Oops

Sorry its taken me so long to write this blog... things have been either pretty crazy my end or Ive been sleeping ;)
So we are now in our last trimester alhamdulillah :) Baby is due in February insha'Allah and me and chilliT (maybe I need to think up a new nickname for him) are very anxiously awaiting the arrival of the little one. We have our reusable nappy stash sorted, I hope :) insha'Allah and clothes and pieces.. we're going to a nearly new sale with the NCT on Saturday so I will be on the look out for a maternity coat (Im sick of not being able to fasten my coats) blackout blinds and anything buggy related to go with the pram we will be getting next year insha'Allah.
I have just today met up with a girl from a facebook birth board.. we are all expecting in the same month, but this lady has more than one in her ;) shes such an inspiration and really makes you grateful for what you have alhamdulillah. It was so nice to get out and meet someone in the same boat as me, currently Im still working (finish January 18th) 12 hour shifts starting at 2am :( with no pregnant ladies around me

We went to the baby show a few weeks ago... it was amazing!!! I was worried that hubby wouldnt enjoy it, but he bought the camera with him and was quite happy there :) he left me to my own devices collecting the freebies when we first got there and was very much as interested in all the stalls as I was masha'Allah. I think it would be useful to go once baby is here too, and then we know what we do need rather than what we might need but I dont think I could cope with going again next year and hubby looked worried at the prospect ;)

So I have finally had my braces taken off too.. it feels soo weird but I love it :) Ive certainly been taking things for granted all these years.. I havent stopped eating into crunchy fruits since I had them off, like apples, plums and pears.. cant wait to get into work on thursday purely to pick at the nuts Ive had on my desk for the last few months :D yummy!!! Just got to get into a routine with them now.. I couldnt really floss properly when I had them on, but have to make more of an effort now :)

Anyways, thats an update of whats going on in our world at the moment... baby is constantly moving around and poking out here there and everywhere, which can be painful at times, but I love feeling the movement :D Hubby just found out hes not entitled to any paternity leave as he started too late :( which is annoying as his work give really good paternity benefit so we have to re think our finances from that perspective, but insha'Allah it will be ok.

Confirmation at the doctors

After finding the lines on Saturday, Monday morning came and I booked a confirmation appointment at the Doctors (yes the one who suggested IBS!) for the Wednesday.
I patiently waited for the day to arrive and then set off down the road with Chilli. We waited for quite awhile and I was getting increasing anxious as I was due to be at work the next day so should be sleeping by the time that we were still waiting. I needed this confirmation to go ahead and tell my boss we were expecting so I could be taken off all the duties that are part of my job, the daily stretching, the lifting of 15kg weights and all the other random heavy lifting. Because of this I couldnt very well walk out from the doctors and go home, we found out that apparently her computer had registered me as being seen although she had no idea how that could have happened.
Sat in her room, she recognised me straight away as my other appointment had only been on the Friday, she asked what I was in for. The words failed to come straight away and when they finally did it didnt feel right to be saying 'I think Im pregnant' she looked surprised and asked if this could have been related to the bloated stomach Id been having... yes!! the Dr asked this!! So after the usual congratulations and what not, she did my blood pressure, took my details to book me in at the hospital we wanted and led me outside for some free pregnancy tablets and something called Emma's Diary. The whole appointment took no time at all and I was gutted it was so straightforward... I had expected something a little more.. in hind sight what I had expected was probably my booking appointment lol :D

But there we are, I was now able to tell work and looking back now it doesnt seem like four months ago and now its getting so close it worries me.. Allahu alim :) Please remember us in your duaas girls, and now I think I will be posting in real time :) Now everyone has been told and all is moving well alhamdulillah
JazakAllah khair

Our patter

Ive saved these as drafts to be posted in the future when the news is out to everyone. We got our positive test the end of May and have had trouble keeping it secret ever since :)

Anyways, it all started one Saturday morning, for the past week I had had a bloated stomach and after freaking myself out at the Doctors reading an ovarian cancer leaflet my GP proceeded to tell me my symptoms sounded more like IBS. I already had a feeling I might be pregnant, apart from the bloated stomach I was constantly hungry, constantly eating and constantly listening to the growls from my stomach. I got up and sneaked out the pregnancy test while the husband was busy with something, after obviously reading the best times to do it all. I proceeded :) Im not going into details as Im sure you all know what goes on there! I brushed my teeth while waiting but couldnt help taking peeks :) there was mostly some lines already there... I just needed to figure out from the paperwork what they meant. Apparently I was looking for a vertical line in one window which meant the test was working, check! and in the other window I was looking for a cross of some sort, what did I have? a cross... no hang on, wait there.. these things dont just happen so easily!! Was it correct? 3 months?? Surely that cant be right. 

I calmly walk into the living room where the husband is wandering around looking for something. I ask him, have you seen this? does that look like a cross to you? pointing at the second window. His answer, what is it? 'but does it look like a cross' he frowns, pulls his usual Im confused face and again asks the same question. I want to shout it out to him, but I want to make sure Im not seeing things first. Just tell me, is that a cross?? Yeah I guess so, definitely 2 lines... 'well, this means that we might be pregnant' a huge grin bursts across his face, the same grin I saw the first day we laid eyes on each other, the same grin when I first saw him just before we were to be married.. I know that smile, hes happy :) and he hugs me strongly to tell me he so (a man of few words but many actions my husband!) my heart bursts with emotion and love.

So we decide there and then to take one step at a time and not tell anyone until we see 'it'

Book review

So I wrote a book review for a friend and editor for Aalia magazine and here it is :D enjoy and let me know what you think

Book review of The Midwifes Confession in Aalia magazine

Biking around Richmond Park

So we took a ride to Richmond park last month, a nearly 7 hour ride in total so was a lovely day. The sun was shining as it has been for a few weeks now alhamdulillah :) and here are a few photos I took around there

Some photographical treats from Wales

The mountain biking park

Our bikes, chilaxing and taking in the scenery

Criccieth castle

Our bikes chiaxing half way up Mount Snowdon

The view from the top masha'Allah

Relaxing at the beach

Enjoying the calmness of the waves

Im still here :)

Assalamalikum and hellos to all you lot out there..

so its been far too long as someone mentioned in my last post.. January seems so far away when I got my lower braces put on. I want to blame it on the fact that blogger wont allow me to use a gmail address (which is just silly!) so I wont use blogger on my phone. However, its more than just that! I could come up with a million excuses but instead I will just fill you in on the last four nearly five months.

Can you believe its almost June already?? Half way through the year!! SubhanAllah... so whats been going on.. well braces are still on! A few adjustments have been made and Im very pleased with the results so far, so is my orthodontist who says he sees no reason why they shouldnt be off around September as planned :) Alhamdulillah, so Im really praying that it all goes smoothly from now on. I had a few problems last month with the wire sticking into the inside of my mouth, but the wire has been changed to a less flexible one now and my new mouth is coming along nicely :) I just remembered I have some photos of my molds on my phone of my teeth before, maybe Ill upload them later insha'Allah

There hasnt really been anything big happening to be honest, Chilli Tomato has found himself a new job alhamdulillah at Morrisons (supermarket) he starts today, so Im looking forward to seeing how that works out. After his probation he will be earning generally the same amount as his old job, for less hours and there is hardly any commute. 0.8 miles instead of 8 miles alhamdulillah. He rides his new bike, oh yeah, he bought a hybrid bike (mountain bike frame, racer wheels) after buying our mountain bikes purely for work reasons, to work and it takes him about 10minutes if that!! so hes very happy. He realised there is a gym that hes been to before and he liked just next door to his workplace AND there is a mosque around the corner Alhamdulillah!! Hes even more up to actually moving to the area, which would mean closer for me too when Im going to work at 0230... trust me, an extra 5 minutes in bed makes a world of difference!!!

In May we took a family holiday to North Wales, my old next door neighbour has a caravan there and they allowed us to use it for a little while :) It was amazing masha'Allah.. our first proper holiday together away from family :) We climbed Mount Snowdon, went to a mountain bike park, strolled along the beach.. It was quite an active holiday and I was suprised at how refreshed I came away from it all really, Im glad I married this guy partly for the reason that he is so active masha'Allah.. He has opened me up to many experiences since we married in 2009 and Im grateful to Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) for that. We share so many more hobbies now.. I got him into snowboarding and photography and he got me into mountain biking :) prefect combinations masha'Allah

Ive recently bought a kindle (well my mum will tell you she bought it for my birthday but whatever! ;P) and Im in love.. Ive been reading soo much since I got it (feel free to check me out at my Goodreads profile :)
Also, Ive started meal planning :) Im thoroughly enjoying cooking new things (I decided to cook at least 2 new things every plan), our plan is for 2 weeks and its settling into a good routine alhamdulillah.

Insha'Allah when I get a minute free I will upload some photos from whats been happening since I last wrote :) Wish I could upload my instagram photos onto blogger, like you can with facebook and twitter.. would make things good too :D

Anyways, time to get back to work I think.....
Keep commenting :)
Fi amenAllah
Ammena

Brace face

I had my bottom teeth 'braced' this afternoon... I don't think it makes me sound any different, but then i didn't think the top ones did and apparently they did.
This will be me until at least September... They told me 12 months but hey it could be shorter, heres hoping. The top braces have made such a difference in just four months and my orthodontist reckons I'll see the change even quicker on the bottom.
Just wanted to update you on the brace situation

Snowboarding

My new bindings. Picked them up yesterday and im in love. Can't wait to use them :)

Garden fun

Thought i would show you all a photo of the garden while i haven't blogged for awhile :) enjoy because we most definitely are alhandulillah