Pregnancy = some crazy old dreams!

With my second pregnancy have come a whole new set of weird and wonderful dreams. I know it's said that telling people your dreams is the most boring thing in the world, but I feel the need to write them down!

The strangest I had last pregnancy was my tummy stretching and stretching until my baby popped out. She told me she was fine but could I please eat some more peanut butter. Although some people swear "no nuts when you're pregnant", I decided to take the advice of my unborn child and had some the next morning!

I've had a few this time around but the strangest came last night and was so unsettling... In the dream I was at a routine appointment when I spotted I could see a scan of my baby, it was perfect, but it was in my arm. They took the heartbeat and it confirmed it was growing in my arm. I was quite upset but apparently the baby was going to be fine, I just needed my arm to be amputated to deliver it. Surprisingly I was pretty ok with this but I was just fuming that it was my right arm as I am hopeless with my left!

I woke up pretty confused and stressed out, does it mean anything?? Probably that I am slightly nuts whilst pregnant. The previous one I had, I met my child briefly and they had amazing glittering gold eyes which I just stared into. This also panicked me when I woke up, I keep worrying they mean there is something wrong.

I would love to hear if anyone else had had just as strange dreams? Please it will make me feel better, I've even taken to googling them - not healthy!!

My new badge

I have some news, we are expecting another baby! I am now about 18 weeks and starting to look pretty round! I've been completely paranoid about sharing my news as I don't want to jinx anything. I'm excited though and can't really hold it in (the news,not the baby) much longer.

I thought I'd be a lot cooler this time but I'm still worrying about everything. Apparently according to my husband they are all things I worried about the first time around but I seem to have forgotten! There just seems so much that can go wrong and so many decisions to make, it can be overwhelming.

I was lucky again with not having a lot of sickness, I was just ridiculously tired. It's meant my blog has slipped over the last few months as I've been too zonked to keep up but I'm hoping to get going again now I have some energy back. The toyologists reviews are keeping me busy and getting me back in the swing of things!

So what do you think of my new badge? It's for my commute to work and I am so embarrassed about wearing it! I chickened out completely last time but I do find it quite horrible standing in the tube at the moment so I'm giving it a go! Would you wear one?

Don't laugh at me if you see me (but do feel free to offer me your seat)!

Lunch box Ideas with Leftovers

A sponsored guest post:

As a family we tend to cook mostly on Saturdays and Sundays. That often means that if we don’t eat everything, there’ll be left overs in the fridge Monday morning. I’ve now got into the discipline of using whatever is left over to fill the kids’ lunch boxes. Having had a stuffed pepper and steak dinner on Saturday, I found myself on Sunday evening with two red peppers and some carrots in the fridge. We had some pitta breads and dips on Sunday evening and there were four pitta breads left over.

I went for pitta bread carrot and red pepper wraps with cream cheese (I always have light cream cheese in the fridge!) I washed and dried the peppers and then cut them into thin strips, making sure all the seeds were removed. I then washed and peeled the carrots and cut these into small thin pieces, about the size of a baby’s finger. Making sure that I didn’t over-fill the pitta bread, I placed pepper and carrot in the wrap and added the light cream. I then completed the lunch boxes by adding a low fat yoghurt and a pear. Off they went to school, and I was pleased to see that later that afternoon they came trotting back to the house with their lunch boxes empty. Clearly the fridge leftover makeover worked!

Another favourite with my kids is making a tasty salad in a plastic bowl that I seal with clear cellophane and pop into their lunch boxes. Depending on what is leftover in the fridge, you can make this with turkey, tuna or chicken. Cut the meat into small pieces and then add sliced celery, some walnuts and raisins. Mix them altogether with a low fat mayonnaise. Pop the sealed bowls in the lunchboxes along with an apple and a couple of crackers with a low fat cheese slice or two. Hey presto!

Finally- what to do with that leftover potato salad? Here’s what you can do to give the kids a really tasty lunchbox special: Add some tinned tuna, balsamic vinegar, a little corn-starch and some chopped parsley (or other herb that the kids like). Mix it all together in a bowl and then spread out into fritters.  Fry in a little vegetable oil. They can then be put into a plastic bag and kept in the fridge until the morning. Put them in the kids’ lunchboxes next morning along with their favourite low fat dip or salad cream, and remind them to heat them up in the school’s microwave for a tasty and nutritious lunch.

The secret is really just to be inventive when coming across leftovers in your fridge. And don’t call them leftovers! That can be off-putting for the kids. I call mine “second helpings”.

Good luck! Some more creative ideas here!

As if by AniMagic – Ruby the Glamour Pet Review

So here's what I had the other day from my toddler...

Well I thought I had a good few years before the dog pestering happened. I explained it would be too lonely while mummy was at work and she was playing at Granny's.

Later that week I told her we were going to get a big box of toys to play with and we had to test them to see if they were good for other boys and girls to play with. This was her response...

Well luckily for me (and her) Geoffrey did not disappoint and there was indeed a perfect little puppy. I was pretty certain she was going to be completely delighted with her Ani-Magic Glamour Pet pup Ruby, and she was... and still is!

Ruby the puppy is just perfect for little girly girls who love animals. Perfect for me too as I don't have to take her for walks or worry about her eating the furniture.

She is:
Pretty on the eye
Very very soft and always ready for a cuddle (and a kiss)
Happy to let you dress her up with her reversible coat
Even happier to have her hair styled
Very well behaved in the car
Doesn't jump up at visitors
Only prone to very lady like little barks

She never:
Wees
Whimpers while you are trying to eat your lunch
Wants a walk
Sheds hair on the furniture
Complicates holiday plans (fits very nicely in a backpack)

My favourite thing about Ruby is just how soft she is. My daughter fell in love with her instantly and loves using the brush to do her hair and adding the little clips which come with it.

Day Coat / Night Coat (for that added glamour)

Ruby had batteries included which just about made my day and she comes with some sound effects. When you brush her hair she is designed to bark and when you press her close to your face to make a kissing noise. These kind of work but we found we had to press quite hard rather than just using the brush or snuggling up.

This little pup has brought my daughter a lot of joy and is perfect for little girls who love to play at taking care of animals. Ruby is a little patch of pink and glitter I just couldn't say no to having in the house!

Ruby will be available soon from Toys R Us.