Potty Training!

Tomorrow we are starting potty training! Pops is almost 2 and a half and although I'm not 100% sure she's ready I really want to try and get her trained before baby number 2 arrives.
So I'm taking the plunge and when she gets up tomorrow morning we will take her nappy off and choose some 'big girl' pants for her to wear, and see what happens! I've made her a chart and bought her some cute fairy stickers and will give her one for every wee or poo she does in the potty - if she can get 20 stickers by Sunday I've promised her a my little pony Pinkie Pie toy!
Hopefully with a little patience we can crack it but if not we'll wait until the summer and try again - will report back soon!

Here comes the bride...

Well we've done it! Officially booked our wedding! I am officially a bride to be! On the 6th of September 2014 I will be marrying the love of my life. I'm so excited, and scared!!
We will be getting married at 4.30pm and then having an evening reception, skipping the whole afternoon sit down meal blah blah blah (and saving us £2500!!).
I don't even know where to start with regards to planning everything now it's actually booked! I think we're going to spend the rest of this year saving up (and losing baby weight!) and then once Christmas is out of the way we will start booking and ordering things!
We want to try and pay for most of it ourselves and will be asking family to contribute a little rather than buying us wedding presents seeing as though we already have a fully furnished home, and would like to save up so we can have a honeymoon after with the kids.
Pops will of course be a beautiful little bridesmaid as she will be 4 by the time it comes around (scary!!) and the baby kicking away in my tummy right now will be a little flower girl or page boy!
Dress wise I don't want anything fancy, no gypsy wedding style meringue just something nice and simple but stunning at the same time. Have no idea on colour schemes at all - I like the sort of pale green colours you see but not sure if that will fit in with the time of year. Bridesmaid wise I'm not sure whether to just have Poppy or whether to have older bridesmaids too - I only really have one friend that I would consider close enough to ask!
One thing I am sure of is that I want a vintage VW camper van as my wedding car! My dad absolutely loves them and after seeing one at a wedding fair I've had my heart set on it!
Other than that I've got a hell of a lot of things to be thinking about, but a good while to decide and I will no doubt change my mind several times and back again in the next few months!

This is the venue - it's a local golf club with a gothic clubhouse! Absolutely gorgeous and is in the middle of nowhere. Has a long driveway up through the golf course lined with trees on either side. It's really pretty and will be brilliant for photographs - especially with the date still being late summer!

A blog about breast feeding.

Today I had a midwife come out to see me to discuss breast feeding. I tried to breast feed Poppy at first but I really struggled and gave up on our first night at home when she just would not settle. I didn't get much support whilst trying on the ward after delivery and I never got skin to skin straight after her being born, in fact I was one of the last ones to actually hold her! She wouldn't latch on properly and even when she did she was just not getting enough and was constantly on the breast without actually getting anything. The first night we were home I had been sat up 3 hours trying to settle her on the breast with no success so I ended up giving her a bottle of formula and she slept for 6 hours and then that was that for me!
The experience I had with Poppy put me off even wanting to try it with this baby at first but the more I think about it the more I want to do it and actually succeed this time. I know breast feeding isn't for everyone and I'm not one of these people who would preach about breast being best and all that - it is purely personal choice and if someone would rather formula feed their baby then who am I to say that's wrong? I've done it myself after all! I really do hope to be successful this time, even if I just manage to do it for a couple of weeks, but if I'm not comfortable with it then it won't be the end of the world if I have to give up again.
One of the things that worries me the most is that I'm going to constantly have baby on my breast and Poppy will start to feel left out, so if I feel we're heading down this route I will definitely stop as that is the last thing I want.
After seeing the midwife and seeing the amount of support available if I want it has really reassured me to try again, but as I have said, I will not be too worried if I don't manage to do it, as Poppy was formula fed from 3 days old and is the brightest, cleverest 2 year old you could meet and has never been poorly other than when she's been teething!