LIEBSTER BLOG AWARD - LIKE I GOT AN AWARD!

My little ol' blog was set up originally just for my kids and for little ol' me really so I feel very excited that the lovely Helen at Raindrops 'n Roses has given me this award.  For all things domestic goddess like you should definitely check out her blog.  I just do not know where she finds the time!

I do have to say though that I did laugh at her reference to me being calm.  That is the swan effect my lovely (calm and serene on the surface, paddling like mad underneath to stay afloat).

So back to my lovely shiny award. 

 The Liebster Award is given to bloggers who have up to 200 followers in the hope it will bring them new followers and friends. The tradition is that it is then passed on to five other bloggers to help them too.  This is where I am going to struggle as I just don't follow enough people, not really sure why that is to be honest.  Mental note to self to find some more lovely blogs to follow.  I am sure that there are plenty of them on here.

I am told that to accept the award, you need to:

1. Link back to the person's blog who gave you the award and thank them.

2. Post the award on your blog.

3. Give the award to five fellow bloggers who inspire you.  

4. Leave a comment on their blogs to let them know.

So onto the important bit and selecting five blogs to give the award to.  I think I am going to reserve judgement on this for now and go away and find myself  some more blogs to indulge in as there aren't many that I follow and most of the ones that I do have lots of followers anyway.  I should, however, say that if Helen hadn't given the award to me she would clearly be one of them.  I just adore all of her crafting, but also all of the lovely things she seems to find time to do with her girls.  She really inspires me to delve into my depths and search out that little bit of domestic goddessness.

On a final note I must just give Beth @ My Name is Beth this award because hers was the blog that got me  thinking about blogging.  I really enjoy finding out what she has been up to with her little man and we are similar in some ways with our approach to parenting, except that she seems more comfortable in her own parenting skin than me so I seek out inspiration from her blog.  I bet you didn't know that did you lovely so thank you.

I'll get back to this in a few days with the rest of my awards.

TEENY AT 28+2

Ok so still in need of that haircut mentioned in the last picture, but here is an updated bump picture taken last Friday.

I am so pleased to say that, despite having to go in for a trace last Tuesday as Teeny was being unusually lazy, Teeny is doing really well and yes you guessed it as soon as I arrived at the hospital for said trace they were dancing around like there was no tomorrow.  Although I did feel very reassured having had what the midwife referred to as "a beautiful trace".

I also had my 28 week check last week and everything was as perfect as it can be at this stage.  Nothing showing in my urine, bloods came back lovely, bump measuring 28.5, heard a lovely heartbeat and Teeny is head down (for now).  I had nobody to have A&D so had to take them with me which I wasn't looking forward to, but I was really glad that it happened that way.  They do have their moments and I tend to focus on those a lot, but I was so proud of them when we went to see the midwife; they behaved beautifully and were really interested in everything that was going on.  They loved hearing Teeny's heartbeat and stood with their heads peering over the bed while the midwife found it and measured my fundal height.  I even had to explain to my inquisitive daughter the reason why I had to give the midwife a urine sample which was interesting.

Now I just hope that all stays well and uncomplicated because, as much as I am trying to stay level headed and sensible about it all, I am finding myself getting extremely excited at the prospect of a home birth and I can see me being quite heartbroken if it doesn't go according to plan.  Yes I know that in the grand scheme of things all that really matters is that Teeny gets here safe and sound, but a home birth is so important to us as a family especially as we really want A&D to be involved too.  On that note what really surprises me is that they are not in the least bit freaked out by watching women in labour on the TV, but then again why would they be I suppose?  They are innocent children and I guess that because I haven't made a fuss and have answered whatever questions they have had honestly (but in simple terms) it is just normal to them.  We also have a beautifully illustrated children's story book called Hello Baby told from the perspective of a little boy whose mommy is having a home birth and they really like it.  We are just going to play it by ear with them though and if at any point it doesn't feel right for us or them that they are there then they will go to Nanny's for a while. 

Whatever the outcome though we are all so excited about the impending arrival of our new addition and we feel incredibly blessed.

SISTER UKHANA - A SHAMELESS PLUG

A bit off topic for my blog, but I need to give Sister Ukhana a mention as I have been meaning to do so for a while.

Sister Ukhana is a Community Interest Company set up by a friend of mine.  Back in 2005, I think it was, my very very good friend Jade went to volunteer in an orphanage in Ghana for around six months or so.  I missed her lots during that time, but she came back in 2006 with a plan to set up a business to sell fair trade cocoa butter products made by women in Ghana and packaged by women here.  If you want to know more you can find out more about the ins and outs of the business on her website. 

Now I have every faith in Jade that she will accomplish whatever she will set out to do, but I have to say that a teeny part of me thought this might be a bit of a tall order, even for Jade, but I needn't have worried.  In the midst of training for a new job, working more than full time, buying a house, learning French, being a heavily involved director of another Community Interest Company and a good few other things thrown in for good measure including the selfless acts of being my bridesmaid and organising my baby shower ;) Jade is well on the way to having Sister Ukhana as a fully functioning and trading business.  She has worked to complete application after application for funding grants, worked with pharmacists (or the like so don't quote me on the exact qualification) on formulations, website designers, graphic designers, friends and associates in the UK and Ghana to sourcing ingredients and a team etc, etc.  The list goes on!

Sister Ukhana CIC was registered in 2010, but there's been huge progress this January what with the website being launched so I thought this was the perfect time to show Jade and her hard work some love and tell her how extremely proud I am of her for her achievements and also how much I love her for being my friend.

Jade and I on a night out pre-motherhood

Oh and given that I like to talk a bit about my photography interest in this blog I am very selfishly going to give myself a little mention for doing some of the product shots for the website like the one on  the top right hand side of the website's homepage.  I was really chuffed that Jade asked me to do this, even if it did take me an age to get them sorted,  and am so pleased with how they look on the website, can't believe that I actually took them.  Thanks so much for the opportunity my lovely.

So finally if you would like to find out more about Sister Ukhana have a look at the website, like her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.