Friday Round Up

a 'get well' cake from one of matts customers - little kitbit - where do we live??

jessie 'helping' - dog walk - bed hog

a cosy corner - flutterby - giant baby bump

instagram - madeupoflittlethings

Predictably late, as usual :) But these posts will always be Friday Round Ups in my head, whatever day they get published

So it's the end of our first couple of weeks in our new house and I have to say, it's not been quite as stressful as I expected. Yes, most of our stuff is still packed away in boxes. Yes I am sick of having to be in the house nearly every day to look after tradesmen, make tea, take deliveries etc. But there have been plenty of pretty wonderful bits too

We've been up early every morning and got into the habit of having breakfast together every day which we're both loving. In the past, Matt has been up early, brought me a cup of tea in bed and raced off to work after a quick bowl of cereal. But work has taken a back seat to home this week and we've spent each morning sitting together at our kitchen table, drinking tea and eating toast or croissants or porridge with the news on in the background and the hazy sun streaming in through the French doors. It's a simple thing but it's made me really happy

It would be easy to let the state of the house get me down but to be honest, I'm not in any position to do anything about it so I've had to accept the way things are and take a 'just get on with it' approach. There are no carpets, unpainted walls, none of the doors shut and we only have one sink - in the kitchen - so brushing my teeth next to the breakfast dishes has become part of my daily routine. With less than three weeks to go until the baby is due, I'm frankly bloody huge and just can't cope with painting or anything more than basic household chores so decorating etc is just going to have to wait

Despite its shortcomings I'm falling a bit more in love with the house every day. Obviously there is still LOADS to do before it resembles a normal living space but I can see the huge potential and the space here is unbelievable, even though we're only using a couple of rooms at the minute. The Aga is responsible for making the place feel really warm, homely and comfortable and when you're in the kitchen you can almost forget that the ceiling is still unpainted, some of the cupboards don't have shelves or doors yet and there are no curtains!

The dogs are almost settled in - Jessie particularly has taken quite a while to feel at home. She's been better since our new tenants moved into our old house on Tuesday and we're not going there every day to finish off work on it. She used to sit in the van and wait for us to get in and come back to the other house, as if she was frightened we might forget her! 

Speaking of animals, we found a nest of kittens under our shed when we moved it from the old house! There were four babies, three scattered and one little cutie just curled into a ball and waited to be rescued. Much as I would have loved to keep him we just have far too much else keeping us busy at the moment so I took him to a local rescue centre where I've been assured he can stay until his forever owners come along 

Matt's feeling better after his recent hospital stay, he popped back for a scan on Thursday and we went to York in the afternoon for lunch and a brief wander around the shops to look at baby things. We had lunch at Bettys (Eggs Benedict for me and Yorkshire Sausages for him, with copious amounts of Tea Room Blend tea - heaven!) and spent a small fortune in Fudge Kitchen as per usual. When we got home we were greeted by Wilson on the drive - we'd left the French doors open in the kitchen and he'd wandered out and been sitting on the drive waiting for our return! Jessie was splashed out on her bed, as we expected :)

Yesterday I went to the Aga shop in Lincoln to purchase some pans and came away with two pans and £240 lighter - gulp! Today we went into town to visit the birthing unit where we'll soon be welcoming our baby boy/girl into the world. You'd think it would be exciting and reassuring but no, it was neither. We came away feeling slightly terrified and had to console ourselves with fish and chips

This week I'll be batch cooking and freezing meals so that we'll get chance to eat well during our first few weeks as new parents, as well as packing The Hospital Bag - it's been a work in progress for weeks but I really need to finish it this week. I'll be attempting to colour my hair, treating myself to a deluxe pedicure and ordering last minute baby bits, including bedding before the cot arrives on Friday. We're truly on Baby Countdown now!

Have a great week everyone!