First time parents | Things we are not looking forward to about parenthood

A few days ago you may have seen I shared a post written by myself and my husband, Nick, on becoming parents for the first time and the things we are most looking forward to as we embark on the adventure of a lifetime. Today we've decided to share a few things we are not looking forward to quite as much about becoming parents, because let's face it much of parenthood looks terrifying (again all I really need to do is watch Supernanny and I can feel my uterus tensing up!)

Poo explosions and sleepless nights;

Sick, snot, pee, poo explosions, it seems the parenthood package comes alongside all manner of bodily fluids that you really don't think you're going to have to clean up on another person - but as soon as those little lines appear on a pregnancy test it seems these sort of future encounters are just waiting in the shadows ready for you. Of course sleepless nights are already pretty much a reality of being pregnant, particularly when baby decides that nighttime for you is morning for them and decides to have what feels like a rave in your uterus!

The teenage years;

As a once great band said, 'teenagers scare the living..' well you guys know the rest. Now I'm older (and of course wiser) I can personally admit that I was not the easiest teenager and I can't for the life of me work out just why I was so stressed and angry.... because I face WAY more stress on a daily basis today than I ever did during my teen years. Of course the teen years are a long, long way off but I already feel sad at the thought of our little girl distancing herself from us because of such a silly thing like teen angst!

Dealing with bullies;

Bullies, of course there isn't very much you can do now we live in the wonderful world that is of course dominated by social media where you can't say boo without someone accusing you of something scandalous - and I feel often for girls in particular bullying can psychologically be much worse than what boys generally face. To us of course, she is already perfect and we can't imagine anyone wishing to cause her any physical or emotional pain and if this does come whether that be at nursery, at school, secondary, college, university or even later in the workplace I just don't know how I'll cope short of going all Kill Bill on their asses!

Parenting, it ain't no picnic, not all of the time anyway. If you want to read my previous post on what we're looking forward to about becoming parents you can find that here. We'd be interested to know from parents, parents to be or even grandparents and siblings even, what are the pitfalls of parenting in your opinions? Be sure to leave your comments, thoughts and musings below, come share them with me on Twitter, Instagram and you can keep up with the blog on Bloglovin.

Until next time,

H.Adams & N.Adams x

First time parents | Things we are looking forward to about parenthood

Parenting, while yes it may be one of the toughest jobs in the world and I won't deny, it certainly looks it, (I've seen more than enough episodes of Supernanny in my time that really I'm shocked I haven't burst a blood vessel, broke a few TVs or at the very least taken a vow of abstinence!) there are a few things myself and Nick are really looking forward to when it comes to becoming parents, and today I thought I would share just some of those things;

Seeing her face for the first time;

Despite only being just over halfway through this pregnancy it already feels like a lifetime when thinking about the end goal. And of course while it of course doesn't matter we're interested to see just whose features she has inherited, eyes, nose, mouth etc - we already know from early scans she has her dad's feet, but everything else is such a mystery and we just can't wait to see this new little person!

Watching her personality develop;

Will she love movies as much as we do? Will she inherit her dad's enjoyment of gaming? Will she be a writer? We simply don't know! But that's all part of the excitement we're feeling for this new personality that already has changed our lives so much and will continue shape our world for years to come. All we can hope is that she'll inherit her dads sense of humour and maybe miss out some of mums sass!

Teaching her the basics;

Walking, talking, learning how to ride a bike, swimming, helping with homework (as long as it ain't maths or science for me!) and coaching her through life - parenthood sure sounds like an adventure and it's an adventure we can't wait to begin!

Of course we understand parenthood will undoubtedly come with it's downsides and don't you think I've forgotten about that (I mean poo explosions come on my house is all white and grey I don't want to have to poo proof!) So coming soon will be another post on the things we're not looking forward to quite as much - but for now let's just bask in the sunshine that is the bright side of parenthood. 

If you're a new mum or dad do feel free to share your favourite bits of parenting in the comments below, or if you're a preggosaurus, like me, what are you most looking forward to about having your baby? I'd love to hear from you all regardless, catch me here, on Twitter, Instagram and Bloglovin.

Until next time,

H.Adams & N.Adams

The Power of 'No' | Why I'll be saying 'No' more in 2017

'No'

Two little letters with potential of mass proportions, and despite having seemingly negative connotations, 'no' can actually bring you more joy, help you attain richer life experiences and feel more relaxed than you ever have in your life. 'No' takes much more courage to say than yes, particularly when you belong to the generation where saying no even once can bring you down with a serious case of the FOMOs (fear of missing out..s) Fear that convinces you that saying no could mean skipping out on the adventure of a lifetime, missing out on the best night of your life, or simply waving goodbye to the boat of success entirely...

Which of course is ridiculous.

This is something that has dawned on me only recently, at the ripe old age of 23 having gone through a series of life changes over the last year and a half and learning just where real happiness comes from. And where is that? Has Granite City Girl unlocked the secret to lifelong happiness? Well it's different for everyone, so I guess the simple answer would be that happiness comes from within yourself and can be discovered by asking yourself a few simple questions. What matters to you most? What do you love? Who do you love? And finally what brings you most joy in life?

Well what does this mean for Granite City Girl?

It simply means that this year I won't be grabbing every opportunity flung my way. I won't be reviewing more restaurants just because I've been invited along, I won't saying yes to obscure brand deals that have nothing to do with my blog and do little to peak my interests, and I won't be wasting any more time living behind a screen when I could in fact be out there living life and writing about richer and more interesting experiences than what I ate for lunch that day.

Perhaps most importantly I won't find myself stretched for time, driven to madness by blank pages on a screen feeling mocked by a blinking cursor waiting on tender hooks for the latest and greatest blog post only for 10 other posts written about the same event or subject to pop up with the same inevitable conclusion.

This of course doesn't mean to say the end of Granite City Girl, I still very much love writing, sharing where I've been and what I've been up to, but as I'm about to enter a new and very exciting phase of life it just means something a little different and more of what I fancy and less of what I feel pressure from others to write about.

Thank you for having the patience to stick with me during my many and numerous breaks and of course to reading and sharing in my love of writing over these last few years, I look forward to continuing to share my life and passion as I move forward in life.

Until next time,

H.Elizabeth x

Pregnancy Probs | S**t People say to Pregnant Women

'You shouldn't be going back to work that soon, or ever'

Genuinely something that was said with regards to my going back to work after my baby is born. As a woman I apparently ought to pack in any and all activities that don't revolve around the development of my newborn human...forget about you know, money, bills, keeping a roof over my baby's head or acting as a role model, no no, that all has to go now I've brought life into the world. 

'Well that'll have to stop'

Getting my hair cut? Eyebrows shaped? Oh no that'll have to stop...for some reason. I'm of course quite aware of the work it's going to take in caring for and raising a tiny human, I am also of course quite aware of how exhausting the process will be, however I ALSO know it has taken two to create this human and I have the utmost confidence that I won't be alone and not everything in life has to halt.

'You're going to breastfeed right?'

Sort of leading with your own opinions there I see. Maybe? Who knows what's going to be best for my baby, if she is anything like her mother she'll be raised solely on a diet of doughnuts and melted cheese and if anything like her dad then pizza and McDonalds it shall be. But if I'm honest what I'm really trying to say is... it's nunyabusiness.

'You've not got much of a bump' / 'Wow your bump is HUGE'

Ah yes I forgot, as soon as I peed on that pregnancy test all of those months ago I SUDDENLY thought it was okay for strangers to comment on my size - way to go personality transplant - you cretin!

'Why are you so tired / sick'

You know...if you've never been through it, just please don't ask a pregnant woman this.

'Oh well...you can always try for the next one'

Said after we told some folks that our baby was a girl (insert middle finger emoji right here)

*Bump touching of any kind without permission*

Fancy keeping those grabby, grabby hands of yours? Then off off off! I never have and never will be a touchy touchy person, even squeezing past people in the streets is enough to eek me out and send me into a spiralling rage so if you value those chubby digits I suggest you keep them to yourself.

Pregnant women go through a lot, pelvic exams, several blood tests and vaccinations that will leave you feeling like an overused pin cushion and let's not forget the squeezing of a rugby ball through a keyhole...but I'm betting the most irritating and painful part of pregnancy in particular is dealing with small minded individuals that only have enough of an IQ to let their mouths open and idiocies such as the above to fall right out. 

Feel free to leave all of the idiocies you've been asked / heard through the grapevine in the comments below, come share them with me on Twitter or if you'd just like to hear my musings, rants and more visit me on Instagram and Bloglovin.

Until next time,

H.Elizabeth x

What bits does our growing human have? | We're having a....

I thought long and hard about how I ought to write this post. In a world where social media reigns supreme and the way in which you announce that you're having a baby, or their gender or indeed what your cat ate that day has never been more important, announcing which bits your growing human has currently stands as one of the biggest things you COULD share online. Needless to say I felt the pressure.

But to hell with pressure. Growing a human is such a special enough experience, and I don't need bells and whistles. Who needs a fancy pants way of announcing it to a bunch of strangers you've never really met or gotten to know? (sorry guys but it's true) So today we're not slicing open a cake which has taken hours, a witches curse and the blood of a lamb to make, we're not bursting confetti filled balloons (and making an almighty mess I may add) and we're certainly not doing a cutesy video (because growing a person is an effort enough without all of the editing!) instead we're simply going to say....

We're having a GIRL!

Until next time,

H.Elizabeth x

Pregnany Update | The First Trimester

I'm going to write this while the hell that is the first trimester is still very fresh in my mind. As you can tell this has so far been my least favourite trimester - and I'll be honest in comparison to some of the stories mine doesn't even seem that bad but hey, this is my experience of those first few blessed weeks of pregnancy.

For those of you who don't know the first trimester generally begins from week 1 of pregnancy and lasts until week 12 so approximately the first 3 months of your pregnancy and is generally considered to be your pregnancy 'danger zone' and funnily enough is also considered to be the most difficult of your entire pregnancy (other than the obvious pushing the baby out!) which, even though as I write this I'm only 19 weeks along myself, I wholeheartedly agree with thus far.

My first trimester symptoms

Following the initial first 5 weeks or so pretty much symptom free it was around week 6 and 7 where things really started to ramp up for me - marked first by me eating an amazing Aberdeen roll, slathered with butter and my fave jam I proceeded to projectile vomit in my kitchen  (sorry guys but pregnancy ain't pretty!) The thing about 'morning sickness' is that it'll pretty much just suddenly hit you without warning or very much of that 'sickly feeling' you normally get (usually accompanied by a hangover or otherwise food poisoning) I must say I didn't have morning sickness all through the first trimester I was only really quite sick about 5 or 6 times and this wasn't even my worst symptom.

My worst symptom came in the form of something SUPER unexpected and something I personally had never heard of as being a symptom of specifically pregnancy before experiencing them myself and those are headaches. Headaches so bad I found it really difficult to function and at times I thought I was maybe being sick as a result of just how painful they were getting as opposed to morning sickness. Working solely with screens at work of course didn't help and most days I just felt as if I wanted to crawl into a pit. I'd come home, grab something quick to eat and go to bed - water and lying in a dark room seemed to be the only things that helped me. Since my midwife had warned me off of having any pills or pain relief I unfortunately just had to suck it up - and the fact I was cutting down on the amount of caffeine I have on a daily basis the effects were not pretty.

Overall, headaches aside I guess compared to some I have been pretty lucky during the first trimester, other than one other tiny scare during my 5th/6th week (which I may do another dedicated post for since the midwives I dealt with during that time were so great at their jobs and just so lovely)  I've escaped with pretty minor symptoms REALLY, though at the time in the throws of sickness, headaches and fatigue it certainly didn't feel like it. 

Hopefully this has given some of you who are still in the throws of morning sickness, fatigue and all of those lovely symptoms that come alongside the 'joys' of pregnancy a little bit of hope -my specific first trimester symptoms went away around the 13th week, so I promise it does get better and far more bearable!

As always I'd love to hear from you all, pregnant, not pregnant, mums, dads, brothers, sisters anyone at all be sure to leave your comments re pregnancy, coping and first trimester woes in the comments below I'd love to hear all of your experiences (and I'm sure my husband would too since he had to cope with my whinging!) Otherwise you can catch me on Twitter, Instagram and more from the blog on Bloglovin.

Until next time folks,

H.Elizabeth

We've got some news... | Granite City Baby

Speculations of my untimely demise have undoubtedly crossed the minds of a few, rumors circulating I'd run off and joined the circus had perhaps even done the rounds. Or maybe some of you guessed right and I've just been taking some time off to celebrate and plan for some very big changes coming to the Adams house this year...

Guys...this time...it isn't just a food baby!

Yes, I'm pregnant, I've quite recently crossed over into my second trimester, which means our baby will be due to arrive on (well around) the 25th of July 2017 (fashionably late like their Mum I'm sure or you know...just busy sleeping like their Dad)

We are of course elated, feeling so full of love and understandably also pretty terrified but mostly just very excited to be extending our family.

If you guys are at all interested in reading pregnancy updates, hearing about my first trimester symptoms (sickness and headaches if you need the jist), baby hauls (because the clothes - oh my god I'm excited) or just about my general experiences as I enter this new phase of life be sure to leave a comment below, come chat to me on Twitter and of course you can see regular updates on Instagram and Bloglovin.

Until next time folks, 

H.Elizabeth (and the bump)