Goodbye to the last month of my maternity!  Time has flown and Reuben will be turning eight months already next Thursday!

I was originally going to take nine months off, but I thought it might be better to re-open my online boutique in time for Christmas sales, so I’ve stocked up and reopened a little earlier than originally planned. 

Things are certainly a lot busier with two children and I’m still breast feeding.  I’m unsure exactly how I’m going to fit it all in, but hopefully we’ll settle into a routine that works for us.

For now I’m planning on taking Friday and Saturday evenings off to make sure I spend quality time with Ben and have a bit of a break!  That might not always be the case around busy times like Christmas, but certainly in the New Year if I want to keep my husband!

Westonbirt Arboretum

We went to Westonbirt Arboretum yesterday which was fab.  The photos above are from Westonbirt.

We also went for a family walk in the Forest of Dean this month around a lake.

Bella loved playing with her cousins and spending time with her family.  She always protests when it's time to go home and would love to stay and play forever!

Both Bella’s Grandad and Uncle live in the forest and it’s a great place to visit for walks.  Bella loves nothing more than finding sticks and leaves along the trails!

Have you ever tried a spiralizer?

I received a spiralizer this month to review from a company on Amazon.  Have you seen these?

They are so much fun!

You can create noodles from all sorts of vegetables such as sweet potatoes, courgettes and carrots.  It makes a great alternative to pasta in a dish.

You can even make curly fries from potatoes!  I’m excited to experiment more, but Ben popped some sweet potato curls in the oven with a drop of oil and they were delicious.

Enjoying our log burner

We’ve been enjoying our log burner a LOT this month!

It’s so cosy and heats the room up beautifully.  We had it installed in February, so didn’t have it last winter.

We’ve now got an axe and Ben has been enjoying chopping wood.  I had a go, but I’m not great!

It’s quite satisfying to chop though.  It’s also so satisfying to light a fire and watch it roar away!

Lovely homegrown veg

My veg growing season is pretty much over.  I really don’t enjoy the cold and don’t want to go outside in the garden in this weather unless I’m super duper wrapped up!  I dug up nearly all my potatoes and we’ve had 6 punnets of potatoes so far!

There are two sacks left to dig up.  We had the last of the tomatoes too, a few cherry ones and a couple of biggies.  I think that will be all for this year.

There are still bell peppers and sweet peppers growing, but they’ve not changed from green to red.  I think it’s going to get too cold for them so they might not make it.  Next year I’d like to purchase a VegTrug and have another go at growing some root veg, tomatoes and maybe some salad.

I might be getting braces!

Keep an eye on my blog tomorrow for a blog post first thing about my first trip to the orthodontist this month.  I’m thinking of getting braces and will be documenting my whole journey.

Reuben has two teeth

Talking of teeth, Reuben now has two teeth, both on the bottom.  He’s nipped me a couple of times so I’ve started wondering how long I’ll continue breastfeeding.  I hope to continue until he’s one year, but we’ll see.  With Bella I stopped at ten months for fear of a bite!  I’d like to try and at least breast feed for the rest of this year. 

Reuben can now spin a whole 360 degrees on his bottom and leans over like he’s going to crawl.  He’s happier for much longer lying down and rolling around, so we may have a crawler yet.

He didn’t like lying down a month or so ago so I never thought we’d see a crawler, but this has now totally changed.

I’ve been trying to get him to have water from a bottle at mealtimes and he finds it absolutely hilarious!  I’ve no idea why, but it cracks him up as soon as it’s in his mouth!  I think he’s going to take a while to learn to drink from a bottle!

Bella loves preschool

Bella has settled in well at preschool.  She’s going for 21 hours per week over 4 days.  It’s really tiring her out, so the half term was a welcome break.  She has been asking about ‘playschool’ lots though and wants to see her friends!  Here are a couple of funny things she has said this month:

 

‘Do you like those Dads, Mum?’

(there are a few Dads on a TV advert)

‘Why do you ask that Bella?’

‘Because they are beautiful’

 

‘Bella, what do you want for Christmas?’

Answers so far:

• A pink fishing line
• A new teddy curtains (her favourite teddy – poor old teddy curtains!)
• A wishing well

Reuben’s pulmonary stenosis update

We had our post op appointment for Reuben with our specialist consultant on the 23^rd.

I’d already attended an appointment in September with another lady, so we knew the results weren’t great.  We thought they would continue with the balloon dilation procedure to keep the pressure down until he was an adult (and needs a valve replacement), but we were a little shocked that this wasn’t the case.

As the last balloon dilation was so unsuccessful, and they’ve tried two times now, it’s basically not going to work for Reuben. 

The next step would be to do a proper operation and physically cut the valve.  I didn’t take it in at first, but then realised what he was talking about – open heart surgery.

Oh my goodness.  Really scary stuff.  It’s currently moderately high and on the borderline of needing action.

So far no symptoms and you wouldn’t have a clue his heart is struggling at all.  I do wonder if we’ll notice any symptoms as he becomes more active, especially when he’s running around. 

He’ll be checked in four months to see how the pressure is and our consultant is on call should we notice anything in the meantime.

Luckily it’s a slow process, so nothing dramatic would happen very quickly.  The consultants are always confident they will see changes and take action before anything alarming happened.

We are obviously worried, but again, I’m not going to try not to think about it until the surgery happens.  I’ve a feeling it will be next year.

We will continue as normal and hope for the best at his next appointment in February.  I only wish I could trade places and have the heart defect instead of him.

If that was an option, I’d do it in a second.

The consultant reassured us that many people lead a perfectly normal life after two open heart surgeries, which is what Reuben will need.  It’s still terrifying though when it’s your own child!

I can’t believe it’s November and it will be Christmas already next month!  I’ll start shopping this month and will try to hold off on decorating the tree until December 1^st...