I've been putting off this post...

...but I really want to update on all the other things that we've been up to, but felt I couldn't without doing this update first as you've al been so lovely.

It was bad news: Gizzy has cancer. We were absolutely devastated and I'm just about coming to terms with it now. It is stage one and it wasn't all removed but, after talking to numerous specialists, we've decided it would be wrong to put a three legged, elderly dog through a serious operation on his other leg (a large amount of muscle would have to be removed, leaving him incapable of walking for weeks)- and there would be no guarantee it won't reappear elsewhere.

Instead, we've decided to leave him be and spoil him rotten- even more than we normally do! We may just have months but the vet said there's also a good chance we could have him longer and he may even leave us through old age.

Strangely, the thing that helped me come to terms with this was when somebody (trying to comfort me) said: "Losing a dog is like losing and child." and, though I didn't say anything, I just thought no, it's not! I know people very close to me who have lost a child and it tears your world apart. Losing a pet is devastating, but simply not comparable. We've had the pleasure of having the wonderful Gizzy for over ten years and he's around twelve now, which is great going for a dog. So, we've tried to make the selfless choice and rather than put him through the trauma of an operation that may not work, just so we can have him longer, we've opted to allow him to be happy and enjoy as long as he's here and pain free. 

So, now that I've got that horrible post out of the way, some lovely posts will follow... I promise!

Feel like it's been forever but I'm sure you can forgive me when I show you the sorry little face I've been looking after:

I say I've been looking after him, he's been looking after me too as I've had a rough couple of weeks but we're both gradually beginning to feel more human/doggy again.

The operation to remove his lump went well and at his first check up the vet was really pleased with the way the stitches were healing. His next check up is Saturday morning when hopefully they will have the test results to let us know what the lump was; I don't think we'll rest peacefully until we know that our hairy first born boy will be okay.

I'm hoping to post more fully towards the end of the week, hope you're all well.xxx

Please send Gizzy your good vibes/ prayers/ happy thoughts

{Giz curled up with some pom poms I'd been making}

Just under two weeks ago Steve was lying on the carpet giving Gizzy a scratch when he found a small pea sized lump at the top of his left leg. I took him to the vets the next day and they reassured me that it could be a whole host of things, to just ignore it for two weeks and then look at it again to see if it had grown/ changed (you shouldn't check daily as it's harder to work out if it's grown).

I checked it today. It's bigger, a lot bigger and very angry looking. I took him straight back to the vets and tomorrow he's having an operation to have it removed. We don't know what it is yet and won't until the results come back from the lab.

If I'm looking for the silver lining, it's that he doesn't have to stay overnight at the vets. Being a cat and dog shelter dog/ dog who spent a lot of time in the vets having operations on the leg he eventually had removed, he's not a dog to enjoy being left in a cage in a strange place overnight.

All good vibes/ prayers/ happy thoughts etc welcome. xxx

Paris... the most beautiful city in the world?

Or at least the most beautiful one I've visited!I hadn't been for twelve years but it didn't disappoint. I'm not sure these images need captions... except the last one!

{Can you spot the (then) 14 week baby bump?}

So, the last photo... 'Michael Jackson' was hanging around outside a Hollywood Stars type shop at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower. Thinking he was an employee, I asked if Ben could have his photo taken with him (to which he agreed). Just before Steve took the photo, he whispered to me that this guy wasn't working, he is just some peculiar soul who enjoys dressing as Michael- you can tell by the look on my face I wasn't sure whether to be amused or a bit freaked out that he was making a heart logo on Ben's chest! The more I look at this photo, the freakier it seems!

And the second last one? This is Ben and Steve congratulating themselves after finding somewhere to eat. Imagine the scene: a pregnant woman (still at sickly stage) has been up since about seven a.m. and wondering the streets of Paris for nine hours (including taking the Steps up the Eiffel Tower, hitting La Louvre and all along the Champs Elysee) and kept being told we'd get food "Just around the next corner...". I had gone beyond huffy and was demanding to be fed! We finally found this little Chinese place (yes I know, not the most obvious choice in Paris but what the pregnant woman wants...) and were able to relax and eat!

I do love Paris, it's a stunning city aesthetically but I'm not sure it has, for example, the funkiness of Berlin or the warmth of Budapest, but that's what I love about exploring a city: discovering it's 'vibe' and Paris is all about the stunning (and I mean STUNNING) good looks. And let's be honest, everybody likes a stunner!

Sunday Summary

Should I just rename this the Monday Summary ,given that's it's nearly always late anyway?

This weekend I've been taking it easy as I'm still not back at work and this pregnancy is proving to be more of a challenge than when I was expecting Ben (nb- I'm not complaining here, I know we're very blessed to be expecting).

Sooooo........

Friday was craft night with the mums from Ben's school (I'll post on this later)

Saturday was Ben's break dancing class and then my lovely friend Emmie gave me a lesson on how to use a sewing machine (I hadn't touched one since school). The evening was spent on the sofa vegging out!

Sunday we went for a walk on the beach...

{My boys}

{Ben and Granny Smith}

{Yummy- I went for a tub of pistashio and hazelnut praline, Ben has bubblegum, Mum had ginger and banana and Steve had... none- he's being 'good'}

{Picnic time}

Finally got round to sorting some more holiday snaps so the next post will be on the stunning city of Paris.

Hope you all had a super duper weekend.xxx

Look at my lovely stick!

Look at this stick I've found!

It's a huge stick!

Can I bring it home... please?

Can somebody please tell Gizzy that he's eleven now and only has three legs? I think it's time for him to go for smaller sticks! 

I can't tell you how much we love this hairy, stinky, mischievous mutt. xxx

Pregnancy PS- we now know if we're having a boy buba or girl buba and I'll share as soon as all our friends and family know.

I Got Bitten by the Blog Bug!

The Rules
1. If you are given the Blog Bug award, you must answer the questions that follow and the title of the post should be "I Got Bitten by the Blog Bug".
2. You must give the link of where you originally got this award and you can tag as many bloggers as you want. Link their pages on the post and also inform them through comments in their blog.

Questions
1. When and why did you start blogging?

In January of this year- I'm a still a 'newbie' to the world of blogging. At the point when I started blogging, I'd already been following other bloggers for about a year and loved the idea of documenting your life but also having an interactive and community element that a diary just doesn't offer.


2. What do you love to blog about and why do you like it?

My favourite blog is probably just my 'Sunday Summary' as it tends to just cover the usual things we do on a weekend. Important events in life (birthdays/ holidays etc) are easy to remember but I love being able to just look back on what we were doing at that point on an average weekend. I imagine the satisfaction of this will grow even more when I have years to look back over, rather than just months.

3. How did you get your blog name?

It's our family name and the blog was intended to be our story- it was that simple (plus, being an English teacher, I'm a sucker for a bit of alliteration).

4. What do you think is your best post yet?

Is that not for the readers to decide? I enjoy writing all my posts (otherwise I wouldn't bother), but I guess it was pretty exciting to share the news of our pregnancy.

5. What is your inspiration for blogging at present?


My 'Inspired by you guys' posts document a few of the things that have inspired me from the net and I always link them back to their original source. I love all the ideas you can get from the net, my favourites are recipes and easy crafts.

In my day to day life, my pregnancy is pretty all consuming although I don't want my blog to become consumed by it! It's great to share bits and pieces, but I think it's generally only close friends and family who want to hear every detail of your pregnancy!

6. Message for your readers?

Just a simple thank you: firstly for all of your inspiring blogs and secondly so I don't feel a bit strange just writing off into the abyss! It's lovely to get your feedback.

I award:

Leticia- My Everyday Fairy Tale- pop over and check out her blog and her gorgeous new baby.

'Peanut'- A handful of peanuts- another beautiful mother with a new baby.

Tabetha - The Closet Intellectual - ANOTHER stunning mother (are you getting the theme here); she's one of the bloggers  I've followed for a while and I look forward to her posts. I'm convinced if we lived near each other, Tabetha and I would be great friends!

And last but most certainly not least, thank you to Sneha at Sneha Says for the nomination. xxx

Pregnancy PS- it's our 20 week scan today- so excited! I really want to find out what we're having but Steve doesn't- how frustrating! I'm secretly hoping he may fold and give in if I bed/ whinge/ annoy/ bribe him enough in the waiting room. I'll let you know how it goes.

Thinking about the cord...

Steve didn't cut Ben's cord when he was born- to be honest I think there was just so much going on at the time that his priority was ensuring Ben and I were okay (we had a bit of a tough labour). Cue generic cord photo from Google images...

This time round, I probably wouldn't have given it any further thought until I came across this-link! It really made me pause and reflect on this third part of the labour and what I would like to happen with the cord. I read up on lotus birth but decided this just isn't for me, however, when I reflected on it, I'm also not entirely comfortable with whacking a great plastic clip on my newborn's cord. As a new parent, most of us are hyper aware of what we will let touch our beautiful newborns delicate skin (buying organic clothes, beautiful lotions etc) yet somehow a big plastic clip seems okay? 

I'm not so sure now.

I think that perhaps I need to further investigate and look into the option of making my own fabric cord tie. Ben could be part of this process too and I feel much happier at the thought of having sterilised silk press against my little one's skin.

How about you guys? Any interesting tales to tell or ideas on what you plan to do with the cord?

Inspired by you guys...HD brows

I've always been nervous about tampering with my eyebrows- I've seen the results of over plucked brows on friends and it ain't pretty!

I've had minor waxing/ colouring done before but I was eager to give them a little more shape.I'd heard bits and pieces about HD brows and liked that although they were very 'styled', they weren't super skinny brows.

After I read this particular blog post, I decided to give it a go. The salon is local to me and I like that Jerri's brows looked thick but groomed.

{Let's pretend there aren't any wrinkles/random brown splodges of skin discolouration eh?}

I forgot to take a before picture (as to be honest I hadn't thought about blogging about this until afterwards)but these are the after shots (word of warning- if taking a close up of your eye area and are over 30, you might want to heavily crop it like I have- scary crows feet ahoy)!

So what did I think?

The treatment itself wasn't at all painful, if anything, it was quite relaxing. She did mention that she'd used a powder to fill the gaps using a palette but to be honest, I felt they looked a bit too OTT with this on so I wiped it off as soon as I got home! Other than that, I love the result and the shape. 

At £37, it certainly isn't cheap. I won't be getting it done the recommended every 5-6 weeks. Instead, I'll aim to follow the shape by plucking myself (I'm a bit weird as I find plucking relaxing) and just get your average £8 colour once every couple of months. If, like me, you're a bit nervous doing your own brows, it's certainly worth shelling out initially to get the right shape.

Happy plucking everyone!xxx

PS- any other questions about the treatment, please feel free to ask below.

France- I miss you already!

There are just some things the French do incredibly well...

{Warm enough to dine al fresco late into the evening}

{Beautiful attention to detail}

{Gorgeous Châteaus- I did might have pretended this was my house}

{Funky street art, even on the trees!}

{Lakes so warm you can swim/ throw your child around in them}

Just a few of the things I've been pining for since we've returned. Hopefully we'll get a chance to indulge in them all again soon. In the meantime there's always happy memories.xxx