Pregnancy Update // Week 38

It's not that hard to believe my last pregnancy update on this blog was at week 25. Since then we have relocated to the other side of the country and moved in with my parents (not to mention it is the 3rd time we have moved in a year) and Rion has started a new job. We moved here for the support of my family, a move I am quite glad I made because of all that has happened these past few months with the baby.

Morning Sickness

Until yesterday it had been weeks since I have been sick. I get the feeling every now and again but nothing tends to come of it and I have no idea what set yesterdays off. I was hoping it was because I had a feeling my waters had been slowly breaking throughout the day and it could be down to hormone imbalance but after a trip to triage, nothing came of it. 

Cravings

My recent craving has definitely been chocolate raisins! I literally will eat a bag a day at the moment and then finish it off with strawberry milkshake... I swear I am crash dieting when this pregnancy is over.

Emotions

As usual my hormones are all over the place. I washed my expensive Jeff Banks white duvet at the beginning of the week which came out of the wash with really strange brown muddy stains all over it. I got upset about that, soaked it and stuck it back in the wash again and then the stains came out. However, I was laying in my freshly cleaned bed the next day and I left my cartridge pen on the bed with no lid. Cue me having a mini breakdown, getting angry at my fiance for no point at all, and then getting in the bath and having a 30 minute sobbing session about how I am going to be a terrible mum. Also I have managed to somehow kill the peace lily that my other half got me for our anniversary. This is a plant that has been alone in our old house in norwich for the past 3 months without any water or sunlight and was fine. I have it for less then a week in my possession and it dies! A plant!

Movements

She literally never stops moving. 

Dreams

As usual - very weird. I dreamt last night that I was in cheltenham trying on wedding dresses that were changing colour. Then the assistant told me that I was too fat to get into anything... bizarre!

Size

I am huge. I am quite lucky that I have only gained a little bit of weight during my pregnancy and the majority of it is in my stomach. She has dropped such a vast amount that I am feeling like I need to pick my stomach up whenever I am walking around now too and it is soooo uncomfortable. 

Pains
I had some random pains a few nights ago. I honestly thought I was going into labour as I couldn't even walk to the bathroom or stand without it hurting. Turns out I had just pulled a ligament in my stomach and it was mixing with quite bad braxton hicks at the same time.

We are fully prepared for our daughter to arrive now except for needing a rain cover for our pram and putting the bedding on the crib. Both of our hospital bags are packed and all of her clothes for the next 3 months are carefully organised in her changing unit. I just want her to be here so that I can cuddle her constantly. Rion seems to be fairly keen on her arriving too so that he can cuddle her and carry her around in the sling constantly! I think I will be lucky to spend any time with my baby for the first 2 weeks if he is constantly going to be home!

Anybody else 38 weeks pregnant?  

Jessica x

Christmas Crackers!

It's that lovely festive time of year again where we see the return of the beauty advent calenders which  have been stocked and sold out within a day. If you are amongst those who didn't get your hands on one of the calenders and aren't willing to spend the ridiculous price of £200 on ebay for one then look no further! Here we have christmas crackers by the likes of clarins, OPI and Lancome!  If you come from a large family with a lot of girls then these are the perfect gifts for opening at dinner time. If not, then simply give the pack as a gift or individually as a stocking filler!

Jo Malone Christmas Cracker - £32

I'm not sure if I have read this properly, and I wouldn't be so shocked if I have, but I believe this is just for the one cracker... (it states multiple on the site but doesn't give a number of how many). Not really surprising for Jo Malone but as these only contain small sample sizes of products it hardly seems worth it! 

OPI 6 Piece Cracker edition - £19.92

Created especially for QVC, the crackers include 3 limited shades of polish, a nail and cuticle oil, and a file and lotion. A lovely product for any girl who is forever painting her nails and based on the prices of all of the other crackers featured in this post, a real bargain!

Clarins 6 Piece Cracker Set - £39

From what I have seen this product is mainly available at Selfridges and can be brought online via the link. You get a pack of 6, with each cracker containing an iconic Clarins miniature. Products include the Rouge Eclat lipstick, Wonder Perfect Mascara and Beauty Flash Balm. Not too bad for Clarins but I would still say overpriced! 

Lancome Beauty Christmas Crackers 6 Piece - £54

However none are as expensive as the Lancome crackers! But if you work out the price of the premium products to the price of the entire box of crackers it works out about right. This is the best box by far... it contains the Hypnose Volume Mascara, Le Crayon khol Eyeliner, Advanced Genefique Youth Activating Concentrate, Lip Lover, L'absolute Lipstick and Bi- Facil Eye Make Up Remover. A complete refresh for all of your main make up needs! If I had more money then sense, I would definitely purchase this one! 

However, as it is just me and my fella this year I don't think any of these products will be of much use to us ( and by us I mean I don't think he will be too impressed if I begin frantically pulling 6 crackers by myself over dinner whilst he sits there with a mascara) so I hope it has helped people in finding inspiration for gift giving or for those who fancy getting the presents for themselves! 

If anybody happens to know of a place where you can get his and her crackers then I will be happy to hear it as I can't seem to find any! 

Jessica xo

DIY Inspiration // Pine Cones

I must admit I am slightly Pinterest obsessed. So by the time Autumn came along and all the fall DIY began showing up on the site I immediately began hunting for pine cones! This is slightly tricky for me as we just moved into the centre of Norwich and there are no forests or parks around for miles! So during a day visit to see a friend about an hour away I decided that it would be an ideal time to hunt for some pine cones and did we find loads! She lives near the lovely forests of Thetford in Norfolk where there are an abundance of trees and plenty of pine cones for us to get our hands on. 

So after bringing them home, cooking them in the oven for 30 minutes to kill off all the spiders and bugs (there were so many!), I began frantically searching for ideas. I had my mind set on a heart wreath that I spent days attempting to make with a tiny tub of superglue and some chicken wire. Needless to say, that failed drastically and we now have several marks of superglue on the dining table which my other half isn't too impressed with... So after giving up and shoving the pine cones in a cupboard for 2 weeks I have decided to have another go at it! That and also because December is fast approaching and I really would like to have something on the front door and some pine cones around the house. 

So after ditching the heart wreath idea I have decided to have another search on pinterest for what can be made this time that definitely doesn't include chicken wire! These are just a few DIY ideas that I have found... (none of these photos are mine and the link to each tutorial is above the picture on the title). 

Pine Cone Garland Tutorial

This is definitely something that I am willing to try. We have several fireplaces in our home and it would be nice to make one of these to hang in the one in the lounge. I might even spray a few of the cones silver and see how that looks. 

Pine Cone Bow Ornament

This is actually insanely easy to make. It just takes a bit of string, some glue and a little bit of ribbon and you are done! We are getting our christmas tree this friday so until then I will be making plenty of these beauts to have on our tree! 

Pine Cone Tree

This idea is by far my favourite! All I need to get is a glue gun because I simply don't have the patience to fiddle about with the tiny tub of super glue! Her idea is really simple and I am really keen to try this out... I might even add some beads and a few lights to it? I will probably need some more pine cones though so might have to wait until I find a more local forest.

Well there you have it; my main pine cone inspiration for christmas and all of the ideas I can't wait to get stuck into! I know that there aren't any wreaths in this post but judging by how that went last time, I think it is probably best to start off small before I end up putting something horrendous on our front door... Has anybody else tried anything similar to these? 

Jessica xo

Loved #1

1. River Island Tartan Cape  2. Ted Baker Shopper  3. Yankee Candle Advent Calender 

Christmas Tag

1.  Do you prefer a real Christmas tree or synthetic?

Definitely real! Although they make such a mess when they start dropping pines they just smell amazing! We won't be getting one in our house though as my boyfriend can't stand them and has made out he is allergic...

2.  You're in a coffee shop, it's December, what do you pick?

The black forest gateau hot chocolate from Costa! They drizzle cherry puree on the top and it tastes soooo good! Only downfall is that on my last visit they were showing a board with calorie content and it turns out I have been consuming 700 calories each time I have one!

3.  Whats your favourite colour scheme for decorating the tree?

Gotta be the traditional! Gold, red and green.

4.  Giving or receiving?

Both! I love wrapping up presents and giving them to people but I also love receiving them and feeling like a child again on christmas day.

5.  To mince pie or not to?

To mince pie! Always!

6.  What's your traditional sunday lunch?

Roast chicken, goose fat potatoes, sage and onion stuffing and every kind of vegetable under the sun, but mainly cauliflower cheese!

7.  Christmas day fashion

Onesies! It will be one of my only days off around christmas this year so I don't intend on spending it getting dressed up when it will just be me and my boyfriend this year :)

8.  What's your favourite Christmas song?

The Pogues - Fairytale of New York

9.  What's your favourite Christmas film?

Either Jingle Bells (so bad it's good) or The Polar Express!

10. What's your favourite festive food?

Hands down... Stollen! I would eat it all year round if I could. 

11. Do you have any Christmas traditions?

I always have a satsuma in my stocking! I'm not sure if it is something that is commonly done but I have really fond memories of waking up at 3am with my sisters and eating the satsuma and chocolates whilst we sneakily opened our stockings... Definitely something I want to pass down to my child.

12. What tops your tree?

My family never really had a specific tree topper and put on anything that we liked that year. However, I definitely want to have one that my family can use every year and pass on down maybe...

13. What's the best part about Christmas for you?

I come from quite a big family where there is usually around 10-15 of us around on Christmas day with loads of children running around. That's one of the best parts about Christmas to me. It's all going to be so different now I am living with my boyfriend so it will be just the two of us until our little bundle of joy arrives! The other best part about christmas is decorating the house... my mum made out she was allergic to tinsel so I'm going to make my first Christmas away from home one to remember by decorating our new house like santas grotto haha!

Anybody else have satsumas on christmas day? I'm really intrigued to see if anybody else has this tradition too! x