Growth Scan - Twin update

by Bex

Since Nik is already down in Brighton, he couldn't be at our latest scan.  As we're having twins, we now get regular scans (currently every 4 weeks) to check their growth followed by my usual check up at the twin clinic.  Instead of going alone this time, the lovely Roz said she'd come with me :)

We had a bit of a wait in the boiling hot ultrasound dept whilst they dealt with a problem with somebody else but Aaron was very well behaved throughout :)  When we were eventually taken through to the scanning room we got some great views of the babies as they were measured.  Since Nik couldn't be there she gave me some photos to send him although I got the impression that they don't usually give out photos at these scans.  (There's a bit of a pink cast to these images below - I think it must have been the lighting when I took snaps of the pictures but I'm tired now so I'm not doing it again!)

Daughter has a bit of a pout going on again!

As soon as the scan started we saw baby girl giving a big yawn and sticking her tongue out!  The midwife managed to capture a picture although it's not very clear but you can see she's got her head back and her lower jaw is wide open.  Her face is all smooshed up against the placenta/wall of uterus though so it's hard to make out the rest of her face but we saw it really clearly on the live screen!!

Everything was measuring perfectly spot on for their size (she's measuring a day smaller than him) and they have plenty of fluid around them (as evidenced by my nice round bump) and at the moment he's head down and since he's the lowest one (twin 1), if he stays that way I should be able to try for a normal delivery no matter which way she's facing by the end.

It's been a bit chilly recently!
Wooly poncho is a godsend now none of my coats do up!

As usual, it was amazing being able to see them again, I'm gutted Nik missed out this time but that's one of the reasons we have a 3D scan booked for this Saturday while he's up for the weekend!  The in-laws are coming up too as we're also having a leaving do to say goodbye to Glasgow so they'll get to come with us for the scan, we're all so excited!


How far along: 24+5 weeks

Size comparison: ears of corn, a whopping 30cm long now apparently!

Weight gain: +4 lbs, not much considering the babies probably weigh that much now!

Cravings: I seem to have a much sweeter tooth than usual.  I'm still obsessed with the flat peaches and crumbles are still a favourite too!  I did my first baking in months this evening and made a rhubarb & apple one which was delish - recipe to follow next week!  I did also have macaroni cheese for dessert recently when I was still hungry while out for dinner with Lara.  Pregnancy can be a great excuse sometimes!  ;)

Symptoms: sore back and hips but since it's my last day at work today I'm hoping that might ease off a bit!  Belly button is now huge!  Still no stretch marks thank goodness although I'm sure they'll be unavoidable eventually - I've seen too many massive twin bumps to be deluded about that although I'm still bio oiling up regularly!

Things for babies: a very sweet 81 year old patient gave me 50p for each baby at his last appointment and explained the tradition (which according to Instagram quite a few of you have heard of but a few others, like me, hadn't) of placing the silver in their hands when they are born for good luck.  How lovely of him!  I got quite emotional :)  I've been very good now it's so close to the move and although I've been pinning allsorts I haven't bought anything else for babies recently (although I did have a fun wee spree for gifts as I had a lot of catching up to do on recent birth giftings!!)

Embracing the Greys

by Bex

As you know, I stopped colouring my hair last April.  15 months later, after just one haircut in between, it had gotten pretty long and the greys were finally down past my ears.  It became much more subtle once it was past the stage of 'roots' which made quite an obvious stripe.  I enjoy having long hair for a short time and I love being able to wear it in a big top knot but it takes much longer to straighten and tends to look unhealthy much quicker even though I rarely spend time heat treating it - I often just tie it back when it gets this long.

Long hair while I decide which dress to keep from Seraphine, with Twitter/IG help!

Hair in a top knot - plus I just love this picture of the bump!

I always planned to cut it once the greys were down past my chin and I was toying with the idea of dip dying the ends blonde before I chopped them off!  As it happens, with everything else going on at the moment and my plans for a maternity shoot, I decided just to get a longish bob and although the greys are ALMOST to the length where I could tie them back, they're not quite down to my chin yet.

The result is an easily manageable, much tidier haircut (when my hair gets that long the ends become quite straggly as it's very fine) that is still easy to pull back out of the way for when the twins arrive!  As the ends are still the old colour, it does look as though it's been dip dyed about an inch or two if you look closely but I am liking the overall effect now being my natural colour.  It entirely depends on how it's styled and how the light catches it how noticeable the actual greys are but I like them anyway, they're more silver than grey and I never have to worry about roots again!  Not to mention the cash I'll save on the colouring.

So, here are some photos of before and after, it was hard to get the right angle/light to show the greys when taking them in the mirror but you get the idea!

I love my new do by Nicole at Kano.  They're so friendly in there, even after not having seen me for 9 months since my last cut, as soon as I walked in, she and Amy both smiled and greeted me warmly as usual.  It's always nice being recognised even if you're not a proper regular!  Amy's face was hilarious as she looked at my growing bump and asked, what's that!?  lol.  I also loved their reactions to the news of twins, I just love telling people and I love that people notice the bump now!  :)

The Baby Name Game

by Bex

Image Source

We got quite a few suggestions from people regarding Indian names when I announced the babies were a boy and a girl.  Some of them were already on our list and thank you for the extra inspiration.  Our initial list was made while on holiday in Thailand on a particularly stormy day.  I made a den on the balcony to listen to the rain on the pool and we snuggled up with snacks, drinks and an Indian name website on the ipad.  We just went through adding each name we both liked to an email to ourselves and then didn't look at it again until we knew the babies' sex.

Reading kindle before Nik joined me with extra cushions and the ipad.

Once we knew it was one of each, we spent more time thinking about it and went back to our list.  We also looked through Nik's family tree which someone spent a lot of time putting together a few years ago and found a few more names to add to the list, although most of the ones we liked were too recent - i.e. Nik's cousins!  We also scrubbed off quite a few from the original list we made.  Both our Mums sent us lists of names they liked too.  It then didn't take us long to narrow it all down to four names.  2 boys and 2 girls.  We realised that 2 of them didn't work together and split them up into two options.  As it happens that means that one pair has Nik's favourite boy name and my favourite girl name and vice versa.

Strangely after having a few girls names I liked for quite a few years and finding a much shorter list of boy names I liked, I ended up finding the boys names easier in the end.  Luckily we have now settled on our final two names and have actually both gone off one of the others.  Of course, that could still happen with the ones we've chosen so they could change but we're keeping them secret until the birth anyway.  (We've also checked meanings and pronunciation to make sure of no surprises since they're Indian and we don't want the twins having problems forever reciting/spelling/explaining their names, we have enough trouble doing that with our last name!)

I will, however, share some of the names I originally liked.  Nik has never liked two of them and I always hoped he might change his mind but they've all been definitely scratched off the list now so I should be safe sharing them here!

The first one I liked was Amalia.  I don't know if it's strictly an Indian name (after a wee search, Amala is) but it always sounded to me like it would go well with our surname and I love the shortened versions of Malia, Mali or Mia.

The second has a bit more of a story to it and was my favourite for a long time.  I came up with it on our honeymoon and the inspiration was one of the reasons Nik never liked it.  At the end of our honeymoon in Tanzania, we flew to Kenya to stay with Nik's family for a few days.  While there, we were loaned the use of their little 4x4 which was a Feroza.  I thought the name would be nice spelled Firoza and it turns out that actually is an Indian name which means Turquoise (obviously one of my favourite colours too!)  The shortened version of Roza is also lovely.  Nik was never keen as it just reminded him of the car which is not such a great thing to be named after, I just liked the idea that we thought of it on honeymoon.

Another one I liked was Nylah which is actually a Gaelic name which means cloud.  It seems I have a thing about names ending with an -ah sound!  We're now thinking of adding in Scottish or Gaelic middle names and I've found a couple which go nicely with the Indian names we've chosen but lots more research is needed.

A particular website I like is baby names world which seems to have ALL the names, lists their origins, meaning, etc. but one of the best things I love about it is the page which has survey results from people who have the actual name you're considering!  It tells you how many people have filled it in and answers questions such as how often it is misspelled or mispronounced, whether they were bullied because of their name and if they'd recommend parents naming their baby with it.  I found it really interesting to see the answers to the final question of 'do you like your name in general?' as even those who seem to have issues with people spelling and pronouncing it still liked being called by their name.

Image Source

I particularly like that these names are all more unusual, even for Indian names.  I don't know anyone with these names and like the fact they're not very traditional.  The only reason I would check the most popular name lists is to make sure I avoid popular names.  I used to LOVE Olivia/Liv until it became popular.  As for boys names, there weren't any that I thought of prior to starting name research, Indian or otherwise.  The only one I can remember liking a few years ago was Sebastian.  During our sorting of stuff for the big house move, I actually came across a little sheet of notepaper the other day with a list of names on it from when I was probably about 13 judging by my handwriting!  I remember loving looking through Mum's old baby name book (which had her lists of names in the back), sadly I lent it to someone years ago and never got it back.  Some of the names on my old list I still like but others - well, let's just say I always liked unusual names!!

Boys: Oran, Orville (seriously - as in the duck 13 yr old Bex!??), Payne, Ryder, Ross, Rowan, Ryan, Sebastian, Tristan.  (Apparently my son was going to be a hero in some American fantasy film!)

Girls: Paige, Ria, Rowan, Stella, Storm, Terri, Kathryn, Gale, Deborah, Danni, Nikki, Stacey.  (Other than the random addition of K,G, N and D names in there, I'm guessing the was the O-T page but I've yet to find others!)  I still like the first 4 but none of the others.

Anyway, I'm really excited about the names we've chosen and can't wait to share them with you all when the time comes!  ;)

Maternity shoot with Louise Mallan Photography

by Bex

As I mentioned, I recently had the pleasure of being photographed by Louise on a maternity photo shoot.  Although I have another bump shoot booked, I was thrilled to have a chance to get some more photos of me and bump in our flat and in our local park which also gave Louise a chance to do some maternity shots outside as she'd only done studio bump shoots previously.  Nik thinks I'm being a bit excessive with multiple photo shoots but given how we never thought we'd get pregnant, I want to make the most of this time and record it in as many ways possible, including photos other than my mirror bump selfies!  It also means that I get to experience maternity shoots with different photographers with different styles, giving different results - and I do love variety!  (As it happens, having now had my second shoot, both also had very different weather which I'm sure means even more varied results!)

Louise, her assistant and I started off at the flat and took a few pictures in the living room.  As I said in my sneaky peek post yesterday, I love this one of me peeking from behind the door...

We also got a lovely silhouette shot in front of the window and some bare bump shots which I would have felt uncomfortable doing in public.

Luckily the weather was on our side and when we headed to Maxwell Park it was a beautiful sunny evening throwing up plenty of opportunity for dappled light and pretty sun flares!  It's only half a mile from here and is a special place to us as we got married at Pollokshields Burgh Hall which is on the edge of the park.

As a photographer myself (albeit rubbish at portraits!), I recognised the telltale signs of a passionate photographer - thrilled about good light, yelps of delight when checking photos on the back of the camera and general excitement to get editing the images!  It was so much fun and utterly reassuring to know that Louise was enjoying the shoot as much as I was and is clearly enthusiastic about taking great photos.

I particularly love the ones taken in the alley of trees (somewhere I wish we'd had photos taken on our wedding day, luckily our videographer did capture it but I never really had that one photo of Nik and I that I loved enough blow up in a big frame, unfortunately he was working nights when we did this shoot).

My cheesy heart hands need work, it's a bit triangular!  ;)

After a quick outfit/accessory change and a thrown up hair-do we tried a few more locations around the park in the last of the evening light.

Leaning against our wedding venue :)

This shoot will always remind me of a time when I am blissfully happy, wandering around our wedding park in the sunshine, focussing on our (rapidly) growing babies inside me.  I love that I feel them SO often now (particularly baby boy who loves to poke/kick me in the side frequently) and my bump is well and truly obvious!  I am utterly loving this stage of pregnancy, I'm so glad I'm getting to experience it!  :)

Louise was lovely to work with and happy to try out some of my own ideas (the problem with me being so obsessed with Pinterest!) along with having plenty herself.  We got such a great variety of shots, I found it hard to pick favourites to share here!  I'd certainly be interested in her newborn package if we weren't moving so far away!!

If you're interested in booking a portrait session with Louise, details can be found on her website, Louise Mallan Photography.  A maternity shoot isn't listed but costs £100 for an outdoor shoot or £150 in the studio for up to 2 hours and includes two 8x10" prints of your choice with the option to buy more prints from your own password protected online gallery.  She also offers the optional extra of including a USB of images for £100.

I received a maternity photo shoot free of charge in exchange for this blog post.

Week 23 update

by Bex

You may have noticed things have been much more fun around here recently.  I am feeling great these days and pretty much back to eating normally, the babies are even letting me eat spicy things again!  Yay!  I've been making the most of it over the last couple of weekends enjoying lots of foodie treats at Cartmel, including a 20 odd course meal at L'Enclume for my brother-in-law's birthday (the weekend was our Christmas present from MIL & FIL!) and then a couple of meals out while Mahj was up for The Games this weekend and I've even enjoyed my old favourite Lamb Bhuna from Kebabish recently!  Obviously these will all be featured on the blog in more detail soon, especially L'Enclume, it was amazing!!

Anyway, I'm still struggling with work and if I try to walk too far as my hips are still quite sore and I do get tired easily but other than that (and being particularly uncomfortable when trying to put on socks!), I'm feeling pretty normal.  The babies are almost constantly kicking up a storm!  I still feel baby boy much more than baby girl but now that we know shes much more tucked in behind her placenta I am not worried, I'm just glad I do feel her again from time to time.  They're obviously getting stronger and I love watching the quick little bumps appearing on my belly when baby boy does some major squirming!  I don't know if he likes it or not but he definitely reacts to some of the noisy equipment from work now too which makes it much more fun for me when I'm doing a scaling and I can feel him dancing around!


How far along: 23 weeks today

Size comparison: large mangoes!

Image Source

Weight gain: +3.6 lbs  I've finally put on weight over what I weighed when I first became pregnant, before all the awful nausea and sickness.  Given the size of my bump now, I still think it's all babies and their surroundings, everything else still fits me the same on the rest of my body (excluding my chest too obviously) so I'm pretty pleased so far with how my body is changing.

Cravings: Still obsessed with the flat peaches!

Symptoms: Hunger - I'm much hungrier these days and enjoying having my appetite back!
My sore hips are much the same, especially bad after work but only 2 weeks to go there, thank goodness!
Tiredness - regular naps are needed, especially after epic meals like I've been enjoying recently.
Kicking - I'm feeling the babies LOADS more these days and everyone last weekend was able to feel them too which was great - I loved their reactions when they felt baby boy properly kicking :)
Bump - I'm already feeling massive now and absolutely loving my bump.  Slightly scared of just how big it's going to get but I love when people notice it now (a lot of my patients still don't until I say I'm leaving and they ask why, I have to point it out!)  

Things for babies: I'm still trying to be good about not buying things as it's not long 'til we move now but in the last 3 weeks since my last update there have been a few small purchases, all Nik approved so no sulky husband ;)  I blogged about my awesome changing bag from T K Maxx and I also bought a few wee small bits there - a couple of soft toys and cute blankets.  We also received a super cute gift from one of the nurses at Nik's hospital yesterday.  She knitted the twins some cardigans and bought some cute little hangers and knitted booties!

Maternity Photo Shoot - Pin It Do It

by Bex

I have quite a few favourites from the maternity photo shoot I did with Louise but this is definitely one of them!!  It was inspired by this image below that my Mum sent me via Pinterest, I think Mum will love it too!

Image source

Louise hadn't seen the picture but I described what I remembered as basically a pregnant woman peeking around a door showing just her bump and here's the result...

Photo by Louise Mallan Photography

I absolutely love Louise's version (especially since my hair looks so sleek for once)!  You can see the rest of my favourites from the shoot in my full report tomorrow!  ;)

Anniversary dinner at Browns

by Bex

I had a lovely day on our anniversary while Nik was at work.  I did a little shopping, enjoyed a couple of bubble tea drinks from a new place in town, MooBoo (I'm going to miss having handy funky places to eat & drink when we move to the countryside!) and spent the afternoon with Roz, Aaron, Steff, Heather & Charlotte!  I didn't plan to, but ended up bombarding Steff with twin related questions (sorry Steff) and we had a nice time chilling out in the sun near Roz's flat and munching on the cream cakes Steff brought!

When I returned home, I found this GORGEOUS bouquet on our doorstep from my lovely in-laws!

It wasn't long before Nik came home and we got glammed up for our night out, the first in months as I'd been feeling so rubbish before.  It took me a while to find a dress that fitted me but I was pretty pleased with my look in the end :)

Added leggings for comfort/bump support

We headed to Browns as they have a good variety on their menu and the babies were still making me quite fussy at that point.  We were seated near the bar area and I instantly ordered some yummy green olives as we'd left it a bit late and I was pretty hungry by this point!  We ordered some fizzy water and a glass of Prosecco to share since it was a special occasion.

For our starters, I chose the crab & avocado stack which was nice but very underseasoned.  Nik had the asparagus and parma ham which he enjoyed but he was rather disappointed to just get 2 sprigs of limp, overcooked asparagus, especially with so much sauce and nothing to mop it up with (he took my toast as I don't like super crunchy toast).

Our mains were the chorizo &  burger for Nik and the lamb shoulder for me.  Nik's chips were delicious, I may have had a few!  His burger was nice but he said he wouldn't order it again.

My lamb shoulder wasn't as expected, it came served on the bone like a lamb shank but much drier, with bubble & squeak, carrots and parsnips.  Unfortunately by this time I was struggling to eat anyway as it was getting late, I was exhausted and can't manage large meals since being pregnant!  I picked at my dinner and asked if I could have the rest for a doggy bag so as not to waste it.  (It was much easier to eat once I got it home and was able to cut it all off the bone the next day with a sharp knife and without worrying about making a mess!)

I did also enjoy a 'Softail' while we were there since I can't have cocktails for the moment and was impressed with the selection available.  I selected the Diamond Fizz (apple juice, white peach, elderflower cordial, fresh lime and ginger ale) for £4.

When my doggy bag arrived with my dinner leftovers, the bag also contained a boxed Browns pint glass and a book about Browns which included some recipes!  Such a nice touch, I wonder if they noticed it was our anniversary or maybe the bump or if they just do that for everyone who takes home leftovers? Either way, it was a nice touch!  :)

All in all, it wasn't an amazing meal, we had a much better time when there for my 31st, but we had a nice evening out especially considering how fussy these babies have made me lately!

Spa Day at Turnberry Resort

by Bex

Just a few weeks ago Vikki and I splashed out on a glorious spa day before we end up living even further apart and will find it harder to meet up (especially with the twins arriving).  She was down in Glasgow for the weekend so I had a search for nearby deals and found the Relax & Restore day spa offer at the Turnberry Resort in Ayrshire which I'd heard great things about.  I have to admit, I was a bit more reluctant to book when I noticed it is now a Trump Resort (I'm not a fan of Trump) but it was a good deal and short notice so we went for it.  We got 2 x 25 minute treatments each, full use of the spa facilities and afternoon tea for £85 (+£10 weekend supplement).

I can confirm, it was well worth it.  The spa was lovely and so relaxing!  I've been to bad spas before so was relieved when this one didn't disappoint.  The best bit was probably the afternoon tea but more on that later.  we started off the day with our treatments after a quick change into our cossies, robes and slippers.  I wore my new Mothercare purple tankini (similar spotted tankini here as the purple one is sold out) bought specially for the occasion (and as a spare for aquanatal/swimming).

We had a choice of 5 or 6 treatments and I selected the mini facial and the scalp massage.  I absolutely LOVE face and scalp massages, I find them so relaxing.  This was the first time I've been shown my skin under a UV lamp before a facial, it was really interesting to see the sun damage I knew would be there (I got burnt so often as a child with my fair, freckly skin) as well as dry/oily areas.  My therapist did talk through quite a lot of skin care stuff during the start of the treatment as well as asking about the twins, chatting usually bothers me as I like to completely switch off during treatments to feel utterly indulged (and don't really care about the skin aspect of a facial, I just enjoy them) but I didn't mind as I love talking about the bump so much!  Anyway, she did quiet down before starting the most enjoyable part (after the exfoliation) so I did get to completely relax.

After our treatments we were taken through to a quiet relaxation room where we chilled out for a bit under cosy blankets, munching on delicious dried fruits (I do love banana chips!) and drinking plenty of water (wish it was chilled).

We then moved through to the pool area (no sauna or steam room for me obvs) but there was a lack of free seats/loungers so we perched in the edge of the pool instead.  Without swimming though it got a bit chilly so we made our way back to the changing rooms to get dressed for lunch.  (You can get to the dining room without going outside and they're happy for you to go in the robes but we were a bit soggy after sitting in the pool so got changed.)

Slicked back hair from the massage oil

The dining room for afternoon tea was beautiful and grand with a gorgeous view to the coast with the lighthouse, golf course and out to Arran.

 We were given a choice of many different teas from a gorgeous tea trolley.

After our brewing timers were up, we used the most awesome strainers - on a hinge over a mini pan which catches any drips when you tip it back up after pouring.  So cute and very practical!

It wasn't long before our stand of treats arrived!  After finishing the lower two plates they said they'd bring our scones and teacakes out!  SO much food and it was all delicious!  It included savoury options of smoked salmon with cream cheese & caviar, cucumber & cream cheese sandwiches, egg mayo sandwiches, ham & chutney rolls and coronation chicken on toasted baguette slices.

The sweet desserts on the top were mango panna cotta, pistachio cake, a fruit tart and a cherry & amaretto macaron with a pipette of amaretto!  My only complaint would be that we received one of each of these - plenty of food, yes but very difficult to share if you want to try everything!  It would be better if they made them smaller so we could each have one of every flavour as with the savouries.  As it happens, Vikki wasn't fussed about amaretto and I wasn't fussed about the fruit tart, we halved the cake and shared the panna cotta.  Since it was only about 1ml of Amaretto in that wee pipette, I figured it wouldn't do the babies much harm so I really enjoyed my macaron laced with the teensiest taste of alcohol.  

Once our savoury plates were empty they were taken away and our teas were refreshed with hot water while we waited for the scones.  We thought they maybe brought them out later as they were warmed but we ended up waiting quite a while for ours so either they had cooled or they were just served cold.  Either way, it was again LOADS of food with a plain and a fruit scone each plus a slice of madeira cake and Dundee cake each!  Crikey!  Not to mention the wee pot of clotted cream and delicious jam.  I tried my scones both ways (my jam made a bit of a smiley face when on top of the cream) and when we ran out of cream (as we both like full on creamy loaded scones) we asked for some more which was brought straight over :)

It took us a leisurely 2 hours to eat all that (although we both left the Dundee cake as neither of us is a fan of fruit cake and we were SO full) before we headed back through to the spa.  As I had hoped, since we'd gone to lunch early, the pool area was now completely empty (although every bed/chair still had a towel on it but we just moved them!) so we had plenty of space to chill and enjoy the sunny view over to Ailsa Craig.

We chatted so much my throat began to get sore!  Although I can't go in the jacuzzi, Vikki did and I dangled my legs in :)

As a treat (and since I still owed Vikki a birthday pressie), I had also booked us a surprise treatment in the afternoon.  We both got a special hot wax luxury foot treatment with hot stones and pedicure (£65).  This was absolute bliss although we both said afterwards that hot wax was scarily hot at first!  We were both a bit worried our feet might come out blistered but all was fine, feet are just more sensitive than hands it seems.  The hot paraffin wax solidifies on your feet and when it's cracked and taken off, they're left ultra soft and moisturised.

My special wax filled socks

Finished pedicure (I asked her to use my own new nail polish so I can do touch-ups at home)

We had such a lovely day and I would definitely recommend the spa day offer!  Is it too soon for another one Vikki??!  ;)