Settling for Apple...

After months of dreaming about the Icandy pear, I managed to convince Ant that we ‘needed’ it. That nothing else would do and I just HAD to have it. So off we went Saturday to have a proper look at it, see how bulky it is when folded down. Sit Joshua in it, push it around and see how we got on. Turns out they didn’t have any left, so we had a play with something similar and it was actually really bulky.

So I decided to have a look at the Phil and Teds a pushchair I’d originally dismissed without much thought – I didn’t like where I thought the baby would lie.
So we asked a store assistant to give us a demonstration and turns out I’d imagined it all wrong. Doesn’t do everything I liked in the pear, but it’s actually a really good pushchair.

So I didn’t get a pear, we ended up coming home with a Phil and Teds sport in Apple green. The colour might not be to everyone’s taste but I love it – it’s funky.

It’s a 4 in 1 pushchair:
• Newborn
• Toddler
• Newborn and toddler
• Two toddlers




What do you think? Anyone got one?

Baby Names

It’s a mine field, there are so many possibilities out there and yet I still can’t find a boy’s name I love enough to want to call my baby. Joshua was easy and we had decided pretty early on, shame we used our second favourite name as his middle name and didn’t save it in case we had another boy.

It’s such a responsibility, and what it you chose a name you love now but might not love quite so much in a few years. Names come in and out of fashion incredibly quickly these days. You need to make sure the name works with the surname. That the initials don’t spell out something awful which would result in teasing. Although with our surname the kids are going to get teased any way – which makes all the more reason for choosing something sensible for the first name. Considering the shortened versions of names if equally important – we never shorten Joshua. We don’t like calling him Josh... thats not his name, so we don’t do it. But fact is as soon as he goes to school his friends will shorten his name. I like the name William but would hate for it to be shortened to Willy, which kids would no doubt come up with. Willy Allcock...can you imagine. Poor child, I could never inflict that on him.

I want to discuss names with people, but we’ve decided this time that we are not telling anyone if we decide on a name – or even what our options could be. Everyone already knows we are having a boy so we want to keep something a surprise. People are too opinionated on names – people have no issues in saying ‘Oh I hate that name’ to a name you really like. Honestly do they not realise how insensitive that is. However if they don’t find out the name till the baby is born, they will keep their opinions to themselves.

Do you choose a traditional name.
A common name.
Something unusually.
Something completely wacky.

You have to consider how the name sounds on a baby and if it’s a name that can make the transition into a sensible adult’s name. Some names take ‘daisy’ for example it is completely adorable for a little girl, but not a name I find I can take serious when an adult introduces themselves as daisy.

You could always take a leaf out of Victoria and David Beckham’s book and name your child after the place they were conceived but you could end up with something completely ridiculous like ‘Leamington.’ Not really a baby name is it?

Alternatively take a leaf out of Katie Price and Peter Andres book who names their daughter 'Princess Tiaamii.' I could name my son 'Prince Charming' or something utterly ridiculous. Imagine the looks I would get when people asked his name, could be worth doing it just for the responses I’d get.

I could make up a name, chances are my son would never meet another person with the same name but he would always be faced with responses like ‘How unusual’ and ‘How do you spell it?’ One option is spelling our surname backwards which just doesn’t work but spelling my maiden name backwards does. So another option is ‘Sirron.’ What do you think? Or I could take part of my name and part of Anthony’s name and create something like ‘Luthony’ or ‘Anucy’.

I guess I just need to go back and bury my head in my baby name book and hope somewhere in the next 14 weeks we manage to come up with something we love. If you have any super amazing suggestions feel free to pass them this way.

Time flies...

It’s less than 15 weeks until my due date, less than 20 weeks till Christmas, therefor less than 21 weeks till the year ends. I don’t know where the time has gone; it seems to be racing through my fingers at a terrific speed. Has someone sped up the clock and not told me? If so can you please just slow it right back down again, back to how it used to be.

Do you remember as a child when you were waiting for a birthday or Christmas it seemed to take forever? Now the years are passing me by two quickly. I’m having a bit of a panic, just less than 13 weeks left at work that makes it sounds even closer until squid is due. I have nothing ready; I have no little lists telling me what I need. No idea who’s going to look after Joshua when I’m in hospital....who can I call in the middle of the night to say come on over please? There’s so much to think about, granted I don’t need as much stuff as I did the first time but at least then I knew I needed everything – now I’m not quite sure. I got as far as putting Joshua’s clothes in bags according to size. But honestly I can’t bear the thought of taking them out, washing them, drying them, ironing them and sorting them out to see if there is anything we need. Having a winter baby this time there is going to be some things. It’s weird cos last time I somehow enjoyed the tedious task of washing and ironing, maybe it’s because I didn’t know how much time I was going to spend washing over the next year. My ironing pile is never ending, I just don’t want to be adding to it...if I live in denial I might be safe.

Somewhere in the next 14 and a bit weeks (providing squid doesn’t show up early) I need to organise everything I need for the new baby, make plans for Joshua, buy him a present from squid, buy squid a present from Joshua and do ALL my Christmas shopping. There is no way I’m dragging a 17 month old and a new born around busy crowded shops – not in a million years. Somehow I need to fit this in around looking after Joshua, working, and the million and one other jobs I have to do in the house anyway. Fourteen weeks sounds ages, but it only seems five minutes ago it was 20 weeks and I decided it was time to slowly start sorting things... yet 6 weeks later and I still haven’t done anything.

I keep hoping for some energy to come back to give me the motivation to get on with things, but I may have to stop hoping for that soon and just do it... cos those fairies are just not going to show up and do it for me I don’t think.

Reviews

I have just written a review for a product I recieved via a competition and I really enjoyed writing it. So if anyone has anything they would like reviewing them please don't hesitate to contact me.

amummyslife@googlemail.com 

Alternatively you can find me on Twitter @ljastars

Links to Reviews

Dribblebuster Sleeping bag
Organix Mighty Meals
Review: b-organic Soothing Balm

Bucket List

Here is my bucket list, I will cross things off and blog about them as I do them.


1. Walk on snow barefoot
2. Do a parachute jump
3. Go skiing
4. Go to Paris
5. Get to 8 stone
6. Write a letter to my friends/loved ones to tell them how much I love them
7. Get a short story published
8. Ride in a helicopter
9. Go camping
10. Learn to dance
11. Take my children to Disney land
12. Watch all Johnny Depp films
13. Ride in a hot air balloon
14. Fly a kite
15. Ride in a limo
16. Donate Blood
17. Find my dream job
18. Eat Strawberries and drink champagne while watching the sunset somewhere romantic
19. Inspire my children
20. Go to a German Christmas market (in Germany)
21. Complete a cross stitch
22. Toast marshmellows on a beach fire
23. Visit Venice and ride in a gondola
24. Kiss passionately in the rain
25. Bake homemade bread
26. Learn hello in 10 languages
27. Go on an upside down rollercoaster
28. Ride an elephant
29. Move to a house with 3 bedrooms
30. Make scrapbooks for my children
31. Complete the BBC's Big Read - 100 Books
32. Go rock climbing
33. Learn how to play chess
34. Learn to say no without feeling guilty
35. Sleep in a castle
36. Visit 20 capital cities
37. Attend an Ireland Six nations game
38. Try Caviar
39. Learn to decorate cakes
40. See the Mona Lisa
41. Eat ice cream in Rome
42. Travel first class
43. Put up wallpaper
44. Visit new Zealand
45. Visit Canada
46. Own a 5 door car
47. Teach my children to read
48. Write a letter to my children for when they are older
49. Go to a ball
50. Drive a go Kart
51. Go paintballing
52. Celebrate my 10th anniversary
53. Jump in puddles with my children and not care how dirty we get
54. Put up a shelf
55. Change my hair style  (had it cut shorter with blonde highlights)
56. Spend a few days in a spa
57. Have a fish pedicure
58. Cook a Sunday dinner
59. Help design my 'perfect' kitchen
60. Have more children
61. Run a marathon
62. Live in Ireland
63. Make friends with 5 strangers
64. Be completely happy about how I look
65. Send a message in a bottle
66. Learn to horse ride
67. Visit Lapland
68. Bathe in a hot pool (Iceland)
69. Stay in a feature room at coombe abbey
70. Have afternoon tea at the ritz
71. Sleep for a solid 8 hours
72. Have a personal shopper
73. Find the 'perfect' jeans
74. Wear heels every day for a week
75. Spend a day on a barge
76. Go on a cruise
77. Release a paper lantern
78. Go sledging
79. Drink coffee in a French café
80. Learn first aid
81. Go a month without the internet
82. Pay off my mortgage
83. Go on ghost tour/ghost hunting
84. Shower in waterfall
85. Ride a camel
86. Bake cinnamon buns
87. Meet someone famous
88. Get Westlife’s autographs
89. Spend a day in bed with hubby watching films and eating junk, with no one to disturb us
90. Teach my boys to ride a bike
91. Take a class
92. Be the best Mummy I can
93. Grow my nails and keep them long, so I am able to paint them pretty colours
94. Inspire someone
95. Learn to use a sewing Machine
96. Grow my own vegetables
97. Bake a different cake every month for a year
98. Own a pair of red shoes
99. Write a story for my boys
100. Ride on the back of a motorbike

Team Blue

Well at the last minute we caved, we flipped a coin and it told us we should find out the sex of our baby. So into the scan we went, my first thought filled with hoping that the baby was doing to be okay – I wasn’t even sure I would have remembered to ask about the sex if Ant hadn’t have brought it up. I was too amazed watching my tiny little baby on the screen, just like Joshua he was hiding his face behind his hands. Cute.

So then she told us, you are having a boy. (Even though she said it can’t be 100%) I had a feeling it was going to be a boy and I was right. Boy or girl, blue or pink, ultimately I would have been over the moon either way. Since finding out I’m on team blue, I’m getting more and more excited – all the positives of having a boy coming to me.

I know most people wanted me to have a girl so big fat Pfft to the lot of you because I can’t change it. I already have one amazing little boy, the cutest, happiest, cheekiest little boy in the world (I’m not biased honest) and now I am going to have another. Two little boys who will light up my world, make me smile when I'm having a bad day. They might be the same; they might be different who cares. They’ll be brothers and hopefully the best of friends. They’ll only be 17 months apart, so they’ll grow up together – play together when little and drink together when they are older. Now that’s a scary thought! They can share a room for longer than if we’d have had one of each, meaning that we are not stressing over needing to buy a new house when we totally can’t afford one.

Saves us a fortune in clothes to, as we can reuse Joshua’s, although that didn’t stop me rushing out and buying a cute little outfit.

I tried to upload some pics, but I can't steal them so I will post some links instead. Okay the links won't work either, so if you really want to see you will have to copy and paste! *kicks blog*

"http://direct.asda.com/george/baby-clothes/boys/tigger-knitted-cardigan/GEM44964,default,pd.html
http://direct.asda.com/george/baby-clothes/boys/belted-tigger-jeans/GEM44968,default,pd.html

Isn’t the cardigan so cute? All fleecey and warm inside!

Contact

Hello :)

I'd love to hear from my readers, so if you have something to say and you don't want to leave a comment then please email me.

Or just to say hi and introduce yourself, I'm genuinely very interested in who's reading.

I'm also keen to do reviews or hold competitions on my blog, so if you are interested please don't hesitate to contact me. 

Contact me on twitter @ljastars

or email me amummyslife@googlemail.com

Look forward to hearing from you

Lucy x