What an amazing year this has been. It's had it's up's and down's but there have mainly been up's for us, which we are really thankful for. We have another incredibly exciting year coming up for 2017, when our little family of 3 grows into a family of 4, and my Sister will also be marrying the man of her dreams!
As well as our new arrival, I have a few friends who will also be introducing new babies into their lives next year and I hope that many more will fall pregnant too!
Thank you so much for your continued support with my blog and for all the likes and shares you have all given me.
Continue trying to be the best version of yourself and focusing on your goals whatever they might be.
Symptoms: I am just so pregnant this week! Sleep is getting more and more difficult and the aches and pains are getting worse. I know that it comes and goes in stages, so hopefully it will get better (that may be wishful thinking though!).
I had a midwife appointment this week and I was not measuring as big as last time. However, as I have mentioned before, that doesn't really mean anything in the end! Although she did also say that the baby is potentially back to back and while they do have time to turn, she said that they will probably be recommending a C-Section unless he/she does, because I wont be able to labour for too long due to my previous scar.
I really wanted to have a natural birth but felt that she was sort of pushing towards a C-Section - I have a hospital appointment in a couple of weeks to make the finial decision. To help me prepare for that, I am currently getting in my head that I will be having a C-Section and have been thinking about all the positives that will come of this (there are loads). If they come back with anything different, it will be a bonus!
Food Cravings: Alcohol - it is Christmas after all.
Movement: Loads of movement this week, especially when I want to go to sleep!
Sleep: Sleep is difficult, lots of tossing a turning and visits to the loo again.
Things I am missing: Alcohol and Cheese.
Best Moment: Christmas Day!
Worst Moment: I am really struggling to pick Jackson up now, which is hard when he just wants a hug!
Today is my 29th Birthday, my last year before the big 3-0! I did a similar blog last year and loved it. I enjoy looking over my photo's from the last year, seeing what I have achieved and all of the things I have done. Below, I have listed 29 of my favourite things from this year, in the order that they happened.
1. Our visit to 'The Hand and Flowers' restaurant.
2. Mother’s Day.
3. Mini-break to Budapest.
4. Jackson’s first birthday.
5. Easter.
6. Olivia’s first birthday.
7. A trip to Brighton for my friend's Hen do.
8. Jackson learning to walk.
9. Two of our close friends getting married.
10. Finding
out I was pregnant, again!
11. A day on the 'Orient Express'.
12. Finding
out my cousin was engaged.
13. Father’s Day.
14. Finding
out my sister was engaged.
15. Our private
scan at 8 weeks.
16. Being
asked to be a part of my sisters special day and to be her bridesmaid (Jackson
gets to be a pageboy too!).
17. Our family holiday
to Greece.
18. Our 12
week scan.
19. My trip to the Isle
of Wight with Jackson and my mum.
20. Wedding
dress shopping with my sister.
21. Our 20
week scan.
22. My trip to London to see Kinky Boots with my BFF.
23. Our holiday
to Center Parcs.
24. Pumpkin
picking for Halloween.
25. Jackson's first firework display (well sort of, we watched from a friend's garden!).
26. Jackson's visit with Santa at Winter Wonderland.
27. Going to London to see The Body Guard with my Mum and Yaya. 28. Going on Maternity Leave - I am very lucky this time around as I am finishing before Christmas (technically, my Maternity starts in the New Year but finishing now means that I get 6 and 1/2 weeks of one to one time with my gorgeous boy!!!). 29. Christmas Day. Love Sophia xxx
This will be the last Christmassy 'What Jackson Wore' for this year!!!! So, because of that, I thought that I would include two outfits, both have been worn loads this month.
The jumper on this outfit was from Primark, which his Yaya kindly bought for him. The trousers are from John Lewis.
He always has something in his hands and this week, it's a sock. Why not?!
Love his grin in this picture!!
This second outfit includes a top that I bought for one of his advent presents. This cute top is from H&M it was very inexpensive as well! The jeans are from next, I think that they have been featured before, but they are jogger style so lets him run about still.
He was just eating one (or maybe 2) chocolate coins.
You can see that he enjoyed them!
The same as always, this 'What Jackson Wore' blog is linking up with 'This Mama Life' and 'The Diary of an Ordinary Mum' for the #WeekendTotStyle. Visit one of their pages if you want to link up too!
Today, like most mornings, I started with a nice coffee. Jackson had an epic lie-in until 8:45am and I pretty much slept until then too - lazy!!!!!
By 10am, I had already made dinner for the evening. Gigi was coming around for the afternoon, so I thought it would be a good idea to get it ready early. All I had left to do was to add the Kidney Beans and Spinach just before serving.
One of the little ones that I look after came around to say goodbye today, as I will be on Maternity Leave after Christmas. They gave me these gorgeous flowers with a card that made me cry!
I went out for lunch with my sister, Gigi and cousins, which I forgot to take a picture of (sorry)! Then, on the way home, I got the car cleaned, which Jackson loved but it was quite busy and took a little while, so he eventually fell asleep.
The speed and the amount of people that they have cleaning the car always amazes me!
When we got home, we took the doggies on a nice little walk.
Jackson absolutely loves his Gigi, he told her where to sit and kept showing her all of his toys.
Gigi brought him a new toy - a doggie that has a flashing hat and moves and barks. He cried when he had to leave it to go for a bath.
After his bath with Dada, he came down and gave Gigi a massive cuddle, it must have been too long with out her! Ha!
We wrapped up to stay warm and went to see a local house that has the most amazing Christmas lights, all synchronised to music. They do it every year for charity (there are some incredible people around). Watching all of the children running and playing in the front garden was really lovely.
It was such a lovely day and we are so lucky to have Jackson's Gigi over from Greece for Christmas!
This is a fun recipe that you could make with your children and one that I made recently to take around to a friends house for a pre-christmas dinner (you may have heard about this in one of my previous blogs). It's a twist on the classic Rice Krispie Cakes but with a Christmas theme!
Ingredients:
50g Rice Krispies
30g Raisins (chopped)
50g Butter
100g Milk Chocolate
2tbsp Crunchy Peanut Butter
30g Mini Marsh Mellows (I couldn't find mini ones, so chopped some up instead)
80g White Chocolate
'Holly Leaves' sprinkles
Firstly, you mix the raisins and the Rice Krispies together.
Next, put the other ingredients (minus the White Chocolate and the Sprinkles) into a pan.
Melt it all together on a low heat. The marsh mellow wont completely melt but that is fine.
Then mix the Rice Krispies well into the mixture.
The recipe then calls for an egg cup to make the 'Christmas Pudding' shape - I didn't have one, so I just used a few mini cup cake cases and then a couple of larger ones.
Then you let them cool for a while in the fridge and melt the White Chocolate over the top.
Once cooled, I took the cup cake cases off.
Then you divide the melted White Chocolate over all of the 'Christmas Puddings'.
Finally, it's on to the fiddly bit - adding the sprinkles!
They went down a treat at the dinner party and Jackson loved them too.
Symptoms: I have been feeling the general pregnancy symptoms this week - tiredness, aches & pains, lots of heart burn and constant weeing! I have been very busy so haven't had any time to rest, but does anyone get to rest with a toddler and Christmas thrown into the mix?! I have also started to get to that point of thinking, 'how can I get any bigger'!!! As you can see from my picture, I am getting huge (especially in this particular picture!!!).
Food Cravings: I am eating a lot of mints but not sure if that really qualifies as a craving or whether it's just to help with the heart burn.
Movement: I went to see The Bodyguard at the Theatre last weekend and the baby would not stop moving, must be a Whitney fan!
Sleep: Sleep is getting a bit difficult, lots of tossing a turning and visits to the loo.
Things I am missing: Cheeses - this time of year is all about the cheese boards and when you're pregnant, there is only a select few you can have!
Best Moment: My Yaya (Jackson's Gigi) coming over from Greece to spend Christmas with us.
Worst Moment: Just feeling a bit boring in my clothes, having such a small wardrobe is starting to get annoying (so to fix this, I went shopping, yay!!!).
Chris had one day of his holiday allowance left to take at work. Originally we thought it would be lovely to go away as just the two of us for a quick weekend but after having a look at what was available, nothing really excited us, so instead he took a Friday off so we could go up to London when it was not so busy. We spent a while deciding what to do in town and after having a look online, we chose to take a trip to Winter Wonderland. I just love it there and have been quite a few times in the past for my birthday to do the ice skating.
The thought of being on the train for too long was not appealing in my current state, so we drove to Earls Court and pre-booked parking. We then got on the underground for a few stops to Hyde Park Corner. Not only do I think that this was easier with a toddler/buggy, I think that it was also cheaper than the train fair for a Travel Card.
When we got to Winter Wonderland, we were pretty hungry so we went and got some 'Bratwurst' and chips (got to be done at a Christmas Market!). To be honest though, Jackson ate the most of the chips. His favourite thing to do is 'dip dip'!
After food, we headed over to Santa's Grotto and, in the queue, someone offered to take a picture of all three of us, which was lovely as it's normally only one of us in the picture with Jackson.
Santa was free to visit and he was such a good one too! He asked Jackson lots of questions and if you ask me, he was the real deal!
We did buy a picture of all of us with Santa (had to be done). Head over to my instagram to see it.
Jackson got given some crayons from Santa too, which he held onto the entire way around. He also has a churro in the other hand in this photo, which we just couldn't resist as soon as we saw a vendor. Unsurprisingly, he loved it!!!
He was so cute walking around watching all of the rides. He especially loved the giant teddy bears.
We thought we would take a walk over to Harrods too, which took about 20minutes and helped Jackson nod of to sleep for a much needed nap. We took this opportunity to stop at one of the cafes in Harrods to have a coffee and a well deserved rest.
He woke up shortly afterwards and wanted a snack, so I gave him a tangerine and some crisps from ASDA - keeping it real in Harrods!
We had a look around the Christmas shop and the kids section. Some of the baby grows are just gorgeous but for £100 or so I just couldn't do it. Especially as I know what babies are like with gross stuff like throw-up and poo!!
In the kids section, Jackson found a car to ride on and was playing really nicely, that is until he pulled the head and arms off of a mannequin! We quickly raced out of there shouting sorry!!!
As soon as we got back, I had a bath to help soothe my aching muscles, as after a full day of walking and being 7 months pregnant, I was surprisingly very tired!!!
Jackson stayed up for a bit as he slept most of the way home too.
I have also created a Vlog of the day if you want to take a look below...
