Last year, when all the craziness started to relax a little bit and Boris announced that the lockdown was easing in July, we booked a trip to Paultons Park / Peppa Pig world for Halloween. Little did we know at the time the madness was far from over as much as we all dreamed it would be however we just managed to sneak our trip in and came home the day before the lockdown kicked back in. 

Since then, Erin has asked me approximately 20 times every day if we can go back. Peppa Pig has been the one programme she’s religiously loved from the start so to be able to take her to somewhere so magic like that was great. 

We decided to chance booking another trip when Boris annouced the lockdown date for June so in March (unknown to Erin because I couldn’t deal with the is it today question for 4 months) we booked to go back in early July as an extended little holiday and last treat as the 3 of us before baby no2 arrived. 

We booked (as we did last time) through Paultons Park who do a fantastic offer of 2nd day in the park free if you book a short break through them. There is a whole range of hotels to choose from and we chose to stay in the Holiday Inn in Eastleigh which is 9 miles from the park itself. 

The break itself included breakfast as part of the package and we chose to stay for 2 nights instead of the standard 1, choosing to stay the night before we went to the park due to the long drive. The great thing about booking is you can customise your stay and chose how many nights, what day you want your park tickets etc - the whole booking process was incredibly easy! 

The hotel itself was fantastic and really well equipped for a stay with little ones. The choices at breakfast catered really well for toddlers. They had a great selection of food options including fruits, cereals, small pastries and even frubes (which Erin was delighted with). They even had smaller plates, cups, bowls and cutlery (ikea ones) for them to use at breakfast which if your a toddler parent is often a great relief as it is little things like this which can really enhance a stay and make life easier. 

Erin is already asking to go back again so I definitely think another trip will be on the agenda once baby is old enough to go on things and enjoy it too. If you haven’t been add it to your family visit list as it is definitely one to do! 

I love my little corner of the internet and while blogging may be seen as a dying art, I love being able to look back and read the things we are up to and sharing reviews online of things we have done and places we have been to (even if no one is reading them). 

As you can imagine, things are getting a little hectic around here... I finish work this week for maternity leave and am frantically writing a essay which is due not too far from my babies due date as part of the modules for my first year of my masters. Ive also got an exam on the 17th August so I need to start revising for that too (and hope I make it to the exam date without going into labour early). 

Im currently 35 weeks pregnant and baby girl is extremely low down. I don't ever remember being this uncomfortable and low down with Erin who was born at 38 weeks by induction so I am just hoping that she will let me at least get some of the things done I have got planned over the next couple of weeks before she decides to make an appearance! We are pretty much ready for her now, we did some more bits over the weekend including all the practical things like getting the car seat down from the loft etc and my hospital bag has been packed for a few weeks with the exception of a few bits. 

Like I say, this is going to be my little corner online to share, I don't know what its going to turn out like yet. I have lots of ideas of things I want to share and write about and I'm hoping that being able to write online while im on maternity leave will give me something I enjoy too. 

So yesterday officially marked the start of my third trimester in this pregnancy! I have to say it does seem to be flying by this time while going slow all at the same time. I am desperately trying to enjoy every single moment of this pregnancy, knowing this is the last baby we plan to have so I want to embrace every little thing. 

What has surprised me is how different each pregnancy can be. I have heard people say it before but I guess until you're actual in that situation you don't realise this for yourself. 

This time round has been SO different than when I had Erin. I was so convinced up to the gender scan we would be having a little boy because of how different I felt. When I was pregnant with Erin my morning sickness was absolutely awful and I was sick at least 2-3 times most days from about 6 weeks until around 22 weeks. This time I started feeling sick again around 5-6 weeks and prepared myself for the same as last time but I was actually only sick around 3 or 4 times throughout the whole of my first trimester although I did spend all day feeling sick which I am not sure if that's worse. Around 14 weeks this disappeared all together which was great! 

One thing I have suffered with this time which I didn't with Erin is horrific back and hip pain. Apparently this is really common in second pregnancies and is all to do with the hormone relaxin which makes everything as the name suggests, relax. It was getting so bad, I have actually started to see a chiropractor which has actually been really helping although I still have good and bad days depending on what I am doing (it gets particularly bad if I do a lot of walking). 

Other than that I have been feeling pretty good. We are just starting to get everything organised and finalised in the nursery and should be getting the last bits of furniture we need next weekend. We saved everything we had with Erin so I need to start sorting the boxes of smaller clothes and checking what we have as I know some of the 0-3 and 3-6 stuff won't be suitable as Erin was a spring baby (born in 2018 when we had that lovely heat wave from April - September) so a lot of the things are the wrong season but obviously things like baby grows and vests are universal no matter what season. 

Either way I’m excited for the countdown to meeting our littlest girl! I’ve officially made a start of my hospital bag so I’ll be sharing that as soon as it’s finished and organised! 

Today felt like the perfect day to write a little catch up as today marks 1 year since Boris Johnson announced the first UK lockdown (claiming it would last 3 weeks) . Here we are 12 months later and what a strange year it’s been. We’ve missed family and friends, none of the normal day to day things we take for granted like nipping to a shop or going out for tea have been allowed, and Adam has spent more time at home on furlough than he has at work (as I work for the NHS I’ve been working right through). They keep promising that life is going to go back to normal... who knows what normal is anymore... I think what we can hope for is a new normal. I think it’s what we all need. 

Life has been pretty hectic over the past 12 months. As I say I have worked all through but we managed to squeeze in a lovely family holiday in September in between lockdowns and a trip to Peppa pig world in October just before lockdown 2.0. We added 2 nieces to the family in September and December (one of whom we haven’t been able to meet yet) and in December just before Christmas we had the best Christmas present of all when we found out we were expecting our second baby! 

I’m now nearly 17 weeks pregnant and we found out this week we are expecting a little girl. Erin is massively excited to be a big sister and we can’t wait to complete our family! 

2020 will certainly be a year we will all remember and will go down in history as the year the world almost stood still. I’m hoping as we creep more in 2021 there’s a light at the end of the tunnel but who knows! All we can do is keep hoping and keep staying safe!