An Upcoming Change

There is some good news in the Jolley house.  Matthew and I are expecting our first baby in Spring 2013.  :)  We are thrilled by this upcoming change and ready (as you can be) for this wonderful change to our family of two!

We found out this great news on July 25th.  I was over a week late so we decided to try a pregnancy test.  This is the good news that showed up. 

We went to the doctor later in the week where he confirmed the good news again and set me up with a midwife.  I was around 4 weeks pregnant by this point.  The doctor gave us the date of 24th March as a rough estimate for the due date.

Mid-August was my first appointment with the midwife.  It was here where she took a blood sample and urine sample which was to be sent off for testing.  She ran through family history and just an overall of what to expect in the coming months and procedures in the UK when having a baby.  It was very helpful making it feel all the more real. 

Throughout the first trimester I have generally felt good.  I have had 3-4 days where I didn't feel great and only came close to getting sick once.  My main symptom has been tiredness.  It doesn't take much currently to make me feel exhausted and I constantly feel tired.  This should hopefullly pass soon as I am now entering into the 2nd trimester stage.

This past Monday was my 12 week scan.  :)  This made everything VERY real.  It was such an amazing feeling getting to see this little baby that is inside me.  Crazy to think that it was moving around yet I can't feel a thing.  At the scan, they confirmed it was only just one baby and that everything looked good.  There were no initial signs of any problems.  It took some time getting the baby to move around so they could get a clear picture and measurement of the baby.  The measurement they finally got was around 48mm (almost 5 centimeters) and gave us the due date of the 28th March 2013.  It is all very exciting and is starting to feel very real as my clothes are beginning to get tighter at the moment! 

Check out our beautiful baby so far...

My next appointment is the 16 week appointment with the midwife at the beginning of October.  Then my 20 week scan is on the 13th November.  It will be here that Matthew and I will find out whether to expect a little boy or little girl next spring.  We don't have a preference - just a healthy baby is all we pray for!  We are hoping to visit IN during Christmas time which will be lovely to see my family while pregnant.  It will be great to see my sister-in-law especially as she will be pregnant too.  We are expecting 2-3 weeks apart which will be fun for our children as they will be close in age!  Exciting times ahead and will continue to keep you posted...

My (almost) brush with fame

Last Wednesday Matthew and I visited Highclere Castle, the home of the show Downton Abbey.  Upon our arrival to the castle, this sign greeted us at the front gates.

I could have the chance to interview with the today show!!  I was excited at the premise of being on TV and talked Matthew's ear off with different things I could say.  :)  Matthew and I continued to walk through the gardens and the house.  After looking around the house, we met up with the rather large group (50+) of Americans ready for their chance at fame!  The film crew was getting set up and began to interview, asking questions like; 'What brought you here?' 'What do you think of the way the show portrays Americans?' 'What is going to happen in Season 3?'  It was amazing to watch how people would act when getting around a camera.  I saw several elbows flying as people tried to get their way to the front of the line, and others jumping in front of someone else to try and be interviewed next.  Here are a few shots of them interviewing...

After a few interviews Lady Carnarvon of Highclere Castle showed up as well!! 

The film crew decided then to do a group walk up to the castle and then give us a chance to shake the hand of the Countess of Carnarvon.  I knew the chance of getting to do an interview was slim so I made sure I was prominent in the group walk to the castle....AND you can see me for two whole seconds in the actual piece for the today show  (check out 00:34 - 00:36)  I'm in the purple jacket!!

After getting to shake the Lady's hand and walking into the house, we came back outside.  The main reporter (who had just showed up) then asked some in a group where they were from.  I didn't get asked but the man in front of me did so again you can see me from the nose up behind the man in red (from North Carolina) at (00:46) .

This whole process has taken over an hour and they were going to continue with some more interviews.  Matthew was being very patient and it was getting rather chilly so we decided to go home.  I think we made a good move.  We watched at least five interviews being done and they only used one interview that we saw (the one with the two ladies at the end).  So even if I did stay and interview I would most likely being on the cutting room floor at this point.  It was still fun and this my first time being on national TV...if you call 3 seconds being on!!  :)  Check out the link to watch the video as try to look out for me:
(00.34-00:36 and 00:46) 

http://theclicker.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/11/11139523-the-real-downton-abbey-housed-its-own-drama?lite

Quiz Night

Two weeks ago Matthew and I participated in a quiz night at the community centre our church has moved into.  This was my first quiz night ever and I was really excited about it.  We had four people on our team, the Jolley's and Macintyre's.  We named our team  'Bravehearts' since the Macintyre's are Scottish and because of Matthew's recent health trouble.  Throughout the evening we went through 9 topics with 20 questions each.  The topic we did the best in was 'history' with 16 out of 20 correct.  Our worst topic was music and only got 7 out of 20 correct.  There were a total of four teams participating and we came in.......2nd place!!  Overall I enjoyed the evening although I was not a great help to my team.  I was only able to help answer a handful of questions throughout the evening and most of those were related to cartoons...not sure what that says about me?  In my defense, many questions would have been hard to answer if you weren't British!!  As a whole, a good, fun evening and I look forward to the chance to have another quiz night in the future!!
Here is a sample of some of the questions we had to answer: (good luck!)
1. What is a baldric?
2. Morpheus was a Greek God of what?
3. What is given on 13th wedding anniversary?
4. In what century was tea first brought to England?
5. In a pack of cards, which was does the king of spades look, his left or right?

How did you do? 

A Change is Coming...

Well, there is an exciting change happening in our church in the coming few months.  Over the past 9 months we have been involved in a community centre on the Howard Estate and held a few events such as a children's day, cookout and our Harvest Supper.  We have been blessed each time we have held an event there and a real open mind to hearing the Gospel. 
Last weekend at our General Annual Meeting it was proposed that we move our church service to the community centre from where we are currently meeting in the town centre.  This would be a big change but hopefully one for the better.  This would provide a better facility, building better relationships with local people and a better opportunity to serve our local community.  Please pray for our church during this time of transitition and that the local community on the Howard Estate will keep an open heart to us.

Check out the website to get a better understanding of where we are going and what this building can offer.  http://www.newburycommunitycentre.btck.co.uk/

The Making of Harry Potter Studio Tour

Eeek!!  I had to share my exciting news (Matthew's not quite as excited).  We have officially booked our tickets for the Making of Harry Potter Studio Tour in London!  :)  The date is Saturday 16th June and I cannot wait.  I love movies and I love Harry Potter so this seems like an ideal thing to do!  To have my picture taken in the actual Great Hall is pretty cool....well it is to me!!  Check out more details about where we are going and what we'll see here...http://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/

The Dark Side of Humpty Dumpty

One of my goals for 2012 is to make more of an effort in reading more books.  I tend to go through phases with reading all the time to reading hardly at all.  Last year I read over 10 books the first half of the year and then 1 book the second half.  I would like to stop that from happening so a goal I have set for myself is to read at least one book a month.  I am also going to try and read more church books as well as the fiction books I usually read.  So far I am sticking to it.  Here are the books I have read in January and the ones I hope to read for February.

The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde

Summary:  It's Easter in Reading - a bad time for eggs - and the shattered, tuxedo-clad corpse of local businessman Humpty Dumpty has been found lying beneath a wall in a shabby part of town. Detective Inspector Jack Spratt and Sergeant Mary Mary, part ot he Nursery Crimes Division, investigate the murder of Humpty Dumpty. 

Thoughts: I started this book back in October and I enjoyed the concept and premise but just wasn't motivated in my reading.  I finally got to finish it and really enjoyed the book.  I am now looking at getting the next book in the Jack Spratt series, The Fourth Bear, as I enjoy the fairy tales mixed in with adult humor!  I would highly recommend this book for a fun read.

Matched by Ally Condle
Summary: In Cassia's society, Officials decide who people love.  How many children they have.  Where they work.  When they die.  But, as Cassia finds herself falling in love with another boy, she is determined to make some choices on her own.  And that's when her whole word begins to unravel.
Thoughts:  I enjoyed this book but I think I had higher expectations for it than it lived up to.  It is a Young Adult book so I was thinking it would be along the lines of a Twilight or Hunger Games.  It was a good read but this story didn't quite work for me as in similar books I have read.  I'm sure this won't stop me from getting and reading its sequal Crossed which came out in November.

Those are the books I've read for January.  I have started my next two books for February.  I am currently reading a church book called The Minister's Wife which is a book about being a minister's wife, the privileges and pitfalls that come with the job.  It has been a helpful book so far and enlightening in several ways.  I can only hope this book may help me in better serving my husband, church and firstly the Lord.

I've also started reading A Game of Thrones.  When Matthew was sick during the Autumn he bought the books and quickly read through them.  I thought I would give it a go.  The only downfall is it is a big book and small print.  At least I have the half-term in February that I can spend more time reading especially at night before bed.  Here is hoping I can finish both books in the coming month. 

Solomon: dog or cow?

If you don't know we have an adorable dog named Solomon.  Solomon is almost 8 years old and is part of our family. He is our American dog in England!!

We had a bit of a scare two weeks ago with Solomon.  Everything seemed well until Thursday evening he seemed a bit down and got sick after eating his dinner.  He didn't keep any food down on Friday so we took him to the vet Friday evening.  They thought he could have picked up a tummy bug which was causing him to be sick or perhaps he had a blockage of some sort.  Hoping for just a tummy bug (the easier and cheapier option) they gave Solomon a shot and some medicine to give him.  We were to give him a small amount of food on Saturday.  If it threw that up we would have to go back to the vet's straight away.

Nevertheless, 20 minutes after eating his breakfast Saturday morning Solomon got sick again.  We took him back to the vet's where they were going to keep him and take an x-ray of his body to see if there were any problems.  A few hours later they called back saying that the x-ray showed his stomach was full.  Knowning that it had been 48 hours since he had kept anything down this made no sense.  The end resulted in an operation to empty his stomach and find the problem.  It was a worrying few hours until the vet called.  Solomon was fine.  He had eaten some type of fabric which upset his stomach so much that he gorged himself on grass.  The fabric and grass compressed in his stomach.  He had eaten so much grass that it could have filled a football.  The vet's words were: "He isn't a dog.  He's a cow."

We were able to pick Solomon up from the vet's on Monday evening.  He felt very sorry for himself and would just lie on his bed and cry.  It did look painful as you can see below.

The concern after the surgery was infection.  Solomon was on several different medicines for the pain and to prevent infection.  He went to the vet on the Thursday of that week and then again on Tuesday this past week to get his stitches out.  Solomon has healed very well and almost back to himself now.  His stomach is looking much better and is back to begging for food and walks again.  It is glad to have him back to normal and hopefully we won't have to do this again.  It is also amazing how quickly his hair do grow...This was a week after his surgery.

Thanks for everyone who left us messages on facebook, asked about Solomon and even prayed for our boy.  He is very much part of the family and will be a sad day when he goes....luckily, we have awhile before that happens!!