Our first family Christmas

Christmas 2012:

Our first Christmas as a family

Well, the festive season has been and gone for another year and considering our 6 week old son had already been bought everything he would be needing, and more, for the foreseeable months, he still managed to accumulate a fair amount in the way of presents and cards (not to mention money!)

Thanks to our generous family and friends who sent gifts for Dexter, it was very much appreciated.

With Dexter still being so young he had absolutely no idea what was going on around him and what the significance of the day was, but we still enjoyed dressing him up and obviously the excitement of it all must have been very tiring hehe...

I can't wait until next year when he is a bit more aware of it all xx

Smiles....

Dexter makes many many different faces and until now we have never been sure if he is smiling (or just has wind!) but he sat in his bouncer this morning talking back to me in the cute little babbling way that babies do and there was no doubt about it... out came a smile for mummy... and then another one... and then another one!!

He's so beautiful!!!!

One Month Old

Whether or not I can believe it, my baby boy is one whole month old today!! How time flies...

When all those parents tell you to "savour every moment" and that "they grow so fast" it's because it's so true. In just a few short weeks Dexter has changed from a tiny newborn baby into a proper little boy. I love waking up to him every morning and seeing what each new day brings.

                                          1 day old                                                                       4 weeks old

It's official!!!

After being cooped up indoors for the past week adjusting to life with a newborn, we took our little man out on his first outing in the car today and took a trip down to Calderdale Registry Office. His birth has been registered and Dexter Aaron Fleming now officially exists in the world :)

All that excitement was obviously very tiring lol...

Welcome to the world...

On Saturday 10th November 2012 (5.20am) we were finally able to welcome to the world, at 8 days overdue, our beautiful son... Dexter Aaron Fleming, weighing a very healthy 8lb 12.5oz.

Pronounced: Deck-ster Air-on

After 28 long hours of labour and a trip to theatre for a forceps delivery, he arrived completely unphased by the whole ordeal and amazed mummy & daddy with his full head of gorgeous dark hair (we're not sure where this came from as we were both blonde as children)!

After only a few days together at home as a family, it is already hard to remember what life was ever like without him xxxxx

40 weeks (+1 day)

Ok, so it's not uncommon. You excitedly wait 40 whole weeks for your little bundle to arrive... your due date comes around... and guess what, no baby! Not even a twinge! So now the tense waiting game kicks in. Just exactly how fashionably late does he intend to be?

The midwife is due to come visit me at home in a few days time to see if a stretch & sweep will help things progress but I'm keeping my fingers crossed my son attempts to break free of his own accord before then. Wish us luck!

Here we are at 40+1 weeks...

The waiting game...

After 3 weeks on maternity leave, boredom is well & truly setting in. There is only so much cleaning & tidying that you can do to occupy your time before your house is as spotless as it is ever going to be... and let's face it, daytime TV is nothing to shout about.

So at this point I'm 39+2 weeks and even though baby Fleming is not due for another 5 days, mummy & daddy are starting to get a little impatient and just want to meet our little man. I live in hope each day that those first pre-labour signs will start to put in an appearance but as of yet, no such luck!

Ok, so maybe I'm being a little optimistic in thinking that there is any possibility that munchkin is going to arrive early, or even on time for that matter, but I'm sure gonna try and do my bit to help him along. I'm dealing with my aversion to spicy foods, my fridge is full of pineapple and my cupboard is full of raspberry leaf tea. Along with a few other *ahem* suggested methods I am determined to shift him along.... let's hope they work :-)

Daddy Fleming says he's going to be on the edge of his seat at work from here on just waiting for that call saying it's started........

The Nursery

All the clothing and bedding has been prepared for my little man and his room is now all made up and ready for his impending arrival.... fingers crossed this will be in 19 days time :)

36 weeks, the final stretch!

Ok, so there is only 4 weeks until the big day now...   that's a mere 28 days!!!! which makes it sound even closer :) and needless to say my belly is looking rather stretched now as poor baby Fleming has less and less room to move about.

Mummy & daddy took a trip to Calderdale Royal Hospital last week to have a preview of where it's all going to happen. Thankfully there were no women in the birth centre screaming in pain so it wasn't too scary but it did make it feel that little bit more real. Standing in one of the delivery rooms just thinking that in a matter of weeks I'll be in one for the main event. Yikes!!

Maternity leave has now officially kicked in so now I can prepare by getting all my little man's clothing and bedding washed and set up properly in the nursery ready for his arrival.... exciting times.

Here we are at 36 weeks...

Locked, loaded & ready...

Following a growth scan last week, it was comforting to find out that even though my bump is measuring big, baby boy is actually measuring average in size :) Phew! Now all those dreams of giving birth to a 12lb baby have subsided.

On another note, the midwife had a good old feel around at my tum on our last visit and told us that our little man's head is now engaged and he is in position, back to front, ready for birth yippee! It does look blatantly obvious from the outside too as my bump has dropped down quite significantly. Let's hope he stays that way now, only 6 weeks to go.....

32 Weeks

With the countdown into single figures and only 8 weeks until D-day mama is getting big!! Slowly but surely simple tasks such as putting on socks or shoes is a lot more effort than it used to be.

Baby Fleming is still very active but as he gets bigger, them cute little kicks are now turning into big rolls as he manoeuvres himself about and let's just say it's not always the most comfortable of experiences haha :) What is really cute now though is, when he gets hiccups I can feel it. It's so sweet...

Here we are at 32 weeks:

4D Scan

Today mummy & daddy went to sneak a peek at our little munchkin at Babybond in Leeds. It was an amazing experience getting to see baby pulling faces, pouting and sucking his thumb. It's strange to think he is making all these little movements that I'm not even aware of. He seems very photogenic and behaved himself so we could get some good pics (and I reckon he looks like his dad) xx

Our handsome little man... 

..sucking on his hand.....

..such a cute little nose.... 

..and such a pouty baby :)

28 weeks - the final trimester

Baby Fleming is getting stronger and more active by the day. It's so sweet that he's even established his own routine so he has regular times of the day where I know he'll be having a wriggle, although his 6am shuffle tends to wake me up (I don't really mind though as it makes me smile). 

He's also very sneaky... as soon as I tell anyone he's moving and they go to have a feel, he stops!! I think he just likes to make mummy look stupid - either that or he's shy :) but luckily last week I managed to catch him in action on my camera (please ignore how pale I am lol).

Here we are at 28+1 weeks...

Chunky Monkey

Mummy had her fundal height measured for the first time this morning and yep, it's measuring big - either I'm carrying a lot of fluid or I'm going to give birth to a proper little bruiser haha

24 Weeks

There have been quite a few developments in the last few weeks, my bump is coming along a treat and so is our little monkey - baby Fleming has become increasingly active and Shane can feel it too. It's even stranger now that the kicks are so strong that I can even see them as they make little ripples and humps across my tummy :)

Here we are at 24 weeks....

 

Movement!!!! at last

After weeks of 'was it, wasn't it', me and Shane settled on the sofa and as he began to talk to my bump there was the strangest sensation that made me quickly sit up.... what could only be described as my little man giving me a jab from the inside :) It was sooooo bizarre but sooooo amazing at the same time!

Half way there :)

Mummy Fleming is half way there now and has a lovely little round bump to prove it, here we are at 20 week & 2 days...

It's a boy!!!!!

Well, me & Shane have said for weeks that we thought bumpy was going to be a boy and at our 20 week scan today we had it confirmed :) so excited, now we can start referring to baby as him rather than it.

The sonographer had already printed a picture off for us and when she saw his hand moving she took another for us so here is our little munchkin, scratching his nose.... and according to his measurements he's a chunky monkey too hehe

I can hear you :)

Today me & Shane went to see the midwife for a check up and got to hear baby's heartbeat for the first time :) It was amazing!!!

So then baby, I've seen you wriggling around, I've heard your heart beating away.... now I'm just waiting to feel you kicking me hehe

Baby's first photo!

How exciting, we got to see our little bumpy wriggling around on the monitor which is so strange when you can't actually feel it yet. Baby Fleming is 11 weeks & 4 days old set to enter the world on 2nd November 2012!

And it's even starting to show a little on the outside too :)

My first blog...

Here goes, my very first blog!!

I wanted to create a place where I can share baby Fleming's progress family and friends, and also a place where he or she can look back over themselves one day and share in the exciting experience of us becoming a family.

This marks the day when we found out our lives would never be the same ever again...