A trendy boo

Weekends have certainly taken on a new meaning these days - it's all about shopping for boo!  Everyone keeps telling me to stop buying stuff as we will get lots of gifts but i can't help myself.  I see things we need for little boo and i can't pass them by.  This weekend was certainly no different but instead of practical things like monitors, sterilisers and breast pumps we've ended up with some of the cutest outfits i've ever seen for a little boy boo:

Now I realise jeans may not be super practical for a baby in the under 3 month age group but how adorable??!  And I do realise he will grow quickly but they were just so darn cute!  I even remember being concerned that they don't make boys clothes as cute as girls clothes but i gotta say, these glad rags have made me change my opinion on that one!  This little boo is gonna be one trendy boo!  You can count on that!!

The bee!!!

We picked up our pram today and i'm SO excited about it.  After a lot of  research into different types, styles, etc. and reading review after review, we finally decided on the bugaboo bee.  Now most people hear 'bugaboo' and think one thing: expensive.  But i can't believe what a great deal we got on the pram, the cocoon, footmuff plus the car seat and adaptable base.  We got a steal!  And i'm so pleased with our choice!  I've seen loads of mothers wandering around islington with the bee and every time i see it i get more excited.  How fantastic we've finally got ours, check it out:

From the side, with Jenn's friend mr. elephant going for a ride :)

 And with the sun canopy up:

We also paid a visit to Mothercare today to pick up some essentials and ended up with our bedding and changing mat.  After a ton of searching (are you starting to notice a trend?), i finally decided on the baby k range from mothercare as i think it's quite cute and little bit cheeky:

Now all we need is to get our furniture delivered and we'll be able to start finalising things - i just want somewhere to put everything instead of a half put together room.  We should be arranging a delivery date with our supplier next week so hopefully within a few weeks we'll have a fully functioning nursery!  Then it's on to the long list of other stuff we need before little boo arrives.  Only 11 weeks to go!  It's starting to scare me how close it is - eeek!!

28 Weeks

Time is flying by!  We are already 28 weeks and it seems so much is changing.  Boo is kicking up a storm constantly - in fact i have started to see his movements through my shirt which is simply amazing.  I can feel him almost all the time but Rob has only had a few instances where he's caught a feel and he still hasn't seen anything.  We had a 28-week scan this week and everything is good - he's growing at the right pace and already weights 2 lbs + 7 ozs.  At this rate, assuming he comes around his due date, we are looking at a 7 lb baby which is aok by me!  Here is a photo of baby and one of momma at 28 weeks:

The last Christmas...

As a family of two!  This time next year baby boo will be with us and everything will be very different!  Lucky for us we made this Christmas pretty low key and stayed in London with Rob's family.  Christmas eve was spent at a local curry house in Upminster followed by Christmas day around Rob's mum and dads.  This year was a smaller than norm affair as Rob's aunt Irene and uncle Nicky were away in New York celebrating the birth of their very first granddaughter, Sophia.  So there were only 9 of us - which by Rob's family standard is small.  But it was lovely, we got a few nice bits for baby boo and a few nice bits for ourselves.  Beofre dinner we enjoyed the annual trip to the pub for a few pints before dinner and i indulged in a small glass of wine.  I don't think I've ever ordered a small glass of wine before in my life?!  But, it was really nice and certainly hit the spot.  I think i even got a buzz from it which was certainly the highlight of the trip :)  Here are a few shots from the day:

Rob + Clare + Mum + Dad opening pressies:

Nan, Steve & Dan:

Rob's mum gave him a shirt with a matching partner for baby boo:

Clare showing her hawkeye pride:

Down at the pub, can you see the bump?

View of the bump from above.  Looks much bigger this way, don't ya think?

SPD

Well, it's been an eventful past week - packed full with a visit to A&E!  Luckily baby boo is ok, just a small issue for me called SPD, better known as symphis publis dysfunction.  Nice name, eh?  In a nutshell, i've been experiencing a lot of pain during my pregnancy but for the most part just assuming it's part of the growing process.  However in the past week it's gotten a fair bit worse and really bothersome when I walk.  Well this past Friday became almost unbearable - and scary when it started to spread to my back and get more intense.  Stupidly I did some online research, as you do, to try and diagnose it and after reading articles and posts that indicated i may be going into pre-term labor (at 24 weeks!) we started to get concerned.  After debating our options for a fair while we ended up going in to A&E about 1230 am.  Lucky we did as they did a lot of tests, listened to the baby's heartbeat for a long time, checked the cervix to make sure it was closed and finally took some swabs to rule out any infection.  After everything came back normal they diagnosed me with the pubis dysfunction.  The symptoms are pretty basic: pelvic and back pain which intensifies when walking or moving.  And apparently it gets worse the bigger you get - some people even require crutches to get around.  Sweet - can't wait for that! 

Luckily, all is well with baby boo - he's happy and healthy - in fact he's moving around quite a bit these days.  Kicking up a storm!  And what's even more exciting is that every night when Rob gets home he's been talking to Boo, telling him about the day and what's happening and i think boo is responding.  Whenever Rob speaks to him he gets really active - lots of kicking.  It's the cutest thing!

We have another scan this Thursday, part of the hypertension clinic requires me to have scans every 4 weeks so looking forward to seeing baby boo.  Will make sure to post a new pic and also get on posting a pic of the bump.  Getting lots of requests for a photo - but pretty scared to take one.  Eeek!  Once i see it in a photo i fear there is no more hiding.  Oh well, at nearly 6 months I think it's time to embrace the bump!

We've got a mover!!

Our 20-week scan was today and all is well!  It was actually amazing to see how much baby boo has grown and how active he was!  He's about 12 cm long and weighs exactly 1 pound.  And he certainly has energy - he wouldn't stay still for the measurements or his pictures!!  But we did get to see pretty much every part of him; we counted all the fingers and toes, saw his eyes, nose and mouth and of course, the willy.  With all the movement we could hardly get a photo of the little guy but did manage one decent shot:

In other news, we are trying to get ready for the move - in less than two weeks we are upgrading to a two bedroom flat which marks the start of operation GET READY FOR BOO!  I already feel so disorganised but once it's over I'll be happy to start preparing BB's room and shopping for the necessities.  It's kind of scary how quickly time is going by.  It's also scary to think after Christmas it will only be 3 short months until the arrival.  We better get our butts in gear!!

It's a boy!!!

We had another scan today and were lucky enough to find out the sex!  And yes, it's a boy!!  It's so funny b/c I've thought 'he' would be a boy since the very beginning; I'm constantly referring to 'him' or 'he' when talking about the little boo so it was quite exciting to find out 'he' actually is a 'he'.  This wasn't the official 20-week scan so they didn't perform all the measurements but from the basic assessment the midwife seemed to think all is OK. 

Here are a couple of new photos from today's scan: the first is another head shot, if you look closely you can see the little hand as well.  I think little boo is looking quite cute from the inside, don't you?!

The second picture is actually a 'bottom up' shot - it's like he's sitting down and you are looking up from the bottom and the main focal point is his bum.  If you can visualise him sitting you should also be able to make out a leg as well. Then, low and behold, between the cheeks is a willy!  A little willy!  The scan technician was an Indian woman and she said in her cute little Indian accent 'oh yes, look here, you can see it quite clearly - it's a little willy!!'  What a riot.  I hope boo doesn't mind being exposed over the world wide web :)