Christmas 2008

Thanks for all the Christmas wishes/emails etc. I meant to get on here before Christmas to wish all my blogging friends a Happy Christmas but never got round to it! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas.

For those that have been wondering, there's no sign of baby yet. Im due one week tomorrow!! Im fed up now - tired, swollen, uncomfortable in all positions etc etc At my last appointment with my midwife, baby still hadnt dropped into my pelvis so she thinks i will be late. I really hope i dont have to be induced but i have to say, it really doesnt feel like its gonna come out soon!

We had a nice Christmas. On Christmas eve i ended up having to venture to the shops for some last minute things. Then i came home and baked 2 banana loafs and some gingerbread men. In the evening we went out for a Chinese meal with my family which was the best Chinese food ive ever had! Christmas day was spent at my mum and dads house with my aunt and uncle and my Gran. My sister was at her in-laws this year. On boxing day, my mum and dad came to mine and i cooked a Shepherds pie and then we watched my favourite Christmas movie - Elf. Yesterday, DH and I walked for an hour and then i came home and slept for 2! I was pretty wiped out all day yesterday actually.

I slept so badly last night that we skipped church this morning. Today i plan on getting some baby things organised. I dont feel like baby is gonna come soon so ive been delaying all the things i really need to do, like pack my hospital bag, sort out the baby's crib/clothes etc etc Thats what this week holds in store!

Maternity leave is great

I am loving being off work! I havent been bored at all yet. Its great! On Monday i went Christmas shopping but walking around the shopping centre was totally exhausting and i had to come home and go to bed for 2 hours after it LOL Monday night was our Christmas ladies night at church. On Tuesday i was back in work to finish a couple of things and then they took me out for the afternoon, i got lovely presents and flowers. On Wednesday i stayed home and played domestic goddess for the day and cooked a lovely Shepherds Pie (even if i do say so myself) which was a recipe from one of my Delia Smith cookbooks that ive used maybe once in 2 years LOL Thursday i got my haircut, did more Christmas shopping and went out for my sisters birthday in the evening. Today i was at the dentist, then at my mum and dads for lunch and im just home. The week has passed quickly.

I heard from Carol that she received the Reindeer Games exchange i sent her. Its a design from JCS 2006 Christmas issue by The Workbasket. I made this hanging pillow and found the perfect reindeer fabric for it.

Not the best pictures but you get the idea! I sent along some other goodies too but didnt photograph those.

Excited to put up my Christmas decorations tomorrow!!

Reindeer Games

As you can see above, I received my Reindeer Games exchange from Lisa on Friday. Lisa said that its an American folk arts design of a reindeer dated from 1666 and she finished it as a no sew cube. It's lovely! She also included great gifts - a reindeer ornie, a reindeer tea towel, threads and cute christmas buttons. I love everything Lisa, thanks so much! I just hope the exchange i sent arrives okay now!

I also reached another milestone with CDC. Ive finished 2 pages now and started the third! Im right back into this again although i need to put it aside to finish Janice's RR which ive embarassingly had far too long.

In pregnany news, i have one month to go and i've finished work!! Woooo Hooooo! Cant tell you how good it feels. Im going in this week but just for a lunch and i plan to attend the Christmas night out but that's hardly work!! So good to have that stress away. I am 36 weeks pregnant now and here's the most recent bump shot taken last week at my baby shower

We picked up our pram yesterday (i love the pram we got) and DH had the job of putting it together. My job was to oversee.....obviously LOL. What can i say? I was tired!!!

Baby shower

Well its been a busy week since i last posted. We've had 2 thanksgiving meals (even though we're in Scotland) and a baby shower. The baby shower was for me (my 2nd one)! My friend Sherri organised it for me and it was really good fun! There were about 18 of us. I dont know if Sherri reads this blog but she is truely one of those great friends who is so kind and considerate and goes out her way to help people. She has a 7month year old already and has been so kind at passing on loads of things i will need when babyT arrives, from maternity clothes to baby baths! She's been great and i really appreciate it! Anyway...back to the shower... i got loads of lovely presents and we played lots of fun games. The funniest moment had to be trying on these lovely knickers that my friend Claire got me for a jokeI hope i'll never need them for real! LOL

One thing i can't get over is just how kind people are! Ive had so many gifts and presents already, our house is filling up as you can see from this picture of presents (apart from the iron and ironing board)I must thank 2 of my good blog friends for their lovely gifts recently; Lesley sent me a whole box of baby clothes which i really appreciate and Michele sent me the most gorgeous scrapbook - i'll take a picture of it sometime! And these are people ive never met -its so kind!!

So the big news this week will be me finishing work!! For those that regularly read my blog you will know that i have been counting down the days for a long time! This thursday is my last day. Im excited to finish but a little apprehensive as well which i didnt really expect. I dont want what ive worked on over the past while to be messed up and on the other hand i dont want my replacement to come in and do a much better job than me LOL can't win!

On the stitching front, i finished my Reindeer Games exchange for the sbebb and mailed it today. I was really pleased with my finished piece so i look forward to posting a picture once its been received!

Cirque is back

The last time i worked on CdC seems to have been back in February!!! Oh my, how time flies! This is how it looked back then but i had the urge to pick it up again recently and here's how it now looksIts good to see some progress on a piece that will probably take me years! I already have a space on the living room wall earmarked for this so hopefully not too many years LOL Ive also worked a bit on Baby's sampleras im getting bigger and more tired i have more time to stitch. I finish work in 2 weeks now and i really can't wait! As of today i am 34weeks pregnant. I cant wait until the day now, im impatient!

I had a busy weekend. On Saturday i spent the day with my Gran which was nice. We just stayed in, ate, drank tea and did our crafts. Yesterday, my American friend Lori had an early thanksgiving lunch and it was so good!! DH was in Liverpoool at the weekend and sped home to get there in time LOL you'd think he was never fed proper food ;-) Lori is due her second baby in 3weeks! It'll be nice to have babies the same age and in the same class at school one day!

I have a day off today so i had a lie in this morning and plan on having a lazy day. I do need to do some cleaning though, but not just yet...

Baby Sampler

Thanks for the comments about my job on my last post. Whilst it is totally unfair, i have a peace about it all now...in other words...ive stopped caring about work, the end is nigh there! If i go back, there will have to be a higher salary for me too. If not, i will look for a part-time job elsewhere. Im glad to reach this point as it was messing with my mind too much last week.

I still have a cold but it's not half as bad anymore. I had to take a few sick days and got lots of stitching time in whilst watching my Lost season 3 boxset. I have chosen this piece to stitch for babyT's room
and this is what i have done so far

Im enjoying working on this! Its from The Historical Sampler Company, ive never bought anything from them before but certainly will in the future!

DH and i have just been out walking and then we went out for a lovely lunch. Now i plan to spend the rest of the day/evening relaxing and working on this sampler! Hopefully more progress pics soon!

Grumpy

I have a rotten stinking cold and it sucks. My nose is blocked up, my ears hurt, my throat is killing and im tired and i cant sleep. Im also grumpy can you tell LOL

This is just a bad ending to a bad week. Work is really hacking me off right now. I finish in 5weeks so i shouldnt care but my "replacement" for maternity cover is coming in on a much higher salary than me which i think is hugely unfair. Boss gets round it by saying the new staff member (who happens to be a friend) will be doing a different job but why, if thats the case, have i to hand everything over to him then. He has no experience in the field and is coming from a completely different career to cover the job. Boss knew to get him she'd have to pay him higher because of the salary hes on in his current job. Don't get me wrong, he's a nice guy who will be great at the job BUT.....we're a charity and it doesnt seem right to me and its really, really bugging me. DH keeps telling me to forget about it - im leaving, i will have a new wee baby soon and might not even return to work there (certainly not full-time anyway) but me being me, it just grates on me, i hate feeling hard done by!! Rant over!

Last night, i wasnt feeling as bad as today so i bought some wee pumpkins on the way home and we carved them. The one on the left is mine, the one on the right is DH's. They make me laugh! We dont celebrate halloween (and it isnt that "big" over here anyway) but this was fun to do!!

Ive got bigger in the last few weeks, check out my tummy now at nearly 31weeks