Reading Again With Paper Cut Outs

It’s been such a long time since I last read a book - our ‘Readers’ book club has died a sad little death, and when it comes to relaxing once the kids are in bed, escaping with a book is usually the last thing on my mind! Saying all this though, I’ve found myself getting increasingly sucked into the black hole of social media comparison, and beating myself up about my imagined flaws etc, so it’s probably about time I switched off and enjoyed a treat from the literary world!

 

Five Things I Love About This Time Of Year

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these posts, but as it's now October, and Halloween appeals so much to my sense of consumerism, I thought I’d share five things that I love about this time of year:

30 Before 30 – A Quick Update

Back in June, I wrote a list of 30 things that I want to do/achieve before I’m 30, with the whole idea being that surely I could stick to something if I wrote it down where people could see! Given that I’m now four months into my 30th year, I thought I should re-evaluate how much I’ve managed to tick off the list…

 

Iris’ Birth Story

Gosh, how is it that my little squidge is one month old today?! As is the common theme with most of my blog posts these days, I’d been meaning to get this written for a while now, but the general chaos of newborn life has been holding things up slightly – I take my hat off to all those mothers I see on Instagram who totally seem to have their shit together, I don’t know how you guys do it! Anyway, without further ado, here’s how my latest wee cherub came in to the world…

Guess That Sound With Soundiculous!

Man, I’d forgotten what it was like to look after a newborn – the constant feeding, the lack of sleep and the specific cry all babies seem to have (which nature has programmed us to drop everything for) has really been challenging for us this past couple of weeks. Even this blog post, which would normally take me a couple of hours, has been dragging out for days! Despite these new commitments, we’ve still been trying to have fun as a family, even though activities are interrupted a little more often than usual. As such, when I was contacted by Gamely Ltd, creators of the hilarious card game Randomise, to review another of their recently launched products, I saw this as an excellent opportunity to have a laugh at a recent big family birthday.

What’s In My Hospital Bag?

Man, I feel like I’ve totally dropped out of the blogging bubble again! Once my thesis was finally out of the way, I had all these great ideas for posts and content, but this pregnancy has really taken it out of me, especially with the horrible heatwave we’ve been experiencing! I’ve also become a bit of a night owl, which is frustrating because I’m then left exhausted during the day, and requiring constant naps to maintain my energy levels. I’m fed up and sore, and I’m counting the days until I get to hold my wee bundle of joy… pregnancy definitely seems to get harder the more times you do it!

 

Sunday saw us reach the full term 37 week mark, so I thought it was finally time to think about packing the hospital bag. I’ve seen a few other bloggers do similar posts, and I found them very helpful, so I thought I’d share what I’m planning to take to the hospital for those who are interested:

30 Before I’m 30!

I’ve never really bothered with milestone birthdays before – turning 18 wasn’t really much of a thing for me given my new parenthood status, and 21 doesn’t seem to hold the same significance as it does elsewhere in the world. I wasn’t even aware that people make a big deal about their 25th until I met Paul, shortly before he reached his. In any case, I will be turning 30 next May, and the change in the first number of my age hasn’t happened for a while, so I guess I should mark it with something!

Why I’m Hating My Pregnancy…

I feel awful even typing that title, but despite all my best efforts, ignoring it doesn’t make it any less true…

Birthday Treats at Smashburger, Glasgow!

For those of you who are regular readers of my blog, you will know I’ve been absent for a wee while, trying to get my life together in the run up to the end of my PhD. In fact, I only re-joined the blogging scene about a week ago when I finally decided to get back in the saddle again after a six month break! No sooner had I returned to the blogosphere, an email popped up in my inbox announcing some new additions to the menu of my local Smashburger, and asking if I’d like to bring a guest along to sample the latest in gourmet burger goodies – with Friday being my birthday, I couldn’t resist!

Where Have I Been?

Gosh, it’s been such a long time since I wrote anything here, almost six months to be precise! The last time you heard from me, I was living the luxury cinema life at the new Odeon Luxe in Glasgow, but that now feels like an age away. I’ve had a lot of things on my plate in recently, mainly my PhD thesis, but I now feel like it’s time to come back – especially when I’ve always found my blog so helpful for dealing with stressful life situations.