Doctors, hospital & tests, oh my!

It has been quite the week so far, but with everything that's been going on the last few weeks that I hadn't blogged I just had to fit it in this week, no excuses!

Just this week I have had doctors visit, hospital visit, midwife visit, a ridiculous amounts of blood taken for various tests as I also had quite a scary turn with my colitis on Tuesday night that saw me visiting just in one day visiting the doctor who then got me in to the hospital that afternoon. At my previous midwife appointment, my bump was measuring a week behind (24 weeks at 25) and this week at 28 weeks bumpy is measuring 29 weeks. Well, after the colitis flare (which is easing up each day! yippee!) this is a huuuuge relief! I'm really looking forward to my scan on Monday now to see how the little one is doing where I was worried before. Though my poor arm after all the blood was taken and it bruised, actually turned blue during the last 2 vials that needed to be done, is very sore at the moment... and my beloved husband hasn't given me any sympathy... Boohoo!

This is my pregnancy journal as it stands so far, mainly just talking about the falling pregnant part up to the 12 week scan. I really need to get the first scan at almost 8 weeks in there, I can't believe I forgot that!







And hubby has been playing with his Back to the future lego!

Hanson Crafts Branding

I've been a big fan of the whole "branding boards" for some time now (I even have a ton of Branding Boards pinned over at Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/mmmbisto/branding/) I just adore looking at them, they give me warm fuzzies! As much as I love design, and drool over magazine layouts and like to try and dabble in it, I am absolutely terrible at it! A part of me wishes I could do something like that for a living though, and I've even loved webdesign since the early 2000s when I used to spend entire Sundays locked away in my bedroom at home just sat working on a brand new website layout for my Greymatter blog... Ah the good old days! Funnily enough, as is the norm, life got in the way and I began doing less and less web design and so over the last year I've been trying to sort of catch back up in everything I have missed. Back in January when I was made redundant the original plan was that I was going to go back to college and do something in webdesign and design but on the other hand I was absolutely happy to get a new job within that first week, but then the whole college idea was soon forgotten.

So this weekend just gone, I was thinking about "branding" this blog here and spent the entire day pouring over quite literally everything on my various pinterest boards for Branding, Websites and Design. Then I decided that I would do my own branding board first for what I did for the Hanson Crafts website, so a bit backwards way of doing it really LOL, but I just wanted to do it for fun :)

How I'm using Evernote to help plan for the baby

If you haven't checked out Evernote (videos), then I highly recommend that you do :) I've have been a casual user for a couple of years now, just keeping ideas noted down and some images just like I would in a regular notebook but it's super handy to have them with me everywhere I go in digital format, recipes I find online, and notes on scrapbook page ideas (and photos to go with it) while it is still fresh in my mind. I have even taken some of my paper notebooks with my doodles in them and have them backed up to Evernote! I have the set list from Hanson's Birmingham concert back in November 2011 nicely noted down in here while I was at the concert as I didn't want to forget, a list of our Disney DVD collection, and Christmas gift ideas which I add to each year when inspiration strikes. It's funny how much I've come to love this handy little tool!



 

But the one thing that has made me a heavy user of late is preparing for the baby...

My notes include:
Images of baby clothes (newborn, 0-3, 3-6, 6-9 & 9-12) [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent="yes" overflow="visible"][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" background_position="left top" background_color="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" spacing="yes" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" padding="" margin_top="0px" margin_bottom="0px" class="" id="" animation_type="" animation_speed="0.3" animation_direction="left" hide_on_mobile="no" center_content="no" min_height="none"][I started a "Baby Clothes" notebook specifically!]
Baby clothes wish list clipped from the web/images snapped from catalogues
Birth Plan
Weight gain
Budget advice clipped from Bounty website
Notes to take to my next midwife appointment so I don't forget what to mention
Images of 12 & 20 week scans
"Thank you" so I can remember as we go along who we get gifts from so we can write thank you notes
My Milestones (When felt baby move, bump measurements)
Copy of my MATB1 before I sent it off to my employer
My Maternity notes... Yes, I sat and "page captured" all the pages from my Maternity Notes book (and best of all it's now searchable!), my notes are with me EVERYWHERE in my pocket... Much relief!
Baby scrapbook notes, typing out information to include into my scrapbook before I write them down onto the journal cards.
Copies of hospital letters (also page captured and searchable)
"Baby essentials" clipped from Babycentre/what baby needs, taken from various birth group ladies
"Hospital bag" noted from websites/birth group ladies
Money notes (SMP/Maternity allowance information, Links to benefits/cost of childcare)
Checklist of what we still need to buy baby



I hope my list inspires you to give it a try :)[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]