Preparing Albie for the baby!

Hey guys,

So ever since we even thought about having another baby i have been worrying about how Albie is going to take and adapt to the fact he will no longer be an only child. He has always had mine and Hayden's constant attention and it has always been about him so bringing another child in to the equation is a big deal.

Anyway i have expressed my concerns to Hayden and to other family members and all of them have given me some tips on how to help him get prepared for the baby when she arrives and what to do when she is here so i thought i would share with you some tips.

1: Make him feel included in the build up
     - By this i mean, we have taken him to scans, let him help pick clothes for the baby, taken him to midwife appointments and listened to her heartbeat and let him talk to my bump and feel her kicking away.

2: Make the baby known
    - First of all when we found out we were expecting i tried not to speak to him to much about the baby because i thought it would make him feel sad and pushed out but i was so wrong. After our second scan when we found out the gender we told him hes going to have a baby sister, we told him her name, we showed him where she would be sleeping and sitting in the car just to make him aware that she will be around him when she arrives and so that a baby didn't just arrive in the car seat and bedroom next to him.

3: Let him help
   - This one works for both before the baby is here and after but more so afterwards, let him help pack the hospital bag, let him help get the nappies and feed the baby, just letting them help in general will make them feel so included and like they are not being left out and the attention is on them too.

4: A gift from the baby
    -  When you have a new baby you get a lot of guests that want to meet them and i didn't want Albie to feel its all about her so i am going to be making him a little gift bag of things from her that i know he will love for example, ive brought him some little motorbikes and dinosaurs and i am going to get him a few more bits to go inside just to make him feel that bit more special.

5: Albie and me time
    - Last but not least, although i now spend every minute of every day with Albie i have made sure there is an hour in the afternoons where it is just me and him and he picks an activity for us to do of his choice. I plan to continue this when the baby is born when she is napping just so that he still gets some one on one time with me.


So far Albie is really enjoying the fact he is soon going to be a big brother and is loving helping get the baby's stuff ready with us for her arrival. He is so loving towards my ever growing bump and throughout the day will just randomly pull my top up and kiss my tummy and talk to her. Just a few days ago we went out on a little mummy and Albie lunch date and i let him pick a cake and he said to the shop assistant my baby sister would like the pink cake. I had to explain she wasn't born yet but it truly melted my heart and has shown me that he is just going to be the most amazing big brother and i cannot wait for them to meet.

I really hope this post helps some of you guys if you are thinking about having any more children or are currently expecting.

Take care,
Megan x

Second trimester!

Hey guys,

I know this post is so overdue as i am now well into my third trimester but i thought i would let you all know how i found my second trimester and just little updates.

I had what felt like the most awful first trimester ever! It was so much more awful than Albies, now dont get me wrong i feel very lucky to be able to carry children and to be in the position i am in but i was so exhausted and drained that i just felt like i couldnt function and with a toddler i just hated feeling like that. It wasnt just me that was suffering it was Albie too because as much as i tried to be the energetic mum i was worn out by midday.

The sickness was awful too but thankfully both the exhaustion and sickness had eased off as i entered into my second trimester which i was so pleased about, although they hadn't fully gone i was feeling so much more myself and more like i could relax and enjoy being pregnant again.

A bump update (my bump with Evalyn and my bump with Albie, both at 21 weeks)

The best part of my second trimester was we found out the gender of our baby and if you read my last post you will know we are expecting a baby girl! We are so over the moon and cannot wait for her to be here.

Overall, i really enjoyed the second trimester of my pregnancy, so much so that it just absolutley flew by and i am now in my third trimester. I cant quite believe it and am so lucky that so far everything has gone plain sailing and she is growing perfectly and is measuring exactly as she should be.

I will be doing a third and final trimester update soon so keep an eye out for that!

Take care,
Megan x

The gender reveal!

Hey guys,

So on May 12th, we had our 20 week scan to check that the baby was growing and developing well and thankfully everything was perfect which we are so pleased about and at the end of the scan we had been asked if we wanted to know the gender, which of course we said yes! Some people prefer not to find out but we found out with Albie and i am terrible with surprises so we had both agreed if they asked then we would.

I was convinced i was having another boy all throughout my first trimester and early second trimester just because my gut was telling me 'its a boy' so when the sonographer said we were expecting A LITTLE GIRL i couldn't quite believe it, in fact i didn't. I asked her to triple check and asked for a second opinion ha, it was just a shock. Now dont get me wrong i would of loved another little boy but i was so excited to buy for a baby girl as it was something i had never done before what with having 3 brothers so it was a whole new thing for me. Hayden said he knew it was a girl although every time i had asked him prior to the scan his reply was 'how am i supposed to know', typical bloke response but he is delighted at the fact we have been blessed with a child of each gender.


So we have decided on the name 'Evalyn' for her and we had decided on this before we even knew the gender, we just love how pretty it sounds and that its a name that sounds perfect for any age.We announced the gender to our family at a gender reveal party that Haydens family hosted for us and we had made little picture cards of blue and pink baby boots and which ever we had the most of was the correct gender, they was all so confused at first as we had made it an even number and hid Albies and then said 'Albies turn' and he revealed the pink baby boots with her name written on.

We feel so grateful to be able to have children and are beyond excited for our baby girl to make her appearance into the world. 10 weeks and counting!

Hope you liked this post, take care!
Megan x

Im sorry!

So as you can tell i have been absent for a while, no real reason to it just have been super busy and my blog had to take a back seat for a while. Thats the best thing about my blog, it doesnt disappear if i dont write for a while and i can always come back and pick up where i left off.

So while i have been away being 'busy' we have found out the gender of our baby, stay tuned for the next post with an update about my second trimester and the big old gender reveal which will be going up this week coming. Id like to say i have also been busy working on the house but in all honesty i havent, i mean my husband and builders have been working very hard but i have literally not lifted a finger on it but im pregnant so i get away with it, ha.

Anyway now that i am in my third trimester ive decided i am going to make more of an effort with my blog, i enjoy write little posts for you to all read about my little life and i know quite a few of you like reading them so i promise when i say this i am back and there will be more blog posts coming!

Speak to you all very soon

Megan x

My first trimester.

Hey guys,

I thought I would do a post on my first trimester and how I found it, I am moving into my second trimester now and I cant wait!

So at around 6 weeks I started getting morning sickness. It hasn't stopped, I have had it every single day, every time I eat and it has been awful. I never got morning sickness with Albie so I had never experienced it but I have been trying to embrace it as I am trying to enjoy being pregnant this time round. (I am finding that hard to)

I have also had excruciating back pain and headaches, to the point that some days I have found even walking hard but I have struggled on through and the back pain seems to have come to an end (touch wood). I am still getting headaches but they are easing off a little bit now too, so now all I need is the sickness to disappear and I will love being pregnant.

Don't get me wrong, I feel so lucky to be in a position that I can have children and I thank my lucky stars every night but I am most definitely one of those women who prefer to give birth than be pregnant. People say to me are you nuts, pregnancy is the easy bit? But I disagree, I didn't enjoy being pregnant with Albie and I am not enjoying it this time around much either. I had such an easy labour with Albie that I can honestly say I prefer to give birth.

I know in the end, this is all so worth it and I am so looking forward to our baby being here. Apart from the sickness and back pain everything is going swimmingly, baby is healthy and seems to be growing and developing as they should be which is great news. I haven't put on any weight yet as whatever I am eating just comes straight back up but I am sure my body will make up for that in due course.

Did you guys enjoy being pregnant? What do you prefer, being pregnant or giving birth? Let me know in the comments.

Take care.
Megan x

I am pregnant!

So guys, ive been away again for a while and the reason if you couldn't tell from the title is I'M PREGNANT.

Now I know being pregnant in itself does not mean I should of neglected my blog but I have been finding it quite difficult. ( I will explain more in my next blog post about my first trimester)

So, we found out we were expecting another little bundle of joy around 8 weeks ago, so I was 5 weeks pregnant and it has been so hard trying to keep it hidden from everyone. A few sneaky people guessed from some of my tweets though. We are absolutely over the moon and Albie is also very excited.

So the exciting bit, when is the baby due? Our due date is the 30th September but this could all change as with Albie I went from the 24th of January to the 8th January but for now its the 30th September.

Do we know the gender? No, I am only 13 weeks at the moment so they couldn't tell but we are hopefully going to find out if we are expecting a baby boy or a baby girl. We will be more than happy with either gender, we just cant wait for baby Ballard to be here.

Do we have any names? Yes, we have a girls name picked out but no boys names. We always seem to struggle with boys names. We are going to be keeping the names quiet though until we are 100% sure and until we know the gender.

Is Albie excited? Albie doesn't fully understand but he does know that mummy has a baby in her tummy so he has to be careful and quite often he will lift my top/dress up to say hello to baby and stroke my tummy.

Anyway, I am going to be doing a full post on my first trimester to give you a bit more of an insight into how I am finding this pregnancy so make sure you keep your eyes peeled for that one.

Hope you enjoyed this post.

Take care.

Megan x

Anxiety

Hey guys,

Hope you have all had a good week. I received quite a few questions from my latest blog post - home sick about whether or not I suffer with anxiety as well so I thought what better way to answer your questions than to write it in a new post.

So the answer to the most asked question, do I suffer with anxiety? Yes I suffer with anxiety. Some days are good days and some are bad.

Do I suffer with panic attacks? Sometimes, I don't always have one whenever im feeling anxious but I have had  some, I normally have one when I am in a situation that I feel fearful in. For example, every single dentist trip I have had for the past 4 years I have without a doubt had a panic attack. Some people don't know what triggers their panic attacks so im glad I know how to deal with mine and when they are going to happen.

What makes me anxious? I am somebody who suffers from very low self confidence so when I am in a situation where I don't know anybody or having to go somewhere new that I don't know and have never been to before, I will start worrying and will start to feel very anxious, very quickly. For example, I booked a trip to Paris for Hayden's 18th birthday present and because I didn't know the area or where i was i became ill with worry and spent most of it in my room until Hayden could convince me that it was safe to go outside and that he had worked out all of our routes.

What helps me with my anxiety? I find that if I research into the place im visiting and can work out how to get home or to where im staying then im okay and to help with my social anxiety it is best for me to be with someone that knows me well enough to know that I have anxiety and will talk me through it all if I start to become to panicked or too anxious. If im alone and having to face a new place or a social situation then I try to take 5 minutes and remember why im doing what im doing.

How long have I had it? To be completely honest, I think I have always had it but just never knew what it was. I've never been a confident person and have a fear of meeting new people and going to new places but I think its probably been worse for me since I was 14. I moved away from everything and everyone I knew.

I hope this post helps some of you know a bit more about me and answered some of your questions.

Take care 

Megan x