back from France

It's been a couple weeks since I have posted because we have been away in France, but I haven't forgotten about my blog! Things are very busy at the moment so this isn't a long post, but I wanted to quickly say that we had a blast in France. I even managed to convince Mr M to drive us over to Spain for a couple nights to explore San Sebastian. 

Nate did amazingly well on the whole trip and while we were away he started to get on all fours and rock back and forth (I think crawling is imminent!); he also started pulling himself up to standing. And what's even better, he slept through the night 3 times well while away (!). Typically, as soon as we got home he started cutting his top right tooth so his sleep has returned to being all over the place. I will do a proper update on all things Nate when he turns 10 months next week. 

Now that the holiday is over, I am ramping up my work days over the next 3 weeks and then I'm permanently back to 4 days per week starting June 3rd. I'm unbelievably sad that maternity leave is now completely and officially over, but I knew it couldn't last forever, nothing does. I'm just grateful for the time I had with my little man. 

And now I will leave you with few of my favourite photos from our trip. 

summer

As February comes to an end and the skies in Britain are starting to clear, I am reminded that spring is coming. And after spring comes the glorious long days of summer...oh summer...I can't wait. 

Summer will bring many celebrations in our household, particularly July which is our wedding anniversary month and baby's birthday month. I am excited to start thinking about how we are going to celebrate his birthday, but that is for another post.

Last week I was spending a lazy Monday morning with some mommy friends at farm shop cafe and we starting talking about our summer plans. As we live in Suffolk, we are lucky to have a Centre Parcs not far from where we live and all of us had done short UK breaks there in the past, long before we had children. I actually visited with my work for a team building weekend, and others had gone with friends or for a romantic couple's retreat.  

One of the ladies is planning to go to Elvedon Forest for the August bank holiday with her new baby, and we were discussing what sort of activities there would be for very young children. We decided that most of the holiday would probably be spent doing simple outdoor activities like bicycle trips or long walks and spending a lot of time at the pool. Whatever activities they get up to we concluded it will be nice to get away for a few days and go somewhere different, but still close to home. The short travel distance makes it ideal for a holiday with a baby. I think they are going to have a great time and I might just have to see if we can join them!

This is a sponsored post, but all content and opinions are my own.

thirty-eight weeks pregnant

Pregnancy day 266...14 days to go!

Baby is now 19.75 inches long and weighs about 6.8 pounds. 

This weekend I have been on holiday in Cornwall for my brother-in-law's wedding. It was so incredibly beautiful and the wedding was something really special. I was so happy to be able to make the journey there (it is about 400 miles away from home). Luckily the baby behaved and we had no troubles at all! I even managed to walk around on some coastal rocks and do some exploring of the Cornish coastline. 

I wasn't able to do a proper bump pic this week, so have included the above photo taken with the hubby when I turned 38 weeks pregnant on Monday, 25th June. This was taken at St Michael's Mount not far from the where we were staying. My bump is a little hidden under my rain jacket, but you can still see it and it's still very large!

As most of the past few days have been spent in Cornwall, there isn't much else to update specifically about the pregnancy now so I will post a few photos of my holiday below and will be sure to update more about the pregnancy over the coming days. 

Porth-en-alls, Prussia Cove, Cornwall

Prussia Cove rocks

St Ives

Porthcurno

St Michael's Mount

thirty-seven weeks pregnant

Pregnancy day 259...21 days to go!

Baby is now 19.25 inches long and weighs about 6.3 pounds. 

So I am now officially full term! This means all of baby's organs are fully developed and prepared for his entrance into the world. It also means that the baby will not be considered premature, even if he is born today (hopefully that doesn't happen though, I'm not ready yet). But this is such a huge milestone and I can't believe I've made it this far!

I can tell that baby is getting ready to make his arrival. My bump seems to have dropped and I keep getting sharp stabbing pains in my pelvis area. During the week there were a few moments when I was standing or walking and felt a pain so sharp down below that I had to sit on the floor or bend over to get it to stop. Luckily the pain goes away as soon as it starts but it's pretty terrifying. 

Today is my first working day on maternity leave and it's strange. I have been trying to keep occupied by tidying and organising the house and things are coming together slowly. The nursery is nearly complete, but not quite yet. I promised my sister (Hi D!) that I would do a nursery post with the final photos; I haven't forgotten! I just want to wait until it's completed, probably next week once we go to IKEA. 

On Thursday we are leaving to go to Cornwall for my brother-in-law's wedding. I'm looking forward to having a break away from home but am nervous about how I will be feeling. I get annoyed when I can't walk for very long without getting pelvic pain so think I will find it frustrating to not be able to explore Cornwall as much as I want to. 

I think that's all to report at the moment. I might not be able to post again for over a week as once we are away at the wedding I doubt we will have internet. Fingers crossed baby will stay put until we are back home on the 26th June!