Our morning went something like this...

6.30 am... Mummy gets up, rather sleepily and gives Thomas his new lamp in an attempt to get 5 more minutes in bed!

6.35... Thomas wanders into our bedroom to show it to Daddy for the first time.

6.40 ... Daddy to Thomas ... 'Whats that, your new Christmas lamp?'

6.41 ... 'No Daddy, it's my fiber optic lamp!'

6.41 ... Mummy can't stop laughing, out smarted by a 2 year old and it's not even 7am! Love it! ;o)

Canary Wharf Ice Rink

Here we go, they've got the ice rink back up and running ready for Christmas, doesn't look like anyone's actually using it yet, but it won't be long! ;)

Children in Need

I absolutely love Children in Need and am so grateful to have a happy, healthy little boy... Thomas coloured in a picture of 'Ponsey' as he calls him this morning and we've been playing the pairs game on the laptop this week too... Please everyone, show your support and donate a little to this fantastic cause... every penny really does count...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey/games/

World Record Breaking 3D Art

Wow, had no idea all this was going on at West India Quay yesterday or I would have popped over to have a look, guess I know where I'm going at 1pm...!

Lots more information about all the things I missed over here...

Olympic Site seen from One Canada Square

...and on a related note to my last post (the weather being rather nice again today) a quick shot of the Olympic site, showing (to the right of the stadium, if you click it to zoom in) the "ArcelorMittal Orbit sculpture" (at 114.5 metres being the tallest sculpture in the United Kingdom) now complete! Just got one more thing to go and catch up on now...see how the crossrail is coming along! ;)

Day 1 Maternity Leave

Ok .. so day 1 of maternity leave is here... a little earlier than anticipated but it just sort of happened that way. Thomas and I are going to spend some lovely time together before the baby arrives although it is very quiet in our house at the moment and he keeps asking when his friends are going to arrive and play.

Right, duty calls... we are going to build Canary Wharf out of bricks and a train set! ;o)

The Shard seen from One Canada Square

Wow, check it out, that is the early morning winter sun striking the Shard building by London Bridge station (as seen from the office) - it's the big bright thing near the middle, zoom in if you like by clicking it - sorry it's only a mobile phone shot, but you should get an idea of quite what a landmark this building is going to be when it's finished...and they still have about the top fifth of the building left to glaze! It looks like something the ancient Egyptians would have dreamed up! ;)

Happy Halloween everyone!

Happy Halloween everyone... I've just got back from Nanjans house where Pops didn't even recognise me when I knocked on the front door (I did have my mask on and I was a day early!)... Mummy and I had practised 'trick or treat please' and when Pops realised who I was, he let me in and I was very lucky to get some cake, pear and a satsuma... nothing made it into my my bucket as I ate them all... nom nom nom!

I'm a banana mummy!

With bonfire night approaching, I thought I would try to squeeze Thomas into last years snow suit ... its at this point I realised quite how much Thomas has grown in a year. The arms now stop at the elbow and legs just below the knees.. Still, Daddy needed to go to the station and Thomas wouldn't take off the suit, so he waddled out to the car and as I strapped him into the car seat, he told me it was tight (yes Thomas, I know - that's the exact reason I asked you to take it off again!). We got home about 10 minutes later, having waved at trains from the comfort of the car as it was absolutely tipping down. Needless to say, when I suggested taking off the suit he was very obliging. As I undid the two zips, our conversation went something like...

(T) 'Thomas like a banana'

(Me) No, darling, you're not a banana... would you like a banana to eat? (he doesn't really like them, so I was a little confused)

(T) 'No Mummy, Thomas is a banana, Mummy pealing off the skin from Thomas'

(Me) catching on and starting to laugh.. 'Oh yes, you are a bit like a banana with mummy peeling off the snowsuit'

What a clever boy hey? Got to love his imagination!

25 weeks pregnant!

Life is so busy that I very rarely get time to think about being pregnant, so am always thankful on a Tuesday when the app on my galaxy pops up and tells me that I'm now into the next week and gives me a short update as to what's going on with the baby!

Today, it tells me...

There are 104 days until your due date on January 30, 2012.
You are 176 days pregnant.
You are 5.8 months pregnant.
You are in your 6th month of pregnancy.
Your 1st trimester: April 25, 2011 to July 24, 2011. (0 - 12 weeks)
Your 2nd trimester: July 25, 2011 to November 06, 2011. (13 - 27 weeks)
Your 3rd trimester: November 07, 2011 to January 30, 2012. (28 - 40 weeks)

As Thomas arrived at 35 weeks, I'm wanting to be super organised and have so far

• painted the nursery, put in the nursing chair and built the changing station
• got everything down from the loft, started going through it and have already put 2 loads through the washing machine and a car seat sitting waiting to go into the car
• ordered the crib mattress (which arrived today!)
• have a new Phil & Teds pushchair sitting in mums caravan that I'm itching to use but am being patient
• bought all the bits for my hospital bag - just need to pack it! (Hopefully not when i'm in labour this time!)
• bought 3 brand new babygrows and 3 little hats, for when the baby is first born

There is very little we need to buy this time which is a little frustrating as I simply love shopping for baby bits, but we literally have so much stuff and with so many happy memories of Thomas being so small, it'll be nice for the new baby to play with the toys and wear the clothes.

We've still got to finish the nursery; put a blind up, pictures on walls...however I love taking a little time out from my busy day to think about holding our little baby and imaging their little smile and wonderful cuddles. Our next biggest task is to decide on names.. so far, we don't have any!

Rufus comes to stay for the week

Meet our new pet Rufus... Thomas has been asked by preschool to look after him for the week. We've taken him on a few adventures already, Thomas loves him and is thriving on the responsibility of looking after him!

Campervan!

This is super cool... love it and think it would make a great addition to my collection! Shame about the price tag though! I can just imagine camping in it on a uk campsite!

http://www.firebox.com/product/3644/VW-Camper-Van-Tent?video_id=3403&itc=298&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=VWTENT_384&src_t=nwt&src_id=384&via=nlmain#videos_h]VW

What's the word of the day Thomas?

"Condensation Mummy!"... yes, that's right - My clever 2 year old likes to say condensation! It all started when Daddy was drinking some cold sparkling water in a tall glass, Thomas started drawing with his fingers on the side of the glass and was told what it was and then the following morning, he just pointed and said 'Draw condensation Daddy'!

Yesterday's favourite word was (amazingly) - Nocturnal - "Mummy bats nocturnal" he continued to chatter as I put him to bed!

Also, apparently he pointed to "The Stig" in my mums bathroom and was insistent he was peering at an "Oh look - astronaut" and since getting a Buzz Lightyear toy (from a second hand sale), he keeps on saying 'Infinity and beyond"!!!

I really am very proud, I think he likes the sound of long words as they trip off his tongue and the ultimate smile he gets from a very impressed Mummy!

Now, where did my little baby go that could only say 'agoo' and 'dad dad dad' all the time?!?

Doh!

Two year olds are great fun, they have you in stitches and make you laugh most of the time, but also push the boundaries whenever possible testing your patience to see what they can get away with... Yesterday Thomas threw a metal car at the glass window... Yes, I was impressed it was a decent overarm throw.. however inside the house? me thinks not! So, he sits in the corner for 2 mins as punishment (we had given lots of warnings). After the 2 mins is up, I ask him 'What do you say to mummy?' his reply 'Doh!' hmm.. how I managed to remain composed and didn't laugh in his face I don't know... I just wonder what he was thinking in his little head 'doh, I got caught?' ... after a little thought, he went on to say 'Sorry Mummy, love you good boy!' and gave me a cuddle and thankfully peace is restored again!

Whats in my tummy Thomas?

A Baby! Love you Baby... Mwah...

What's in your Tummy Thomas? My Dinner!

He is going to be such a good big brother.. love him to bits!

What do you fancy for breakfast...

...young man? Was the question I posed to him the other day...the answer, with a shout and an enthusiastic jump into the air?

"ROAST BEEF DINNER!!!!!!!!!!!!"

;)

Our beautiful baby scans...

Here we go then, just a few pics from the recent scans, first up our baby at 6 weeks and 4 days measuring 6.6mm in length and we see a tiny heart beating (and that's about it)-

At 9 weeks and 1 day, our baby has grown to 21.6mm...still very tiny, but having almost tripled it's length in just 3 weeks.

Then at 12 weeks...we finally see the familiar shape of a baby on the brand new flat screen TVs in the scan room ...With a wonderful sonographer taking lots of time to describe everything and confirm the baby is all OK. At this stage, the baby is 58mm (Crown to rump) and my dates are moved a little forward (meaning we are due a January baby)!

Then here we are today...officially half way through the pregnancy and Fink can again have a insight into the pregnancy and witness some of the kicking that is happening all the time. This little one is very, very active making it hard for the sonographer to get all the measurements. She has to wobble my tummy lots, poke, prod and get the little one to roll over to get everything she needed. Technology has improved so much so Thomas was scanned, we got to see the eye sockets, lenses, face, lips, chambers of the heart, arteries, liver, kidneys...just amazing!

A hand and a leg (responsible for all the kicking)...


An arm....

...and the big question...did we find out the gender? No...we've been through so much and really don't mind as long as it's a healthy baby (and a nice surprise)...However, I couldn't help asking the sonographer if we did want to know would she be able to tell us...her response..."Oh yes, I know what you are having" but even then we didn't cave in and ask. Now, I'm analysing every part of our conversation and trying to see if she gave us any clues...but we'll have to wait till January to find out for sure!

At the end of the scan, we came out so very happy at how amazing this whole experience is... we are going to be a mummy and a daddy again and it's so incredible to be responsible for this little life. We celebrated by going to "Next" and buying our first piece of baby clothing...just so they have something new to wear when they are born! A very, very exciting, happy day!

The Wheels on the Bus - Our version!

So, Mummy was very bored of singing the same song over and over and over again... So, we made up our own version of the Wheels on the bus... feel free to add your own suggestions as my imagination is letting me down!

When Pops is on the bus he plays on his IPAD

When Nanjan is on the bus she reads her book

When Emily is on the bus she looks out the window

When Ollie is on the bus he jumps up and down

When Daddy's on the bus he plays on his PSP

When Grandads on the bus he reads his paper

When Thomas is on the bus he (and this often changes, depending on his mood, but he prefers to bump up and down)

(Mummy is often sick on a bus, so we don't sing that as it's not very nice!)

Then we get to the end and he says... more Pops on the bus please mummy.... and so it begins all over again....

What a lovely bank holiday weekend!

I think we got a bit carried away with Thomas starting preschool in a weeks time and went to Crawley to buy him a new bag, drinks bottle, joggers that will be comfy and easy to wash and then discovered his feet have grown so new shoes were also added to the list...he was so excited to be shopping...especially as he has a Lightening McQueen rucksack that is almost as big as he is from his all time favourite movie - "Cars"!

Fink and I pondered whether to buy the T-Shirt or Sweatshirt that goes with the Preschool and I've started to explain to him that Mummy will be leaving him with his teacher (Nicole) and then going home and he replies 'Thomas play with trains and cars, then mummy come collect me'. Having only left him with close friends or family thus far, it's going to be really hard walking out and leaving him there (especially as he will probably cry), but its all good for his independence and I consider myself very lucky changing career and being able to watch every step of his development since birth.

Late Saturday afternoon, a very tired, overexcited little boy fell over a toy train and hit his head on a dining room chair. Catching the bit just above the eyebrow, it bleed quite heavily so a trip to A&E was called for (thankfully we live so close and can walk there!). Here our wounded soldier, given some butterfly plasters and a Lion shaped sticker for bravery and was then discharged.

Sunday and Monday have been a lot more relaxed...we've almost cleared the spare room and the next phase will be stripping wallpaper ready for the new little one...exciting times!

Thomas is going to be a big brother!

So, the best present you can give your little boy...... a brother or maybe even a sister... Yes, our household of three will become four at the end of Jan 2012 (Lets all hope this one isn't 5 weeks early too!). We are all very excited and Thomas can't wait to be a big brother... already cuddling/kissing my tummy and saying 'Love you baby'... he is simply going to be the best big brother in the world and we are thrilled to be having another baby!

Today (24/8), I heard our babies heartbeat for the first time... Words cannot describe the overwhelming emotion you hear when the midwife puts the doppler onto your tummy and you wait the few seconds whilst she locates the heartbeat... then before you know it you hear an incredibly fast "whosh whosh whosh whosh whosh" .. my eyes fill with tears, relief and happiness... then close as I imagine our little baby inside my tummy growing ready for the outside world!

We've had a stressful 17 weeks as my pregnancy has been so different to Thomas. Without going into detail, I've had the most terrible sickness and have only just managed to overcome this in the last week. Never ever before have I felt so helpless and poorly, unable to curl back under the duvet as Thomas needs me to be strong and life needs to remain as normal as possible for him. Today, everything seemed to fall into place... we heard the baby, the midwife confirmed everything is absolutely perfect and I'm beginning to get the pregnancy glow! *quick lets get out and enjoy it and hope its lasts!*

Watch this space as we'll be posting pictures, updates and lots more posts from me, Flyingpops over the next few weeks as I document the pregnancy! For now, I'm just sitting enjoying some of the blog posts Fink wrote when I was pregnant before with Thomas (named MJ then!)