Mia was in her Dad's over the Easter weekend so I had decided to do a small egg hunt indoors on the Tuesday morning for both girls. I told them on Monday evening that we were going to have an egg hunt and they got super excited. Tuesday morning came and they were so excited. We had a lazy but fun morning, both girls played nicely and I managed to have a little lie in bed whilst the girls played. For some reason this week has been exhausting for me, I blame the pregnancy!

Early pregnancy symptoms can be very similar to period symptoms, which can be quite confusing. There are many early pregnancy symptoms and the main one is a missed period. However this isn't always the main symptom for some. Some (lucky) people don't suffer with any symptoms throughout their pregnancy but some of us women do.

Ever since I was a little girl I knew I wanted kids of my own. I always wanted that 'family life'. Growing up with a single Dad was amazing, don't get me wrong but I always longed for that Mother and Father kind of family. But life never plans out like you want it too, does it? But I believe everything happens for a reason.

Welcome back to week #4 of Pregnancy & Beyond. I am actually enjoying doing this linky each week. I have put a lot of thought into it and decided to add more information into the actual linky post each week. Seeing as it is a Pregnancy and Beyond linky I want to add some information/facts about pregnancy and parenting. Different ones each week. I really hope to spread the word out more about this linky, so we can get more link ups. It would be lovely to see more pregnancy and beyond related posts this week.

Early Pregnancy Symptoms?
Early pregnancy symptoms can be different for everybody. Some people will get nothing and some people will get nearly all the symptoms. For me, I had no symptoms with my first only a few cramps here and there. My second I suffered with bad nausea and my 3rd I had sore breasts and feeling a little nausea (the nausea then lasted up until 20 odd weeks). But the only symptom that was the same was a missed period.

The main symptoms of early pregnancy is :
- Missed period
- Positive pregnancy test
- Nausea or sickness (also known as morning sickness)
- Tiredness / no energy
- Sore breasts
- Going to the toilet more (pee)
- Constipation
- Strange smells and taste (like a metallic taste)

If you do think you may be pregnant, wait until the first day of your missed period to take a test for a more accurate result and then if positive, take a visit to the doctors. However, if your test is negative and you are still late on your period, this doesn't mean you are not pregnant. Your hormones still may be low. It took me 16 days to get a positive test. But it is also important to know that sometimes a period can just be late and period and pregnancy symptoms are very alike.

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Before linking up, I would appreciate you all to take two minutes to read these simple rules/guidelines!

1. Feel free to link up no more than 3 posts each week

2. If you would like to tweet that you are linking up, feel free to do so! I will retweet if you add my twitter @lifeasmumblog

3. If you would like be tweeted once the linky is live/open, please subscribe here and add your name to the list

4. To make this link successful and fair, I would really appreciate it if you could all comment the post before you and another 1 or 2

5. I would really appreciate it if you could add the badge at the end of your post OR a link somewhere on your blog (side bar, separate linky page etc!)

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An InLinkz Link-up

One thing I love about this time of year is the long weekend we get to spend as a family. Although the rest of the weekend hasn't really gone to plan with my partner because he had to still work in the evenings until 4-5am as we need money, we still had a great weekend. On Good Friday the sun was shining, the kids were well behaved, I had a small lie in and I felt good! I chose the perfect place to visit and couldn't wait to take the girls there.

Llanberis is a place my Dad took me and my brother quite often when we were children so being able to make memories there with my girls means a lot to me. The last time we went to Llanberis was roughly two years ago and you can see the post I wrote about the day, here. I am not quite sure why we had left it so long to visit again because it isn't far from us. Anyway, we all got ourselves ready and made our way there.

The Easter holidays are coming up for us in the UK and the girls are super excited. I have got a few things planned for the next two weeks but one of the things I am really looking forward to is a family movie night. The girls can stay up late, eating pizza and whatever other junk they want! One night off. Seeing as it is Easter, I have thought about watching a couple of Easter related movies.

Easter is a really exciting time for all children. Not only do school children get two whole weeks off school, they also get treated with lots (and lots!) of Easter eggs, chocolates and other treats. Mia and Elliw are super excited to receive their Easter presents and doing many Easter crafts over the next couple of weeks.

This week for Weekly Moments is a little different. We as a family haven't done anything outstanding or very special this week but the girls have actually learnt how to play games on my laptop. You may have also heard that it is blog awards season! The 3rd thing that has been a change this week is, we finally have our family car ready for baby #3 to arrive.

LAPTOP LEARNING
If I remember rightly, on Tuesday I let Elliw play on the laptop for about 15 minutes. It was pretty funny at the start but got quite annoying in the end as she was a little confused with the mouse. She has finally got the hang of it though and now loves playing games. Mia had a go the day after and they both had 10 minutes each. It was so nice watching them learn something new and really enjoy themselves and being proud of themselves learning something new too. They have both asked to play on it again after but I don't want them to be stuck to it as I am worried incase they click the wrong button somewhere, as the laptop is where I work/blog from. I will allow them about 15-20 minutes a few days a week and it's been a good excuse for them to behave well too!

BLOG AWARDS
You may have realised that it is Blog awards season! I am not really the kind of person who will go on and on about things like this but I would like to get the word out there and let people know that I would love them to consider my blog for certain categories such as pregnancy and family. I have currently been nominated for Best Blog of the Year and Best Pregnancy blog which I really appreciate! If you would like to vote for me, please do read this blog post first to what my blog really means to me.

CAR SELLING
My partner put our Audi A4 car up for sale at the start of the week and kept worrying it wasn't going to sell as no one had called on the first day! I did laugh at him with that and I reassured him it will go. Funny enough he had a call the following day and the car was sold Wednesday evening. We have our new family car and we love it. It is a Touran 7 seater we have bought and has plenty enough space for us all. The girls were so happy when they saw it, and can not wait to sit right in the back of the car soon!



W E L C O M E
Welcome back to week #47. I can't believe we are already in week 47! It's going so fast, isn't it? Thank you so much to all of you who linked up last week. I do have to apologise and let you all know I didn't get time to comment and read all of your posts, so I am going to try my best and catch up over this week or weekend. Hope you all have a lovely week!

T H E  R U L E S

• #justanotherlinky is open Saturday morning until 11.55pm Monday night.

• If you are linking up please make sure to take the time to read and comment 2 other blogs.

• If you have the chance, if you could comment on both host's posts that would be great.

• Feel free to tweet using the #justanotherlinky (We will both re-tweet)• Post no more than 2 posts.

• Old or new posts.
• Link up no more than two posts per week

• No linkies allowed.
• Sponsored posts, review posts and giveaways allowed.

• By linking up you are giving me and Kirsty permission to take a photo if you are being featured the following week.

Y O U R  H O S T S

HOST - Beth | Life-As-Mum | @lifeasmumblog

CO-HOST - Kirsty | Somethingcrunchymummy | @crunchy_mummy

Featured Post {OF THE WEEK}

My best post from the previous week is: Introducing Alpha Mummy and Beta Mummy from The adventures of a Beta Mum

------------

 - GRAB THE BADGE -

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PLEASE BE SURE TO ONLY LINK UP ONE OR TWO POSTS , NO MORE PLEASE!

An InLinkz Link-up

HOW I AM FEELING
I've been feeling pretty good this week. Not to stressed like I have been the past few weeks. On Thursday I felt a lot more tired than usual but it may be because I didn't move around so much and I haven't had brilliant sleep all week either, aswell as the early wake up calls. I am feeling a lot more prepared this past week as I have been given many clothes for Baby boy. He is so spoilt! I have received some exciting e-mails and I am now crossing my fingers (and everywhere else!). The only time I remember being a bit sad this week is with the midwife appointment and my current situation with Obstetric Cholestasis, which you can read more about, below. So I think this week has been a pretty good week.

When I found out I was expecting baby #3 my first thoughts were the girls. How would they react? How would Mia react in being a big sister again? and how would Elliw react being the middle child and a big sister for the first time? All kinds of questions were running through my head. It was hard not to mention it in the first 3 months, especially with the scares and worries.

I remember that first blog post I wrote - a letter to my youngest daughter - I didn't stick to blogging then. It wasn't until May 2013 that my blogging journey truly started. You can read all my posts from my first month of blogging here. Looking back really does make me cringe because of the way I wrote and how short my blog posts were (and many other reasons too!). I do think my photography, words and posts have improved since and I hope for them to improve again in future.

Being a parent can be very expensive, especially if your children are like mine and love to eat (and waste) everything that is in the fridge. But there is much more than just buying food for children when you're a parent. You need to keep a roof over their heads by paying rent and bills, buy new clothes, school uniforms, school trips, birthdays, Christmases and so much more. On average a parent can spend over £11000 per child each year, according to Telegraph.

Seeing as raising a child or more can be expensive, most parents choose to go out to work. But if you are a couple it can be pretty difficult for both parents to go out to work. The same with single parents, it can be difficult for them to go out to work too. I am in a relationship and one of my reasons for quitting my job when I finished my maternity was because I just could not afford paying the childcare and that is why I decided to quit my job of two years.

I have been a blogger for nearly 3 years now and I knew from the start that I wanted to be a parenting/family blogger. I learn many things on the ways such as taking better photos, writing better and learning how to write better posts. I do think a part of my learning is because I have read and still read some amazing blogs out there. Most of the blogs I read are pregnancy, family and lifestyle blogs.

I think reading other blogs is a great way of supporting other bloggers too. It's interesting learning about other people by reading their blogs, seeing what they get up to and all sorts. When I first started blogging I only read one blog (OhSoAmelia) then that went to two blogs (SuperBusyMum) and that's gone up to over 100+ blogs a week. Reading 100+ blogs a week is a huge number but it's mainly because I join into many daily threads on Facebook, join in with many linky's and run my own two linky's. I do have a few favourite blogs that I love to read on a daily or weekly basis and I thought I would list just a few of my favourite blogs here. If you haven't seen or read their blog before, take a look!

1. Oh So Amelia
2. Mummy Burgess
3. Mummy Daddy and Me Makes Three
4. Super Busy Mum
5. Hello Archie
6. Hello Baby Blog
7. Hello Beautiful Bear
8. Budding Smiles
9. Twin Mummy and Daddy
10. Lamb and Bear
11. Sophie Ella and Me
12. Sparkles and Stretchmarks
13. This Mama Life
14. Write Like No ones Watching
15. Bump To Baby
16. Raising Emily
17. Our Baby Blog
18. Lived With Love
19. Lily Mae Adventures
20. Something Crunchy Mummy

Do you read any of the blogs listed above?

As the girls have grown older they have stopped watching Cbeebies and the 'baby' programmes and turned into Nick. Jr lovers! The programme they absoloutely love and watch every single day at the moment is Paw Patrol. Paw Patrol seems very popular at the minute with a lot of children. I have started to see many stores all of a sudden selling Paw Patrol items, which is great! About time I say so.

I don't think there is ever a right time to be 'ready' for another baby. I am going to have a lot of hospital visits and scans through this pregnancy and have already got 3 appointment letters come through the door last week to see a consultant and for a scan. So I am counting how many weeks I will be and I am just seeing this pregnancy fly by, which is making me a little sad to think about.

It’s well known that most of us love a deal. However it appears we are willing to put in the work to hunt out the best bargains too. It was recently suggested that the average Brit spends just under 200 hours every year checking prices on the internet or at the shops in a bid to find the cheapest price. That’s over 8 days a year – quite a commitment!

 

So why is it that we’re so obsessed with sales? Well, if you consider that the average UK family has two children, and it’s estimated that the cost of raising a child in the UK is around £230,000. Multiply that number by two and that’s a lot of money to find. Now consider as well that the average UK household income is only around £31,000, and you can see quite clearly the challenge that faces many of us.

 

Sales offer a simple solution; they allow UK families to make their income stretch further, making popular brands more accessible and providing people with the purchase power to obtain higher quality products for a more affordable price. Indeed, this is the reason that we all flock to the stores on Black Friday and save up for the seasonal sales.

But the truth is that you don’t need to hold out for the key sales periods, sales are happening all the time. Sure there’s more stock on sale in January than February, and there’s certainly great deals to be had on Black Friday, but in truth, most retailers are on sale all the time – they just decide not to advertise it.

Stuart McClure of Lovethesales.com said: “Unknown to most of us, ay any point in time, whether seasonal sale period or not, between 10% – 15% of all retail products carry a reduced price tag; this is normally because the product has more stock then required or perhaps the line is not selling as quickly as expected.”

 

While sales peak on Black Friday, and the Christmas and January shopping sales, there’s still a significant proportion of retailers stock on sale at any time – busting the myth that it’s all over after January.

 

By shopping from a site such as lovethesales.com, where everything is on sale, means you no longer have to pay full price for anything, nor do you have to visit a range of different online shops only to realise that your size is sold out.

 

Lovethesales.com allows users to browse only your size, favourite colour etc in order to make your shopping experience even more streamlined, as well as following your favourite brands and get live updates of their sales stock.

 

And let’s face it, although most of us are keen to make our money last for just that little bit longer, refraining for shopping altogether just isn’t an option. However, by making regular and substantial savings on things you buy, whilst sacrificing very little, if anything, in terms of quantity or quality of what you’re wearing or doing, is how to get the best of both worlds.

 

If you haven’t already figured out how to get more bang for your buck when it comes to shopping, now is the perfect time to start.

* This is a collaborative post

Hi everyone! Thank you so much for linking up last week. I would love it if any of you could spread the word of this linky. That would be fantastic! Thanks in advance if you do. This week has been pretty stressful for me pregnancy and parenting wise and I do hope I get a chance one day this week to explain how stressful it can be to be pregnant and looking after two very active children.

Before linking up, I would appreciate you all to take two minutes to read these simple rules/guidelines!

1. Feel free to link up no more than 3 posts each week

2. If you would like to tweet that you are linking up, feel free to do so! I will retweet if you add my twitter @lifeasmumblog

3. If you would like be tweeted once the linky is live/open, please subscribe here and add your name to the list

4. To make this link successful and fair, I would really appreciate it if you could all comment the post before you and another 1 or 2

5. I would really appreciate it if you could add the badge at the end of your post OR a link somewhere on your blog (side bar, separate linky page etc!)

<a href="http://www.life-as-mum.co.uk/" target="_blank"><img alt="thumbnailsize" border="0" src="http://i68.tinypic.com/688nlj.jpg" style="border: none; max-width: 100%;" /> </a>

An InLinkz Link-up

It's really scary how fast this pregnancy is going. Too fast! One minute I want this pregnancy to hurry up so I can meet my little boy and then the next I was it to go slower because this will be the last time I will be carrying a child inside of me. The last time I grow a baby inside of me. It saddens me to think that but I have decided I really do not want anymore children.

Easter is just around the corner! Although I don't celebrate Easter in my house, I do go out and buy something small for the girls. The past few years I have been doing a small hamper for them both but this year I think I may just buy a cheap easter egg and then take them out and treat them to a small toy and new shoes each because they are desperately in need for new shoes! There are many gifts out there that you can treat your child to, other than chocolate! Although most of us love chocolate, it can get too much when the rest of the family and friends buy Easter eggs too. I have gathered a few items I have reviewed in the past and rounded them up in a Ten Easter (Non-Chocolate) Gifts for Kids!

The past week has been extremely stressful and hard. It's been full of arguments, tears, stress and more tears. My youngest daughter, Elliw has been a right little madam. I am not quite sure where she has got this phase from or how it even appeared but her behaviour and attitude was so difficult to cope with. It started all of a sudden and it didn't help that I have also been struggling with aches and pains from pregnancy symptoms too.

I had only gotten over the stress I had the previous week because of my eldest. So to all of a sudden be stressed again, did take its toll on me. All week I have been feeling shattered and all over of the place. Elliw is only part-time school, so although I had a couple of hours break when she was in school for 2 hours, it did go too fast as I always had something to do. I fell back with housework but I have finally gotten on top of it. I fell back on blog work too but I have gotten on top of that too - which I am glad and proud of.



W E L C O M E
Welcome back to week #47. I can't believe we are already in week 47! It's going so fast, isn't it? Thank you so much to all of you who linked up last week. I do have to apologise and let you all know I didn't get time to comment and read all of your posts, so I am going to try my best and catch up over this week or weekend. Hope you all have a lovely week!

 

T H E  R U L E S

• #justanotherlinky is open Saturday morning until 11.55pm Monday night.

• If you are linking up please make sure to take the time to read and comment 2 other blogs.

• If you have the chance, if you could comment on both host's posts that would be great.

• Feel free to tweet using the #justanotherlinky (We will both re-tweet)• Post no more than 2 posts.

• Old or new posts.
• Link up no more than two posts per week

• No linkies allowed.
• Sponsored posts, review posts and giveaways allowed.

• By linking up you are giving me and Kirsty permission to take a photo if you are being featured the following week.

Y O U R  H O S T S

HOST - Beth | Life-As-Mum | @lifeasmumblog

CO-HOST - Kirsty | Somethingcrunchymummy | @crunchy_mummy

Featured Post {OF THE WEEK}

I really apologise for not having a featured post this week. I will catch up for next week.

------------

 - GRAB THE BADGE -

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PLEASE BE SURE TO ONLY LINK UP ONE OR TWO POSTS , NO MORE PLEASE!

An InLinkz Link-up

This is my 3rd week of #weeklymoments. I am really enjoying talking about the most important things that have happened during the week. I always struggled sticking to saying what I did every single day, or a photo a day as I would always forget. This week is all about the kicks, hospital visit and family time.

Kicks
My partner finally felt Baby boy kick for the first time on Tuesday night whilst we were in bed! Baby boy's kicks are so hard now and I can feel him stretching and moving so much during the day and evenings now. Before it was mostly the early morning or evenings. I have noticed he doesn't move or kick as much when there are loud noises but loves kicking and moving around when it is quiet. He will have to change that around when he arrives because my girls are not quiet, ha ha.

Family Time

WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING?
This week is a little different and it will be different each week from now on. Last Saturday I went into hospital to take my bloods for Obstetric Cholestasis and on Sunday I went back in for my results. The midwife and doctor confirmed that I am now diagnosed with Obstetric Cholestasis, for the third time! The itch is bearable and I have been given some cream to help any itch that feels unbearable but I don't think it is anything I should complain about right now because I know it can be ten times more severe and constant than what it is now. I now have to go in for weekly bloods and keep an eye on my bloods. I haven't had my bile acid results yet just my ALT and a few others. My ALT bloods are raised, normal is 33 and mine have raised to 55. At the moment I am not getting monitored or on medication because I am under 28 weeks. I think from 28 weeks they may take it more seriously, I hope. But baby is all healthy and kicking like mad the past week. You can read more about my diagnoses with Obstetric Cholestasis here.

Since I have been pregnant I have realised I do sit down a lot more and just think about things. Most of the things I think about is my girls. Sometimes about all the memories we have already, the new ones which are too come and that guilt. The guilt that most parents experience. If you haven't experienced it yet, I am sure you will soon enough.

I should really get more involved with the Sibling monthly project but I have been so busy recently, I keep forgetting. The past week or so I have been capturing a lot more photos of the girls together. Just a few weeks ago I was looking through my photos on my phone and albums and realised I had many photos of them by themselves but not together. I really need to start capturing photos of both sisters together from now on and join in with this great monthly project.

I really can not believe we are in March already. This year is flying by and so is my third pregnancy. It still feels like a dream knowing Baby boy will be joining our family in around 4 months time. 4 months really isn't a long time and I can just see it flying by. The girls are so excited to meet their baby brother and speak about him daily.

The girls have been great this month. Although Elliw is going through a stage of being really cheeky and pushing her luck and really pushing my buttons this month. It has been hard, especially when I get stressed my body seems to ache really bad and I have to stop and calm down a bit. It may be my blood pressure going sky high, but I really need to keep it under control.

These photos were taken just a few hours before I had to go to hospital for my blood test results. It was such a beautiful day and because we have just painted their bedroom white and in the middle of completing the rest, I thought I would take advantage of the natural light and white walls! I am in love with these photos :

Finding out you are expecting a baby, whether it is your first, second, third or more is an exciting time. Knowing you are growing a little one inside of you is amazing. Another thought when you find out you are expecting is, a lot of things are going to change. You have 9 months to prepare yourself for the baby's arrival. It can be all so exciting but it can also be pretty stressful!

Before baby arrives make sure you get as much rest as you can. If you are expecting your first then I would advise you rest as often as you can. If you fall pregnant again, it's not so easy to rest because you are still having to look after your other child/children. It's important that you still get that exercise in daily, so don't forget that either.

Firstly I will explain a little about what Obstetric Cholestasis means as it is a rare pregnancy condition that not many people know about. The main symptom for Cholestasis, also known as OC, is itching. Not many people know the high risks that come with OC in pregnancy. Here is a little more about OC:

Itching can be very common during pregnancy but the itch for OC is a little different. It can be so severe that you itch yourself so much you make yourself bleed. The main places you itch is the palm of your hands and bottom of your feet. The itch can be all over your body too. The itch usually isn't something you can 'cope' with. It can drain you as it is constant.

Easter is soon coming up, a little early this year but that's no excuse not to treat someone to something special. Easter is mostly about chocolate but there are some people out there who dislike chocolate (shockingly!) and maybe there are others who just prefer to spend money on things that will get used instead. Many of us love technology, as it is the 'in' thing for everyone right now. So why not treat someone to a tech gift this Easter?

Fujifilm Instax Camera | Portable Phone Battery | Bluetooth Wireless Headphone Beanie | Sudio Klang Headphones | Bluetooth Speakers | iPhone 6 Cases

 

What will you be buying for Easter?

 

* This is a collaborative post with Tech21

 

Hello! Welcome back to Pregnancy and Beyond week #2! This is the linky where you can link up to 3 pregnancy and parenting related posts. So if you love reading pregnancy and parenting posts, just like myself, this is the linky to join! Thank you so much to everyone who linked up last week. I really enjoyed reading all your posts. So here it is week #2...

Before linking up, I would appreciate you all to take two minutes to read these simple rules/guidelines!

- Link up no more than 3 posts per week.
- Linky starts every Monday AM until Thursday 11.55pm.
- No giveaways please.
- Reviews are welcome (as long as pregnancy/child/parenting related)
- If you link up, please take the time to visit and comment 2 other posts.
- Please only link up pregnancy and parenting related posts.
- Feel free to tweet your post with #Pregnancy&beyond and tag me @lifeasmumblog - I will re-tweet you!

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An InLinkz Link-up

During pregnancy you have to keep an eye out for many things during your third trimester. You need to check out for symptoms for pregnancy problem such as pre-eclampsia, obstetric cholestasis, reduced movements and more. When you get your pregnancy book from your midwife from your first appointment after finding out you are pregnant, you usually get given a phone number to ring if any problems and a phone number for emergency.

Last weekend after coming home from spending the day at the play centre for Elliw's birthday, I found myself sitting at my laptop looking at old photos. Thinking about old times. Old times at school and old times such as my childhood, my family and friends. It got me thinking how many things have changed in such little time. How short life really is. It's soon to be 4 years since my Great Nain passed away. She never had the chance to meet Elliw. I had planned to take her on Mothers Day back in 2012, to meet her for the first time, but she couldn't wait that long. She had a stroke and sadly passed away. It has left a huge hole in our family but it has brought us much closer too.

I have been blogging for nearly 3 whole years and within those three years I have seen many negative comments towards Mummy bloggers. When I started blogging I primarily did it because I wanted to write about family days out with my partner and the girls, write their monthly update and just something to look back at once the girls and I are older. I didn't really think about what kind of blogger I wanted to be. It just came naturally that I was a Mummy blogger as that is who I am.

 

Since I reached the half way mark last Monday it has really made me think that this pregnancy is actually flying by. Just another 4 months to go and our baby boy will be joining and completing our little family. It's still hard to believe that I am carrying a little boy inside of me. The girls are now really excited and for weeks they haven't stopped talking about him and asking many questions about how big is he and if he likes the same food as me and so on. It's all so lovely and getting me and my partner so much more excited to meet him.



Welcome...
Welcome back to week #46! I can't believe this linky has been running for 46 weeks already. I want to say a huge thank you to every single person that comes back each/most weeks to link up and to all the newbies too! Kirsty and I really appreciate it!

Not much has happened this week. My special moments of this week is:
- Finally reaching the 20 week mark! You can read my 20 week pregnancy update here
- Going for my 20 week scan and confirming that baby is 100% a little boy!

 

The Rules...

• #justanotherlinky is open Saturday morning until 11.55pm Monday night.

• If you are linking up please make sure to take the time to read and comment 2 other blogs.

• If you have the chance, if you could comment on both host's posts that would be great.

• Feel free to tweet using the #justanotherlinky (We will both re-tweet)• Post no more than 2 posts.

• Old or new posts.
• Link up no more than two posts per week

• No linkies allowed.
• Sponsored posts, review posts and giveaways allowed.

• By linking up you are giving me and Kirsty permission to take a photo if you are being featured the following week.

Your Hosts...

HOST - Beth | Life-As-Mum | @lifeasmumblog

CO-HOST - Kirsty | Somethingcrunchymummy | @crunchy_mummy

Featured Post {OF THE WEEK}

There were many fantastic posts last week and I really enjoyed reading all the posts that linked up! My favourite posts that deserve a spot in the Featured post for this week is:

 

A Letter To Oliver written by Back with a Bump 

------------

 - GRAB THE BADGE -

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An InLinkz Link-up

You may have seen my post last week where I said I was going to start writing a post every Friday about certain special moments of the week. This week I have decided to call it #WeeklyMoments. It isn't a linky but just something I can write each week for myself and look about what special things we have done each week. Even the littlest things.

Last Sunday it was Mothers Day. I wasn't expecting anything if I am honest. Maybe a card but no gifts but I would of been happy with just a card. I didn't have a lie in because my partner had worked until 3am that night. Elliw did lie in bed with me until 9-10am so I guess you could call it some kind of lie in without sleep. That day, my partner took Elliw out to see some family and food shopping whilst I painted the girls' bedroom. Mia was in her Dad's. When my partner and Elliw arrived back home, Elliw came upstairs and gave me a gift bag and a card. I went to sit in my bedroom to open and I had a big lovely card off the girls, some beautiful flowers and a gorgeous handmade frame too. I was over the moon. The frame is in welsh but doesn't sound right in English so I won't bother translating it but it is a lovely poem. They are now happily on my shelf in the living room.

Another special moment for this week was Elliw's 4th birthday. It was such a lovely day and you can see a video I did about her special day on my Vlog. She had lots of fun and I baked her a full on chocolate cake with all of her favourite chocolates on top. She loved it and so did everyone else.

I can confirm that Baby is 100% a boy. Although we had a gender scan at 14 weeks 5 days, I was till nervous that they were going to turn round and say at the 20 week scan that we were having a girl! It was so lovely seeing my baby boy so active and literally feeling him kicking and moving inside of me whilst watching him move on the screen. The most amazing feeling ever whilst being pregnant. Just another 20 weeks to go.

On Tuesday morning me and the girls got up and did our usual morning routine by getting ready and doing the school run. Elliw goes to her speech and language school on Tuesday afternoons, so Elliw was walking back home with me after dropping Mia off. I usually really dislike the school run because it can get pretty boring going the same way and seeing the same things all the time. But Tuesday morning was pretty fun.

It was a spitting a bit and I was hoping it wasn't going to pour down but we were walking ever so slowly and playing some game such as eye-spy and then Elliw wanted to sing her favourite song about jumping monkeys! But instead of the monkeys jumping on the bed they were jumping in puddles. She was doing the funniest dance moves whilst walking and even tried asking me to dance too!

When we got in the house we did our usual thing and take our coats and shoes off. I put on my slippers and off Elliw went and grabbed the iPad for a little bit. We went into the living room to have a big cuddle and I put on some old videos on YouTube such as TotsTV, Rosie and Jim and her favourite out of them was Andy Pandy! She even managed to find a really old episode in black and white.

Some school morning walks can be fun!

I was so worried we weren't able to make the 20 week scan but a good friend of mine said she would take Elliw for me, whilst Mia was in after school club. I had my appointment letter at my dating scan, so it felt like a long time to wait but finally I have had it. The letter told me to drink water one hour before the scan and so I did.