Window Shopping in Ikea

Window shopping in Ikea is never a good idea, because I walk away wanting everything. Hubby saw an advert on the TV this morning and suddenly decided that despite our shortage of money, he wanted to have a wander around the wonder that is Ikea.

I don't know if I've explained our housing situation already, but I'll tell you again. We're applying to buy a flat which is currently occupied by Hubby's grandmother, and is leased from the government. They allow long-term residents, and their family to purchase the flat for a cut-down price. The flat in question is on the third floor, has two bedrooms and is ideal in every way for us to raise Baby C. Hubby's grandmother finds the stairs hard to contend with now she's becoming less confident on her feet, and she doesn't need the extra bedroom, so wants to move to a small, one bedroomed, ground floor flat, preferably nearer to her daughter (Hubby's mother).

The flat we're currently living in is all of those things, so we're hoping to swap. For that reason, we're kind of in limbo with our living situation at the moment; we don't want to change this flat too much, because we know we will be moving, and it will have been a waste. But on the other hand, we really have no time frame as to when we can move, because the paperwork is taking it's sweet time to come through.

So when we go to Ikea (I don't really know what we were thinking), all we can do is window shop and dream of the future and what we might be able to have. We did fall in love with this item though:


Now, I realise it doesn't look like much, but it's exactly what we need. We have a little round table in the corner of the room, but because of the amount of things we have, we can't get it clear of clutter. We want a desk to be able to work on our laptops, because let's be honest; your lap is the last place you want your laptop when it's 35c outside. We would also love to raise Baby C to see that having dinner around a table (even if it is a small one) is normal.

And of course the massive shelves allow us to store some of said clutter. They also sell boxes which fit into the shelves, so that they look a little tidier. We're thinking of using red boxes to contrast with the white.

It took a lot of will power not to buy it there and then. But it was made a little easier, because I was looking forward to our next stop, where I was about to make my next purchase:


A BUMBO!!!

For those of you who haven't seenn these before, they are basically little chairs that you can sit your baby in for feeding, for playing, or just so they can sit up and look around. They take up less space than a highchair (which was my main reason for getting one), they're lighter, and they're just so cute. I have been after one of these since before Baby C was born, and believe me when I say it's been no easy feat.

I have looked high and low, near and far, and enquired in all the franchises around here that I know should stock it, but to no avail. Nobody has even been willing to order it in for me, even when I offered to pay extra for shipping and taxes. So it's taken a little shop 2 hours away from Hubby's Homeland to be able to find it. And they only had this scary bogey green colour (it's the colour of Shrek), and I paid well over the odds for it, but I don't care, because it's a Bumbo, and Baby C likes it!

Three Month Check

I'm here, I promise! I've just had a look at my blog and noticed that I've only posted four times since Baby C was born. Four! This has got to change.

So from now on, I vow to post more regularly. I can't promise you I will post weekly, but certainly more than once a month. So here goes, a quick catch up...

Baby C is about to turn three months old; I can hardly believe it. She changes every day, and I look back at the first photos of her, and she doesn't even look like the same person. She started smiling when she was siz weeks old, and now you can't stop her grinning back at you. You can just look in her direction and she's already flashing a mad grin your way; she's incredible.


And she chats more than ever. It's getting to the point where you chat to her and she responds. She clearly has a lot to say; if only I could understand her!

She's much more aware of things around her now, and she would much rather be sitting up looking around than lying down all the time. So I try to sit her up on the sofa, and then this happens:


I guess it's a bit too exciting for her after all! She's also paying more attention to her toys, which is good. We bought her a toy cow, which she seems to love, so that was a good investment. She was given three comfort blankets when she was born, so I pulled them out of storage and gave them to her, only to find that she preferred her muslin square


I can tell she's going to be one of those kids that prefers to play with the box, not the toy. Never mind. I suppose I can always pass them on to a friend in the future.

Her head control is getting much better. She doesn't take too well to tummy time unless she's lying on someone's chest, at which point she's looking around at everything, her eyes wide and her mouth open in wonder. We bought her a doorway bouncer a few weeks ago, and while her head control isn't completely there, we put her in it for a few minutes today; just long enough for a couple of photos:


It will be at least another month until she's able to use it unaided, so for now she'll have to make do with her activity mat.

In other news, we went back to Homeland # 1 to introduce Baby C to the rest of our family and friends. We had such a great week, even if it was chaos from start to finish. We were zipping around the country trying to see as many people as possible in the limited time we had. My mum, dad and younger brother had already met Baby C, but for my stepmum, older brother and sister-in-law it was the first time, so I made sure I got lots of photos for her when she's older.

We also made sure we saved enough space in our suitcases for a shopping spree. I'm actually a little ashamed of how much we brought back with us...



And that's just the baby stuff. But in my defence, we bought an entire bed-in-a-bag, bath towel, rucksack, and we were given a whole pile of clothes from a friend, so I guess it's not as bad as it looks! I only bought myself a top, and that was only because Baby C threw up on me when we were out, and I had nothing to change into, but Hubby bought a couple of things for himself, and we bought some DVDs, which we ended up having to leave behind with my mum until next time because of the weight restrictions.

Travelling with an infant was harder than I thought it would be, but in a way it was also easier. Dealing with a baby and an airport was hard work, but she was so good in the plane, I can be nothing less than proud of her. She cried a little during take-off on the flight out, but we gave her a bottle and she went to sleep. Landing in Homeland # 1 and the return flight, we didn't hear a peep. She was as good as gold.

the rest of it is just day-to-day stuff which, for now, can be forgotten. Now that I hope to post more frequently, you will be hearing about a more varied selection of events, opposed to the baby updates all the time!

I jsut want to add that if you're still reading along; thanks for being patient with me. I'm so busy, but haven't stopped thinking about all my fellow bloggers, and I really hope to be back here properly now.

Baby Shopping is Not the Same as Mummy Shopping

Baby C is 7 weeks and counting. I now know what everyone means when they say they grow so fast. It seems she's changing on a daily basis, and I can hardly keep up. Her feet are starting to reach the end of her buggy, her socks no longer fit, her bodysuits won't stretch over her nappy and she's realising that her dummy is not, and should not be given in place of food. Hmmm...

I'm so excited to be going home in a couple of weeks. I haven't been back since we left in February, and I am so looking forward to seeing everyone again, and for them to meet the baby. My brother, SIL and stepmum still haven't met her, as well as all my extended family. My dad said we should try to arrange a get together with his side, and hopefully we can do this on one of the weekends. Shopping for flights is proving to be expensive; it doesn't look like we can do it for less than £500 ($800). So much for being able to fly over there every 8 weeks.

I can't seem to stop shopping for baby C! Every time I go into town I look around for clothes for her. She's finally starting to grow out of a few things, and I'm realising that perhaps I shouln't have spent so much money on buying newborn clothes!I have so many things for her to wear now (I think even more clothes than I have!); I have decided to take advantage of the sales and shop ahead for next summer. However, I am finding more items in the full priced section than the sale. Oops. I've ordered a few things online and had them sent to my mum's house, and will bring them back with me when I see her at the end of the month.

So far C has been sleeping in a moses basket on loan to us from a friend, but at the rate she's growing, she won't be able to fit in it much longer. We have been discussing getting a cot for ages, but didn't do much about it until the last week, where we have been discussing it and looking at options available to us. We measured our bedroom yesterday and found it was just about able to house a double bed as well as a cot, so we scoured the websites of the local businesses and ORDERED IT TODAY! This is the one we're getting:



It will take up to 5 weeks to come into stock, and when it does we will put her in it straight away. I'm so excited, because we can finally start thinking about proper bedding. I can't afford any of the cute sets, but I'm hoping to make a few nice things, and just get some coloured sheets to match. There's a brand in the UK called Cath Kidston, that does beautiful fabrics:

http://www.cathkidston.co.uk/c-104-cotton-duck.aspx

But they're really expensive at £18 ($25) per metre. It's too expensive for me to make an entire item from, but I was thinking of getting a metre and teaming it with a cheaper fabric and making a quilt. It's only an idea at the moment, I don't know if I will have the time for anything like that, but I would love to give C something like that.

Brilliant Weekend Full of Food

I'm just popping in quickly today, because this week is hectic at work.

I had a brilliant weekend, starting with a night out with the girls from work on Friday night to celebrate my birthday. We had only intended on staying for one, but somehow it had reached 11pm by the time we left the bar; fed and watered and we'd had a blast.

On Saturday I woke to realise it was my birthday. Hubby bought me a card; though he forgot to collect the envelope in the shop, and ended up wrapping it in tin foil(!). Hubby never buys me cards, so I was thrilled to get one from him, that had "wife" emblazoned across the front.

At lunchtime my mother picked me up and we headed into town. We went to see "The Time Traveller's Wife" at the cinema; which I thoroughly recommend by the way. It's such a good film, but so sad! I've since decided to add the book to my honeymoon reading.

After the cinema, we went for dinner at "Old Orleans", which specialises in dishes from the Southern States; cajun chicken and all that. As you can tell; I was right off the diet...

I went home in the evening and vegged out on the sofa watching a couple of films, and waiting for Hubby to finish work.

On Sunday, Hubby and I went to Kingston to spend the gift vouchers we'd been given for the wedding. We wandered around the store choosing stuff (including more of the crockery we'd had our eye on, some Le Creuset cookware, and a lean meat grill), went to grab a bite to eat (bangers and mash), before making our way back home and grabbing a KFC for dinner.

Monday strolled around, and it was back to the throes of work; although I'd forgotten that this week we are auditing, so I was in for a busy one. Nevertheless, I met Hubby for lunch and wandered around town for a while in the sunshine (because England finally decided to perk up!). I got home last night and Hubby was cooking me a jacket potato and Yorkshire Puddings. Mmmm...


A weekend of food and sunshine; over way too quickly. I should turn 25 more often...

Wedding Presents...

Our lounge, though tidier than usual, seems smaller than usual. But that's because we had our wedding gifts delivered on Saturday morning!!

I then had to wait until midnight for Hubby to get home so that we could open them together. As you probably know, we're looking at moving back to Hubby's Homeland in 2010, so we only opened everything to check nothing was broken or incorrect. It's a good thing we did too, because our burgundy pillow cases arrived looking suspiciously cream...

We also received £220 of vouchers from various family members, which we are hoping to spend on Sunday 16th August when we go to the store in person. We got a number of things we absolutely loved but didn't really need:









I spent Sunday boxing everything back up and tidying the lounge again. In such a small flat, one delivery seems to take over! The rest of my day was spent writing our thank yous; to which Hubby only contributed a signature, and complained at having to do that. Nevertheless, we're almost there. They're all written (except for the Spanish lot, which I have to get Hubby to write), the envelopes are all stamped and addresses - all I need to do now is spray mount the photos to the front of the cards without gluing myself in the process.

I anticipate to have them sent out first class tomorrow. that will be a weight off my mind, because then I'll know the wedding is pretty much done and dusted. THEN it's only our honeymoon to wait for, which by the way is in four weeks today!

Chips

I don't know what the latest news is on Swine Flu in your area, but it's getting pretty widespread here in the UK. So widespread in fact, that people are now freaking out and overdosing on antibacterial paraphernalia.

As I keep trying to tell them; if you're going to get it, you're going to get it. There's little you can do to prevent it, except running for cover and not coming out until the spring. I on the other hand, have come to the conclusion that I'd rather get it now, than in five weeks' time when we're supposed to be going on honeymoon.

Don't get me wrong, I am not, repeat NOT about to hold a Swine Flu Party and rub up against every sick person I can find. I'm simply saying that I'm going to be careful, but I'm not going to change my lifestyle in order to specifically avoid it.

On Monday I elected my "Flu Friend". On Tuesday she called me to tell me she had Swine Flu.

I choose my timing well :)

Seriously though, she lives 100 metres from me, so I would have offered to help her anyway. So I left work early on Tuesday and collected the Tamiflu from the pharmacy. You should have seen the reaction; it was like they thought I was sick. I had to stifle a giggle.

But despite what people are saying, I feel useful, and I like being able to help her. She's housebound for 5 days, so the least I can do is buy bread and milk for her while she's sick. Which got me to thinking; if the same happened to me, I would have nothing in the house to live on.

Hubby and I ended up doing an emergency shop on Tuesday evening in the event that we both get taken down sick with it. So now our freezer is fully stocked with ready meals, and most importantly, chips.


If I'm gonna get swine flu, I'll deserve a big plate of chips :)

Come to think of it; I'm not feeling too great today. That'll be because I decided to make the switch from Diet Coke to Diet Coke - Caffeine Free. What was I thinking?

Pretty, Pretty Things...

I have to profess my love for Cath Kidston. she's a genius and I just wish my bank balance was never-ending so I could buy all the pretty things she sells in her stores. I had a moment of weakness inspiration on Tuesday and I bought this bag:

Now, it may seem like I complain about never having any money, but I haven't bought anything for myself this month, so I've done pretty well. And I've been eyeing up this bag for a while, and until now had resisted temptation. It's big, it's made of straw, it's got a cute floral lining, and it comes with a little floral purse. It's really no surprise that I absolutely love it. And the best thing is that Hubby hasn't noticed it's new, so hasn't asked how much it was.

Sometimes I love his indifference.

I particularly like the Cowboy and New Rose patterns, so whenever I visit, I always scope out the new products in case I find something in either of these.

But this morning I heard they're having a sale, and you know what that means: I'm going to have to drag myself skip to the shop again today to see what bargains I can find (and afford).

If an item's bought in the sale, it's like they're giving me money to take it home. And I can't very well say no to free money, can I?

I didn't think so :)

And I'd just like to add that after accidentally losing weight over the last few weeks, I spent the last 7 days scoffing my face with pretty much everything I craved, in a bid to put on a couple of pounds for my now ever-so-slightly big wedding dress. It's not huge, but the corset back gives me a bit of a baggy bum.

Anyway, I went to my Weight Watchers weekly weigh-in last night to find out the result of my gluttony. Picture me peeking out from behind my hands, so imagine my surprise when I read the digital display and discovered I'd only gained half a pound.

What is going on?? It's like my body has found itself a fast metabolism. Don't get me wrong, I'm absolutely loving it, but I'm losing weight when I'm supposed to be gaining.

My body remains a mystery to me...

Note: I've never actually seen a Big Mac that looked as good as this one. I don't think they exist.

Top Hat; or Not Top Hat?

This is what Hubby wants to look like on the wedding day:


But I'm concerned he's going to look more like this:


In all fairness, Hubby's not that weird looking, but I'm worried he will resemble this guy more than the first guy. Why? Because he bought a top hat that I fear is too small for him.

Unfortunately it's no secret that I never wanted him to have a top hat and cain, so now he thinks I'm being awkward, but it honestly does look strange... and I have 10 days to convince him of this.

I see only one problem here; Hubby is stubborn.

What to do, what to do... I've already thought of hiding it, but I'm an adult and I'm not about to play games. And besides, it's not like there's many hiding places in a one bedroomed flat.

They say you shouldn't hope to change the man you love, but right now I kinda want to change his opinion of this hat. I think it's dawning on me that I'm going to have very strange looking wedding photos...

Confetti!

I never thought I'd be allowed to set off two confetti canons without a good reason. Alas, the time came and I had a lot of fun!

It's a weird moment when you realise you've spent forty minutes online comparing the price of shredded paper/dried petals, but I suppose it needs to be done at some point. I've also come to the realisation that I'm going to have to shell out for it anyway, so I'm better off just buying it and dealing with it.

I went confetti shopping yesterday after work and came back with a varied bunch of types. Half of them are packs that you can see into, but the confetti canons had to be subjected to rigorous tests before they were put to use. Not prepared to create havoc in our own home, we headed to a secluded place nearby and had loads of fun shooting them at each other (well, they came in multipacks, what were we supposed to do??). It turns out, the confetti canons were made primarily of foil, which I'm sure the ceremony venue will hate if it doesn't disintegrate in the rain.

So after a lot of playing around, we've settled on these rice paper versions:

I know; not very exciting, but they are cut into bell and horseshoe shapes! (I reckon they charge you extra for that), but it's the best I can find on the High Street, and unfortunately with 11 days until said "big day", I can't really buy anything online, in case it doesn't arrive in time.

Still, consider our wedding confetti'd. I'm ashamed to say I actually dreamt about confetti last night - how sad is that?!

Throw Him Off The Scent

Hubby thinks he knows me really well. The truth is he does know me really well, but I'm not about to let him know that. On top of it all, I'm a really poor secret-keeper. The day I found my wedding dress, I got home and nearly burst with excitement. I have tried to keep things to myself, but I keep letting slip the odd detail... and he's very good at taking a mental note and building up a picture in his mind with what he knows.

So then I have to create lies in order to throw him off the scent. I'm doing quite well with this, but I suspect he still knows the truth. So here is my next effort:


When I was shopping with my bridesmaid, I decided to try on one of the wedding dresses in the shop where we found her bridesmaid's dress. This shop mainly does everyday wear, to wedding guest outfits. They don't do prom dresses or anything like that, but they do have a little wedding dress department.

Here's a photo of me looking glamorous bedraggled in one of their off the rack dresses.

Don't I look lovely?! Well, I'm not convinced, but it made me feel a lot better about the dress I did buy! My boobs have always been about 2 dress sizes bigger than the rest of my body, and this dress acted as a stark reminder that had I gone looking for dresses on the High Street, I would have found them to be ill-fitting, if not completely terrible.

Anyway, I thought it would be funny if I left the photo of it around the house somewhere inconspicuous, in the hope that Hubby would stumble upon it and think that was the dress I'd chosen, haha. I don't know that I will though, because I think I look supremely awful, but we'll see.

It certainly would throw him off the scent!

One Dress Down; One To Go...

Happy Saturday everyone! First off, I want to say a big THANK YOU to Rachel, who nominated me to receive the "Keepsake Blog Award".


Ahh! My first award; I feel so special! :)

Thanks so much Rachel, and sorry it took me so long to realise. For anyone else reading this, my email account decided to put Rachel's message to me straight into my spam folder. Not helpful, Yahoo!

When you receive this award, you're supposed to post a funny or sweet keepsake that says something about you. Well, this is mine:


This is the wooden and ivory jewellery box that my grandfather left me in his will. He died in 1998, when I was thirteen, and since he lived in Homeland # 2, I didn't realy get a chance to get to know him as well as I would have liked. This jewellery box means I have a constant reminder of him, and it's like I can take a piece of him with me; though I guess that sounds weird. My grandparents used to live in Africa, and they brought this back with them when they moved to Homeland # 2 in the 1950s (when the transportation of new ivory was still legal). And since I want to travel the world, but haven't yet been to mainland Africa, it's like having a piece of Africa, and it reminds me of my hopes to visit the continent in the future.

And part 2 of receiving this award is to pass the award on the 10 other bloggers that I think are keepers. So here goes:

C. Beth Blog
From This Day Forward
Gorgeous Footsteps in the Sand
Grab A Drink And Pull Up A Chair
Make Mine a Mojito
Misadventures of a Newlywed
Perfectly Imperfect
Smile Steady
Somethin' to Talk About
The Ratpack

Thanks again Rachel; I shall display my award proudly on my blog!

Something else I'd like to mention, is Blogger's very strange sense of humour when providing text for word verification:

Enough said.

Now today's been a busy day. I went into town with one of my bridesmaids and went looking for a black dress for her to wear to my wedding, which by the way is in THREE WEEKS TODAY!!!

Ahem, mini celebration over. Anyway, we did find a dress, which we thought was black until we read the label, which said it was "chocolate". It's actually a really dark brown, but I maintain it still looks black. Here's the dress we bought:

She's going to accessorise with hot pink so it doesn't seem so dull and plain. For those of you that don't know; our colour scheme is black, cream and red. One of my bridesmaids doesn't suit red, and to prevent them wearing white (or the wrong shade of cream), and clashing with my dress, we settled on them wearing black. It also makes it easier for them to match one another, since one of them is studying overseas, so with flights and her exams, it's been impossible to get them both together to go shopping for dresses.

I've emailed the bridesmaid that is abroad, and asked how she's doing finding her dress. I hope it all comes together...

But my busy day's not over yet; I'm fresh out of the shower and after I finish posting on here, I'm getting ready to go to another wedding; that of my work colleague. I can't wait to see what she's got in store, because we've been comparing notes throughout our wedding planning, but she's been pretty hush hush on the reception front. So, armed with my camera, I'm heading off out in the hope of a great evening...