Please tell me I’m not the only one who has just wanted to get NAKED this week?! Blimey, being pregnant in this hot weather is doing my cankles no good. Aside from that, I can’t believe it’s now week 11 of the #BlogBumpClub. Apologies for my tardiness this week – today we have been mainly doing this:

Today marked the first day of the summer holidays for us (although Frog has her pre-school leaver’s service tomorrow which I will inevitably cry at) and it means SIX WHOLE WEEKS of the NLM – a teacher – being at home with us. Hurrah! So after a hospital appointment for Frog’s leg we hot-footed it to the beach to do some physio in the sea.

Although Frog has now had her cast off for a whole week she’s still not putting any weight on her “bad” leg, meaning I’ve still had to carry her around in this boiling heat, which has been tough. Today’s X-Ray showed the bone has fully healed and the physio thinks her lack of weight-bearing is mainly down to being scared. She has another physio session on Monday and we’ve been instructed to get her in the water as much as possible, which is fine by me because the water is COOL and I am HOT.

If you’re suffering with the heat then I can thoroughly recommend bobbing around in the cool water (be it swimming pool or sea) for a bit to feel a million times better. By the time I got out of the water my cankles were almost non-existent. Amazing.

The rest of the week has mainly been spent wearing as few clothes as possible…

I even opted for one of my pre-pregnancy bikinis today at the beach because it was too hot even for my maternity tankini!

In true sod’s law fashion, I’ve also had a cold for the last couple of days. Every sneeze has been like a game of pelvic floor Russian roulette and, I’ll be honest, I’ve not won every round (tmi – sorry).

Aside from the cold and the cankles though, I’m feeling pretty good. Knowing we now have six weeks of fun helps. With the NLM at home it means the work / mum juggle is a lot easier, plus much of my work scales back over the summer holidays anyway. Win.

I’ve also been getting very excited about our own arrival in the autumn after seeing the adorable snaps of Chelle’s (of Unique & Chic) newborn son. Congratulations on the latest #BlogBumpClub baby Chelle!

Link Up!

How’s your week been? Anyone else have the urge to get naked and go and find a nudist beach somewhere? Just me?!

Link up to this week’s #BlogBumpClub with your latest pregnancy post and I can promise friendly comments and cankle chat. You can also get involved on Twitter using the hashtag #BlogBumpClub. You’ll find plenty of chat over there about pregnancy symptoms, great pregnancy products and general sympathising over cankles and the like.

Don’t forget to grab the badge below to display on your own blog so your readers can find out about us – the more the merrier. Plus, if you tweet me a link to your post with the #BlogBumpClub hashtag I’ll be sure to RT it for you too. I’m @mollyjforbes on Twitter.

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This week I am mainly loving being pregnant. I know, weird. I can’t drink wine or eat my favourite cheese, I have cankles and my backside is bigger than it used to be but still, I don’t mind.

After a tough few weeks where I’ve felt drained by the juggle of everyday life – work, a child with a broken leg, sleep deprivation etc – it’s felt like something has changed recently. My bump is bigger and rounder, but I quite like it. I feel more confident and, although the tiredness is still there, it’s not all-consuming.

I’m hoping beyond hope that this feeling lasts a little longer as I’m now 29 weeks. Past experience tells me to make the most of it before I get even bigger and uncomfortable.

Things I’m currently liking about being pregnant:

• Having the excuse to expand my wardrobe – and not feeling in the slightest bit guilty.
• Taking a bit of time out each day for a spot of pampering – I have this Mustela gel I’ve been using on the bump and it’s lovely.
• Watching the baby kick and wriggle late at night as I lie in bed (it’s now at the stage where I can see the movement as my belly twitches and rolls, which is kind of odd but also pretty amazing).
• Ordering new baby bits and starting to plan our summer DIY jobs to get ready for the autumn. We ordered a new cot a couple of days ago – I’ve gone with a Scandinavian brand called moKee. I picked a moKee Mini Transformable baby cot in grey stone to go with the mint, yellow and grey colour palette we’re going with in the baby’s room. I never thought I’d get so excited about a new cot. I know – I need to get out more.

Frog is getting more and more excited as the days go on and, as my bump gets bigger, she’s been talking lots to the baby too, which is unbelievably cute. She told the baby the other day she would share her favourite blankie, “When you come out”, which is possibly the biggest honour she could ever bestow on anyone. I’m not holding out any hopes of that actually happening mind you, but the thought was there!

My maternity plans are starting to come together too and I’m less panicked about how I’ll manage the juggle now. My mum (love you Mum) has promised to come over for one day a week when I return to work again, to help out with cleaning and the baby etc. I work from home so I can manage deadlines around family life, but I admit that I was overwhelmed by the thought of how this would work in reality. I feel calmer about it now though and it’s helped build the baby excitement.

And that’s it really. Nothing else to report.

Link Up!

What’s going on in your life this week? Have you felt drained or have you discovered a sudden new burst of energy? Link up to the #BlogBumpClub and share how you’ve been getting on. I can’t promise biscuits but I can vow to offer a sympathetic nod and a friendly comment!

There’s lots of baby and bump chat on Twitter too. If you’d like to join us tweet using the hashtag #BlogBumpClub – and if you tweet me a link to your post (I’m @mollyjforbes on Twitter) I’ll be sure to RT it too.

And finally, don’t forget to grab the badge below and display it on your #BlogBumpClub post so that other pregnant bloggers can find us. The more merrier!

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I can’t really start this week’s #BlogBumpClub without a huge congratulations to the group’s first blogger babies born last week – two beautiful boys! Read about Amy’s incredible home birth and say a big congratulations to Sara-Jayne too, our first #BlogBumpClub new mums.

This week has, in our house, been a FAR better one than the last. Mainly due to my wonderful mum who came to the rescue on Tuesday. Not only did she collect my four year old from pre-school and take her for lunch giving me an extra two hours to get my work done. But she also helped me wash her (no mean feat considering Frog’s leg is still broken and still in a cast) and put her to bed while I soaked in a wonderful bubble bath. Oh, and she brought me a cup of tea in bed the following morning, made a cake and gave us a jar of homemade jam. My mum officially wins. 

I don’t know if it’s because I’ve had more time to rest this week, but my feet and ankles have been less puffy, meaning I no longer feel like a cross between a hippo and Nora Batty, which is nice.

I’ve also been sent some lovely maternity goodies – some pregnancy pamper products from Mustala and some maternity wear from Isabella Oliver – which have helped give me a much-needed boost. I’ll write more about those next week, but here’s a pic of my current favourite maternity outfit: Topshop maternity trousers teamed with a navy Isabella Oliver cap sleeve tee. Apologies for the Instagram haze here…

Scarily, I’m now into the third trimester and have a midwife appointment this afternoon to check all is well with the bump. It’s all starting to feel a lot more real now as other pregnant friends give birth and remind me that I need to face up to the fact I will have to push a small human out of my vagina very soon. Denial was sweet while it lasted.

I’ve started a brand new antenatal yoga class every Thursday evening which is AMAZING. I readily admit I fell fast asleep in the relaxation bit at the end and woke up with a bit of dribble making its way down my chin. But still, it worked wonders on my sore back and puffy ankles and left me feeling all Zen. I can’t recommend pregnancy yoga enough!

LINK UP!

How have you been doing this week? Are there any more #BlogBumpClub babies born that I haven’t mentioned? Have you found any new tricks, products or techniques to make pregnancy that bit easier? Link up your most recent pregnancy post and join our online blogger antenatal club!

Don’t forget to grab the badge below so other pregnant bloggers know where to find us. And, if you want to join in the chat on Twitter tweet me a link to your post too using the #BlogBumpClub hashtag (I’m @mollyjforbes over there).

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This week has been all about survival for me. It’s fair to say the whole having a child with a broken leg thing is getting a bit old now. My back is aching from lifting her, my ankles and feet are getting puffier by the day and I’m just, well, knackered.

It’s not all moan, moan, moan though. With any luck Frog’s cast will be taken off in a couple of weeks and then, a week after that, it will be the school holidays meaning the (self-proclaimed) Northern Love Machine will be at home (he’s a teacher) and adventures can begin.

When we talked about having a second baby we both agreed the autumn would be an ideal time for us. Frog will be at school by then, plus the NLM will be at home over the summer when I’m huge and struggling to juggle work deadlines with being pregnant and running around after a four year old. Mind you, it’s recently dawned on me this means Frog will be facing two huge areas of change in one go: becoming a big sister and starting school. Any advice on how to prepare her for that would be much appreciated!

As well as survival, the last couple of weeks have been about facing up to the fact we’re actually going to be having a baby pretty soon. I feel suddenly very, very pregnant and people keep asking me how long I’ve got to go, as if they’ve only just noticed the big old bump I’m carrying around with me. I’m met with an instant look of sympathy when I say I’ve got another 3 months!

Although 27 weeks seems too soon to get panicky about baby stuff, we did dig out the beautiful moses basket we used for Frog the other day. It’s now sitting in the nursery, along with an empty chest of drawers that used to be my late grandmother’s, a rocking chair and a wall with samples of mint and yellow coloured paint daubed all over it.

The baby will be in our room with us for the first few months at least but, for now, the nursery is becoming the place where all baby-related paraphernalia gets placed. We’re slowly squirreling away new bits and bobs, including a couple of things I never had when Frog was tiny: a nursing pillow and a Snooze Shade.

Over the next month I need to start making some big decisions about maternity leave and maternity allowance, which is making everything seem even more real too. I’ve already spoken to most of my main clients and have some arrangements in place, but there’s still lots to organise. Any advice you have about returning to work (working from home) as a self-employed new mum would be much appreciated – I didn’t start working again until Frog was 6 months old but I think this time it’s going to be much sooner than that!

link up!

So how have you been? Are you nearly at the end of your pregnancy or have you just announced you’re expecting (congratulations to Kerry at Oh So Amelia – a brand new addition to the #BlogBumpClub!)?

Link up to this week’s #BlogBumpClub and join our friendly blogger antenatal club. It’s the one place you can share your cankle pains without one single eye-roll from people bored of hearing about pregnancy. Promise.

Don’t forget to grab the badge at the bottom of this post so others can find out about us too. And, if you’d like to join the chat on Twitter, tweet using the hashtag #BlogBumpClub (if you tweet me – @mollyjforbes – I’ll also be sure to RT your post).

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The post Blogger Bump Club Week 8 #BlogBumpClub appeared first on Mother's Always Right.

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The post The Blogger Bump Club Week 4 #BlogBumpClub appeared first on Mother's Always Right.

Somehow, I am hurtling towards being 23 weeks pregnant. Somehow, we’re in our third week of the #BlogBumpClub (the new blogger antenatal club!). And somehow, it’s Thursday of half term already. I swear time is speeding up for me at the moment.

That’s sort of how it’s been throughout this pregnancy actually. Although I felt really sick and tired in the first trimester, it did hurtle along pretty quickly. And now I’m already over halfway there it seems kind of unreal. I remember being pregnant with Frog four years ago and forgetting what it felt like NOT to be pregnant. Time seemed to move more slowly back then!

The last week has reminded me of the need to listen to my body a bit more at the moment. It’s half term, so the daughter and (teacher) husband are both at home. That means cramming in more family activities alongside my regular work deadlines – and some redecorating. Last night I was sick again for the first time since I was 12 weeks pregnant. A reminder that I’m not super-woman and tiredness is especially unglamorous when you’re pregnant.

Still, it was nice to have a night away in my home town of Bristol last weekend. I caught up with my oldest friend and we had lunch, went to the cinema, did a spot of shopping and she even did my nails. It was AMAZING.

I even had time to try on a pair of maternity trousers from Topshop. And, of course, I bought them…

If you’re struggling to find maternity clothes then I suggest you check out Jennie at Edspire’s #BlogBumpClub post from last week – Pregnancy Pretties. There are some lovely brands featured, including some lovely comfy PJs which are my main obsession at the moment.

LINK UP!

So how have you been this week? Link up and don’t forget to join in the chat over on Twitter if you like too – just follow our hashtag #BlogBumpClub. It’s always nice to find others in the same boat! There’s also a badge too – you can grab it yourself at the bottom of this post.

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The post The Blogger Bump Club Week 3 #BlogBumpClub appeared first on Mother's Always Right.

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The post The Blogger Bump Club Week 2 #BlogBumpClub appeared first on Mother's Always Right.