...Did I fall asleep?...

...for a little while.

Soooooo...it's been a while, hasn't it?

It's strange - for the first few weeks, it was very odd that I wasn't writing every day. Now I don't know how I had the time to do it all! It's probably a good thing I stopped though, as I am very boring and am running very short on storage space for all the pictures I was taking! Am currently working on that though.

So. What's been happening since I last blogged in January? I honestly can't really remember!

This may be a looooooong post. Soz.

In January I had a mass clear out in my loft. I thought I had a LOT of stuff up there but it turns out it was just a right mess and whilst I was able to throw a lot away, the space is a darned sight better than it was!

 So. Much. Stuff.

It is always a good idea to sort through the stuff though. As you never know when you'll find those long lost wasp nests that you were keeping for a rainy day.

Yup, was real happy to find those. Luckily, Daddy Hartley helped me sort them out and they were empty. Phew! Now it's tidier, they will hopefully not come back...wishful thinking, I know!

What else have we done?

Well, it's not all been fun. Paul was off work with depression for a couple of months, which was horrible. One of the worst times in our lives, in fact. He's over it now, with the odd off day and was very lucky to work for a company who couldn't do enough to help and support him.  It has been a struggle but with the aid of CBT treatment and a Mindfulness course, his outlook on everything has changed and he has come out stronger and more awesome.

While he was bad, we didn't really do a lot, to be fair. We did go to Wales for a long weekend with the intention of climbing Mount Snowdon, however Paul did his back in the day before so we got the train 3/4s of the way up. Couldn't get to the top, sadly, as it was still snowy. Which means we'll have to go back again! It would have been the perfect day to climb, the weather was lovely but alas, it was not meant to be.

This is the train, by the way.

Shameless selfies!

This was the view from our room in the guest house. That is Snowdon (apparently) right there. How lovely is that?!

That was in March, I believe. We've not made it back yet. One day!

Hmmm, what else?!

Barney got a collar and tie and he lived up to his name sake from HIMYM!

Maia turned 9 and carried on being a mama's girl, of course

We ate a lot, drank a fair bit, went to the cinema a couple of times and planned some home decoration that we've been meaning to do for YEARS! Literally!

Our bedroom was the first room we decorated when we got the house back in 2008. We haven't touched it since. Except to peel off paper which I can't confirm was ever stuck to the wall properly! It was on when we moved in but had been bubbling and hanging off for as long as I can remember.

We chose our colours, got the equipment and got on with clearing the room of all the crap that generally seems to accumulate in a room that never changes!

So we had all good intentions. Strip the room of all the paper and clean down the walls then get a base coat on the plaster, then the next day we can start painting.

Yeah...slight set back on that one...

This was lurking behind the wallpaper!

Yep - I screamed. Out loud. It scared the wotsits out of me so can you blame me?!

Just so you get an idea of scale:

It's rather large. Just for comparison, Paul is 6'3".

We can't just paint over it though. I mean, that would be cruel to the future occupants of our house! So we made the decision that the wall needs a layer of wallpaper putting over it to save that moment of fear for someone else as well.

But that would need to wait for the next day. Until then, the wardrobe would have to go in front of the face so I could sleep in there!

Paul's Dad came over and helped us wallpaper. He made the decision that he'd wallpaper all the walls for us, which is fine. It did mean it would take a little longer to get everything done, but if it all looks good then it's worth the wait.

Wallpaper done - time for colour!

 Yep - a lovely shade of cream called 'Galadriel' graces the wall.

Very nice!

Then for a feature wall, we went for a brave choice called 'Sail the Seas'.

I was a little scared of the colour...but went with it...

And I really like it!

Then gloss which really made it work!

Next came carpet! We had horrible plain floorboards which were scratched and uneven before, and it was my new year resolution to get carpet before winter comes. I DID IT!

 Before...

 After!

Yes, we have new sockets as well! Isn't it purrrrrrrty! We got the best underlay that we could and it's so plush! Love it!

Then we had to furnish the room!

 Drawers, wardrobes, everything.

We did end up putting doors on it!

One of these days, I'll take the 'after' pictures of the room. We finished in June and I've not done that. Oops.

What else has happened...

We went on holiday and I only took pictures of french kitties (see my instagram account for those pics!).

Paul's friend John married his lady love Becky in July!

Photo courtesy of Becky's facebook page and is not mine. Thank you whomever took this photo!

My very good friend Chris and his wife had their first child, a little girl! She's totes adorbs and tiny and stuff!

Photo taken by me on Chris's camera and therefore even though it's my artistic skill, it's technically stolen from Chris's Facebook page. Hope that's shiny, pal?!

My friend Stevie married his lovely lady Danni at the end of September!

Photo taken by my friend Karina Fullwood and borrowed from her Facebook page.

And last weekend, my friend Lee tied the knot with the beautiful Bernadette!

Photo taken by Lee's friend Abby and taken from Lee's Facebook page.

 (I really need to take more/better photos at events. Mine were all shaky - hence the borrowing of other people's pictures)

What else...

...

Hmmm...


...


Oh yeah...


...


Paul and I started work on what could possibly be our greatest ever creation!

Yup. So this is happening! I'm not just eating all the pies! This picture was taken back in June.

This one in August at 13 weeks!

And this one today at 20 weeks!

Our little Puddin' is happy and healthy and waves it's foot at all of you blog readers who still have me on your feed!

We haven't really advertised my little situation. There are many reasons for it, some silly and some sentimental, but mostly because we wanted to make sure that everything is ok and healthy as far as they can tell and it is! Yay!

So, blog readers, you gorgeous lot, this is our little secret, k?! Because it's fun to know things that other people don't, dontcha think?!

I have been ridiculously ill with morning sickness and whilst I wasn't so bad I ended up in hospital, the nausea started around week 5 and got worse and worse and worse. Week 16 is when it started to ebb and I'm mostly ok now, despite a few days a week with me feeling (and sometimes actually being) sick. There are things I can't eat or drink because it reminds me of my morning sickness. I hope that goes away soon. I don't miss drinking alcohol one bit (that is the only positive I have from my morning sickness!) and am a big fan of Victorian Lemonade. The slightly sour cloudy stuff. MMMMM. No other cravings as such. As yet. Is that disappointing?

I have some ideas for blog posts for further down the line before the end of Feb when Puddin' is due, so hopefully I won't be so much of a stranger for the next 20 weeks.

20 weeks. Crikey.

Here's me, this morning, full of cold and caked in make up to hide the greyscale (eczema) which is slowly taking over my face.

Iccle bump! I still just look fat to myself when I look down so I'm trying to embrace the bump as it's only going to get bigger! EEK!

And to end the post with images far prettier, here are my fur babies, who have NO idea what's going to hit them in 20 weeks time!

Catch you on the flip side, folks!

Oh, and all name suggestions are more than welcome. We are stumped for a male name! The cooler and more literary the better! :)

You're all great.

19th July 2014 - Au Revoir! (Holiday Day 8!)

Morning is here and time to get our sh!t together and leave this wonderful vista to go home. To Scallyville. Great.

We had to be out of the apartment at 10am (!!!) hence the rush to pack last night. We got everything done with plenty of time left so were able to sit and chill and enjoy the view for the final few minutes before we filled the car to the brim and headed to the airport.

It was a relatively quick journey to the airport from the apartment with our final views of the lovely blue of the sea. :( Once we got there and had a rearrange of all the luggage, we headed straight for the restaurant, as always to chill and read, have a brew and wait for our check in. We always have to get here really early so Paul's parents can get on their merry way to their next destination.

I tried to blog, but the airport wifi sucked and the battery on my laptop had 92% in it which it estimated would last about 19 minutes. I think I need a new battery.

As soon as the cafe next door opened we headed in there for brunch. Paul got us an assortment of dishes, including this meat tagine-y stew thing, with couscous which was not bad at all.

He also got an inoffensive salad just in case the other was crap!

We ate it all and rehydrated. We also saw a chap with his cat on a lead. So cute! A little brown tabby, curious of the world but restrained by the lead. :( I wanted to make friends with it but it couldn't get close enough to me. I probably would have tried to steal it, so it's best that it couldn't. I suppose.

Once we were confident that that check in was open, we headed to the counter to check our luggage.

The way out of the restaurant to the escalators. Paul said it feels like he's on the Starship Enterprise. It's quite cool though.

Speedy Boarding at Nice Airport does not make it speedy. Regular boarding would have been quicker. Some dude in front of us decided he wanted to check some luggage that he hadn't previously paid for so had to sort all that. It took ages. We were cranky.

Once we had FINALLY checked our luggage, we headed through towards the gate. It's all a bit chaotic at Nice Airport. Plus there is very little to do. The 'Duty Free' section is RUBBISH and not very friendly. We end up just going straight to the gate and having a beer while we wait for it to open.

Which we did. Paul queued for ages so got us two beers each! Probably wise. Except the plane was delayed. Instead of 14:10 when it was supposed to open, it wasn't going to open until 15:55. GREAT.

So we had another beer and a cheese and ham panini.

We were slightly tipsy by the time they opened the gate. Meh, it's their own fault. Still, we were able to board the plane and find our seats without any problems. We were on a wing again which is worrying in our little merry state that we're in charge of looking after the exit in an emergency.

Paul's look of panic that I will be making sure we're all safe!

The plane took off and Paul slept for a while. I read, which was nice, but couldn't sleep.

The drinks trolley came round and Paul woke up, getting himself a couple of beers and me something special...

Prosecco at 30,000 feet...don't mind if I do! :)

Tipsy Caroline is happy about this! :)

We got back to Liverpool in one piece but sadly due to the delay we weren't able to pick up the cats from the cattery. This sucks. I should sue QuesyJet for the cost of that extra night in the cattery.

We got in and Paul popped to the shops to get some breakfast stuff and I unpacked a little to start the washing. We then ordered chinese takeaway and watched some tv. The chinese took so long to arrive that Paul took himself off to bed before it arrived. Although it came fairly soon after he went to bed so he got back up and we devoured our starter, leaving our meals for tomorrow as it was getting late.

Paul went to bed, I watched more tv, then gave up myself and came to bed too. Got to be up early tomorrow to pick up the kitties!

PREVIOUSLY...

2013

18th July 2014 - Wayne's World! (Holiday Day 7!)

It's the last full day of our holiday today. Boo. I hate this day.

Determined for it not to just be a day of packing and misery we decided to head into Nice to do a little shopping and our last dregs of relaxation! So we beached there instead!

We've never been to the beach there before, so this is all new for us! It's a very rocky beach but we found a section which was mostly sand so set up camp there fore a few hours!

Check out the colour of that water! That's Cote d'Azur blue and I love it!

It was very breezy on this beach so we could have easily sat there for hours slowly frazzling in the hot hot sunshine! We didn't though. We only did it for a couple of hours, had some water then headed into Nice for some lunch.

Paul knew exactly where he wanted to take me for lunch so we scoured the streets until we found it.

Another. English. Pub.

He's so proud of himself!

It was quite a cool little place, to be fair. Very quirky. We ordered some lunch and waited to see what they'd come up with! Paul had Tuna Nicoise salad:

I had a chicken and bacon club sandwich...

It was totally yummy. Best sandwich I've had for a LONG time!

After lunch we wandered around the town for a little while having a look at the lovely tacky presents that were on offer and purchased a few beauties for our regular crew! We then went for a drink. Because that's what we do!

I love these lamp-posts but am confused as to why the clock is called Brian. Although I suppose if you're naming a clock, Brian is a good name. I had a fish called Brian once. The other fish ate his tail and he died. Sad times.

Anyway!

This is the place opposite where we were drinking. It's a pretty Mediterranean building. I like it!

When we were 'tat' shopping for our gifts, we also bought ourselves a gift. We usually buy it and this year is no exception.

This is the best olive oil we have ever tasted!

We enjoyed our drinky-poos and watched the world go by for a little while. There used to be street performers at this time but sadly not today. :(

You can see why Paul's drink cost more than mine!

We headed back to the apartment and started getting packed up. I hate this part. Always makes me a little sad. Plus it also makes me feel a little annoyed! We've only just unpacked!

I haven't had a 2 week holiday since I was a kid and I'm starting to think that might be a good idea! At least it makes it worth while unpacking your suitcase!

Once we were all packed up we sat on the balcony for a while and drank the posh pink champagne we had bought Paul's Mum for her birthday. It was nice! I filled up my glass and headed for the shower, then we headed down to the trusty restaurant at the bottom of the hill for our final dinner.

I had a meat platter.

There was salad underneath there, promise! It was good! Just a lot of cured meats. They used to do this sort of thing with a baked Camembert, which went down a treat between two of us. Shame they don't do it any more and haven't for many years! Bring it back!

Whilst sitting, feeling stuffed, we noticed on the wall next to me there was a buzzer. Paul kept daring me to press it and I said no.

If you think we left without him pressing it, you really haven't learnt anything about my husband, have you! ;)

We headed back up the hill and had a couple more drinks then I headed inside to finish as much of the packing as I could, only stopping to top up my glass! I'm good like that!

It was a pretty night view!

Once all the packing was satisfactorily done, it was time to head to bed before the epic day of sitting around an airport tomorrow commences. Sigh.

PREVIOUSLY...

2013