Welcome to The Good Life!


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Hello and welcome to our little part of cyberspace! I'm Viki and live with my husband, best friend and personal chef Paul at the top of the Elham Valley! Our friends refer to us as Tom and Barbara, because we're basically trying to live The Good Life! We run a business called Valley Crafts UK selling our own handmade and handpainted thingymabobs on Etsy - www.valleycraftsuk.com

We are owned by two cats and have a random number of chickens - including some of our neighbour's birds which tend to pop by from time to time... Paul can mostly be found in his workshop creating wondrous things out of wood, like chicken arks and cat houses, or in the kitchen making delicious fudge and chutneys. I spend most of my time in the office/craft room where I knit, crochet, attempt to learn to sew, and paint traditional canalia (that's "roses and castles" style painting).

We grow our own veg, brew our own beers and wines, make chutney, eat free-range eggs from our own chickens and are a hybrid of country bumpkins and cool hippies with some boho chic thrown in for good measure.

Where Are We?  

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Skipping a Week! - Week 10, 11 & 12

Baby

I put week 10 and 11 together because they’ve been pretty unspectacular on the pregnancy front. The dizziness has gone, the sleepless nights are now peaceful, (apart from the bizarre dreams every night!), and I’ve felt… well… normal! Or at least, as normal as I can do with an ever expanding waistline and breasts that feel like they could explode at any moment. Oh, and the mood swings of course… :-)

The best bit about the past week is that WE FINALLY HAD OUR FIRST SCAN! I’m pleased to announce that it went very well - but please note, when they say drink 1-2 pints of water an hour before, they MEAN 1-2 pints, NOT 3 litres as I did. The lady made me go and empty my bladder because I was crushing the baby. Whoops… The baby is absolutely fine so far, which has certainly helped with getting some sleep at night. You don’t realise how much you are worrying about it until you can see for yourself that everything’s fine. Baby even did a little flip for us and kicked arms and legs! Quite the wriggler (a typical Rawlings, I would imagine…).
The reason I’ve jumped forward a week is because the baby’s due date has changed from August 9th to August 3rd - almost a week! Which is fantastic news - another step closer to meeting our little person!

Next check up is in February when we’ll also get the results to the Downs Syndrome tests. We decided to have them done because it’s better to know and be prepared. It should all be ok, but it’s another thing to niggle until the next appointment with the midwife! To take my mind off it I’ve been finding all the kids’ tv programmes I used to watch. I’m currently re-watching David the Gnome, but I also have all the old Thomas the Tank Engine series and, for when the baby gets older, a bit of Are You Afraid of the Dark? and the cult classic: Eerie Indiana! In truth, they’re more for me than baby, but at least I have an excuse to watch them now! :-D I’ll be back with a baby update in a week or so. In the meantime I’ll leave you with a picture of my womb and our first look at Baby Rawlings who appears to be holding a martini glass and blowing bubbles :-)

Tagged: Mummy Diaries