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Wednesday 19 August 2015

16 week appointment

As this is my 2nd baby, I seem to have less visits at the hospital/midwife so today was the 2nd appointment with my community midwife.

As it's the school holidays, my 4 year old accompanied me to the visit and he was very well behaved having requested to bring some books along for the visit.

As is normal for pregnant women I had to provide a urine sample which was fine, I haven't had any complaints or problems that needed raising with the midwife so it was overall a positive visit, then something magical happened.......

When you hit your 2nd trimester, sometimes you do forget you are pregnant, apart from when you look down and see a rather large bloated tummy! So when we were offered the opportunity to listen to baby's heartbeat my son was in awe. He described the noise as a windy, snow storm but the baby's heartbeat was clear to listen  to at 120-148bpm....

As impatient as I am I went on google to see if I could hazard a guess as to the babies gender, but it seems this method is not fool proof so we will just have to wait until Sunday when we have the gender scan.

Next appointment with the community midwife for me will be at 28 weeks which seems forever away but I am back at the hospital for a few appointments next month.

Apart from some toothache all seems to be fine and apart from me falling asleep mid afternoon I feel pretty good!
Thursday 6 August 2015

The beginning of Tri 2

So here we are in the next trimester, a third of the way there.
Since my last post my son's behaviour is back to normal so the 3 week blip has passed. 

Me on the other hand I have returned to my Zumba classes, although I now do the low impact version its good to still have a bit of time to myself one night a week and to keep a bit of exercise going.
I do have a fitbit do am aware of how active I am each day of the week and find that I do push myself to do a bit of walking to keep myself active.

Week 14 saw me get more energy, the headaches and nausea seemed to have eased off and I was only really tired when I had been on my feet all day.
I have moved myself into the spare room so that I can have a bit more room as I seem to be really restless at night at the moment and having strange dreams that seem a little bit to real so I don't want to keep hubby awake.

We invested in a new pushchair system as well as  my previous system we used for my son a SilverCross Linear Freeway was just too bulky for the back of my car and I wanted something that was quick and easy to put up and push as I plan on doing a lot of walking once Baby No.2 arrives.
I will go into a bit more detail a bit closer to the time and share some piccies as well but so far the new pushchair has arrived and we are suprised at how compact and robust it appears and am certainly looking forward to putting it to the test.

This month seems to be pretty quiet in terms of hopsital visits and appointments compared to July which saw me have my Booking In Appointment, Blood Tests and 12 week scan.
I have an appointment with my local midwife in a few weeks and the private scan towards the end of the month other than that it's all quiet on the bump front.

I've got the school uniform sorted for my son so just need to add his name into everything and he is ready for the new term in September. We have a few days out planned once hubby takes some time off work and maybe a few days away if we can find somewhere to go.

Wednesday 5 August 2015

The end of Tri 1......

So here we go a bit late in the day as I am now in Tri 2 but that allows me to get you up to speed with how things have been in Tri 1.

Ok so we returned from a family holiday in Florida and on the last May bank holiday we found out that baby no.2 was on the way. 
 
With having a 4 year old we wanted to try and keep it quiet until we had done the necessary tests and scans to find out everything was ok....it didn't quite go to plan.

I had mixed emotions as to whether I was ready for another, after all since having my son I had dropped 51 lbs and had a whole new lifestyle which included healthy eating and exercising, you could say I found a new me which had fit around my work and looking after my son, being pregnant meant I had to tone a lot of this down and my body was going to change again. I spend the first few weeks tearful, unsure and nervous.
Deep down I think that my son knew something was going on as his behaviour changed to something we had never noticed before, he had mood swings and became aggressive, cue a call to my mum, the only one that truly knows how to deal with bad behaviour - I did say she was my mum didn't I!
 For 2 weeks we dealt with tantrums at bedtime, screaming and aggressive behaviour, I tried to distance myself to avoid getting hurt, which I think seemed to anger my son more as he was used to having me to soothe him and calm him down. On the plus side however, dear hubby had to step up and deal with the mood swings and learn how to manage them and by the end of the 3rd week after a  few visits from my mum, a reduction in toys, no days out and basic communication, he finally turned around and returned to himself. 
We were nearing the 12 week scan at this point and so far everything had seemed to be going as per my first pregnancy so we decided to tell him the reason why he couldn't hit or kick mummy and why mummy had needed more rest and looking after. He took the news well and has been interested and we try to involve him in any ideas we have and so far there have been no negative responses to the impending arrival. 

12 week scan arrived and thankfully all was well

 So we made the decision to book a private scan with Babybond in August to find out the gender and so that our son can come along with us. We didn't have a private scan before so we are all a little excited about this new experience this time around.

As I entered Tri 2 my nausea appeared to be passing and I seemed to have more energy  but found the more I did in a day then the lack of energy I had in the evening and found myself dozing at around 8pm!

Anyway plenty to talk about in the next trimester..........

 


Monday 3 August 2015

The Ice Cream Farm Cheshire - Review

As we are in the Summer Break, I find myself trying to plan days out to keep my 4 year old occupied and recently I discovered that the Ice Cream Farm in Tattenhall has had a revamp so it was time to visit.

We have always enjoyed visiting the Ice Cream Farm in Cheshire, it has animals, a firm favourite with my son as well as a play area, shop and of course delicious flavours of Ice Cream!

Where is it?
The Ice Cream Farm is located on the A41 Chester / Whitchurch Road, look out for the Brown tourist signs for ‘THE ICE CREAM FARM’

Or tap in CH3 9NE into your sat nav for directions.

There is plenty of space to park, the original car park opposite the farm exists and a new car park has been built on the original land of the site.

How much does it cost?

Ok so entry into the Ice Cream Farm is Free, however there is a charge for some of the activities. So you can really plan your day on how much you want to spend.
You can take your own food and eat in the designated picnic area or back at your car, or you can grab something to eat in the fairly reasonably priced 'The Pantry'

I will go into prices for each activity but they range from £1 upwards to around £3.50 but again these can be made cheaper by purchasing a ticket which will bring the price down slightly.

Things to do

HoneyComb Canyon  
0-1 year – Free of charge
1-3 years – £2.50
3+ years – £3.50

I had heard from other parents that you need to take a change of clothes for this activity and after experiencing it I would say that is a definite! An indoor sand and water play that is great for all ages, and I would recommend taking some swim wear to change into that way they really can enjoy the fun.
Lots of ways to experiment with water and sand as they can move the water lifting levers and turning pipes to get the water to run through the system.
Sand on the floor allows them to recreate a muddy play area which all of the children enjoyed running through.

There is also some wooden climbing equipment for children to use within this as well and you are assigned a 3 hour slot to play. We didn't take full advantage of this as we arrived quite late for the day but the children would easily occupy themselves for hours here!

Strawberry Falls
£3.50 per player
All ages are allowed to play on the miniature golf course however at a price per player it can be quite costly if a family of 4 wished to play.



Fudge Farm
Free to access and allows you to see all different kinds of farm animals including
  • Rabbits and Guinea Pigs
  • Goats
  • Donkeys
  • Pigs
  • Llamas/Alpacas 
  • Miniature Ponies
 This in itself is lovely to do with young children as you can often get up close with the animals and stroke them. Something our son loved to do.

Scoop
Is where you will find JCB's for you to dig up the Ice Cream Coloured Sand. Suitable from 4 years and again the cost is £3.50 per play.
 
Daisy's Garden
Probably the busiest and most exciting part for our son. This is also free and contains a magical tree that sprays foam every 30 minutes. Great for the children as they count down and await the white foam to spray over them.

There are lots of activities to keep them all occupied with spinning seats, trampolines and a giant toadstool to explore. A great fun play area that is central to the attractions in the Ice Cream Farm.

Silvercone
The familiar quad bikes that we remember from the original Ice Cream Farm which are £1 per play. The age advice is 4 years upwards.
 
Fun Factory Soft Play
0-1 year – Free of charge
1-3 years – £2.50
3+ years – £3.50

A great Ice Cream Inspired soft play area with a 'melting ice cream slide' and my son's favourite the firing ball pit. Great for keeping them entertained and for the parents to grab a drink and relax.

The Loft
This area we didn't get to see as the minimum age is 7 years. 

Overall there are plenty of things to do and more that I haven't gone into as I have covered it from the eyes of my 4 year old and what he was keen to do.

Eating

We chose to eat at The Pantry and found it reasonably priced purchasing Spaghetti Hoops with toasted triangles for just £1.95. Baguettes were the most expensive item on the menu at £4.50 but were filled generously. I opted for a Cheese and Tomato Toastie which was £2.50 and filling, my only disappointment was the dry salad on the side, just needed a little dressing or coleslaw to help it go down.
The Pantry was busy and a bit chaotic towards the back as this was where people gained entry into the soft play area and at busy times people tended to queue around your table whilst you were eating, so I do think they could do with a designated path for queuing that avoids people hovering over your table.

Overall the changes that have been made make it an even more desirable place to visit with children and an ideal place to go midweek out of term.

Of course I cannot finish the review without mentioning the delicious Ice Cream that they create. 
I opted for a triple scoop this time around at £4.00. Very generous scoops mind!
I had Banoffi, White Choc Chunk and Turkish Delight. Each flavour was spot on but be prepared as there is almost always a queue whenever you go but the ice cream is worth the queue each and every time.

If you are in the area this is certainly a place that you should plan into your visit, great for those days when you are unsure if the weather is going to change as there is something to do both indoors and outdoors.