The house is upside down at the moment, half term week saw two days with the plasterer and a weekend full of plumbing and painting. There is not one room in the whole house that is not totally upside down. It is not easy to negotiate with a baby waddle. It will all be worth it in the end. Every day I tell myself, 'this mess is all for the baby!'
Sometimes it even stops me stressing!

I have an appointment at the hospital tomorrow to see what we can do about my Gestational Diabetes. It has been a week since I found out and no one has given me any advice, so I am pretty freaked out. With only 11 weeks to go, I am getting nervous, and am aware of how much she relies on me for everything. I am terrified that I am eating the wrong things - hopefully they will be able to put my mind at rest tomorrow.

Fingers crossed. I could do with some sleep!

The farm we stayed on was really pretty and the staff were fabulous. So much so I am willing to plug them here as they deserve it, if anyone wishes to book a weekend away in Somerset here is the place to stay.

My lovely mummy only helped to make the weekend better with a gorgeous delivery of flowers in our wedding colours whilst we were there. How spoilt I have been!

The baby continues to bake nicely after a recent scare and trip to the hospital. We are off for our 4d scan on Sunday, with both grandmothers in tow, I am really looking forward to it, although these things scare me rigid in case they find something wrong. She is booting away in there, and letting me know what she likes and doesn't like. This last term saw me interviewing for a replacement whilst I am off work, which was a very odd feeling. I am used to interviewing, just not for my own job! I don't give up my children easily at the best of times, but handing them over to someone else is going to be so hard, even someone I trust as much as I trust my replacement and even when it is for something so positive.

But still, when our baby arrives these changes will seem like the smallest of things I am sure. I can't wait to meet her but at the same time I know how much I will miss our secret conversations as she fidgets in the middle of the night. It is hard to remember a time when she wasn't there. Which is most peculiar seeing as she has only been there for 28 weeks but it seems like she has been a part of me forever. I think of her constantly, and talk to her all the time. I am never alone but always have her with me and I really think I will miss that when she arrives. However, I can not wait to meet her and see if she has my colour hair, or Nick's eyes, to discover if she is as much of a minx as she appears to be every time someone tries to monitor her heartbeat. I want to to find out if she has her mother's tenacity and her father's creativity. I have so many questions and there is so much about her that I want to know. I have never been the most patient of people and I am torn between wanting her to stay safe and warm in here forever and wanting to meet her and find the answers to all of my questions.

We are getting more prepared for her arrival, it seems like weeks away still, yet there is no time to get everything ready. The builders are in sorting the walls and the end of the week will bring a brand new bathroom. Her room is 'in progress' and the hallway is stacked with furniture ready for assembly. I am living in a building site and it is all pretty scary. The poor cats don't know what is going on!

Anyway, my feet are cold and I need my slippers...

Our little girl is growing stronger every day. She is kicking like Jean Claude Van Damme and fidgeting away in there all the time. It is a very odd feeling, people have been asking me what it feels like and it is so hard to describe. It is just like there is something living in there, something with a mind and system all of its own. Which of course, there is. I just smile every time I feel her move as it reassures me that all is well. She kicked hard enough to be visible from the outside today, much to the delight of the staff around me at the time. Nick has felt her move several times and I am now waiting until she is strong enough to boot Ashley the cat from my lap. I can not imagine what he will make of it! He has taken to laying around her, rather than on my lap as he used to. Now that she is twenty-four weeks we have to start thinking about getting ready for her to come home. With just three months to go there is still so much to do.

If the last six months are anything to go by, then the next three will be gone in a blink.

I had been adamant before the scan that our baby was a boy, even having chosen a name for him. Nick and I had discussed the reasons why we would like a boy along with the reasons we would like a girl to mentally prepare ourselves for finding out if we should be knitting in pink or blue. I was so sure. I was positive in my mind. More sure that I would have thought possible to be. Then came the moment of truth.

'I think this is a little girl' said the sonographer and an overwhelming surge of tears welled up from inside me. I could not believe it. I am going to have a daughter. A beautiful little girl of my own. I am sure the same surge of emotion would have risen in me no matter what she had said. I am sure I would have been as excited for the million reasons why a son would be wonderful. But there was something in her saying '..a girl' that overwhelmed me. I am not sure how much more of the sonographer's words I took in. I just lay and watch our baby yawning and moving her tiny hands and hearing those words again '...a girl'. I have never felt anything so strongly in all my life. Looking at my baby girl on the screen, feeling her movements as I watched her hands and feet curl up, was indescribable.

And to top it all off, Nick felt her move for the first time today.

In my current hormonal, pregnant state this will be a bit of a sentimental, soppy blog about my lovely brother . I apologise now!

I received an email from him this morning. He is such a long way away and I love seeing his name appear in my inbox and reading about his adventures, I await his status updates on facebook, I check his travel blog at least 5 times every day.

I love the little packages that we get full of the smells he is smelling and seeing his photos (although not how much weight they have both lost when I am getting rounder by the day!), I love the little text messages that bleat into my phone every now and again and I love hearing the excitement in his voice when he gets a chance to speak to us.

I love the fact that he is so far away from me yet he still thinks of us when he sees little things like my goat bells, or the children's temple where he made an offering for our baby. I love the fact that we were both seeing rainbows on the same day, even if they were thousands of miles apart.

I love the fact he is doing this trip, that he is so happy and that it is everything he hoped it would be. I love that he is sharing it all with Claire. He said that they are sad to be missing my pregnancy. But I want them to know that I tell the baby all about them often, that everytime they do something so lovely to make me cry, the baby feels all the good things I feel because of it. To know that they are going to be a wonderful aunt and uncle and be able to tell our baby all about the wonders of the world that they have seen.

It is funny that I have never felt so close to him, when he is the furthest away he has ever been. And I have never been so proud to be his little sister.

I did warn you it would be soppy. I blame hormones :)

It really is quite something.

Happy days in the Godsell house :)

I am sure a great deal has happened over the weeks I have been absent but for the life of me I can recall nothing now! My days have been full of work, including weekends. My poor husband realising when I said you can not marry a teacher and not be involved in school life, that it was unfortunately true! He has been a star of late.

My lovely brother is still off adventuring, currently in Mongolia, having Trans-Siberian railwayed from Moscow and spent some time in the Gobi Desert. I love to hear or read of their adventures and know that they are enjoying their trip. I am so proud of them for what they are doing. I have been promising news from home but nothing compares and always seems mundane. Perhaps I will have news for him next week.

I am having a funny old week this week. Year 5 and some Year 6 are away on School Journey to Swanage. It is the first time I have ever been left behind! I keep thinking about them all and what they are doing. The school seems an odd place with so many people missing. I always go away with them, here and in my last school. So it is most peculiar to think about them all there doing all the normal adventures without me! I miss tucking their little duvets under their chins at night time! Oh well, I am sure they will fill me in on their experiences when they return. *sniff.

Right, back to work I suppose. Hope you have seen the lovley new photo of Baby James Nick posted. I was lucky enough to be given two gorgeous smiles on Sunday too!

And thanks for letting me turn up for squeezes so soon! :D

A huge thank-you to the very kind person who bought us the tickets. Huge.

...It is almost the end of SATs week...
...Our vegetable patch at school is producing fantastic lettuce...
...Homepride fred has arrived...
...My brother and Claire are well and enjoying their trip so far...
...It is almost Half Term...

SO many reasons to be cheerful
SO many.

:(

:)

On the positive side...I found the best invention today. During a very hot day out at Port Lymne with the lovely Wayne and Tracie, we discovered that the shop was selling plastic glasses with peel off tops (like a yoghurt pot) full of lovely cold white wine! Wine for your lunch box! What a fabulous invention!

For those who don't know, my brother and his wife are off travelling for a year. Hopefully seeing some amazing sights and keeping themselves safe as they go. They have set up a travel blog to document their trip...

Looking at the countdown is making me so sad!