30 Weeks

It's all getting a bit too real... childbirth ed classes, getting things a ready as you can, chatting to other mums, ignoring most of the advice, learning to breathe with lungs at half their usual capacity... sleeping on a wedge pillow, eating magnesium supplements, feeling very tired and full of anticipation. Cramming as much time in together as we can, just the two of us, as it's been now for over 10 years. There's room for one more.

This week we put my iPhone on my belly while it was playing music and watched it being kicked from below.

I am a bit, no a lot, worried about going through the next months away from home. I'm sad to not be able to share them with close friends and family. It can feel completely overwhelming. But I'm just happy at the moment to be enjoying these last very precious weeks with my husband as we watch my belly grow.

I love my ring

I had to take my wedding ring off due to completely unreasonable swelling of my extremities. But I won't take this off. It is my most treasured material "thing". I wish I could go back in time and get engaged again. We had such a lovely time that winter and I was only slightly irritated when I had to pay a strange UPS man a lot of money for import tax on something he was delivering from the States in a small box. It just so happened that my now husband had bought this ring in the US, where he found it at an ethical jewelery place, and shipped it to my parents' place where we were spending time over Christmas. He told me it was a present from his mum, but I secretly suspected he had bought something expensive and electronic (and was secretly getting a bit mad about it). It also just so happened that I had frequently shown him pictures of all the kinds of rings I didn't like - I'm not one for large rocks and most definitely not one for unethically sourced stones, that was the most important part to me. I couldn't really love this any more if I tried.

We went to Paris on the train and I was a bit concerned that my husband was constantly touching his nether regions. Turns out he was just checking the ring was still in his pocked. ALL the time. We slid around a very icy and snowy Paris, got sick and then got engaged in the lovely hotel room while I was sipping some tea from a toothbrush holder cup. There was champagne hidden outside the window which we drank, all of it, and then slid around the square we lived on (which contains the grave of Monsieur Saint-Exupery, this was the best part) a bit tipsily until we found some place to eat. I'll never forget a second of it. I love looking at the pictures from that holiday.

Skip to the End

Ihave reached that point in my pregnancy where I am permanently a bit uncomfortable and very fatigued. I am not really happy about that. I asked my doctor to take more blood samples to check why I'm so tired. I am a doctor's daughter - I always think there must be some pill to fix me! She looked at me and said "um, it's because you are PREGNANT". It took another doctor and a midwife to give me the same answer until I caved in. Fair enough. I get it. I guess fighting it won't do much good at this point.

I really dislike being so lethargic. Pregnancy is not the same for everyone. My sister worked as a full time doctor right up to 6 weeks before birth. Somehow I had the idea that I would be similarly energetic! But not so. I have more of a struggle with hormones anyway, so it's no surprise that I am feeling sluggish, and particularly afternoons are hard, because I feel very tired and super hormonal and usually weep for no reason. Ok, sometimes I say things like "but ALL I WANTED was a POTATO" and cry dramatically. It's nice, being reduced to a stereotype by hormonal substances going bananas!

The baby is happy as Larry and loves water noises, particularly when I turn the tap on. There are some crazy times in utero - sometimes I think the baby might be rehearsing for So You Think You Can Dance, but she's probably just looking for the umbilical cord or getting mad that she has misplaced her thumb. She also nudges me and kicks me at night when I lie on the wrong side - I cave in and roll over. I am really very, very grateful that she is so healthy. I already have such a strong bond with her, and just the thought anything could happen to her reduces me to a complete mess.

Meanwhile, my feet are so huge that I can barely walk in my normal shoes, and I saw these boots on the internet and decided I really need to have them. Sadly we are very broke and I was looking for a way I could justify buying them (there isn't one). I came up with: "they will be handy when I have the baby and have to breastfeed". This doesn't even make sense to me. But yes - owning these boots will make be a better breastfeeder and mother I'm sure of that.

Behold! The Magic Breastfeeding Boot

Linea Nigra

There are many fascinating things about pregnancy (unexplained foot growth, watching your fingers swell, crazy hair and piles for example) but I find the linea nigra truly amazing. Nobody knows why it's there....
it only occurs in about a third of pregnant women and it's a dark or black line that runs from your upper abdomen all the way along the rounded belly. Sort of like a symmetrical divider. The story goes that touching the linea nigra brings good luck... you can rub my belly with my permission!

Scenes from a Past Life

Scenes from Wineglass Bay, New York, Washington, London, Paris, Sevilla,  Munich, somewhere in the Alps, Planes, and Beaches (please note the youthful skin)

This week it's hit me: we have a little ankle biter coming out way. No more JoeyNomad, Joey Stayathome. No more spontaneous plane hopping, falafels in Paris, intoxicated Harry Potter in gold class, sliding down snowy hills in Prague. Also no more shedding old skin along with old furniture and starting new. Not for a while at least. It's going to happen someday.
That sounds ungrateful and snottily European. I know. Just let me say bubbye to my old life in my own way. It doesn't mean I'm not looking forward to the next one!

New Home

We have moved! We have unpacked all the boxes and quiet corners are appearing in between all the mess. I love this wall decal which I bought last year as a present for my husband. Now it's got a special place in the bedroom. I am trying to turn the bedroom into a calm space because I will be spending a lot of time in there with the baby! At present, if you could see under this calm photograph you'd find piles of washing and dirty Ugg Boots. 

The baby's room is full of stuff and I want to spend the next few weeks making a lovely nursery using as little money as possible. Expect some crafty solutions. If I can ever not be tired, and actually get off the couch to do it. I was not prepared for how tired pregnancy can make you. I do not really like being lethargic as I am usually more of a full of beans person, and this sluggishness is making me quite mad. 

I am also working on my craft corner so I can resume private and professional sewing! 

>> We had our first lovely visitors on the weekend and we made Jamie Oliver's lasagna which I love because it uses Creme Fraiche instead of Bechamel. 

>> I had a lovely time at Brown Owls last week. We did some stitching and I managed to embroider something teensy - I got quite hooked on it! Magdalena had a copy of this printable stitch guide, which I will print as soon as I can find the printer cable! 

29 weeks

We moved house. We are so looking forward to making the nursery cute and making a home for you!
It's cold and most of the time I am struggling to fit into any kind of winter clothes. Sleeping is becoming pretty impossible. There are distinct "warning" kicks if I lie on the wrong side. Until I move I am being poked, kicked and prodded!  I am already planning your first trip home to meet all your aunties, cousins, and step-aunties and step-uncles.

This week I am hiding.

I am hiding behind my latest knitting project. This is a superwash Merino blanket for our little baby. Based on the idea of the super simple baby blanket, but I decided to mix the stripes up a bit and I made some pretty bold colour choices to. It's just knit back and forth so it's a simple and quite meditative project!
PS The reason I am hiding is because the rest of the house looks like this:

Yes, moving house is a wonderful experience.

Sleepy 26 weeks

At 26 weeks we had Gastro and your great-grandma died at an impressive 95 years old. At 26 weeks you did not like it much when I sneezed (at least sneezing elicits a pretty strong kicking response). You also kicked your lovely papa in the face, which I secretly found incredibly amusing. Your papa continues to tell you you are either a timelord, or an explorer.

Oppy Baby

Babies make a lot of dirt and produce a lot of landfill. Little polluters. This baby is going to be dressed in some very fine op shop gear and hand me down goodness. I picked up these cute things from the Save The Children oppy the other day. But I am not 100% good and I have bought new stuff. And had fun doing so. It's the nesting instinct kicking in!

I bought a Skip Hop nappy bag. I also bought an Ergo Carrier. I don't think I really needed the nappy bag. I just saw the one my friend had, and suddenly it became incredibly important to immediately make sure I'd have the appropriate carrying device to hand to carry nappies around in. I then also nearly bought a sheep toy that can make four different kinds of soothing music, including whale song. I wonder what's happened to my brain. Other than that it has been drowned in apple juice, which I can not get enough of.  In the making department, things are progressing along. I've just gotten tired of taking "in progress" shots.

I am still very confused what to dress a newborn in when they sleep. I have bought a little sleeping sack thing but I'm scared of using it already. It comes with bizarre batwings that are apparently used to "swaddle".  Everywhere I look there are warnings of SIDS and apparently you are not allowed to put a blanket in the baby cot at all anymore. Isn't that a bit overly dramatic?

Happy Weekend!

now for something completely different

finished and on its way to a new baby's home. Trebbled back and forth in cotton. Noone stop trebbling until the fat lady sings. I can honestly say I don't want to trebble again in the foreseeable future.

My Pre-Conception Body

Well here is the image Babble has on their website anyway. Other than the disconcerting lack of arms, there are other things wrong with this image. But I don't want to go into that. I am not one to discuss how anyone could believe this represents a normal woman, why it is on a pregnancy website, or generally the use of "this is how you should look" photos on such websites, and how dangerous I find it.

Nono. Instead here's a picture I will send to the babble editors in a moment. They might want to replace the one they have.


My Pre-Conception Body

HUGE.

OK. I am big. My belly is big. I am not. My baby is a normal size. But my belly is a large one.


Is it normal to get very anxious and upset about this? I guess not. But I am not sure how to cope with literally everyone I meet saying "oh my god you're HUGE", "are you sure it's not twins", or "are you due next month?". I worry what will happen to me in the next 4 remaining months of pregnancy.

Will I be able to get out of bed?  Will my favourite mode of transport be rolling along the street? Will the hip and back pain get even worse? Will people run and seek shelter when they see the ueber-large whale sized me dinosaur-walk along the footpath?

What do people want to achieve with these comments?

And I am not talking one comment a day. I am talking 30. The next person I'll meet who won't say "YOU'RE HUGE" will get a hug and a kiss. And probably some emotional hormone-tears.

What We Don't Need

are more high rise real estate developments and the destruction of beautiful old buildings that house creative communities.

Head over to the Ink & Spindle blog and help the ladies save the Younghusband building!