Well this is embarrassing. I was tidying up all the images I have saved on my laptop from various blogs (I know, I know, I should save them in the right place in the first place instead of just dumping them wherever…) and spotted a folder marked Round Up. I was momentarily stumped. Then I remembered we had been doing these round up posts. Huh, I thought. I don’t remember doing one recently. And as it turned out, we haven’t. The last one was in December, talking about what we did in November. Whoops!*

In my defence I am the organisational force behind the blog (read that as big bossy control-freak if you like) and I have had a lot on my mind what with being pregnant, feeling fairly lousy with it, and also writing a lot of extra posts for my maternity leave (I have done about 12 posts in a month).

Anyway, as I know you are all dying to know what’s happened in the past months here it is:

WHAT I HAVE READ IN THE PAST FEW MONTHS

Unfortunately not an awful lot, as I have been very tired!

February –

• The Best Friends’ Guide to Pregnancy – Vicki Iovine
• Runaway Vampire (Argeneau Vampires #23) – Lynsay Sands
• About a Vampire (Argeneau Vampires #22) – Lynsay Sands
• The Unmumsy Mum – Sarah Turner
• Those Dreadful Children (blogged about here and here)
• Expecting Better – Emily Ostler

So mostly trashy vampire novels and pregnancy/parenting titles.

January –

• The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage (finally finished! and blogged about, of course)
• Five Go on a Strategy Away Day – Bruno Vincent (also blogged about)
• Matilda – Roald Dahl (audiobook)
• A Nightingale Christmas Carol (Nightingales #8) – Donna Douglas
• The Ladybird Book of Red Tape – Jason Hazely
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – J.K. Rowling
• My Name is Markham (Chronicles of St Mary’s #7.6) – Jodi Taylor

Slightly better month, though a fair few short books.

December –

• The Ladybird Book of the People Next Door – Jason Hazeley
• The Vintage Fashion Bible – Wayne Hemmingway
• Five on a Treasure Island (audiobook, blogged about here)
• Apostrophe Catastrophe – Patrick C. Notchtree
• The Night Before Christmas – Clement C. Moore
• The Immortal Who Loved Me (Argeneau Vampires #21) – Lynsay Sands
• The Witches – Roald Dahl (audiobook)
• Crusoe’s Village – Ian Morton
• Old Largo and Lundin Links – Eric Eunson
• The Sheep-Pig – Dick King-Smith
• Vampire Most Wanted (Argeneau Vampires #20) – Lynsay Sands
• The Reading Group, December – Della Parker

Didn’t do too badly in December actually even if a few of those were very short.

I’ve got a few more books on the go at the moment as well.

• The Animals of Farthing Wood – Colin Dann (I loved the TV series!)
• Mischief at Midnight (Knight’s Haddon #2) – Esme Kerr (audiobook)
• Dr Turner’s Casebook – Stephen McGann (from Call the Midwife)

WHAT I HAVE WATCHED IN THE PAST FEW MONTHS

I can’t even pretend to know what month I watched what in, so I’ll just put them all together.

• Hollyoaks, as always.
• The Adventure Series DVDS (Ship, Circus and River and the making of.)
• Timeless – (which features the lovely Goran Visjnic).
• The Good Wife – the final series!
• Sherlock but I can’t say I really ‘got’ it, especially the final episode.
• Call the Midwife – there was a Christmas special and then a new series started last month.
• Erin Brockovitch (for the first time!)
• Star Wars Rogue One
• Only Connect – now approaching the final and making it nearly impossible for me to get a right answer

There have been other things on in my house – like How to Get Away with Murder but I’ve been tired in the evening and haven’t paid enough attention to really say I watched it.

WHAT I’VE DONE IN THE PAST FEW MONTHS

• Well, November was the month I found out I was having a baby – which I announced some time in January – so I spent a lot of December and January feeling very sick. Too sick to do anything much more than go to work and lie on the sofa the rest of the time. I did see my family over Christmas for low-key celebrations at their home, and had them over to ours at New Year, though. My celebratory drinks were Shloer and alcohol-free cider.
• In December I turned 30 and went away for a quiet weekend in Lower Largo. I managed a couple of coastal walks but not much more, and felt too sick to eat any birthday cake (I still have some in the freezer should I ever be able to look at cake again).
• In January I had my scan and saw my baby for the first time. A week later we found out we were having a boy! Not to go into too much detail, but we had an awful time when screening showed there was a higher chance of the baby having a chromosomal abnormality. After further testing we happily found out that he doesn’t, he’s just fine. (I wrote my review of Five Go on a Strategy Away Day through a haze of tears trying to distract myself). We also chose a name on the same day we got the good news.

• In February I finally started to feel a bit better! Meaning I could really crack on with writing lots of posts for later in the year, allowing me a break to be a new mother. I also started a little bit of baby shopping and we have been looking at a new car too. I had to move lots of my books to make room in the second bedroom for the baby. I have put aside a few for eBay but rest assured my Blyton collection is safe!

Well that was pretty long, so Stef’s round up can have its own post now!

*Language made more suitable for the blog. What I actually said is unpublishable.