All the best intentions

Am I the only one that finds the best intentions fall by the wayside?

It's easy to blame there not being enough time but there is time - it's just how you use it. And rather than writing my blog or other things that I fully intend to steam ahead with I spend it doing not so productive stuff... like watching TV. But at the time it feels so good am I right?

Too much time is lost staring at that box.

So, many weeks have gone by since the last blog but I'm pleased to say that they have been good to me. On the whole I have very few things to complain about... so I'm assuming trimester three has them all stored up ready to unleash!

Week in Summary

Timeline: 22 weeks and 5 days

Due date: 3rd October 2015

Symptoms: Tiredness went and came back again - boo!. Restless leg syndrome - a.k.a. a quick fire way to insanity. Dry and spotty skin. Constipation (oh yes, the joy!)

External stuff: No stretch marks yet, I'm slapping on a variety of creams in the vain hope they'll keep them at bay... BioOil, Mustela, Palmers tummy butter, you name it I'm slapping it on!

Sleep: Can't get enough of it! The restless legs are driving me batty particularly when lying down at night so it takes me a while to switch off and get comfortable some times. We are getting a new mattress on Sunday which will feel like Christmas I'm sure! What if I never get out of bed again?!

Cravings & Longings: Sweet stuff after dinner which I never normally do being a savoury girl all the way. Malt loaf is hitting the spot these day. Red wine pangs every now and then - just a sip [anyone else reminded of the creepy subway fella in Ghost the movie... "Just a drag, I'd do anything for just one drag!"], one sip would do the trick but I'm not going there!  Cola flavoured things (but not actual Coke, which I've never liked). I've eaten my way through many a cola bottle, cola whip, cola ice lolly, cola chew...

Best & Worst moments: Best - Scan at week 20 was amazing! The sonographer took us through every part of the baby's body so we could see it up close - fascinating, and a totally different experience to the first scan. Also, they confirmed that the blood that was stuck behind the placenta is nowhere to be seen - hey! Secondly, getting to feel strong kicks from week 18, and getting stronger all the time - husband can feel them now too. When s/he says hello in the mornings it totally overrides any grumpiness I feel about getting out of bed.
Worst - I can't say that there has been a worst. The stuff that isn't my favourite though: ALL symptoms mentioned above! and having a reduced wardrobe and not being able to do some things around the house because it involves lifting - it's pretty annoying when you are trying to get your house tidied up and decorated once and for all.

Gender Prediction: I think Girl despite the scan picture looking quite masculine, and therefore husband thinks Boy even more than ever! Anyone else see an Adam's apple? (I've Googled the hell out of that and apparently it wouldn't be there to show?!)

Names: Really struggling to find any boys names that tug at the heart strings. I have also discovered the names I seem to like are now captured under a 2014/15 trend name: hipster baby names. The sound and idea of that makes my skin crawl. I would ideally like a less commonplace name so this discovery (and it's classification) is so disappointing.

Movement: Yes, it's been my favourite thing of all time and I feel myself falling in love already.

Purchases/Gifts/Donations: Pram! We settled for the OutnAbout Nipper 360 in Black for it's functionality, good price, and good reviews. It's not my favourite looking thing but being a Virgo to the core practicality won out! It's been delivered and we've assembled it in the house - right in the face of superstition! It's got great movability from the test pushing and it's really light, also just from the playing around it feels really user friendly with the one snap fold and the ability to change the uprightness of the seat in a few seconds. Blessed will that be in the pouring rain / when you only have one hand / when my boot it full of crap and I don't need fuss about with lots of attachments. We did decide to buy a cot attachment because it was for the old model and on sale. We weren't planning to get one as the pram can be used as it is from newborn age but it was too cheap (by comparison to others) to leave behind and will come in handy if we go away so it can double as a moses basket.

We have been given lots of other things that will save lots of buying but still plenty of the necessities to go. Most of the big stuff is bought/offered now though.

To-do's this week: We are making good progress with the nursery, touching up the walls and woodwork but it needs finishing this week. We are getting some gutter style bookshelves with our mattress delivery that we need to put up. Then we can add a few other things that will also be coming (wing chair, trolley, and rug) - gotta love IKEA! We also want to make a start finalising the hearth that is currently a cement slab in the room (the picture shows the spare tiles we just lay on top in the meantime - it's these we will use and have now cut them down to a reasonable size). A fireplace is not the most child friendly thing but we've got a while until we need to deal with crawling/walking babies and we can come up with a baby proofing plan by then right?

It's nearly the weekend, have a happy one friends xo