday we went to Oxford to see my little sister who was full of wedding news and wanting to show off her bridesmaid dresses whilst Alex talked Beetles and took J out for a ride in the loudest car I've ever heard, and the weekend before we took advantage of the good weather (for November, obviously!) and headed to Skegness!



The trip was a very last minute/spur of the moment decision, and one made because J thought it would only take an hour and a half to drive there and that we could have fish and chips by the sea for dinner!
In actual fact it took over 2 hours each way but we did get to sit by the sea, look around the tacky shops selling rock, and play the amusements as well as tuck into some hot food. There are TONS of 2p machines in the amusement arcades which I remember from holidays on the south coast during my childhood, and which brought back some happy memories when we played them.
It's probably not cool to admit it, but personally I loved Skegness and didn't want to come home! I could have easily spent a weekend there and also gone into the seal sanctuary for a visit!

Baby is kicking well now and it's getting painful! I no longer get to sleep before midnight because he likes to dance on my bladder between 10pm and 12am! I swear he can tell the time and does it deliberately!

So we've found out our new addition is going to be a boy! A boy is going to fit in so well with us. Depending on his interests when he grows up, I can do sport, and J can do computer games and cars. All areas are covered! If by chance the boy likes shopping, then J is far better at that than I am and can also take over on trips to buy whatever it is shoppers love to purchase. Personally I belong to the very rare group of females who find Saturday afternoons in the shopping centre just torture!

Now the year is ticking by, I've started fretting about Christmas again. We bought my sister's gift last weekend and some Christmas cards. Just everyone else to worry about now! So far this week though I have been out dog walking in freezing weather, rain, fog and wind so winter is well and truly on the way. I may not have been overly keen on moving to this village but it's so nice to live in a house which is warm despite Jack Frost visiting. Last year in the cottage no matter how high the heating was set, it was always freezing and sometimes I felt like crying I was so cold. This year, the heating comes on and the house is toasty in minutes. You can actually sit on the toilet seat here and not feel like you've sitting on ice!

Still no news on the America move to report... wouldn't be surprised if it takes 6 months for them to get back to us because they don't seem like the quickest of people!

Anyone reading the latest 'I'm a celebrity' news? Anyone have confirmation whether Katie Price is actually going to appear for a second time?! Fair play to her if she's going back into the jungle. You couldn't pay me enough to potentially sleep with deadly snakes, spiders and rats!

See the link just above this text? Well that is the link that's going to earn you a ton of brownie points this Christmas because what lady friend (or Mum for that matter!) is going to be able to resist posh chocolates on Christmas morning?!
Nobody needs to know you sat in the comfort of your own home ordering gifts rather than facing the battle that is Christmas on the High Street!
I'm not going to tell anyone!!

PS, does a trip down memory lane suit you and yours better?! Try here for sweets and chocs you've probably forgotten ever existed:

A combination of chatting lateish into the night last night (half 11/midnight is very late for me!) and lying listening to the snoring going on next to me afterwards has left me feeling dog tired this afternoon. I've tried taking a nap twice today but haven't been able to sleep.
Napping is a sign of old age however. Maybe it's for the best I'm yet to master the art!

Speaking of old age, last weekend J had a birthday so for us Sunday was going out for lunch day, and with it being the first time we've been out in a long time due to baby sickness, it was all the more special! We only headed for a pub in Ashby but it was being out that was special. We're determined not to leave it so long before going out again!

People are begining to ask whether the baby is kicking yet but the honest answer is I don't know! I have something going on low down which could be a baby kicking... or it could be wind bubbling away! All I know is it hurts and the muscles are sore! How the heck am I supposed to know what I'm feeling when I've never done this before?!

PS, Congrats to Jenson for bringing the F1 title home for the Brits once again!

Thinking about this America thing. If we're waiting til the baby is born in late March/early April, then having to register the birth before we can apply for a passport, and having to apply for a passport before we can apply for a visa, how exactly is a trip abroad going to work for us any time before August or September of next year?

The alarm bleeped on at 3.30am this morning! The husband is across the pond for work again and I'm here hoping the week flies by!

This time next year though we might both be in America because last years job offer still hasn't gone away and the bosses higher up in the company have recently mentioned yet again that they would love J over there. Of course we have mixed feelings. Moving away is always an adventure, and moving so far makes it all the more exciting, but at the same time, the bigger the adventure, the more there is to go wrong and the scarier it is! I have no huge desire to move away from England again but short term I guess I could cope and when you think about it, if you never took a risk in life you wouldn't end up doing much with the time you're given, would you?!

Had 16 week midwife apt last week and all is fine. Heard baby's heartbeat good and strong even though I don't seem to have grown much in the past couple of weeks! I STILL have sickness on and off! If the old wives tales are to be belived this means I'm having a girl, though in 3 weeks time we get to find out for sure!

I'm trying to ensure pregnancy doesn't stop me doing anything I should be doing or want to do but some mornings that's easier said than done. I am still so tired all the time! This morning I probably walked for an hour and a half and I just know by tonight my thighs are going to ache! Maternity jeans are on the way though - fingers crossed once they're here I'll no longer be huffing and puffing up the hill because clothes are too tight.

Last night we caught up with Gordon Ramsey's show Hell's Kitchen USA, a show I'd not seen in such a long time. I remember watching it in Fort Worth before we came home back in '06 but losing touch with it as we discovered UK soaps again.
Is it just me or are the contestants more useless this time around?! Gordon seemed to spend the 2 hours it was on air looking super red in the face as he bellowed how f***ing useless everyone in his kitchen was! He even fired 2 contestants mid service!
What I want to know though, is how Gordon manages to keep the heart attacks at bay? It surely can't do his body any good to be getting so stressed on a regular basis.

J might have been away some of last week but as it turned out I didn't get time to feel lonely. The best friend is back in contact and we spent 2 1/2 hours on the phone last Wednesday night catching up. It's made my month!!

I jumped the gun a little yesterday and started my Christmas shopping! I hadn't planned to be one of these very early birds but I found the perfect gift for K and picked it up whilst I had the chance. I hate shopping at the best of times so need to take advantage of these opportunities.
It was actually a weekend of shopping though most shops were of the B&Q, Wickes or Focus variety - not at all exciting.

Today the tree man was due to make our garden look pretty but he cancelled last minute, the only bonus to this being I'd pretty much done all the tidying of the house and garden before 8am ready for a visitor! Apart from dog walking and cooking a roast dinner I have the rest of the day free now to catch up on other non essential bits and bobs, like scoffing the mince pies we stocked up on yesterday...

Anyone watching Strictly this year? Who's your money on? I'm loving Ricky Groves but have taken an instant dislike to Jo Wood even though she's not even had her chance to dance yet. Is she even a celeb? I'd not heard of her before last weekend...

Last week J was home on a break, and whilst it passed as slowly as it could have done, the time was so enjoyable the week still managed to fly by and just wasn't long enough.
It was almost dark when we got up this morning - a sharp reminder that winter is only around the corner and we have lots of cold and icy starts to get used to over the coming weeks.

Last Wednesday was the all important first scan for me :-) I'm currently 13 weeks and 2 days pregnant, have seen the scan pictures for proof there is an actual baby and I'm not just getting fat from too much food, and have told eveybody else who didn't already know yet would probably be interested in knowing.
I'm a bit concerned with how big I'm getting already though. None of my clothes fit any more and I'm wondering if this is normal for so early on?! I wouldn't mind but I've been eating normally and I'm still obviously getting exercise each day with the dogs. I know people say to enjoy the time and not to worry but for me, having a baby isn't an excuse for ending up the size of a small hippo by the end of 9 months. I don't want to put on any more weight than the average, and I don't want to stop exercising and being healthy either!

Catch me if you can was on TV last night. J and I watched it when it first came out but there was nothing else on and it's a good film so we decided watching it would take care of our Sunday night viewing.
I LOVE the concept of this film. I know he was breaking the law and possibly putting lives in danger with his doctor fibs and such but I love that somebody could get away with so much purely through having a lot of intelligence and a lot of confidence. It made me wonder how often we're all taken in by somebody with enough nerve to blag a situation and how often we all blag it ourselves, even on a smaller scale.

It was a real moview weekend on the whole. Before Leo we watched Hauntings (or the hauntings?) which was okay although not that exciting, and Saturday I watched Splash which I never get tired of! I noticed cool runnings was also on but somehow I missed it!

Next weekend is the long bank holiday weekend. Can't wait for the extra lie in! Energy levels are still pants!!