10 weeks and counting

My first ever blogging belly picture (how exciting!!) I feel like I'm almost hurtling towards my due date. On the one hand, I'm kind of glad. There's only so much feet-between-ribs poking I can stand and I'd say I'm getting pretty close to that threshold already. On the other hand I feel myself getting more and more panicked about whether I've gotten everything I need (surely I've forgotten about something?) and getting the house in order for a new arrival.

I've spent a serious amount of my maternity leave so far re-arranging the bedroom to make space for all the endless baby paraphernalia. As it turns out, babies take up more room than a  big fat hippo  normal person. I've actually had to chuck out.. clothes! I would pretend I'm not totally devastated by that but I really, really am. Like almost tear shedding devastated. 

My bathroom is too small to store all the new baby towels, wash cloths, lotions, sponges and other general hygiene type things so I nabbed a whole cupboard to cram these types of things into. I emptied a whole chest of drawers to accommodate the growing pile of baby clothes. It's kind of at the stage now where I want to start turning down gifts of baby clothes   gratefully accept the 9-12 month shorts that I won't be needing for well over a year  and then worry about where i'm going to store them.

Having a baby, especially a baby who is the first grandchild on both sides of the family, is proving to be more difficult than I thought. One piece of advice I hear the most often is "accept everything you get as babies are so expensive!" Which is true, they are. That advice is pretty sound in fact, but doesn't help you out when you have a relative brandishing a hideous vile jumper cute little jumper or a pair of absolutely hideous blue and white striped moccasin socks. Just where is all of this stuff going to go? And how am I going to get around the fact that the hideous pair of moccasin socks cost £5 and will most likely have to be shown off to the buyer on the bottom of infant feet *sigh* Don't suppose the dog could help me out for once and "eat" them..?

Taken at 28 weeks and 3 days

I thought before I go I'd share another quick 4d scan picture. Look at that cherubic little face. Like butter wouldn't melt. He is clearly going to be one  little hellraiser laid back baby.

Gemma xx

What's in a name?

Back when I actually created this blog (and then never used it) I was 21 going on 22 years old and dreading it. I mean seriously, who doesn't want to stay 21 forever? I'd spent the year partying it up studying to become a qualified hairdresser (which I achieved in August 2012), and meeting various mental worldly people whom continue to enrich my life today.

Being 21 *sigh*

When it came to re-starting my blog I had imagined giving it a big, bloggy makeover. But to be honest, I'm just a little too lazy. I racked my poor shrinking brains for a brand spanking new name suitable for my foray into the world of impending motherhood but sadly pregnancy has robbed me of all rational and coherent thought. After spending an embarrassingly long amount of time staring at my laptop screen (something I seem to be doing more and more of lately) I decided to hell with it, what's in a name anyway? And then lazily kept the original blog name despite no longer being 21 (the shame)!

Luckily, I give more time and attention when it comes to naming the important people in my life (yes my dog is called Alvin, trust me it's a better name than the one I originally wanted to give him)! 

You wanted to call me what?!

When I got the first positive pregnancy test back in December (and the second, third, forth and fifth. Serial pee-er anyone?) I immediately set about picking names, one for a girl, one for a boy, just in case. That may seem a little extreme considering at the time of the positive test I was approximately 5 weeks pregnant but what can I say? I like to be organised. 

The first rule was, we both had to like the name. There was no "you name this one, I'll name the next one *snicker*" crap. I seriously had to veto a long, long list of awful football related names to begin with. How awful can football related baby names be I hear you ask? Bergkamp for a boy, Lanesra for a girl (read backwards) I mean really, Lanesra?! I was kind of hoping to be raising happy, well adjusted kids; not a poor miserable girl with a name that to be completely honest sounds like lesbian to me EVERY TIME I hear it (I know, it sounds nothing like the same, perhaps my brain is wired funny).

We went through Jack, Jackson, Rocky, Dennis, Henry among others for a boy and Isabella, Ruby, Caitlin, and India for a girl. We finally settled on Ramsey for a boy and Isla Joan for a girl. Two names which weren't even included on our original lists!! And so our future child gained his or her name at just 11 weeks gestation. 19 weeks and three scans later we discovered it was a Ramsey in our future (there was no mistaking that boy part! Except for when I totally did, cooing over the chubby "leg" at our 16 week private scan) and the debate has ensued on middle names. I'd imagine this little monster will end up with me scribbling a middle name on as secretly as possible when registering him be a cool trendsetter for his generation and end up with no middle name. 

Gemma xx

Welcome!

Hello!

Having spent the first two weeks of my maternity leave halfheartedly attempting to "nest" (which lasted about 6 days) I have plunged into a state of despair. Yes I know that the floor needs hoovering (again) and the Christmas decorations need shipping off to my mums for storage (still) and there's bags of unwanted hand me down baby clothes ready to be delivered to the clothes bank (complete with the note I wrote last week stating this fact in large bold letters in the hope that my boyfriend would take said bag to the clothes bank still attached and on display) but I just cannot face doing any more "nesting".

As I still have 10 weeks (!!) left until my EDD I figured now would be a great time time to get my brand spanking new blog off the ground, starting with a spangly and welcoming introduction post.

My name is Gemma, I'm 24 and 10 weeks away from welcoming my first child into the world. I have quite an unhealthy obsession with documenting my life in a way that makes blogging almost a calling to me; and seeing as I have 10 long weeks where I will probably be sitting on my bum eating as much food as I can  really busy preparing for the new arrival  I thought starting my blogging journey chronicling my transformation into a first time mum would be best tackled now, while I have some spare time in my days to update and set up what can only be described as a complicated array of new fangled blogging options (RSS feeds anyone?) that simply did not exist back in my livejournal-ing days.

I share my home with my loving boyfriend and soon to be first time daddy, Tommy.

Now I can't promise he is completely grown up, or even that he will make it to see the birth of his first child unless he seriously stops playing Clash Of Clans on his iPhone literally every waking moment of the day (you know you have a problem when 'your troops are ready for battle' becomes a running joke in the household!) As you can see from the picture (taken outside the Emirates Stadium) he is an Arsenal fan (read Arsenal obsessive mentalist) who I think genuinely believes the impending birth of our first child is the sole reason for Arsenal winning the FA Cup this season. 

My life wouldn't be complete without the other man in my household. The forever malting, hugely annoying but largely cute and endearing Jack Russell that I share my home with. Meet Alvin.

Despite the impression his name gives off, he isn't cute and cuddly like his cartoon chipmunk counterpart. In fact he doesn't really like all that many people if I'm honest (except perhaps me). Nevertheless he is an important part of the family despite some of the annoying habits he has. He turns 6 years old this October, that is one year away from doggy senior status which I can guarantee will have me bawling my eyes out just because he will always be my first baby!

Being a bit outnumbered in the gender department, I figured it would be totally worth it to pay and have an early gender scan at 16 weeks, because while Tommy is one of five boys, I am one of three girls. Perhaps this baby will be the one to tip the gender scales back into my favour? 

No such luck. We are expecting our son in August and I am overly thrilled to be having a healthy boy. From the strength of his kicks in my more sensitive parts he is already well on his way to becoming the Arsenal football legend his dad envisions him to become. I've managed to source and buy every single cute boy outfit going and I'm becoming more impatient by the day to meet him (10 more weeks, just 10 more weeks!)

Baby Ramsey

That is just a brief little "who's who" of my little family . Between the boys I probably already have enough blog fodder to keep me going for months on end but I'm especially looking forward to sharing my journey into mum-hood and the inevitable boy messes that are about to wreak its boy havoc on my life.

Gemma xx