How I Met My Partner | Valentine's Special

As we all know Valentine's Day is quickly approaching, that one day where everyone celebrates the meaning of love.

Now if your single, February 14th may just be a normal day to you, however, I believe this special day shouldn't just be about romance, it should also be celebrating the love you have for your family, friends; those people close to you. 

And of course love should be celebrated everyday, not just one day a year.

I've never previously had a date or partner for Valentine's day, so now this day has a very important place in my heart! I never had any self confidence when it came to relationships or dating people.

I wanted to do a story time post tonight.

I like to keep my blog almost like a diary, for me to look back on when I'm older and read all the awesome memories that have been created.

Therefore, this is my story on how I met my partner of nearly two years, Daniel.

Me and Dan started talking on the ever romantic Facebook, I know! Its not the most romantic story to tell our grandchildren, however it does get more interesting, I promise.

To be honest I don't even know how me and Dan came across each other online, but once we got talking I had a good feeling about our friendship.

Me and Dan have both struggled with anxiety for many years, both in different ways but some ways very similar. We got talking about the topic of anxiety almost straight away, and again, I can't remember how or why. We both helped each other from then, onwards, with our struggles relating to anxiety, and this was before we even met.

We spoke for a good few months online before arranging to finally meet, for me, meeting someone new was one thing that set off my anxiety, due to it being social. I've had social anxiety for what feels like forever! I would never want to go to parties, sleepovers, school disco's; you name it, I just didn't like socialising, it scared me. This trait unfortunately stuck with me throughout primary school, high school and still to this day.

Dan turned from a stranger into my rock, he helped me on a daily basis, when I was having a bad day, I knew I'd have him to talk to and cheer me up, things were great!

I felt like the time was right to find my soul mate and strongly believed that if I met Dan, it could turn into something life changing, and my instinct's were right. 

For some reason Dan was the first guy that I didn't get myself worked up about meeting, I felt as if I was meeting a friend I'd known for years. For the first time I felt fine about meeting someone new and it felt so good to not have a million worries going through my head, so I just went with the flow.

I met Dan one morning and we took the train to Preston for the day. We both loved to shop so it was only right we would spend our first date shopping. This date was incredible, there wasn't one awkward moment, we were both really chatty and just happy to finally be face to face. I knew from day one that this was the man I wanted to grow old with and still to this day feel the exact same way.

The day went by super fast and not for one minute did I feel awkward, it honestly was such a bizarre feeling as I never thought I could ever meet someone and have such confidence and excitement about it. After our date we took the train home and I went to Dan's house to meet his parents. I never usually rushed to 'meet the parents', however for some reason, I felt like it was necessary, it wasn't a big deal to me, and yet again, my nerves were non existent.

We finished the day off with a walk to the local nature park and literally sat for ages on a bench, eating junk food and chatting away. It didn't matter what we did, we didn't feel the need for a fancy dinner date, or to have to impress each other, we were just happy to be together.
Whilst we were sat down, Dan asked me to be his partner, as we had previously spoke about it before meeting, and of course I said yes! I was extremely happy that I'd found someone genuine and down to earth, a true gentlemen.

And that was just the beginning!
Two months into our relationship we discovered I was pregnant, it was not planned and very unexpected as I was on the pill at the time. I knew from the second the pregnancy test came back positive that I was going to keep the baby, abortion wasn't an option. From then onwards, life has been amazing, I couldn't be happier with the life I have now, with my little family!

Me and Dan have always said that we were made for each other and I now truly believe that your life is planned out for you, things will happen when the time is right, whether you expect it or not!

And with all that being said, Happy Valentines Day!
I love you Daniel Bracey.

Weaning my son at 4 months old | My Journey

(Noah now - at 7 months old)

Disclaimer - I am in no way a health care professional, this post is about my experience only, if you are seeking professional advice, please contact the relevant people, e.g: your health visitor, midwife or GP.

My son has always been one step ahead of himself, which is what led me to start his weaning journey. Noah always took his bottles without a fuss, and eventually it got to the stage at around three months where his milk just wasn't satisfying him as much and he would become grumpy in-between bottles.

When Noah was four months old I decided to give weaning a try, if it was to fail I would go back to only giving him bottles until six months old, then try again.

To start of with, me and my mother made some of our own puree's using the Tommee Tippee baby food blender, however now I've had time to use this product, I've realised that I could of saved my money and just used the normal food blender I already had at home; which is now what I use as I can fit more portions into a normal blender.

Making my own puree's is so rewarding, Noah loved puree's from day one of weaning, which made me super excited for the start of his weaning experience.

My son surprised me with how fast he took to puree's, he was in no way fussy and enjoyed whatever food was placed in front of him.

When I'm not making my own puree's, my all time favourite place to shop for my son's baby food is Aldi, the prices are brilliant! With pouches of puree's starting from as little as 52p each, you can't go wrong. Considering for one pouch of Ella's Kitchen 6 month+ puree's your paying £1.50 each, your saving a heck of a lot of money in the long run, especially if you buy bulks at a time like myself. My only negative about Aldi is the variety, other stores may vary but in my local Aldi variety is limited, I never see any new flavours being released onto the shelves. This brings me back to Ella's Kitchen, although the prices are a lot higher, the variety is incredible! I do occasionally buy Ella's Kitchen baby food if there on offer. I'm always stuck for choice on which ones to buy next and I still have many more to try!

Lidl also have limited puree's but are low priced and have some lovely flavours to offer such as pumpkin, sweet potato, blueberries and apple pouches, which has been one of my sons all time fav's.

Noah is now 7 months old and he makes me so proud each day, he tries so many new foods, making my life a lot easier. I was always a fussy child and still am to this day, making me want to give Noah a great start to food so he can enjoy it instead of being scared of it.

Noah is now onto finger foods as well as 7 month+ puree's and his fav at the moment are rusks, toast and Ella's Kitchen melt puffs. These type of snacks are handy to have whilst out to fill a gap in your little ones tummy until its meal time.

I sometimes doubt myself and wonder 'am I rushing things?', although I know damn well that I do everything I can to ensure my son has an exciting, yet age appropriate diet.

Noah still gets plenty of milk and water daily, as well as a few snacks here and there ;)

To finish this post off I wanted to send a message to all parents, and that is to never doubt yourself! Don't be affraid to ask for professional help or advice from other parents if you are unsure of when to start the different stages with your baby.

You know better than anyone what stage your child's at and when they are ready to move up a step.

And with that being said, Good Luck on your weaning journey's!

Until next time..

My Pregnancy Story

On Saturday 8th June 2017 at 10:14am, my whole world changed.

Noah James Bracey arrived safely into the world and made me a mummy.

My pregnancy was a total and utter shock, after being on the contraceptive pill for three years and not falling pregnant, it all changed and along came my son, the happiest day of my life!

At 21 years of age, I had my life planned out, a house, good job and then a baby. Things didn't quite go to plan when I took a pregnancy test one morning, thinking nothing of it, and right there in my face was a BIG FAT POSITIVE!

After the family discovered the news everyone was thrilled to pieces for me and my partner, which may I just mention we were only officially a couple for two months before we discovered the news!

I was so excited to go through the journey of pregnancy, a week or so later I fell extremely ill with morning sickness, and I mean, it was the worst I've felt in my whole life.

I struggled with having morning sickness everyday for a good few months, almost close to giving up (yep, you know what that means) I pushed through the first trimester and my god, am I glad I didnt quit, as I now couldn't ever imagine life without Noah, he is the missing piece to my puzzle.

The second trimester was somewhat easier, the daily urge to throw up wasn't as regular, although I hated leaving my house, the cold weather made me feel worse!

It was in my second trimester that I found out we were expecting a boy!!!

I cried happy tears and instantly my thought to give up vanished, I then fell head over heals in love with the little human I was growing.

Of course from then on mine and my partners new favourite hobby was shopping for clothes for our soon to be son.

After what felt like an eternity I finally reached the third trimester, morning sickness was a thing of the past, on the other hand it was replaced with many sleepless nights and heartburn. 

At this point I thought my pregnancy, besides the morning sickness, had ran pretty smoothly; only to discover at 28 weeks that I had developed undiagnosed Gestational Diabetes. From then on I was having to test my blood sugars daily before and after every meal, I became use to doing it after a few days, besides, I would have done anything to make sure my precious baby was going to be safe.

37 weeks came around and I had noticed reduced movement from Noah, I later had an appointment from a routine check up at the hospital where I there told the midwife of my situation. Immediately it was decided that I would be induced the week later, little did I know that my son didn't want to wait around any longer, the day after I booked my induction, my son arrived!

At 2am I was disturbed from my sleep from what felt like my waters breaking, I ran to the bathroom in darkness and as soon as I turned the light on all I saw was a trail of blood on the floor, as well as all down my legs.

I was terrified, my first thought was, THERES SOMETHING WRONG!

When I got to the hospital the midwives could not find an answer for where the blood had come from, therefore they had to break my waters ASAP!

I was examined at 6am to find out I was only 2cm dilated, then after hours of horrendous contractions and 3 shots of epidural fluid, I was finally examined again, only to discover that I was fully dilated!

I pushed for around 40 minutes and at 10:14am, Noah James Bracey arrived into the world, weighing a healthy 7lb 1.

That was the day my world was complete, I have never been more happier than I am today, and its all thanks to my wonderful son.

My partner Dan was incredible, he stood by my side the whole time, I grew a lot of respect for him that day, as a man, having to watch your other half be in so much pain for a long period of time must be so frustrating and emotionally draining, I thank him for giving me our son and being the best dad I could possibly wish for.