The Eccentric American Mama in Cumbria

How far along?   31 weeks, I meant to do a 30 week post but Christmas morning ended up being more hectic than I had anticipated and by the time we returned home, and to the chalkboard, I was already 30 weeks and 6 days so I just decided to skip a week. Total weight gain/loss?   21+ pounds, I'm a little afraid to get on the scale after all of the lovely treats I had in Edinburgh and around Christmas, no food aversions here! Maternity clothes?   Yes, unless the item is already stretchy and has a high spandex content. In fact, some of my maternity clothes are getting a little tight around the midsection, and since I'll be helping launch Jess's brand in Paris in January, I had to purchase a couple stretchy black dresses because there is no way I can squeeze into my pre-pregnancy ones. In fact, I nearly bust the zipper trying and Josh had to assist me with getting the dress off. He made the comment that he used to help take my dresses off but for an entirely different,...

Despite the fact that the only presents beneath the Christmas tree are a couple of pregnancy cravings, and items for baby that I requested from my mother, I still couldn't shake the age old habit of waking up at the crack ass of dawn! As a child, I usually stumbled downstairs sleepy eyed somewhere between 4 and 5am only to have to stare at the beautifully decorated tree and its monstrosity of gifts beneath its branches in the company of a few remaining gingerbread heads that hadn't yet entered the father/daughter coffee/hot chocolate slaughter house. When I tired of this I usually raced upstairs to awaken my brothers and announce that it was Christmas, it was Christmas, it was Christmas! As if they needed a reminder. Matt usually humoured me and raced downstairs as quick as he could, that is if he wasn't already awake.  Benny, on the other hand, was more sensible/lazy and grumpily rolled over stating that it was far too early to get up and that we wouldn't be able t...

This Christmas has been an interesting one to say the least, without going into much detail it has been filled with some of the highest and lowest moments of our lives, and for a little while we weren't quite sure if we'd be having much of a Christmas at all. However, through this roller coaster of a week we managed to fit in some holiday cheer after all, and I've managed to set aside a mere 10 minutes to post about it. First, I found a shop in Carlisle that sold Yankee Candle! Despite the fact that their selection was rather grim in comparison to what I'm used to I did find a cinnamon scented candle that reminded me of Christmas at home. Unfortunately for Josh, I hadn't realised he loathed cinnamon until I got home, oh well :)  Second, I found this beverage at Marks & Spencer's that glitters when you drink it! At first I was skeptical of such a drink, but then I read the ingredients and realised it had fresh pomegranates and apples, I'm still not q...

How far along?   29 weeks and 2 days Total weight gain/loss?   19.5 Maternity clothes?   Sweatshirt and stretch pants are non-maternity from Lulemon but the purple Tee is Gap Maternity. Stretch Marks?   No :) Sleep?   For the most part I'm sleeping pretty well, we did have a few late nights this past weekend though, I think I may have turned into a pumpkin on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night because I was up past 1am which is pretty much unheard of for me. I'm usually in bed by 9pm at the absolute latest! Best Moment this Week?   Collecting items for the little one's nursery. Josh's sister donated a lot of Eli's old toys and baby items and over night his room was transformed from plain and boring to bright and cheerful. His room is actually quite tiny in the rental so I haven't figured out where I'm going to put his crib yet because at the moment the toys are taking over all the available space, help! We also had a blast ice skating with J...

How far along?   28 weeks 2 days. Still can't post on time, life is crazy at the moment! Total weight gain/loss?   19.5+ I haven't weighed myself since last week so this could be more, especially if the advent calendar has anything to say about it! Maternity clothes?   Everything but the cardigan, the dress is from Gap Maternity. Stretch Marks?   Still nothing, maybe I'll get lucky ;) Sleep?   So much better now that we have moved into a warm and cozy cottage, I have a lot less to stress about at the moment. My only stress is trying to finagle our finances so that we can buy everything for baby boy before his arrival :) Best Moment this Week?   Moving into our adorable cottage, lighting a fire, decorating the Christmas tree, and laughing our heads off while playing Trivial Pursuit, I really can come out with some classic lines. My question was, "What do gondolas have that had traditionalists up in arms?" My response was doors,...

You can just call me Butterball :) How far along?   27 weeks 4 days. Still can't post on time, life is crazy at the moment! Total weight gain/loss?   18.3 pounds Maternity clothes?   The dress is maternity, from gap, but the tights are not and I had to keep pulling them up all day because they wouldn't go over my bump, I need to find some fleece maternity tights now because my other maternity tights aren't thick enough for this cold weather. Stretch Marks?   Nope, although I did panic yesterday when I was putting lotion on. I thought I saw my first stretch mark but it turned out to be a mark where the cat had scratched me earlier, haha. Sleep?   Still horrendous, I've officially turned into an insomniac now. I'm usually up from 2am until 5am. I toss and turn for a good hour and then get sick of that so I go downstairs, make myself a glass of hot milk, and read a book until my eyeballs burn, then I get back into bed from 5am until 6am...