Georgia is getting increasingly excited at the prospect of being an older sister very soon. Although she is absolutely certain it has to be a baby brother as both her cousin Charlie and cousin Niamh were given a brother each, it is now her turn.
Let's hope I don't disappoint her!
With only three and a half weeks to go, I guess she won't have too long to wait to see if she gets what she wants.
As for the general consensus, most people seem to be torn this time between whether I'm having a boy or a girl. People always have such a strong opinion on this don't they? Some say I'm 'carrying all in front' which is definitely a girl, other say exactly the same and insist it therefore must be a boy. Someone even asked me the other day if I generally eat breakfast as that could determine whether it is a boy or girl...how that works I will never know.
Anyway, as I always tell anyone who asks, I don't care remotely whether it is a boy or a girl, I only care that my baby is healthy, and I look forward to finding out what sex my baby is when he/she is born.

I often use my blog to have a good moan, but I'm not sure I have ever used it to really moan about my husband's horrific snoring.
Anyone who has had the unfortunate experience of having to sleep in the same house as Dave will know what I have to put up with, or did, until now.
A few months a go, I sent him packing to the doctors with the very clear message of sort your snoring or look for a new wife!
He debated his options for a while, but eventually got going to the surgery. He was referred to a specialist who took some x-rays to see if there was a problem that could be operated on, but there wasn't, he was then referred to a sleep clinic where I had visions of him having to stay overnight attached to all manor of machines, but this was not the case. He simply had to pick up a machine that he was hooked up to for one night at home that monitored his sleep pattern.
It turned out he suffers mildly from sleep apnia and was prescribed as oxygen mask contraption that he picked up this weekend.
The machine pumps pure oxygen into him, and I have to say works superbly and I have not heard a snore out of him since. However, the contraption with the mask and the thick black straps are far from attractive and quite seriously resembles Anthony Hopkins in his role as Hannibal Lector. Georgia hasn't seen daddy with his new mask on yet, think it could be best to try and avoid that at all costs.

As we gear up for the arrival of baby number two in our house, Georgia is certainly getting practice in to help with the new baby.
Admittedly, she is using her dolls for practice, but still, she spends a lot of time feeding them their milk, changing their nappies and putting them to sleep.
She certainly seems excited by the prospect of the new arrival and is determined to be the helpful big sister. I do hope it lasts, I am certainly counting on her help.

There is never a shortage of laughs when you have toddlers around, and last week was no exception.
Georgia went to nursery on Thursday as usual which is her favourite nursery day as her cousin and favourite person in the world, Charlie goes on a Thursday too.
They can be a very cheeky pair when they get together and this was no exception.
My sister, Rachel, arrived to pick Charlie up late afternoon and the pair came running out all excited to her. Maureen, who runs the nursery came out and said to Rachel: "I understand you're picking both of them up today?" Rachel looked at her somewhat confused and replied: "Not that I'm aware of, I haven't been asked to, why?" Maureen explained that Charlie and Georgia had been telling her all day that Charlie's mum was picking them both up and taking them home to make them spaghetti bolognese for dinner!
It turns out, Charlie had arrived that morning and simply invited Georgia over for dinner without informing anyone else. On this occasion they didn't get their way. Made for a funny tale though.

The stress and upset of allocation places for children at their preferred schools is a serious concern for parents these days and actually starts at a really young age.
It's all over the news these days, where children are heart broken that they can't attend the school of their choice, or where their friends are going.
With a two-and-a-half-year-old you wouldn't think such an issue would have entered my mind, but on the contrary, we recently applied for Georgia's nursery place at the local school in Chipperfield, and it was yesterday we heard the news. Georgia was granted a place at the nursery, and if all goes well, will start in September. But the last few days you do start to wonder, what if she doesn't get a place? Where will she go? Will I get a choice of where else she could go?
Whatever happened to your child simply attending the local school?

Well, the bunny alarm clock finally arrived and we all excitedly set it up for the following night. Georgia was very excited by this clock, and promised not to venture out of her room until bunny was awake.
And that she didn't. Unfortunately, whether it was daddy error, or Georgia's interference I'm not sure, but I had a visit from Georgia in rather a shocked and upset state at 2am the following morning.
She kept repeating: "Mummy, bunny doesn't work. I don't want to get up yet." And sure enough when I went in to her room, bunny alarm clock was sitting at the side of her bed wide awake. Georgia quite rightly insisted on bunny being removed for the remainder of the night.
We have since tried again, and the second night Georgia worked out how to wake him up when she woke up, so third night lucky, we put him on the shelf so she could see him but not reach him and she got up the following morning at 8am as planned. Here's hoping we may have finally cracked the problem.