I've really thrown myself into being vegan again!

Last month I had a really bad blip for me..I curiously ate animals. Mainly pigs bless em. This was the only odd food thing I've had while pregnant. And no I did not feel any better for it..if anything I felt worse. My body just couldn't deal with digesting it properly after such a long time of me eating animals. Note how I say animals n not meat..well it is afterall dead animals. So last week I decided to go vegan again. In the hope to eat better than I had been,and because I had been missing my experiences of being vegan from when I was last year aswell. To be honest I don't know what stopped me from being vegan n made me go back to being vegi in the first place! But I have been very on n off with it since January 2009, I remember exactly when as it was my news year resolution. I think that I never really gave myself enough time or knowledge to get to proper grips with it and got frustrated about how hard it was to find food when I was out..But now it seems there is more on offer than there used to be,and also I have gotten into the habit of carrying food around with me aswell due to being pregnant and hungry often!

Being vegan is about alot more than just what I eat to me though. Going back to it has reminded me of how good I used to feel when taking part in local demo's and helping out the local animal rights group do stalls etc. So far since last week I have signed up to PETA's online action group, and requested they send me litrature and stickers so I can hand them out to make more local people aware of differnt topics from how meat eatin effects the planet to vivisection etc, sent numerious emails to different people about things like ending seal slaughter etc, and have downloaded their toolbar that somehow by me simply using it helps me raise money for them...I don't fully understand how but have gotten intouch with them asking how it works so I can explain it to people when I mention it. I've also just bought 2 vegan books of ebay, one is called vegan with a vengence and is solely a vegan cook book n the other is called the vegan girls guide to life which is also about cooking n baking but also about crafts and other lifestyle topics aswell. I'm looking forward to recieving them in the post and will do reviews on them as I read them.
I've even made myself this lil necklace as I noticed a silver name plate necklace on the PETA's website that said "vegan" but it was £20 and the reviews said it was lovely but the metal did get a lil rusty..I am allergic to cheap metals they make my skin go green, also I don't have that kind of money to spend on myself, but I liked the idea of it so here is my version! And it only cost 95p to make at a local jewellery makin shop called jar beads.

I think that feeling icky about having eatin animals and missing the activisim buzz is what's made me really throw myself back into veganisim and the lifestyle. I hope to keep it up and that in a years time I will still be actively vegan and loving it :).
Clark is a vegi and used to be vegan aswell, he is really happy about me not eating animals anymore as this upset and confused him..I think he knew I would end up feeling guilty and weird about it to. My midwife says I have one of the healthiest sounding diets out of everyone she see's and had no concerns about me being vegan whilst pregnant. And my aunt who is also a vegan was very upset that I had eaten pigs but very happy that I had decided to be vegan again. So it seems to be all round good choice I have made :).

Turning baggy trousers into skinny ones how to blog!

What I don't share enough is my love for making clothes and fashion! I have shared a few of the things I have recently made/altered but afterall I did originally want to share everything I have made! I just seem to forget to take pics lol! Anywho I want to start shareing my love of fashion and d.i.y style so this will be first how to...blog :). I bought a maternity bundle of ebay not so long ago,and one of the items is a pair of black with silvery grey pinstripes trousers which I really like but are far to long and baggy for my likeing! So a quick look on google led me to these handy how to vids n tutorials.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oin0hhXLAkU

This video is amazing it showed me how to turn my baggy trousers into skinny ones in a matter of 4 steps! The song was pretty catchy to :).

I also found this on the awesome website cutoutandkeep.net

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/skinny_jeans

Personally I think that the youtube vid is alot better than the tutorial on cutoutandkeep.net as they used pins in the vid and in the tutorial it suggests using a pen to mark lines..which just doesn't sound to accurate or good for when sewing! 

This is what the trousers looked like originally

                                                      Very long and very flared for my shape!

I will get back to you on this when I have done it later as even though I tried to save the last attempt of doin this as a draft I couldn't find it to edit! Also my sleepy Clark got back from a festival last night n seems to be takin full advantage of bein in a bed able to sleep in! And our bedroom is where my sewing desk is lol!

Yet another hair change 2

SO my venture to find a more natural way to dye my hair n keep it nice was a bit of a fail. I didn't even bother to take pics of the inbetweeny basically ginger hair red henna from LUSH gave me! Luckily I allready had 2 unopened pots of semi permanent directions but in carnation pink,theres a local shop where you can get 3 tubs for only a £10! Also they were nice enough to let me swap them for a nice poppy red :). So here I am with my new hair which I absolutely adore! The only change I got from the henna is that it may have made my hair just a lil thicker. But I won't be using it again as it did just go ginger even when I did it the second time and left it on all night! Also havin to wake up at 6am just to go wash it of as it just felt awful wasn't to nice either! Directions is a good dye anyway,it is conditioning,isn't tested on animals and is made with natural ingredients aswell! Also there are plenty more colours to choose from. I will unfourtunately probablly have to get my roots bleached every so often but I have a cheap enough and nice neough hairdressers to go to for that and hopefuly it won't mean spending to much money! Or be to damaging to my hair as I am afterall trying to grow it back to past my shoulders lentgh! I don't smoke or drink and rarely buy myself anything,whereas Clark doe's smoke and drink so my hair dying compared to his smoking is probably cheaper! So there should be no need to fret about me spending money on myself, as I was a bit weary of doin that what with babt on the way! Anywho I feel really upbeat and nice with my new red hair and I have realised my own style a bit more aswell,after feeling a bit frumpy in my vintage style dress's they just aren't me!

 This is a close up of my new hair. And a view of my chest tattoos aswell..I am not to fond of them n can't wait to get them covered with something a heck of alot better than the word "punk" in love hearts...Honestly the amount of times people have asked me why does it say "knup?" It's an unreal amount! Saying this I did get that tattoo done when I was about 18-19!

 And this is a shot of how big I was at 22 weeks! This is more me,the whole band tee,bright hair, bandana as a headband stripes n all thing. NOT bright floral or odd patterned "vintage" clothes..They will be goin to the charity shop! I've also put Clark's ear stretchers into my ears as I missed havin flesh tunnels. At the moment I think there about a 3mm so I wil blog about how that goes when more has happened.
Anywho this is yet another positive change for me lately. To feel more like my true self instead of still experimenting with things that don't really complement that. I feel alot more happy then I did aswell which is really nice :).

Amazing what a bit of customising can do!!

I was looking at my clothes the other day n thought that allthough I did like most of em a few could do with altering! So as I was waiting for my dinner to cook earlier today I got my scissors n did some quick alterations to some of my clothes. It didn't take long to take a long sleeved top I never wore n turn into a short sleved one with a lower neckline that I would love to wear,a dress that allthough was lovely did nothing for my figure and was always trying to fall down n reveal me, into a skirt that I could easily wear and would suit my figure more,a pair of trousers that were amazingly long into cute shorter ones that I could turn up a bit to make them have a better shape,and a bit to long dress for me that had straps that were always falling down into a shorter halterneck dress! I do have a pair of maternity pinstripe trousers that are a bit to flared n long for me that I want to turn into a pair of skinnys but I don't know quite how to do that yet so when I do I will share! For now here are a few pics and explantions of how a simple pair of scissors changed my clothes!

 All of the clothes I wanted to customise and alter. There were 5 items in total.

 Close up of bit to long dress with to long straps and other dress that just didn't look good on me.

 Stripey long sleved top,and trousers that are to long and to baggy for me aswell.

 Close up to show just how baggy and flared trousers are. I want to alter them into skinny trousers but need to learn how to so have left them for now.

 To alter the stripey top I basically counted the stripes down to how long I wanted the sleves to be on each side and then cut a new neckline by following the original one about 5cm down from it and then evening it out on each side.

 As this dress was basically a skirt with an elasticated bit under the bust and then there was a top with sleves it wasn't to hard to just cut of the top part and turn into a skirt. It does need hemming and maybe a thicker elasticated waistband sew on to it aswell. I may even get some dye and dye it red as this pale pinkish colour isn't really that nice n maybe the polka dots would still show up if I dyed it!

 Close up of where it needs hemming...it doesn't look to bad was just hard to do straight as it was ruched,

 It was also quite easy to alter this dress to as their was a bottom panel where there

 This dress was easy to alter aswell as it had a panel that was different which was the length of how much shorter I wanted the dress to be so all I had to do was cut up the side n then along it straightly,I will hem it later just to make it neater.

 For the straps I decided to simply cut them from where they were stitched on the back so that I could tie them into a bow to make a more halterneck shape as this flatters my body shape quite well.

 For the trousers all I did was use my measuring tape and measured 5 inch's on each leg n cut as straight as possible. As I will be wearing them tucked up they don't really need to be hemmed but I think I will sew them on the side to keep the folds up.

All of this didn't take me very long. Infact I had a potatoe in the microwave for about 10 mins and had done most of it! It seem that being able to cut n sew in straight lines can lead to lots of customising and clothe making!

Even more changes!!

I've always liked a bit of a change in my life,to keep things moving forward,to improve myself n my life and just basically to experience something new! Typically I am known for changeing my hair alot! And yet again I have changed it...I wanted to use henna,thought it'd be good for my hair and that it wouldn't fade as much and therefor be cost effective. Well it I would've kept it if it hadn't have basically been ginger..not really what I was wanting from red henna! So I just took my carnation pink direction pots back to the shop I had bought em from ( you get 3 for £10 n I had 2 non opened ones left) and they kindly let me swap them for poppy red :). I used to have red hair when I was about 17 or 18 and loved it! I always wanted to go back to it but for some reason never really stuck with it for that long. N I know even n their shadow are dying their hair various reds right now but I don't care! I really adore it and hopefuly will keep it cause well blonde makes me look to red..black washes me out,pink makes me look pasty n any other colour is just a no from me! Here is a pic of my new hair anywho!

 I don't think I will take pics of me with my webcam when I haven't been up for that long again lol! But yeah this is the new me n my new hair :)

Other changes are:

My midwife came to see me and has referred me to get some counsilling as I have been quite depressive while pregnant,which is normal when you have had depression for as long as I have. I'm really looking forward to getting some proper help and getting over it really. Not that I don't have enough support from Clark and my friends n family it's just this is the type of thing that could use the help of a pro, n to be honest a stranger as it always seems easier to talk to someone you don't know about your problems doesn't it!

Me n my ex have been talkin n honestly I was so surprised when he said he was happy for me n clark n stuff! I realised mayeb he had grown up since our last trying to be friends time and have given him a chance again by accepting his friendship request on facebook. It's nice when people can just be nice to each other despite havin gone out or whatever!

I rememberd my love of grindcore,anarcho punk,punk and ska music and have been listerning to lots of different songs on youtube :). Sometimes its easy to forget about bands when the cds you had of them have been knackered n thrown away!

I also rediscovered how nice it is to just be a bit girly n read a mag,paint ya nails,shave ya legs, n wear a face mask,watch sex n the city n eat choc! I had a really girly night in on my own last night n loved it! I put my directions dye on n my shower cap,watched take me out and sex n the city n ate vegan choccie,then had a nice bath where I managed to shave my legs..it is afterall legs out season here in sheffield n I hadn't bothered for a while. It is quite hard with a bump in the way lol! And then I painted my nails n rad company magazine. My nice night was finished of with a sweet phonecall from Clark. He seems to be really missing me bless him. And I have realised just how much I love him,its easy to be annoyed with someone when you live with them lol! But the space seems to be good and we want to make our relationship alot better when he gets back. Which means me not bein so mardy n hormorneal n us bickering to be quite honest! Being pregnant quite soon into a relationship is hard, we knew each other before for a while but there wasn't very long from us startin to be together to us findin out I was pregnant n then for all the crazy hormornes n mixed feelings to kick in! So it has been quite an odd relationship for us really. But we really do have a nice time most of the time n our days out n nights in together are so special to me!

N that's why I looked at how I was behaving and feelin n decided I'd had enough n was going to change n get more postive n happy :), yesterday reminded me of alot of nice things I have in my life,I even got to spend the day out with a friend who I used to see alot just us two n then started to only really see at our knitting group. So it was really nice for us to just hang out and chat about stuff,I always find it so easy to just chat about anything with her :). I also helped her out by takin a few pics of a few tops she had made for her label,which is something I used to do for her and had missed, so it was nice to do a bit of photography with a purpose!

Things are looking up and I've realised alot of how my life is has to do with my attitude towards it and stuff. After all life is what YOU make it! 

Changes!

1) I submitted my first assignment to my tutor :) I did quite well I think. And I am still enjoying my open uni enviromental studies course,it has taught me alot n has made me be more weary about non organic fruit n veg because of what I have learnt about pesticides n the such.
2) I used the henna and it turned my hair kinda orange, at the moment I am sat with another application on trying to make it be a bit more of a darker red!
3) I have started to wear more bright n cheerful clothes again n love it!
4) I realised I don't quite like one of my friends as much as I used to..it's really getting to me actually as she just keeps bugging me and stuff  lol!
5) I decided to go vegan Monday and so far it has been going quite well :) I really like it actually and hope I won't go back to the diary!
6) Clark went to go work at  a festival  today..he got asked to randomly yesterday so it was a bit of a sudden thing but I am glad he has gone cause he actually wanted to go but didn't think he could afford it n stuff. And he's gone with a few of his friends and will be doing workshops to teach people how to do things like poy and staff. Which is pretty cool! It is a festival that mainly has psytrance which I adore so am jealous about that,but I think the space will do us good,as we have been in each others pockets a bit since living together!
8) It was my mums birthday yesterday so she is now 43...but because she is so ill with m.s and chrones she just stayed in and I went to see her for a bit..I felt sad that she wasn't going to do anything to enjoy herself and that she didn't get any presents as moeny is a bit tight for my family..I want to buy her something but she is a bit awkward!
9) My ex who I thought was a twat private messaged me on facebook today and was actually nice and wished me luck with the baby n stuff! We ended up chatting so that was nice and there is no resentment or anything which is nice cause it was a bit of a crappy breakup..did happen last feb though lol!
10) I have been sewing and customising clothes alot more lately. And that has been really nice, I really love doing creative things :).
11) I finally accepted I should probs get some help because I have been feeling quite depressed lately..I have had depression since about being 14 so I should be used to it by now but it can be a bit hard sometimes..With being pregnant it has been a bit harder what with the hormornes and being scared about the future and stuff! My midwife is coming to see me tomorrow so I can ask her for some help. Which will hopefuly not take to long!
12) I have started to make alot of positive changes and it has been really nice. I now only buy local produce and only fairtrade if it has been imported,and I have been buying organic when I can aswell. I am also going to buy a compost bin as I actually feel sad when I have to throw out fruit n veg waste! And I decided to mainly buy what I can at charity shops or of ebay and gumtree and have stopped shopping at primark cause I don't think they have good ethics really. Reading green is the new black made me more aware of how what I buy effects everything! Cotton is dyed with awful chemicals and the pesticides involved with growing it isnt good for the enviroment either. Then theres how the people who make these things have to live..there is much more to a new bargin than there is to a second hand one..I love buying at chairty shops n knowing that buying what I want n need helps charities is really nice :).

Anywho there have been alot of positive changes and hopefuly they will keep going on :)

I decided to go vegan today:

Since I was about 15 or 16 I have been vegi n then I was vegan for about a year and a half I stopped last year at some point though,not to sure why but these things happen I can be quite fickle and did miss a few things. I felt bad though when I had my meat blip recently due to being pregnant I gusse I was just curious really. I didn't enjoy eating meat though,and I didn't feel any better from it or anything either. There is nothing worng with being pregnant and vegi or vegan I will just need to make more of an effort to eat a well balanced diet,which to be fair I should be doing anyway! I've got to admit though that I haven't been that healthy while bein vegi, or even pregnant. I sometimes eat chips n crisps n chocoalte alot but I also eat alot of fruit,veg,pulses,nuts,seeds,rice n pasta n genrally try to eat pretty well. I hope that bein vegan again will make me be more better with my diet,it did when I first tried it infact it made me get into cooking and I did feel alot better when I stopped eating cheese toasties and noodles so much lol! There are plenty of reasons for me wanting to be vegan instead of vegi though. Things such as the damage having so many animals needing so much feed and water and land does to the enviroment. How it would be better if more people lived on a plant based diet instead of eating meat and diary because of this aswell. Obviously the cruelty the animals are put through is a massive part of not wanting to eat meat,but I also don't like how milk or eggs are got either. Especially when cows have to be pregnated and then have their young taken away from them,that to me just feels so upsetting and wrong! Animals do have emotions and the strongest ones are for their young,they want to protect them and look after them just as humans do.
Yes I will miss dippy eggs at the weekend and maltesers and cheesecake. But I feel like giving up a few things myself will make me feel like I am atleast trying to do some good towards animal cruelty and doing a bit more for the enviroment. Anyway I will keep you update on how it all goes. At the moment Clark just came back from the shops with a vegi pizza for him and a small bag of maltesers for me..as I am usually wanting them. I think I will have them as a last time kinda thing.. And then properlly be vegan tomorrow :).

Yet another hair change!

As I mentioned in a post recently I am trying to be more ethical,kind to the enviroment and use more natural products. I decided to start using henna to dye my hair and fancied a change as well after a while of having black hair n wearing not many colours I started to feel a bit glum! I am at a pitstop at the moment and am in between colours n dyes,I missed a patch of my hair while bleaching it so need to bleach it and the rest a lil more to. And then I need to wait for a while for my hair to settle n so I can deep condition it so it doens't get damaged and then I will put the henna on. I choose a red and bought it from lush so when I do eventually get to it I will do a post as a review on how it works n what I liked n disliked about the whole experience. But for now here are some pics of my new hair at quite a strawberry blonde pitstop.

I kinda like it in a odd way but I am keen to have red hair again it has been quite a while n hopefuly using henna will make my hair all nice n strong as that is what I have read about it online! Clark seems to like the new lighter hair n the new brighter clothes,and I feel alot happier now :).

I would like to share:

Some of my fave blogs so far, funnily enough all of them are done by fellow mums! Two of them I follow quite well,one I need to a bit more and one is a newbie a found just today via the one I need to look at more!.

I really enjoy seeing how women who are mums and are crafty and unique live,I love mama n baby style posts and can't wait to share my own, I find it inspiring seeing that they still get to do SO much as well I kinda thought it would be hard to do an awful lot with a baby to look after. So it is nice to actually see that it is doable and it is mainly quite fun :). I will start of with talking about my top fave two and why they are and then go on to the others.

One of my fave blogs is this one: http://www.keytomytart.com/
I cant really explain why hers is my fave blog to follow, there is just something so nice about the things Jessica writes about! And hers was the first blog I saw with mama n baby style posts which I think are just amazingly cute! I loved the  guest posts that the blog had by people who are also fellow mums,while her and her family went away on holiday. It was kinda cool of her to let them have a lil shout out about stuff and their blogs n lifes. Also her posts are quite short n sweet which make them easier to follow I must admit!


My second fave is this one:
http://pixiepolly.blogspot.com/

I also follow and chat to her sometimes on twitter n she is very lovely! I love her blog cause there is SO much to it! But then that can make it hard to fit time in to read it alot. I love the things she makes and the photos she puts up to show her days out with her family they look so nice. Also she is really honest and indepth about herself n I really like her personal approach to blogging. I also find her quite inspiring as she is all about keeping things positive which is something I really need to start focusing on alot more to be honest. She also does great what I wore blogs that capture her great style which makes me think hm those patterns look cool together n the like.

The ones I would like to follow more but am having trouble with as they seem to be ok to follow with bloglovin for some reason n even though I have clicked follow n joined blog lovin they are never in my reading list on here even though they both have blogspot blogs :s...Hopefuly that won't put you of havin a look at them n maybe even following them though! I am quite sure I am just not technically getting something lol!

The first one is this: 
http://sometimessweet.blogspot.com/

I really really like how she has guest posts by people all about their tattoos! Some of the tats I have seen due to them are so incredibly amazing n make me want to just go get inked so bad! She also doe's good posts about her life,family,intrests and style-and has just started doing mama n baby style posts to which are really cute. As I said I do need to keep up to date with this blog a bit more but it is getting hard to follow so many and read them so often I must say! 

And lastly I just found this blog today via the one above:
http://bleubirdvintage.typepad.com/

This one is on typepad which is something I don't use but maybe I could simply bookmark the blog instead and follow it that way. I haven't looked at it that much but so far I quite like it and think it will be an interesting read.

Anywho those are my fave blogs to follow for plenty of different reasons,but all of them have the same thing in common. Awesomely dressed and inspiring women and mums ;). Hope you enjoy them as much as I do. xx







 

Been playing on the sewing machine :D

A friend gave me some fabirc a while ago and I was going to give it all to a friend who has a clothing label but I decided to use some of it myself,which I am glad cause I really do need to be more crafty! I love playing on my sewing machine I am not amazing at dressmaking as of yet but I would love to be one day so maybe I just need to practice and experiment until then. Today I made a simple curtain to hide the convinient but ugly cupboard space in the babys room and a shopping bag out of my old bed sheet,I used to have a double bed n now we have a king size so it just didn't fit but seemed a shame to waste it! I think it will be great to take shopping and put all the bits of fruit n veg in so they don't get bruised on their way home :). I also cut up fabric ready to make myself some new skirts. All I need to do is get some wide elastic so that I can sew it on to the top of the fabic hem the bottom n wallah a skirt! Luckily there is enough fabric for me to make the skirts to wear now,and then I can always alter them once I have had the baby and lost a bit of weight. I think I will try n make these skirts on Sunday as that is my next free day. SO I will post about how I made them then. I have been feeling a little dowdy with my lack of colour apart from red within my clothes. Even my skin seems a bit dowdy :( I want a revamp like a mini makeover or something and itd be good to really get to grips with what I really want to be wearing instead of just bein a bit borin n safe..Anywho here is what I made today.

How becoming a mum to be has changed me:

I have been mega into recycling and charity shopping for the past 7 years now. I was excited when the blue bin for paper first came out which I think was when I was about 15 or 16 I can't really remember exactly but I do remember tearing up the paper n the boxes to make more room,which my mum just didn't understand and jsut said "they shread it down when it gets there" but what I was trying to do was make more room for more to fit in! So imagine my excitement when the blue bin was then for recycling plastic bottles,glass,tins and cans and there was a blue box for paper! I thought "atlast now more people can and hopefuly will recycle more if it is on their doorstep!" The sad thing is even though there is this amazing facility people are still thinking there is no point in using it,and I do get people,mainly boys if I am to be honest,telling me that there isn't much point in recycling if it takes more power to do so than it does to just make new... Thing is ofcourse it takes power to recycle but I would rather be a part of that than the whole "waste old make new fill land and watch as nonrenewable resources die out" trend these people seem ok to do!

Becoming a mum to be has made me care so much more about how I am living my life and how what I am doing has such a massive impact on everything,and not just what is local to me but globally aswell. It started with me thinking about what I was going to do with my hair if it cost so much to bleach the roots n keep dyeing it pink all the time. It just seemed like so much money for me to keep on spending on myself let alone just on my hair. It was all fair enough when the money I had was just for me, but now there is a baby on the way the cost of things really concern me. I then started to think about the effect my hairdyes are having on the enviroment when they are made but also when they are washed down the bath when I shampoo my hair. They are also made with unnatural chemicals that can't be much good for me and my skin. So I got to thinking what is a cost effective and more natural way for me to dye my hair cause lets face it I don't really want to just grow it out as it is quite long n the roots would look awful... I have used henna from LUSH before but when I had really bleached hair so the desired red I wanted turned out to be more of a orange..it did last long though! So I think that will be my plan for my more "cost effective,long lasting,enviromentaly friendly,more natural hair" as for what colour,something that will cover my natural mid brown roots! So could be a nice brown or a nice red :). I will have to wait a while though as I only used a box of dye I did have the other week and I need to lighten it a little first. Now this is a big change for me to care so much about what I am doing with my hair. Normally I just do what I want without any thought really to the cost,the effects of the dye or how long it will last. It is about time I started to care though as I have some tragic falling out and breaking of times with my hair due to not really caring about it!

The other thing that has really changed is how I am more concerned about organic stuff. This is partly due to organic skin products bein better for babies apprently n what I have learnt about pesticides n the like while doing my enviromental studies course aswell. I think me n Clark will try to buy more organic,local produce and also fairtrade products aswell, because of all the benefits they have over non organic, flown from far away and give pennys to workers produce.

I may sound like I am on a high horse and that I am trying to be all eco warrior better than thou. But really I am just a keen learner that cares about the enviroment deu to learning more about it and seeing what is happening as effects of global warming around the world. If I am honest I feel a little sad about bringing our baby into such a corrupt,failing place. And I just hope that by us doing more to help more good happen that we can help those that are allready doing it to make a big enough positive impact on things.

So I am on a mission now it seems to try n do as much "good" as possible. I will start by making a list about all the things I could easily do to make more positive changes. And I will then post the list and mention how I am doing in future posts. Hopefuly you readers won't find this boring and be inspired and maybe even think about these things yourselfs as afterall inspiring a change in others lifes is also an important part of someone doing changes in their own life.

21 weeks/what I wore

This is how big I am at 21 weeks. Over the past few weeks I have grown quite a neat bump that I am pretty fond of showing of and hugging protectively.

I am wearing a maternity top n pair of jeans,both are from ebay.

What I wore outside edition.

I keep forgetting to put up post about what I have worn! I want to as it will also show of how my bump is growing over the weeks to. I think I will do a picture of my fave outfit of the week as that is a good way to show how I have been making not many items into many outfits. This was my fave outfit of this week, I wore it the day it was REALLY warm in Sheffield n me n Clark went to Graves park. I was wearing my black leggings with it but it just got to hot so luckily the skirt was long and not going to blow up so that was good!

I am wearing heart shaped red glittery sunglasses from George at asda.
A red maternity top I got of ebay.
And a stretchy black with white polka dot skirt from Primark.
What you can't see are my plack pumps I have been wearing since it's gotten warmer that are also from George at asda. They were a pretty good find actually as they were only £6 but have better soles than the pumps for around that price at Primark.

You can also notice my lil neat bump a bit to :) I think I will do a better picture of how big it is at week 20 actually and out it up as a seperate post. 

Day out to the park :)

On Friday me n Clark went to a local park called Graves park. I have been goin since I was little but as Clark has only lived in Sheffield for 2 years he hadn't been taken there until Friday! Not a good thing seein as it is the best n most diverse park in Sheffield lol! I love Graves park as you get to see the animals and take pics like this:

Clark really loved seeing the animals n I was so chuffed to see the piglets bein fed by their happy mummy! The lil lambs n goats were cute to and all in all it was a very cute experience for us :).
After we walked aaages to the playground and went on the swings. I love how my boyfriend loves the things I do even swings!

So we had a very nice day in the sun, n then went to see our friends at their house which was nice. It is important for us to be as social n have these days out as often as poss while we still have the next 17-19 weeks for just us. We know that havin a newborn will stop our social lifes a little for a while but are excited all the same. And it will be really nice when the baby is old enough for us to take them to see our friends n family. And next summer they will be about 6 months old and all cute n can come to the park with us to see the animals :)!

New finds that have made me happier!

Firstly one of the magazines I mentioned in a past blog has now become something I think I will even subscribe to! Practical prarenting and pregnancy is a lovely down to earth n stylish magazine that personally I feel has so much info I could really do with whilst always coming with a free gift relevant to prarenting that is always useful! Also when I signed up to the emmas diary website I was given 40 points that I could use to get discounted/free vouchers and items one of the offers you can get with your points is a reduced subscription to the magazine and you recieve a free hygenic nappy holder to! Pretty good for some points of a website right!  With last months issue I got a free small pack of huggies new born baby wipes and a wipe holder that will be very good for the changeing bag. With this month's there was a book about how to give your baby/toddler better sleep and therefor you as parents get better sleep to. Quite handy seeing as that is one of the main problems with having a child and being a parent! So the impulse buy of this magazine was a good find.

The next thing I have recently found is a book that was published and made a lil storm in 2008 called "Green is the new black"  I found it for 99p in oxfam. It is a great guide on how buying more ethicaly can really make a difference. I have only gotten to half way through chapter 2 but already I feel like I have learnt alot about a subject that does concern me. Even though it was published 3 years ago it is still relevant and has great ideas and websites and tips on how to shop and live more ethically,mainly with what clotheing items you buy but it doe's go into detail about the benefits about fairtrade and ethical work. I feel like since starting to read the book I have become more and more set in my moral of charity shopping being the most efficient and beneficial way to shop. For a start when you buy from charity shops you help charitys! And how many of us buy things and then think "actually no I don't like/fit into it anymore"?  Sometimes I give these kind of items to my friends,who then get asked where they got them from only for them to say again n again "tasha gave it me" and if noone else likes or can fit into it it gets sent to the charity shop. When I got pregnant I had a major clothes swap and got a bunch of maternity clothes of ebay. I did go round the shops first n felt everything was just so expensive n not very me or worth the price either. I am glad I got my maternity clothes of ebay, I helped the person with a bit of extra cash when I bought them n when I am done with the things I don't want I can put them back on n get the money back n know that someone else has got a good bargin to. I have been shopping in charity shops n on ebay for quite some time now n have even bought all the baby things such as the pram, moses basket n cotbed second hand to. I don't see what is wrong with it personally, I feel like no parent would give away something that was unsafe and as I used to work in a charity shop I also know that they can't sell anything like that unless it is safe. I have also got all of their clothes from charity shops to and always manage to find something lovely for very cheap! Charity shopping shouldnt be something to be embarresed about it is something that should be loved! You get a bargin and something you like whilst helping a chairty do what it needs to :).

So lately I have been a very thrifty buyer and am doing well to keep the cost of baby items down which me n Clark are really happy with as well like most people its not like we have money pouring out of our ears or anything! I just wanted to share these finds as I think that they are really good sources of important info and are interesting at the same time to :). If any of you read either the mag or book do let me know what you thought!

Week 20!!!

This week the baby is 20 weeks old! I know this fo sho as we had our scan last week and they measured as we thought 19 weeks. I have been a bit angsty about this landmark over the last few weeks and saying to my friends,family and Clark that I feel so strange about giving birth n meeting the baby in max 20 weeks. The thing is I know that once they get to around 35-37 weeks they could come at any time! So really once I get to 30 weeks that will be it ,every week I will feel more n more anxious n excited and rushed to do everything just so! I can't believe how fast these past 20 weeks have gone it seems like only last week I was peein on about 10 sticks through the weekend just to make sure it was a positive! Yes I know that is a bit much but I was just so shocked! Clark say's he just knew without me even doing the test,n I hope to always remember how happy we were when he came to my flat after I had done them n we had a big hug n just acted gob smacked.

We have done quite alot to prepare for the baby's arrival allready but there is also SO much we still need to do! Such as choose a name! As the baby was in an awkward curled up postition when we had both scans they are a total surprise,though we have a feeling it is a boy..n I would hope so as pretty much everyone we know has or is having girls! I always thought I would want a girl more than a boy when I daydreamed about having childern but actually going through it as made me think actually I don't mind aslong as they are happy and healthy!

Anywho I feel the pressure is on now and that there isn't that much time to do everything so hopefuly making lists and being mega organised about it all will help! Clark seems to be taking a more laid back approach and has been good at thinking of what kinda toys n playmats would be good,he also thinks that maybe waiting untill their born so we know a) what they are n b) how big they are would be good so we can get them the right clothes. We have a few different sized babygros n stuff so far so atleast they will be a few things for them to wear until we go on a big clothes shop for them :)...now that should be fun!

Personally at the week 20 point I am feeling quite energetic,positive and happy. I also seem to be on hypo mode where I feel like I have a 100 things to do at once which is kinda half good half annoying! Atleast I am gettin as much done as I can with what time is left I gusse. I am also gettin good at doing things with friends and Clark n making the most of the flexible social time I have left as realistically when baby gets here it will become harder for me to go out n see my friends alot n for me n Clark to go out n do whatever we want whenever we want to. I don't feel to bad about that though n like that I actually appreciate my/our time alot more! My bump has gotten quite big all of a sudden, I daren't weigh myself to be honest but I haven't put on alot of weight at all, my friend said she's really happy n proud with me for eatin well n stuff as sometimes women use pregnancy as an excuse to overeat lol! I have been finding it hard to find a comftable bra now that I have grown a bit more and that is actually the only thing that has annoyed me about bein pregnant! Not even the need to pee alot has been that bad for me! I feel mega lucky that I haven't been really sick or busting for the loo all the time or not able to eat alot etc etc..pregnancy seems to be treating me rather well :). I am nervous about the third trimester which is only about 4 weeks away...I have read that I could gain up to a stonne n a half which is understandable as baby is tryin to get to the right weight n stuff..but it does sound awfully heavy n like I will get into alot of back achey times. Also my energy levels could drop back down as well meaning going back to the not wanting to do much stage. Which is why I have been trying to do as much as I can now really.

Overall me n baby are doing just fine. I know they are doin fine as we have felt them move loads! The first time was thrusday Clark felt them n it made me jump! Second time Clark was out n I was just lied watching tv on saturday eve n all of a sudden lots of movement it made me smile n laugh as it was just so weirdly special! And they moved a little last night when we was out n my friend had a feel which made her pretty happy. 

And that is how the pregnancy n me n baby n Clark are at this big landmark in our lifes :)

My review on baby/parenting mags.

Yesterday I bought two magazines that are aimed at pregnant women and parents. One is called prima baby and pregnancy,the other is called practical parenting and pregnancy. I don't really prefer one over the other, they both have loads of useful advice and information on how to look after yourself when pregnant,how to look after your newborn and then how to look after your toddler. They also both came with free items, one came with free huggies babywipes and a babywipe holder and the other came with a black mesh bag that you can clip on to your buggie. Me n Clark actually noticed a similar bag in Boots on sale for about £5.50! So to say the magazine it came with was only £2.80 that is pretty good! Along with having lots of info we need to be learning they also have offers where you can send of for even more free things,so we can send of for a free rattle toy worth about £6 with a voucher from one of the mags which is cool. There were also these cards inside the magazines that are for signing up to sites like cow and gates mum n baby group and also aptamil mum n baby group aswell. So I registered to both and we will shortly recieve nutrional info and info and a free cuddy polar bear teddy from aptamil and info on toddler milk formulas and such and a free cuddly cow teddy from cow and gate. I don't quite get why aptamils free teddy is a polar bear it doesn't seem relavent to their company but polar bears are cute anyway and recieving two free teddys just for registering to two sites that are both packed full of useful tips and info is preetty amazing!! So for £5.80 for both magazines I feel like we have got alot from them to be honest. I think I may buy the magazines again next month to see what we can get from them as well. The one that me n Clark seemed to like the most as a magazine was practical parenting and pregnancy. The prima baby and pregnancy one seems to be less about parenting more about pregnancy. And well we only have to wait about 17-20 weeks come next week to meet our little baby! It is incredible that it will be happening so soon! And really odd to think that we only have that many week's left when it'll just be us. We can't wait to meet our baby but I must admit as it doe's get closer to the birth I do get quite scared about giving birth! Anywho I am sure that if so many women have done it so can I :).