nothing flash!

Olives Birth Story

2011-08-30T14:29:00.004+12:00

This was originally published over here: http://www.kiwimummyblogs.co.nz/pregnancy-diary/pregnancy-diary-the-arrival/ , but I thought I'd put it up here as well, with some bonus photos :)

On Friday (40wks +4 days) Daisy, Phil and I went out for Thai for dinner – I got my curry hotter than usual in the hopes of invoking one of those old wives tales. Later that evening I started having some regular, but mild-ish contractions. I phoned Jacqui before I went to bed to let her know there may be a call later in the night. At 3am I woke up with contractions which required breathing through – they were anywhere from 5-10min apart, and I got up and pottered around in the kitchen while stopping to breathe and sway when needed. By 5am they had slowed down so I went back to bed. At 6ish I could hear Daisy stirring so I went through to her room and we had a lovely family cuddle for an hour or so. I was very aware it would possibly be our last snuggle as a 3 person family.

Late afternoon on Saturday, swaying through contractions, on computer betweentimes!

In the morning I phoned Jacqui again to let her know how we were doing. She said that most likely things would pick up again that night, and to just have a restful day. Phil took Daisy out to the park and I went back to bed. We all had another nap at Daisy’s nap time so come evening we were feeling quite good. At 5pm-ish contractions started picking up again and were about 5min apart. Phil started filling up the birth pool. We phoned Jacqui and Grace and both arrived around 5.30. Grace took Daisy up to her bedroom to watch DVD’s as I was requiring some help from Phil by this stage. Unfortunately the change in pace – with everyone arriving – meant my contractions slowed down to about every 10min. Jacqui set up some of her gear, had a listen to baby’s heart rate and observed some contractions. At about 6.30 she decided I needed some space to get things going again, and predicted labour would ramp up once Daisy was asleep. She left saying she would be back in about an hour and a half unless we called her in which case she’d be straight back. At 7ish it was time for Daisy to go to bed but she obviously knew something was up. She became very upset and wouldn’t settle for Grace, so Phil went down to put her to sleep. About this time my contractions became very intense. I was working through them on my own for about half an hour and it felt quite lonely and overwhelming. I texted my support person, Jenny, to please come now, and called out for Phil to come back out. Daisy was still awake so we just decided to let her watch DVDs in her bedroom with Grace for as long as she liked. Routine out the window on a night like this!

Reading Daisy a bedtime story while waiting for contractions to ramp up again (about 7pm)

Phil helped me through the next few contractions – we weren’t really timing them but they seemed to be about 3 min apart lasting about a minute. We called Jacqui at about 7.45 and asked her to come back. Jenny arrived shortly before 8 also. For the next half hour Phil rubbed my back through the contractions as I leaned forwards into the bean bag. I went to the loo at some point during this time and called out for a bowl as I needed to vomit. The contractions I had on the loo were really sore – I had been curious as how it would be, having heard stories of women spending a lot of their labour on the loo…it clearly wasn’t for me!! I had a huge vomit and went back to my possie on the bean bag in the lounge to breathe through the contractions. Jacqui and Jenny started getting the pool up to a good temperature. At about 8.30 Jacqui said I could get in, but I was hesitant to, as I expected to be in labour for a good few hours yet and didn’t want to get in too early. After a particularly painful contraction I decided to give it a go, so I stood up and took a few steps towards the pool. All of a sudden I felt the strangest sensation…There was a head in my bottom and it wanted to come out! I announced to the room that I needed to push and there was a flurry of activity. The birth mat was put down on the floor and I knelt on it in front of the sofa. I leaned forwards into the sofa and something primal took over. I vaguely remember the 2^nd midwife being phoned, and everyone telling me I was doing a great job. I felt like it was too early to be doing all this – surely I still had ages to go, but I couldn’t control it. I was making a lot of animal noises, low moans and grunts but apparently the others didn’t think I was being overly vocal. It sure felt like I was! I was scared to push too hard as I was a bit afraid of how big this head felt and didn’t want to tear. Jacqui gave me some instruction about when to breathe and when to bear down, to help minimise tearing. She was also applying hot, wet flannels to my perineum to help the tissues stretch. This felt really good. At 9.07pm Olive was born and passed up through my legs for me to hold. It was an amazing feeling – a mixture of relief that I was finished the hard work, and amazement that I had actually had a baby. Daisy and Grace came out and had a wee look at this point. Daisy was a bit overwhelmed by all the people in the lounge so they went back to the bedroom after a short time.

Inspecting Olive a few minutes after her birth

The cord was quite short so I wasn’t able to easily hold Olive up to my chest. I was helped into a sitting position, leaning back against the couch. The next few hours are a bit of a blur to me, time passed so quickly. I birthed the placenta about 9.30pm and shortly after Phil cut the cord as I needed an injection to contract my uterus as it was relaxing too soon. Olive latched on fairly quickly – I’m not sure exactly when but probably within the first 30min. She didn’t really stop feeding for the next 3 days! Jacqui and Kelly (the back up midwife – who had arrived about 10min before Olive was born) examined me and decided that to be on the safe side I should receive my stitches in hospital. Jacqui did a quick examination of Olive before we went – from looking at her I was sure she would weigh less than Daisy – but I was wrong – she tipped the scales at 5000grams exactly. That’s 11lbs! She was 56cm long, and had a 38cm head. It was a shame to have to get all dressed and transfer to the hospital in the middle of the cold night, after such a lovely birth, but I’m grateful that the midwives decided to err on the side of caution – probably best not to have a “she’ll be right” attitude when it comes to your nether regions!

At hospital they were able to do the repair under local anaesthetic which was awesome as it meant I was able to negotiate to leave after one dose of IV antibiotics, and not stay for a full 24hrs as they wanted me to. By 4am we were home and tucked up in bed. The next morning was so incredibly precious – Daisy came in and “discovered” the new baby in the bed. She was such a proud big sister – pointing out all Olives little features to us. Having a home birth was incredible. We can’t help but compare it to Daisy’s highly medicalised birth, and in every way it’s been a wonderful experience.

Daisy inspects her new sister in the morning

The birth pool got used for a swim the next morning!

its the thought that counts..

2011-08-17T12:22:00.003+12:00

Our snowman.
We would've loved to have gotten outside to make a proper one, but with Phil at work during daylight hours it didn't really work out - I didn't want to take Olive outside. So we bought it in, and Daisy had a (snow)ball.

Sisters..

2011-08-11T14:15:00.002+12:00

Just hangin' out, having a chat after naptime.

I love that I've been able to give Daisy a sister. They delight in each other so much.

Olive often gets squished with love.

You know you should listen to the radio less..

2011-08-07T20:35:00.003+12:00

..when your 2 year old starts singing "oh you just can't beat the mad butchers meat"...
Advertising at its worst.

Edited to add - see I totally suck at this blogging thing..This post was meant to have a picture. GAHH!

Hmmm..

2011-08-04T12:38:00.002+12:00

...I seem to comment a lot on other people's blogs, and generally participate in the "blogosphere" but don't keep up my own one...
I'd kind of like to start again, but my computer skills are so shonky it could be quite time consuming. Also think perhaps I should start afresh..as this has stuff on it which is about 4 or 5 years old..
Will let you know if I change..

Find me over here!

2010-11-27T14:04:00.005+13:00

I'm doing a pregnancy diary over at Kiwi Mummy Blogs - you can check it out here:

http://www.kiwimummyblogs.co.nz/pregnancy-diary/

(Sorry I don't know any fancy web-stuff to make the link pretty!)

Fluffy

2010-08-20T18:38:00.005+12:00

Discovered she knew this word the other day, by accident, standing by the counter about to order my soy latte when lil miss shouts "Fwuff-Feee". She sometimes gets the fluff off my soy milk in a wee fluffy cup.

The list of words is huge now! Some of the words she says are: Mummy, Daddy ("ditty") Maisy ("main-y"), bye, book, sock, shoe, sit, shut, car, digger, hot, wow, uh-oh, up, no, baby, banana ("nana"), milk ("mink"), weeeee! (means slide or playground) numbers 1-5, all the main animal sounds. Loving it!

(14mths)

toot too chugga chugga..

2010-07-18T18:32:00.003+12:00

..You know you're the mum of a toddler when you have an opinion on which Wiggle is the hottest (Anthony, in my opinion, however Jeff is my favourite overall).

Life is busy busy as I've now started "working", looking after some extra kids at home. My little extrovert loves the extra playmates, but day naps are a challenge.

Latest visit to the allergy specialist for the re-occurrence of nasty eczema has resulted in D and I becoming "gluten-free", with excellent results. We re-did the skin tests and found she has grown out of her nut allergy which is excellent, although her dairy and egg allergies are more severe than they were when we last tested. I'm enjoying the challenge of eating dairy/egg/gluten free!

I've also become aware that I am now practicing "extended breastfeeding", as D is past the age where the majority of people have weaned. Wow!! she's still gets lots of comfort and nutrition from her milkies, and is still so young and dependent that I really can't imagine how it would be for her to not have it. Even before I thought of having kids, and before I looked into any parenting styles or methods I remember saying to Phil that I would be happy to breastfeed a toddler and that I didn't see the logic in weaning for weanings' sake, so even if I were to have followed a more mainstream route I imagine our breastfeeding relationship would still be going.

My big girl

2010-06-17T20:45:00.004+12:00

This is her pose which says "I'm so cool just 'laxin' out in my big chair"..

We are loving life at the moment.

Daisy highlights (12mths) include:

- Real kisses
- Animal sounds! knows dog, cat, chicken, elephant, sheep and snake.
- Can say "boo" when playing peekaboo. Love it!
- Words in general. Says "yuck", "look", "up", "baby" something that sounds like "whats that?" and heaps of other nearly-words.

Nearly a year old, some disjointed musings...

2010-05-03T10:32:00.004+12:00

You know, I wish I had kept a more detailed month-by-month update of Daisy's progress on this blog. I have her Tamariki Ora book to look back on, but they are mostly just notes I've scribbled down, nothing much in detail.

I've been reflecting a lot on Daisy's birth and the first few weeks lately, as we approach her first birthday. I finally feel that I might be able to write her birth story, so will get started on that soon.

Daisy is such a treasure, so many times a day I find myself with a smile on my face thinking how lucky/blessed I am. She is developing a great sense of humour, often giggling to herself, and finding delight in lots of things. She is patient and kind with her friends, doesn't often fight back when she is hit or pulled or grabbed at (gets that from her Dad!).
We are enjoying how responsive she is - joins in songs, books, talks back to us, tries to "help" with whatever activity we're doing.

Daisy 10 months

2010-04-06T09:09:00.002+12:00

Fairy in the garden..

2010-03-04T14:54:00.001+13:00

Personal Reflections

2010-03-02T12:33:00.000+13:00

Rixa, over at Stand and Deliver is hosting a writing competition with the topic being: “Becoming a parent, becoming transformed.”

I thought this would be a good exercise for me and jotted it down one evening. Its not great – but I didn’t want to spend hours revising it, so I entered the raw product. Here it is:

“Becoming a parent, Becoming transformed”

With rosy ideas of having my own gorgeous baby asleep in her crib as I tiptoed out back to my evening of romance with my husband, I visited a friend with a new baby. This friend had managed to get her tiny daughter to sleep, and had joined us in the lounge only to hear the baby start wailing down the hall. Up she leapt and rushed down the hall to settle her. This happened several times throughout the evening. I rolled my eyes with all the know-how and self-importance of the childless and declared to my husband that “that baby would never learn to self settle if its mama kept coming at its every cry” and they were “making a rod for their own backs”. Oh how I wish I could go back in time and give myself a slap in the face!

Fast forward several years and I am the confused mother of baby girl. My baby is apparently “greedy” for wanting to feed more frequently than 3hrly. She is “manipulating us” for wanting help to fall asleep. We “might roll on top of her” when I finally listen to my instincts and take her to bed with me at 4 weeks of age, where, incidentally we both sleep better than we have since her birth. These are all things which were said to me as a vulnerable, new mother.

My darling baby, who took such comfort and delight in the safety of my arms and at my breast. According to the health visitors, friends and most mainstream baby books I was supposed to ignore her cues, watch the clock to see when to feed her, put her down in a cot to “talk” (code word for cry) herself to sleep and generally force her into a façade of independence from an age where clearly, independence is as ridiculous as asking a fish to ride a bicycle. The thing was – there were so many cases where this “worked”. Babies would adapt to their 4hr schedule. They would sleep all night from a young age. I struggled to continue parenting in the way I wanted to while faced with the possibility of getting a good nights’ sleep if I would only leave her to cry in a dark room for several nights in a row.

I turned to the computer. As a trained health professional I am interested in the evidence; the real truth about outcomes, based on scientific research. Increasingly I found more and more research to support that forced independence from a young age does not produce the best long term outcomes. Yes, some babies would give up hope of a parent returning, and learn to keep quiet all night long, but the stress hormones remained high in their brains. Yes, some babies would adapt to 4hr feeding schedules, but many also were hospitalized for failure to thrive on these strict routines. I found many more articles and studies to support listening to a babies cues, and responding to their needs promptly. Paradoxically it took hard nosed science to convince me to listen to my inbuilt, natural, mama-instinct. Sad but true.

I am now a confident mother of a 9month old. We bed-share, I breastfeed her on demand, and I believe in the value of her cries. Contrary to popular baby rearing books I haven’t got a “rod in my back” nor am burnt out and longsuffering in the face of meeting my “manipulative” daughter’s needs. On a bad night she will still wake two hourly to feed but I feel well rested in the mornings as she is only ever an arms reach away. I can tend to her needs whilst still half asleep. Despite my many hours of reading books and hunting the internet I only have one sentence of advice for anyone with a new baby. Feed her when she’s hungry and help her to sleep when she’s tired. It’s really that simple!

ok one more....

2009-09-23T14:23:00.002+12:00

Oh I'm sorry..

2009-09-23T14:05:00.003+12:00

..such a bad blogger. I do put a lot of pics on facebook though - you could add me..

a little late..

2009-08-27T16:29:00.002+12:00

..Daisy's pregnancy video..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XneAbPHWu4Y

growing up fast!

2009-08-20T08:50:00.002+12:00

2months old, in the bucket!

Daisy

2009-05-26T21:22:00.003+12:00

Very quick update, Daisy Kathryn Grace Dewar born 25 May 2009 at 1.22am. Weighing in at 4.86kgs (10lb 11oz) and 61cm tall.
Everyone doing well, we are besotted with our gorgeous girl.

39 weeks

2009-05-14T15:06:00.002+12:00

Ive deliberately left the lights low so you can't see the rash and stretchies and veins all over my tummy!

38+ Weeks.

2009-05-08T08:05:00.003+12:00

I've been chopping and changing which due date I go by, but with either one I am now well and truly full term. This baby could come anytime from now on. (In theory. I woke up with a nasty feeling she's going to be REALLY late)
I'm feeling very tired and heavy, baby is now 4/5 engaged and boy can I tell! up to pee every night a minimum of 4 times, and lots of pressure whenever I stand up. She's in a good position which I'm really happy about.
A friend from antenatal class who was due on the same day as me has just had her baby! We were all convinced she'd be overdue and I'd be early, but looks like it could be the other way round.
I have been reduced to wearing track or yoga pants, and NONE of my tops fit, not even the big maternity ones. I want to buy some Mens XXL clothes but can't be bothered going shopping.
Here's the photo, Its not very good. I think I had just finished trying to pull my top down over my belly.

Easter Weekend etc

2009-04-20T21:19:00.004+12:00

Mum and Dad came down, and we went to Akaroa for a day. I managed a bit of walking, and a full 18 holes of Mini Golf. Unfortunately this meant for the next few days my back was aching. A trip to the osteopath, combined with bubba dropping down to 2/5 engaged has meant that my back has been a whole lot better recently - Thank goodness!
We've got the birth box all ready to go (well, boxe's plural - couldn't fit it all into one), with all the bits and pieces needed for our homebirth. I've split the stuff into 2 boxes, one for during labour, and one for after bubs comes. I figure if we need to transfer to the hospital we can just chuck the 2nd box in the car, to save the hassle of packing a hospital bag.
Getting really excited about everything thats going to happen in the next month or so!

The walk to Onawe Pa on Banks Peninsula. Awesome coloured rocks!

34 weeks.

2009-04-09T21:20:00.003+12:00

I look so much bigger in photo's than in the mirror! Now I see why people keep asking me if I'm due any day.
Been feeling overall pretty good, obviously all the usual preggy things like sore back and hips, shortness of breath, heartburn etc but nothing I can't handle!
Got a yucky headcold too, but seriously, it would take more than that to get me down - I've been feeling lots of happiness and excitement about meeting this little one. I love being pregnant!

Look what I can do!

2009-03-30T20:35:00.003+13:00

Its my own built-in table. (nb check out how fat my face is getting.. although I did have a mouthful of toast I was trying to conceal..)

32 weeks

2009-03-26T09:30:00.003+13:00

We had a great time in Blenheim at the weekend. Here you can see Phil getting some practice in, holding our nephew Joe (4.5mths old).

We came back with a car full of baby stuff! A chest of drawers for baby's room which Mum and Dad had spare, LOTS of clothes and knitting from various family members, a capsule carseat from Frank and Em which Joe has just grown out of, an awesome quilt that Mum made (will take a photo of it later to show you) and some of the old fashioned smocked dresses that I used to wear, including this gorgeous one:

We've been so spoiled, its seriously amazing how much people have given or lent us.
We have decided we can't afford professional preggy pics, nice as it would have been, plus my belly is getting past the 'nice' stage and onto the huge, veiny, stretchmarked stage, which makes me a bit more self conscious.
Phil tried to take a couple of nice ones last night though: here are a few (scuse the bare belly)

I'm not thrilled with how the pictures turned out but they're a bit better than the poor quality ones we've been taking inside in front of the hallway door. And at least they were free!

30 Weeks

2009-03-18T19:56:00.002+13:00

We've now finished antenatal classes, found them really good, very informative and I think it made everything more 'real' for Phil cos he's been even more excited about bubs since then. Met some nice couples and will hopefully stay in contact and continue meeting.
All is going well with bub, another uneventful midwife appointment with everything normal and going well. I'm having a bit of back pain and fatigue from carrying round the extra weight, but overall feeling healthy and happy :). We are off to Blenheim this weekend and I'm really looking forward to catching up with the family.

Here's the 30 weeks pic. I keep meaning to get some nicer photo's - ie in the garden, nice poses etc but haven't got around to it yet. We were going to get some professional preggy portraits but they turned out to be too expensive.

Updates

2009-03-05T14:13:00.003+13:00

We had a midwife appointment a couple of days after this picture was taken. Bubs is measuring at 30weeks (2 weeks ahead) so that would explain why my puku is drawing so many comments! Apparently its no big deal to be measuring a few weeks ahead or behind at this stage. Everything is going well though, all tests were fine, as they have always been througout this pregnancy so far. Bubs is in a head down postition and we're hoping she stays that way. I'm so glad everything is normal and healthy - being fit and healthy throughout the pregnancy will give us a better chance of acheiving the homebirth we would ideally like.
Antenatal classes start this weekend, we are both looking forward to them, and hopefully meeting other like-minded parents-to-be.

28 Week Photo

2009-02-28T11:02:00.003+13:00

Feeling good!

Front on:
Believe it or not I wasn't posing like this! I was in the middle of telling Phil something (probably how to take the photo!) and he snapped it.

26 week photo

2009-02-21T12:09:00.003+13:00

This was taken a week ago - I'm now 27 weeks which according to some websites is the beginning of the third trimester!
I've been getting a lot of comments from workmates, strangers, acquaintances etc about how big I am for only being 6ish months pregnant. This is making me feel a bit self conscious about my bump, and I feel embarrassed telling people I'm not due until May. Here's hoping that now I'm supposedly in my 3rd trimester I'm 'allowed' to look big, and some of these comments will stop!

A few photo's from the wedding..

2009-02-21T11:54:00.002+13:00

..Especially for you Helen! I don't have access to the official photo's but have seen them - they are stunning! These are just a few that my Dad took on the day.
Doesn't my Mum look young in this one?? she could easily pass for 10 years younger than her actual age, would would mean she had me as a teenager - how scandalous!

And this is the happy couple with their gorgeous daughter (who is our God-daughter)

Reality Check, and the arrival of Suzie

2009-02-08T20:14:00.005+13:00

Wow - only 15 ish weeks to go and this baby will no longer be in my belly, but out there in the big wide world. That doesn't really seem like much time to me, and its made me all frenzied to get everything ready (is this nesting??).

This wee reality check was possibly bought on by visiting our friends Cendrine and Ben and their new (less than 24hrs old when we visited!) baby Suzie. Congratulations - she's a gorgeous wee girl, so contented and calm looking.

It was strange holding her and realising I'd be doing the same in a few months except the baby girl will be mine!

24 week belly pic.

2009-02-01T20:11:00.003+13:00

This weekend I am the most exhausted I have ever been in my life. Being a bridesmaid at a wedding yesterday with lots of standing, not enough food or drink and a naughty baby in my belly (lots of BH contractions), all on only 4hrs sleep was not much fun. My emotional preggy hormones didn't help matters either and I lost my nut several times over the weekend. I feel like its going to take a full week to recover although I have the task of babysitting the brides energetic preschooler daughter for the whole week, so unfortunately there won't be much time for that.
On the upside, I do have an amazing husband and family have been/are being very helpful, and I got lots of compliments for the wedding cake (which I made).
You can see my sad, tired face in the picture!

22 weeks (nearly) belly shot

2009-01-15T10:01:00.002+13:00

I'm wearing the same clothes as my 16wk pic, so you can see the difference 6 weeks makes. I actually hate this photo, my pyjama pants are sitting really weirdly, but I can't be bothered taking another one.

Phil and I have been married for 4 years today! We're on a tight budget to recover from Christmas etc, so won't be doing anything in particular to celebrate, except maybe go out for a coffee/hot chocolate tonight.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-05T14:16:00.004+13:00

2008 was a good year overall. Some of the things that have happened, good, bad and indifferent include:

- Major operation on jaw to remove possibly cancerous (but thankfully not) lump the size of a golf ball.
- Diagnosis of infertility requiring IVF.
- Miracle natural conception- no IVF required after all!
- Welcoming 2 new nephews to our extended family.
- Various trips around NZ including Lake Tekapo, Mt Cook, Auckland, Dunedin and a road trip in the North Island.
- Moving out of the house we had been sharing with multiple flatmates since 2006 and into a flat by ourselves.
- Gradual change in diet to include more wholefoods, vegetarian meals and organic produce.
- Multiple engagements/weddings/births.
- Sold our dear wee 1983 Toyota and bought a more modern 1998 Ford.
- Watched my first real live international rugby game.
- Fed 80 people for a weekend.
- Went to the casino for the first time.
- Turned a quarter of a century.

Oh and so many more things! I could be here all day.

On the weekend we took a trip to Timaru to meet up with Gavyn and Christine who were staying in Dunedin. We thought Timaru was a good place to meet since its between Christchurch and Dunedin, and none of us have spent any time there really, apart from passing through. We had a nice relaxing weekend. Explored Caroline Bay, went to Geraldine, and lazed around our swanky motel unit.

Our 2 babies having a chat: (11wks and 20wks)

Shark washed up at Caroline Bay - scary!

Bye Gracie!

2008-12-31T21:42:00.004+13:00

We waved my baby sister off at the airport today, she's off to Germany for a year to be an au pair and experience the big wide world. I still sometimes think of her as this age (below) so it seems like such a big, scary thing for her to be doing.

But in reality she is (almost) all grown up, and will have a fantastic experience. I am a little sad she won't get to meet her new niece until she's almost 8mths old, but hopefully we will be able to skype. (Photo below to prove she really is grown up - this is us, taken almost a year ago at our brothers wedding)

If you want to follow her adventures she's started a blog at http://www.graciegrowsup.blogspot.com/
Miss you baby sister!

Happy Christmas and all the rest!

2008-12-29T09:04:00.003+13:00

We have just returned from a few days up in Blenheim/Nelson, christmassing with the families.
I haven't taken a nice official side-on belly shot for a few weeks but I'll show you a few we Christmas photo's so you can see the huge gut.

We had our scan on Christmas eve, everything fine and healthy, baby is measuring bigger than expected according to my dates, but I suspected it might, as my belly feels so huge. We found out the gender...PINK flavored. A girl! The scan place is supposed to be emailing us copies of some pictures so once they arrive I'll put them up.

She's moving round a lot, Phil felt his first real big kick the other day - he was stoked.

In other news we have found out our great friends the Jones's are also expecting - Yay! Christine is due about 2 months after me.

Phil and I comparing "babies" on Christmas day:

17 Week Belly Shot

2008-12-17T21:52:00.003+13:00

For those who wanted one!
I reckon I look about 20 weeks at the moment. And it can't be extra fat cos I haven't really put on any weight. Maybe 1kg if I weigh myself after dinner!
I'm modeling some of the new preggy clothes I inherited from Phillipa, these clothes have been doing the rounds of the ladies at church and now its my turn. I've got a great big bag and now have everything I'll need I reckon. Its so much more comfortable to wear proper maternity clothes, I've been making do with leaving the top button undone on my pants.

17 Weeks

2008-12-15T07:57:00.004+13:00

It seemed to take forever to get to 12 weeks, and now the time is flying!

We have been really busy, traveling all over the country for weddings, as is usually the case for this time of year.
I'm still experiencing nausea, especially when I'm tired, which is often these days.

Still, its a nice stage, finally I am starting to feel 'properly pregnant' and not just fat and tired.
We spent the weekend in blenheim, attending a wedding and visiting family. It was great to see wee nephew Joey again (Frank and Emily's baby). Phil practiced his moby wrap skills on a very grumpy Joe - worked a treat though - he went to sleep almost as soon as he was snuggly wrapped.

No bump photo's today - I haven't taken one this week - the camera has run out of batteries.

Big tummy

2008-12-08T15:29:00.004+13:00

16 week belly shots:

See how good I am - I even wore the same clothes so you can see the difference! People are noticing I'm pregnant now, and I'm starting to feel like I look pregnant and not just fat. From feeling my fundus it seems I'm quite big for my dates... I definitely think I look big for 16 weeks.

I am feeling a lot better this week, still get really tired which is made worse by the fact I haven't been sleeping well lately.

We are having a scan on Christmas Eve, and hope to find out if its a boy or girl. AND before you say anything - Whenever I tell people this they seem to have strong opinions. "oh don't you want a surprise.." " oh why don't you just wait and see - thats what WE did"... FOR GOODNESS SAKE!!! MY baby MY body, I think I can make the decision about weather to have the surprise at 20 or 40 weeks, without having to feel the need to defend my choice. Why does it matter to YOU weather or not I know?? Some people seem to be trying to make me feel bad for wanting to know. Next person to try this is getting a verbal bashing courtesy of my pregnancy hormones. humph.

15 weeks. I thought it was supposed to get easier from now on!!

2008-12-03T09:59:00.003+13:00

Forgive me for supplying too much information, but the last few days have been awash with puke. I had either a vigorous return of the pregnancy sickness, or some kind of stomach virus over the weekend. It was better on yesterday (Tuesday) and I had high hopes of returning to normal today but no such luck. My breakfast made a forceful return and I'm feeling as grotty as ever, so yet another day of staying at home worrying that I should be at work but feeling glad that I'm not cos even walking to the mailbox seems like too much effort. So much for all the books saying that the 2nd trimester is awesome, all glowing and filled with energy...so far the 2nd trimester has been far worse than the first!

Ohhhh..and now I'm feeling all guilty for moaning and not enjoying every moment of this much anticipated pregnancy. Sigh. I'm sorry.

On a higher note I had a midwife appointment yesterday, and got to listen to the heartbeat on the doppler machine. It was awesome, really bought home the fact that there is something ALIVE inside me! It was such a cute wee heartbeat. So loud, and fast. It was nice to know all this sickness hasn't affected bubba and he/she/it is growing really well.

Heres a week 15 belly pic..

And that was taken after 2 full days of not keeping anything (food or drink) down, so you're definitely seeing baby bump - not just my dinner.

Apologies!

2008-11-25T20:01:00.004+13:00

Two weeks turned into two months! The news is that..dum dum dum... I'M GROWING A BABY!
So hence the tiredness and lack of blogging. I am intending on using this as a bit of a pregnancy journal, which may mean I lose some of my ex-readers if I haven't already. Which is fine, even if no-one reads this, its nice to have a record of things for myself to look back on.

So far I am 14 weeks pregnant. According the the ever-popular fruit analogies bubba is the size of a large lemon. The sickness (I refuse to call it "morning sickness" as it is in no way confined to the mornings) is subsiding a bit although I still have bad days, and energy is slowly returning. We haven't had a scan so far, for reasons I might go into later, but as far as we can tell things are going well. I'm really looking forward to feeling some movements. I've already felt a few flutterings which I think are bubs but all the experts say you shouldn't be able to feel it until week 16.

I need to start doing some belly pictures, I tried to take one the other day in the mirror but it didn't turn out very well - excuse the messy room, dirty mirror, and towel on my head! As you can see, tummy is beginning to look a little preggers. It definitely feels bigger.

This one was taken a few days ago before a friends wedding. If I hold the bump it looks more prominent!

No interesting cooking to report lately I'm afraid - food has been a touchy subject for the past 10 weeks. Sometimes even thinking of it would make me gag, let alone cooking it. The paradoxical part of that is that I still have to eat SO MUCH otherwise the sickness gets worse. So its been a lot of toast and crackers. Thankfully I've managed to diversify a bit in the last two weeks.

don't say you couldn't see it coming..

2008-09-15T15:18:00.002+12:00

..you can kind of tell from the lack of posts lately that things have been getting on top of me.
So I am announcing a two week break from blogging. But wait dear readers (all three of you) there's more.. you must stay tuned and be sure to come back in two weeks as I have a fantastic new blogging idea/theme. You wouldn't wanna miss it!

Feeding the masses

2008-09-09T14:05:00.002+12:00

Camp has been and gone, and I'm fairly sure no-one went hungry or got food poisoning! The physical and mental energy of planning, and executing the feeding of 80+ people was exhausting. I slept 12 hours on Sunday night when we got home!

I think our camera is on its last legs, so no photo's of the culinary efforts I'm afraid. Actually having no camera makes blogging difficult, as I'm usually inspired to do a post based on pictures I've taken recently.

Off to Wellington on Thursday to visit some old friends from school. Really looking forward to it, there's something comforting about hanging out with people who've known you for ages.

Slow down life!

2008-09-02T19:27:00.002+12:00

Feeling busy and rather overwhelmed at the moment. I think its a combination of things plus the fact I seem to have caught ANOTHER cold. Occupational hazard of working with children I guess.

This weekend is church camp. Guess who's doing the cooking?? actually I will call it "catering" - sounds more fancy that way. Yep, myself and a few friends are facing the daunting task of keeping 80 peoples bellies full and happy for a weekend. I've done it before, but for only 40 people, so this is a definite step up.

to market, to market...

2008-08-30T20:29:00.003+12:00

It was time for attempt number two at the Lytellton farmers market. Thankfully this time the sun was shining, and we remembered our re-usable shopping bags. The last attempt was not so successful.
The market was awesome, the first thing that struck me was that everyone had a big grin plastered on their face. Everyone seemed so happy to be alive, even the dogs tied to the fence in the "dog parking area".
We got a good spread of stuff - organic eggs, apples, pesto, sourdough bread and a few other bits and pieces, and made a stop at Piko Wholefoods on the way back to stock up on dried beans/quinoa/chickpeas.

Here is a snap of some of the irresistible food on offer at the market. Actually I did manage to resist these, in favour of a moroccan vege pastry from the same stall. YUM!

View from the wee street above the market:

Money and Meatballs

2008-08-27T11:57:00.002+12:00

Today my guilt at not working full time has driven me to start listing things on Trademe. I used to do this quite often but haven't for a while (must've sold all my stuff!) but today I finished work early because there wasn't much for me to do, and here I am sitting at home feeling guilty about not earning money. I'm usually quite successful with my trademe listings, so hopefully this won't be a fruitless exercise.

The flatmate made meatballs for tea last night, and I actually ate and enjoyed them. I say this with surprise because I've been trialling an "almost vegetarian" life for the past 6 months or so, and am pretty much (well I thought so anyway) at the stage where I really don't want to eat meat, as in it makes me feel a bit sick to think of it. The meatballs smelled so good, and I figured I could use the iron so down they went. Its amazing how filling red meat is - I'd forgotten. Sure I've been get enough protein from legumes/pulses/nuts/eggs/dairy but I think there must be something extra filling about meat protein! Having said that I still lean towards the mostly vege side of the fence.

Yes I do realise

2008-08-23T18:02:00.004+12:00

..that my posts have been a bit few-and-far-between lately. I've been a bit busier than usual, and haven't been doing much worth blogging about, also I'm still figuring out the genre/focus of this blog, so not really sure how much to write about certain subjects, and how personal to get.

I caught up with an old school friend for brunch today. It was fantastic seeing her, and the baked beans and eggs on toast were also fantastic. This old friend of mine is a particular favorite of mine. A farm girl, she is totally a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kinda gal, no false pretenses or bitchiness. Can be hard to come across gem's like this so I'm glad we're still in contact.

The press ups are going quite well, definitely stronger than when I began although its slow going. Phil is getting better faster than me.

I've recently decided to start gathering up/finding/buying all the old books I loved as a kid, so I can pass them on to my children when I have them. Y'know, Trixie Belden, Jill's Pony Club, Anne of Green Gables, Famous Five, pretty much anything by Enid Blyton, What Katy Did....and the list goes on. Some of them, particularly old Enid Blyton books are reasonably expensive these days so I'm glad I'm getting in early.

Tofu Success!

2008-08-20T17:03:00.002+12:00

Previous attempts with tofu have been pretty bad, but this time I got it right! I think the key is to marinade the tofu first. Phil even said he thought it was chicken!

I mixed up some dark soy sauce, grated ginger, crushed garlic, honey, sesame seeds and a bit of hot water, and marinated the tofu (cut in chunks) for about an hour.

I heated up some sesame oil, stir fried a whole lot of veges and added the tofu/marinade about half way through cooking. When it was nearly done I added some pak choi and some more grated ginger.

Served on quinoa for extra nutritional benefits!

Stewed Tamarillo's

2008-08-18T15:57:00.004+12:00

...and my 100th post!
I LOVE tamarillos, but they've been expensive this year, so when I saw a cheap bagful of seconds at the market I snapped it up.

First I cut the tops off, then poured boiling water over them and left for a few minutes. This made the skins easier to peel off. Once peeled, I put them in a pot with a little water and about 1/2 cup of sugar (for about 1.5kgs of fruit) and boiled with a lid on for about 20 minutes.

We had them with a little sweetened ricotta for dessert last night (see picture).

Romeo and Juliet

2008-08-17T16:15:00.002+12:00

To indulge our cultural side, the hubby and I agreed a few years ago to see a ballet once a year. Last night we went to see 'Romeo and Juliet' performed by the Royal New Zealand Ballet, and Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. It was a somewhat modern take on the classic tale, but the story is so timeless it fits well with any setting. The dancing was amazing as usual, they had bought over two former dancers from the RNZB who now live in London to play the leads. It always amazes me how dancers can tell a story without words, and make it so easily understood. It also reminded me of how much I loved Baz Lurhman's movie of the story. I plan to hire it on DVD very shortly!

"Nourishing Traditions" Muffins

2008-08-15T17:39:00.003+12:00

Remember the soaked pancakes I made a while back? These muffins use a really similar batter. They turned out pretty good for a first attempt I thought, a light fluffy texture. They aren't very sweet, but I guess what would you expect from a recipe with no sugar in it.

Heres how I made them (from the Nourishing Traditions cookbook):

- Soaked 3 cups wholewheat flour in 2 cups of kefir for 24 hours

Then added : - 2 organic eggs
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- about 1/4 cup melted butter
- about 1/3 cup honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- a few shakes of cinnamon and a handful of sultanas

Mixed it all up, put in muffin pans and cooked at about 160 for 30minutes.

Blatent advertising...

2008-08-13T08:24:00.004+12:00

This ones for the girls! If you like weddings and design/decor, check out my friend Julia's new blog. Its real cute, and keep an eye out for a post she may be doing on my wedding sometime in the future - exciting!!
Paper Ballerina's is where you can find it.

Challenge Me!

2008-08-11T20:25:00.003+12:00

fWe have taken up the challenge from The Jones' to complete one hundred push ups after a 6 week training programme. For the initial test I managed 16 "good form" push ups, and apparently if I follow the programme I'll be able to do 100 at the end of 6 weeks. Hard to believe but I'll give it a go. Anyone else keen?

Little Lemon Yo-yo's

2008-08-10T00:19:00.002+12:00

I made these for Andrea's) fashion swap party tomorrow. I was racking my brain for something lemon-y to make the most of the fruits of our prolific lemon tree, and the course I was on today had giant y0-yo cookies for afternoon tea. Inspired by these I made a much smaller version.

Its a basic biscuit (thats cookie for you Americans reading!) recipe with lemon zest added, and the filling is almost like a butter cream icing but I ran out of icing sugar so added some custard powder, along with some lemon juice. Phil has pronounced them most delicious however I'm not too sure about the filling. Its a bit custard-y tasting.

Here they are in their tupperware container all ready to take along tomorrow.

Let it snow...

2008-08-09T17:36:00.004+12:00

Our backyard this morning: Phil and GG (gorgeous god-daughter) made this while I was at course. Brilliant construction I thought.

Brain dead

2008-08-08T16:44:00.002+12:00

All I want to do is watch mindless TV all evening. I've been on a course for work all day and my brain is weary from the exertion. The worst part of it is that the course is all day tomorrow as well - Saturday! I feel robbed of half my weekend.

This photo I took this time last week when Phil and I went out for dinner. We went to The Sign of the Takahe, which is like an old stone castle. Very picturesque to eat dinner in, with a roaring open fire and lots of candles, but the food was pretty average for the price we paid. I would've liked to take a lot more pictures of the room but my camera ran out of batteries just after I took this one.

Thats condensation/rain running down the inside of the window by the way. How very authentic!

Samosa styles..

2008-08-06T16:37:00.003+12:00

I made these for dinner last night, and I made far too many so we're having them again tonight!

The recipe is loosely based on one of Mollie Katzen's, from the Moosewood cookbook.

The pastry is really easy, just 1 cup of kefir (the recipe says buttermilk, but kefir worked fine. Runny plain yoghurt would probably work fine too)mixed up with 2.5-3ish cups of flour, and some salt. I used mostly wholewheat flour with a little white. You just mix it all up and knead for a few minutes then roll out into circles ready to put the filling in.

For the filling I sauteed some finely chopped onion, garlic, broccoli and cauliflower in olive oil with some spices, then added mashed potato. Easy!

Once I'd assembled them, I brushed on some olive oil, and cooked at about 210c for 15minutes, then turned the heat down to 180 and cooked a further 10-15min.

The dipping sauce was made by putting 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 3Tbsp raw sugar and some garlic into a saucepan and boiling for about 15min.

I got tagged.

2008-08-05T14:00:00.005+12:00

Jess from modelbehav.com has tagged me with the blog version of a chain letter..seeing as its my first one, I'll complete it but the chain will probably be broken here, as I don't have too many people I can link too!

Here goes:

Alright here are the rules:

Link back to the person that tagged you.
Mention the rules on your blog.
Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them
leave a comment for each tagged blogger, to let them know they have been tagged.

The Six Unspectacular Quirks of Jenn.

1) The volume on the TV has to be exactly right for me. How loud can depend on what I'm watching or what time of day it is, but I tend to spend a while playing with the up and down buttons until it sounds exactly right.

2) I used to play underwater hockey. Thats a quirk because pretty much no-one knows what it is.

3) I enjoy going to movies by myself (thats really embarrassing to admit!)

4) The front of my face is held in place with metal plates and screws. Look in my archives under Feb 2008 if you don't believe me.

5) I have read the Jamie and Claire books by Diana Gabaldon about 4 times. They're loooong, and there's 6 in the series.

6) Despite what you may think from reading most of the above I'm actually an extrovert. most of the time.

And I tag you guys!

Christina http://distantduck.blogspot.com
Toby http://kefisjuggernaut.blogspot.com
Sophie http://sophiesurseine.blogspot.com
Eve http://gardenofeatingblog.blogspot.com/

The Winning Roast Pumpkin Soup

2008-08-03T12:16:00.005+12:00

My friend Toby and I are having a fierce pumpkin soup making competition. Of course I will be the winner!

Here is my creation:

- Drizzle olive oil, salt and ground pepper over pumpkin and other accompanying veges of choice (I also had some kumera, onion and a couple of potatoes) and roast in a low-moderate oven for several hours until all soft and goo-ey.

- Cut the skins off the pumpkin and throw it all into a big pot with enough stock (I used chicken stock) to cover it all and simmer for an hour or so. I also added some sage and rosemary at this point.

- Let it cool and blend until smooth, return to pot and re-heat.

- Before serving stir in a dash of cream and re-season if neccessary. Garnish with green stuff and pinenuts!

Enjoy!

anyone got an ark??

2008-08-01T17:33:00.010+12:00

This is the river about half a kilometre from our house, and its still raining! Scary huh? We live too far away to be in any danger though thank goodness. Going out to a fancy pants restaurant for dinner tonight - a spur of the moment decision. Can't wait!

Outfit post (specially inspired by Andrea), just as I am running out the door. Another dress which I don't wear as often as I'd like to!

A little distraction..

2008-07-31T13:31:00.002+12:00

No real post today sorry folks, I haven't done anything worth blogging about. So I will leave you with this gorgeous picture I poached from asocialiteslife. Despite beck's celeb status I think elmo is definitely the star of this picture!

Nourishing Traditions

2008-07-30T20:37:00.002+12:00

This is a book I'm currently reading and trying recipes from (see the pancakes a few posts back). Its pretty radical and different from what is usually taught about nutrition and I'm still forming my opinions about it.
It promotes the use of saturated and animal fats and using full fat dairy products and not the skim versions. It seems to have lots of research evidence to back this up. This is something which is pretty hard to get my head around as generally we are taught to use unsaturated and low cholesterol fats. I'm not entirely sure if I agree with Sally Fallon on this one, although I need to read the book in a little more detail.

She's also pretty big on the concept of soaking your grains before using them. I already do this with my oats (ie soak overnight before cooking) but don't do this for baking etc. The theory behind this seems to be that it makes the grains more readily digestible and therefore we are able to derive more nutrition from them

The concepts in the book I definitely do agree with are the use of whole grains and natural sweeteners instead of refined grains and sugars, trying to avoid excess chemicals and preservatives by cooking from scratch, and the importance of lots of fruits and veges.

Has anyone else read/heard of this book? what did you think?

Cake fail

2008-07-29T20:49:00.004+12:00

So its kind of ironic don't you think that immediately after writing a post about nutrition I go and write a post about a big fat cake! To be fair it is a pretty healthy cake, and the flour,eggs and carrots I used were all organic :)
I was supposed to be going out tonight with Phil tonight but I felt the need to indulge my inner introvert, so ended up staying home and baking.

Usually my silicon cake tin works fine without being greased, and although I sometimes do, tonight I didn't cos I figured the cake had oil in it and was fairly moist so shouldn't stick. How wrong was I! (half the cake stuck to the pan). You can see it steaming in the photo, so on second thoughts I probably tried to take it out of the tin too soon.

On the upside, Phil enjoyed eating all the bits that were stuck to the bottom, and the cake tasted good with some yoghurt drizzled over:

Feeding the animals

2008-07-28T13:10:00.004+12:00

As most of you will know, or will of figured out from the content of this blog, I am interested in food and nutrition. This year I have been doing some pretty detailed thinking about nutrition, where our food comes from and what we should be eating for optimum health. Kind of like - if we were animals in a zoo, what would the zoo keeper be feeding us to keep us all from dying. Because actually a lot of thought and research goes into what to feed animals in the zoo, yet a lot of us don't really think much about what goes into our bodies except for if it tastes good or not.

My thoughts, and bits and pieces of research are leading me down the path of exploring more wholefoods, cooking from scratch and trying to organic and locally sourced foods where possible. I'm not very good at it, and I'm taking small steps, but I certainly think a lot more when doing the grocery shopping, and our diet at home is definitely taking a more wholesome turn. My kitchen cupboards have a lot less processed junk, and a lot more raw ingredients these days. I plan on blogging a bit about these kinds of topics in the future.

I think a lot of people in New Zealand are beginning to think more this way also. With the cost of groceries rising fast it tends to force you to think carefully on what you're spending your money on. Often the most nutritious staples are the cheapest, like dried beans and pulses.

Thought/opinions? do you want to read my ramblings along these lines? My google analytics thingee tells me that people are actually reading this blog, so what do you guys wanna read about??

"Nourishing Traditions" Pancakes

2008-07-27T09:51:00.004+12:00

Nourishing traditions is a cookbook/way of thinking book that I've recently acquired. It presents a new way of looking at nutrition and some bits of it are pretty radical. I'll write some more about it at a later stage, but for breakfast today I tried her recipe for pancakes.

Overnight I soaked 1 cup of wholemeal flour in 1 cup of kefir. Then in the morning added a beaten egg, a pinch of salt, a tablespoon of melted butter and 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda. I also added some defrosted frozen berries to the mix.
They took quite a long time to cook, but had a delicious, unusual flavour and were surprisingly fluffy.
Oh and that blob of yellow you see in the picture? thats my lemon curd !

candlelight

2008-07-26T22:04:00.003+12:00

Despite my procrastination yesterday afternoon I managed to get dinner cooked and we had a nice evening. The boys even managed to refrain from TOO much surveying talk!
Tonight we went to our local coffee place to find they'd changed the look of it for evenings - usually in the evenings its quite brightly lit and bustling, however tonight they'd dimmed the lights and had candles everywhere, and it wasn't overly busy. It was very warm and cosy.

This is absolutely not what I should be doing!

2008-07-25T14:19:00.003+12:00

Watching Oprah. I'm still battling a cold and trying to cook for a dinner party tonight at the same time. Today is a slight improvement from yesterday in that I actually put clothes on today, instead of staying in my PJ's. I have a long list of things I want to post about eventually but not today. Too many other things to do. Like watch Oprah...

Kefir

2008-07-24T16:54:00.006+12:00

I need to give away some of my kefir grains, they've grown and I now have too many. If you don't know what I'm talking about just ignore - I will post more about this mysterious substance at a later date. Alternatively you could google it.
So anyway - if you live in NZ and want some kefir grains let me know!

Click here for a good introduction to kefir if you're interested.

how to make a sick girl happy

2008-07-24T10:13:00.004+12:00

Big mug of tea, stack of DVD's and a pain au chocolat. "What??" I hear you say - "pain au chocolate's hardly a health food for restoring a cold-riddled body back to perfect health". Well, upon hearing I am on deaths door *cough*, a kind friend just dropped it off for me and let me tell you it is making me feel better already. YUM!

Vegan apple muffins

2008-07-23T16:53:00.005+12:00

I have a friend who can't eat eggs or dairy so essentially for the purposes of baking, she is a vegan. I've been experimenting with a few recipes that she can eat in the last few months, with varying degrees of success. Here are the muffins I made yesterday (see Vanessa - you should've come over after all! - I have saved some in the freezer for you though). They have been pronouced as "normal tasting" by two independent reviewers.
I'm calling this recipe my own because although its loosely based on one I found on the internet, I've modified it so much that it I'm going to claim it. (Makes about 18 smallish muffins)

2 cups wholewheat flour
1 cup white flour
1tsp baking soda
1tsp baking powder
pinch salt
2tsp cinnamon
2 cups grated apple

Mix the above ingredients together in a large bowl

In a separate bowl mix:

1/2 cup oil (could use sunflower, olive, canola)
1/2 cup honey (because she is not actually strictly vegan, I use honey. To make them properly vegan use maple syrup)
a large splash of vanilla
a large splash of apple cider vinegar
1 cup soy milk or rice milk (could replace with normal milk, or yog for the non-vegan, or apple juice/puree if allergic to soy)

Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients.
Put into greased muffin tins and cook at about 180 degrees celcius for 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy!

Todays attire

2008-07-22T15:18:00.003+12:00

To make a change from blogging about food I'm going to show you what I'm wearing today. I've had this dress for a few weeks and been dying for a chance to wear it, today has been intermittently warm so I thought I could manage by wearing a long sleeved top underneath, and tights (although did need a coat over top when I went out). I caught the bus into town with my god-daughter to meet Phil for a coffee.

Excuse the bad picture, I'm still figuring out the self timer..

When life gives you lemons....

2008-07-21T16:43:00.001+12:00

...make lemon curd!

As you can see our lemons are finally turning yellow:

So I picked the juiciest looking ones and made lemon curd from the destitute gourmet cookbook.

2 large juicy lemon (I used 4)
50g butter, chopped
1 cup sugar
2 eggs beaten (I used organic ones from the market)

Finely grate rind and squeeze juice. Put into a bowl on top of a pan of simmering water. Add butter and sugar. Once butter is melted and sugar dissolved stir in the eggs. Keep stirring until mixture thickens (10-15min). Cool and store in a jar in the 'fridge.

Im not sure what Im going to do with it yet, but it is so delicious. I've been eating the leftovers with a spoon!

Heres the finished product:

Fresh

2008-07-20T22:07:00.003+12:00

...from yesterdays farmers market.

Warm Vege and Quinoa Salad
- Grill eggplant, pepper and mushrooms in olive oil
- Steam some brocolli
- Cook quinoa (presoaked)
- Toss all the above together with torn spinach, chopped tomato and fresh pesto.

Eat while still warm. Yum!

mundane

2008-07-20T10:43:00.001+12:00

Im eating my favourite breakfast as I type this, chopped up fresh fruit with organic yogurt, flaxseed oil and homemade muesli sprinkled on top. mmmmmmm... I usually have this, or a variation of it 3 or 4 times a week. The rest of the time I have porridge.

Last night we saw a movie at the Rialto - I'd never heard of it before so we took a gamble in going (especially given the title - 'A Feast of Love' - sounds awful doesn't it??) but it was very poignant with a well thought out plot and excellent character development. Don't take your mum though - too many sex scenes.

Best made plans....

2008-07-19T12:29:00.001+12:00

I had big plans for our Saturday morning. The sun would shine, we would dress in cute, hippy clothes, take the bus to Lyttelton with our recycled cloth bags and spend the morning perusing the market, stocking up on fresh delicious local food and finish up lingering over coffee in one of the funky cafes. Then I would have a ton of cute photos to post on here about the wonderful morning we had.

It was pouring with rain this morning.

We were too wimpy to take the bus in this weather and we left our cloth bags at home, but we did actually make it to the market. Which, despite the rain, was still fantastic. Stalls and stalls of the most amazing food and produce (I need more superlatives to describe it). Armed with a mayan spice hot chocolate from the first stall we came to, we ran thru the rain and made our purchases before huddling in the car to finish our hot choc while eating the most tasty moroccan vege pastry.

Refuge in the car

Our bounty

Miss me??

2008-07-18T20:21:00.000+12:00

I'm back! Inspired by several blogs I've been reading lately I've decided to start blogging more regularly. I'm hoping this will achieve several things:

Improve my writing skills. Not that I'm an aspiring writer or anything, but I think the ability to express yourself through language is a valuable skill, and I've always enjoyed it.
Inspire myself to do interesting things worth blogging about!
To record and remember stuff. Life is short and I don't wanna forget the good stuff.

Lets see how it goes...

(In case you forgot what I look like)

The End

2008-04-10T07:27:00.000+12:00

..for now. Because I'm so bad at updating this I've decided to let it become dormant for a while. I doubt anyone still reads it but if you do, there will be nothing new for a while. I'll let you know if I decide to become more regular but I doubt it'll be anytime soon. Lots of love, Jenn.

Easter Buns

2008-03-20T17:23:00.000+13:00

Check out my handiwork! I'm calling them easter buns cos I forgot to put the crosses on. They are soooo good.
Happy Easter everyone!

one year on

2008-03-14T22:43:00.002+13:00

Thought you might like to see a more recent pic of the Twins (the ones from the top picture of the post underneath)
This is Amelie and Juliette at just over 1 year old..

what is it with me and twins??

2008-03-11T21:50:00.001+13:00

This photo was taken on 17 March 2007 - 7 week old Juliette and Amelie...

And this photo on 11 March 2008 - Rachel and Emma 12 weeks old

2 weeks on..

2008-02-28T18:11:00.000+13:00

.. and I'm feeling a lot better, follow up appt with the surgeon today confirmed everything is healing nicely, but I'm forbidden from running or lifting weights for the next 2 weeks. Looks like me and the stationary bike at the gym are gonna get nicely acquainted. I'm allowed to chew soft stuff now, which I've kinda been doing anyway but its nice to get the official word. As I type I'm trying to eat a nashi pear cut up into little bits but I'm not having much success so may have to lay off the crunchy stuff for a while longer.

In other news we are looking for a place to rent. We are downsizing, and going to try living by ourself for a while which should be an adventure.

Ive discovered several new loves in the last few months:
-Skinny pants - they just look so classy, and I love how you're supposed to wear them with a baggy top - perfect for hiding fat tummies.
-Which brings me to my next new thing - www.stylebytes.net - a cool chick who takes a picture of what she wears every day.
-Getting the antipasto platter (or 'grazing platter', or 'platter to share') instead of a main at restaurants - so relaxing just casually nibbling and conversing rather than facing a big stodgy main.
-Fresh mint. Having it whizzed up with watermelon and pineapple, or chopped up on soup. mmmm..
-The new Survivor series. nothing like some good trashy reality TV.

Other exciting things, we have our first nephew (Tim and Celia had wee Thomas) but unfortunatly we are yet to meet him as he lives in London. waahhhhhh! no newborn cuddles for us. Ummm what else? Both our flatmates are recently engaged, so weddings are the talk du jour round here.

More Surgery (not for the faint-hearted!)

2008-02-15T10:06:00.001+13:00

On Monday I had the rogue cyst removed from my jaw. It turned out to be somewhat bigger and harder to get to than they thought so the operation ended up being quite major. They cut thru the bone in my maxilla (see the wee skull diagram) and kinda pulled it down to get at the cyst and tooth (kind of in behind my left cheekbone), then stuck my face back on with plates and screws and stitches. I was in hospital for 2 nights, on morphine and all sorts of other things. I feel like I've been sleeping all week, and every day the swelling seems to get worse! Its all a bit gross, and Im not allowed to chew for 6 weeks until the bones fuse together. Trying to stay happy but feeling pretty grotty at the moment.

Mueller Hut Tramp

2008-02-03T19:07:00.001+13:00

So after whinging in the car the whole way to the Mt Cook village about how hard it was gonna be, I actually made it up the 1000 vertical metres to the Mueller Hut without too many complaints! On Saturday morning we drove up to the Mt Cook village with Hamish and Ness, and set off up the hill to the Mueller Hut. Its 1000ish metres vertical climb but only 3 or 4kms in horizontal distance so you can imagine how steep it was! We had lots of stops to admire the view which was fantastic every step of the way. When we got to the hut we dumped our packs and rock-hopped the extra half hour or so up to Mt Olivier. Sitting in the sun on the top of the mountain while looking at Mt Cook and the Glaciers was absolutely magic. Other highlights were watching the sunset on Mt Cook, and looking out the window when waking up in the middle of night to see a sky full of stars.
Heres some photos:

A gastronomic experience

2008-01-29T14:54:00.000+13:00

Saturday was Phil's birthday, and we took the opportunity to cash in gift vouchers for Rotherhams of Riccarton restaurant which we received for Christmas from Tim and Celia. We went all out and ordered the 5 course degustation menu (although not as 'all out' as the table next to us who order the 8 course with matching wines at $200 a head!!). It was absolutely amazing, every bite a delight! Definitely worth the small fortune we spent.
In other news, we are patiently waiting for the arrival of our first real niece/nephew. This weekend we are going on a tramp to the Mueller hut at Mt Cook, which I am SUPER excited about having never been to Mt Cook before. I'm a sucker for a good view and apparently its amazing from the Mueller hut so hopefully we'll have good weather.

Mrs and Mrs May (2nd Gen)

2008-01-22T20:51:00.002+13:00

I think Facebook is sucking the will to live out of my blog. I'm tending to just put my photos up there.
We went up to Blenheim in the weekend for Frank and Em's wedding, which was an awesome day. The ceremony was really sweet, plenty of tears (eh Frank!), and the reception was great fun. Phil and I were the MC's, and I was a bit nervous, but once we got going it was fine. I quite liked the microphone by the end of the night! Afterwards the groomsmen and a few of us continued the party in town. Everyone had a great night it seems, and Frank and Em were really happy with how the day went.
We bought Gracie back with us, so she's with us in Chch for a few days.
Heres a few pics.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-06T21:46:00.002+13:00

Hope you all had a safe and happy holiday season. Heres some snaps from our hols. Yep I know I'm getting lazy in my posts, less words and more pics etc but lets be honest, you really just come here to look at the pictures don't you?

Weekend in Wellington

2007-12-18T14:47:00.001+13:00

Some pics from our trip to wellington for Gordons retirement dinner after being at SU for 27 years! We also caught up with Kathryn, Wilf and Maggie Robinson.

Dunedin and drugs

2007-12-08T11:55:00.002+13:00

This week has gone by in a bit of a blur thanks to the pain medication Ive been taking. I don't know whats worse, the groggy gross feeling from the drugs or the pain itself. Anyway its all over now, seems to be healing up nicely and Im certainly not missing the ole wizzies!
Im still sporting a nice bruise which Phil feels he has to explain whenever we're in public ("I didn't do it!")

In other happenings, last weekend we went to Dunedin, Phil to a stag do, and me to see the girls. A great weekend was had by all I believe. Unfortunately I didn't take my camera to dinner so I don't have a good pic of me and the girls all together but theres a nice one Christine's facebook!

I gotta stop putting Anna on a pedestal...

Jase and Mais

Maisie Mitchell. Doncha love those cheeks?? shes so cute!

Dunedin in all her glory.

Muttons

its been a while!

2007-11-19T09:19:00.001+13:00

We've been back for just over a week now. Its Monday morning and I took the day off cos I was supposed to have surgery (biopsy of a lump in my jaw + removal of 3 wisdom teeth) but it was canceled. So here I am with no excuses as to why I can't update the blog.
We had 4 nights in Singapore after leaving London, which was fairly enjoyable but we kinda just wanted to get home, we were pretty travel weary by that stage. Here are some shots of the Zoo, which was definitely worth the visit.

Also a few pics from our last few days in London with Tim and Celia:

Its been a pretty full on last week or so, got back from Singapore last Saturday, then straight to work 8am Monday morning for both of us! luckily it was short week - thanks Canterbury - but, in keeping with our never-ending busyness we traveled up to Blenheim on Thursday night and got back yesterday. whew! its actually just as well I'm not working this morning..still got unpacking from the last 2 months to do.
Here are some pics from Blenheim:

still singing...

2007-11-01T23:11:00.000+13:00

The unforgettable story of forgiveness, redemption, love...ahhh. The Westend production of this was everything I hoped it would be! We had such high up seats it was kind of like having a birds eye view of the stage but who cares... we could still see everything and of course the most important, hear all the songs. Absolute highlight was Jean Valjeans "Bring Him Home". Just beautiful. Fantines "I Dreamed a Dream" didn't disappoint either. Some of Javerts songs were not what I'd expected though, a pity since he's one of my favorite charactors. Eponine was gorgeous and her "On My Own" was really good. It was all really good...

Some Photos Finally! (Nice and Switzerland)

2007-10-28T02:55:00.002+13:00

Monte Carlo Casino in Monaco

Beach at Nice

Darren and Lizzis house in Switzerland

Me in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland (if you look closely you can see its snowing!)

The valley opposite the one we were staying in.

It sucks...

2007-10-27T23:43:00.000+13:00

..Im in Paris but can barely appreciate it due to the incredibly nasty virus I seem to have contracted. Despite round-the-clock panadol I am unable to sleep due to the pain in my throat and ears, not to mention the nose going like a leaky tap. And oh..the injustice of being in the culinary capital of the world with faulty tastebuds!

Well now I've had my whinge ill get on with it. We had 2 days in Munich, nothing much to report really, very cold and grey. Did some shopping, looked at the sights, tried some of their infamous beer. We have been in Paris for 3 nights now, and today have moved out of our hotel into Sophie's apartment for the next 3 nights. Its a joy to be able to rest on the couch today and make myself cups of tea and peruse the free internet - just what a poor,sick girl needs. Thanks Sophie! We have done a few of the main things in Paris, went up the Eiffel Tower, to the Lourve, out to Versailles, all of which was good.
sorry for the mundane post, but i think i need to have a nap..
home in 2 weeks now,

Switzerland

2007-10-22T04:22:00.002+13:00

First of all - HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my darling wee sister who celebrated her 17th birthday on Saturday. Hi Gracie!
Today we arrived in Munich after spending 3 nights in Lauterbrunnen. We went through no fewer than 4 countries today! Internet was expensive and rare in Switzerland, hence the silence on the blog.
We absolutly loved Switzerland. The small town where we stayed was very quaint, and in a valley surrounded by impossibly high snow covered mountains. It was straight out of the book "Heidi", wooden farmhouses, and farm animals with bells round their necks etc. The weather was a shock, coming from the sunbathing in the south of France. It was very alpine and even snowed one morning!
The first afternoon we were there we took a train to the town of Speiz where Darren (a friend from the old dunedin days) met us and took us to his place for a catch up. It was lovely meeting his wife Lizzi and baby Ana (4 wks old), I really enjoyed `talking babies´ with Lizzi and having a nice long cuddle with Ana. Ive been missing baby cuddles! Darren and Lizzi live in a farmhouse with amazing views over a lake, and they have animal (including wooley pigs) and grow stuff. We loved thier community lifestyle.
We spent the rest of our time exploring, visiting waterfalls and eating traditional Swiss food, which seemed to be very fatty and a little to heavy on the stomach for my liking, but the chocolate - thats another story..divine!

oh the frustration

2007-10-18T03:50:00.000+13:00

Ok so i just tried real hard to get some photos on here and it wouldn`t work. I mananged to get some on facebook though. Im beginning to lose faith in this particular blog engine. In other news we went to a small seaside town called Villefranche-su-mer yesterday and it charmed our socks (among other items of clothing) off. Had a lovely swim and came home a wee bit sunburnt. Off to Switzerland tomorrow.

Monaco

2007-10-15T21:32:00.001+13:00

We are in Nice at the moment, in the heart of the French Riviera. Sounds glamourous but if you saw our hostel you'd think otherwise! But nevertheless we've had our share of glamour. Yesterday we took a day trip to Monte Carlo (Monaco) where all the rich people roll around in their money. The city was so opulent, beautiful gardens which were free to get into, very clean, nice public toilets and SO MANY incredible cars. Almost every car was a head-turner and im not even that into cars. We saw limited edition Porshes, Bentleys, Maseratis and all the 'ordinary cars' were BMW's or Mercs. It was a Sunday and I enjoyed people-watching all the rich families on thier outings, impecably dressed mothers with perfect hair and cute shoes and fathers who were trying to dress casual but when you look closer you realise their polo shirt is YSL or Gucci or something, and the kids looking like catologue kids and playing with remote control helicoptors " just like daddys" (yes really). We had a good time, getting back quite late and managed to find a cute bistro run by a man with limited english who seemed to appreciate my attempts at French. We had an incredible dinner for a very low price. Go to the La Albatross bistro if you're in Nice!

Firenze part duo

2007-10-11T02:09:00.001+13:00

No photos again today, havn't managed to download them yet.
We went to the Uffizi Gallery yesterday, which houses the Medici family's collection of paintings including some famous ones. Our favourites were the Tondo Doni by Michelangelo (pictured above) and one of Da Vincis early ones - actually I think it was his first commissioned one - the Annunciation pictured below

Also liked Caravaggios 'Sacrifice of Issac'. You could really see why the famous artists were famous from these pics, their paintings just leapt off the walls and outshaddowed most of the ones around them.
The top picture is of the main duomo/church thing here. Its really impressive, with green and white stripes of marble. We haven't been inside yet, thats tomorrows aim. Today we took a train to a town called Pistoia where the pistol was invented in the 1600s. Was a cute wee town and nice to get away from the city for a bit.
More to follow...xxx

Florence part one

2007-10-10T01:37:00.001+13:00

I labelled this part one to make sure I do another update before leaving here, as this will have to be quick. Sorry no photos, we haven't been able to download any for a while.
We arrived in Florence yesterday via busabout and really enjoyed the ride through the Tuscan countryside. It was every bit as beautiful as I'd imagined: rolling hills with crumbling earthy coloured farmhouse, feilds of golden coloured dirt with a single olive tree in the middle etc. Very easy to fall in love with. We went on a walking tour of Florence with the busabout group and had dinner with them, it was really nice to talk to some other people in english. They were mostly Aussies. We've ditched the busabouters for now though, cos they are staying in a camping ground ages out of Florence and we wanted to be closer. We're staying at a nice Hostel which has free internet (although its in high demand) and breakfast. Phil likes this one more, although we are missing our Italian friend from our room in our Rome hostel. It was nice having a 'local' (he was actually from Milan) to get an Italian perpective on stuff, plus he showed us some nice untouristy sites.
I've nearly used up my internet allocation for today, so more will follow sometime in the next few days.
xx J

Rome

2007-10-05T07:49:00.000+13:00

Hi to you all. special shout out to Anna today! thanks for your comment, i was thinking about the central library the other day for some reason. felt like going to the link for a coffee.
So we've been in Rome now for 3 days. We met up with Tim and Celia when we arrived and spent our first few days sightseeing with them. They've finished their holiday now though so we're back on our own. It was nice spending time with them, and we saw some pretty cool things, the Sistine Chapel and the Collesseum being the highlights. Im really enjoying Rome, its a fun city, with lots to look at and do. Phil is struggling to get used to living in a hostel dorm so I fear his view of Rome is tainted by that. We've had nice, friendly people in our dorm so far though, so it hasn't been that bad. We've got a bit of time here so are kind of taking it a bit easy, not rushing round the sights too much. We still havn't reached the halfway point yet and it feels like we've been on the road for ages, but its been fun so far, wouldn't mind popping home for a night or 2 at times, for a break - if only it was that easy!
Ciao and Love..
Jenn

Venice Pics

2007-10-01T07:12:00.001+13:00

San Marco Square
The first pic was taken from the top of this tower

Thats me lurking in the corner of the doorway
Phil inspects his pizza

Boats

2007-09-29T03:26:00.001+12:00

Its friday night and we're at a camping ground in Venice. The last few days have been pretty tiring but interesting and a good experience. On Tuesday we left the Islands and went back to Athens on a ferry that quite possibly could've been a retired Interislander. We arrived late after a 6hr trip, and left early the next morning for Patra by bus. Once in Patra we were informed by a very animated travel agent that we could get very cheap tickets (and even cheaper since we're under 26 - ah the benifits of youth) on the deck of the boat which left for its 33hr voyage to Venice that night at midnight. He assured us it was 'BEAUTiful BEAUTiful boat' and there was no need to waste our money on the more expensive ticket options as the deck would be fine for two spring chickens like ourselves. We bought the tickets and after giving us directions to the local sights and bidding us to 'spend good your time here' we spent the afternoon exploring Patra. That night we boarded the Ikarus Palace which looked like a slightly dilapidated cruise liner only to find that deck tickets actually meant literally that - on the deck outside. Imagine spending 2 nights and a full day outside on the Interislander ferry. After contemplating that awful thought and realising our sleeping bags would take none of the hardness off the steel floor not to mention the puddles of water everywhere we enquired about and upgrade. Luckily for us it was pretty cheap to change our tickets for ones which entitled us to an airplane-type seat each. We arrived in Venice early this morning and have seen a good bit of the city today. Really love it here and can't wait to explore more tomorrow.
Love to you all, arrividerci xx

some words

2007-09-22T21:49:00.001+12:00

Ive decided that posting photos is the lazy way out. As im not keeping any kind of diary while im travelling I really need to add some written documentation to aid my memory.
So..
At present we are on an island called Milos, staying in a sleepy port town called Adamas. Tourist season is over, so many services and shops are closed, but there are just enough locals and a wee smatterings of tourists to keep the town ticking over. One of the interesting observations we've had while staying here is the complete shift in the pace of life. The town seems to wake up around 6 or 7am, with the bakeries selling freshly baked breads, and the old men sitting outside the tavernas smoking and drinking coffee. Between the hours of about 1 and 4 or 5pm the town shuts down again with the locals going home to thier main meal of the day and a siesta to escape from the heat of the day. Then from 5 til 10 or 11pm the town wakes up again, with the tavernas filling with diners from about 8pm. We've mananged to adjust fairly well and now the thought of going home and eating lunch at 12.30 seems strange. Here we have lunch at 3ish and dinner at 8 or 9.

I've got a new understanding for the mentions in the bible of feet washing.. the dust gets everywhere here and the first thing you must do when arriving home, in order to feel civilized again, is to wash your feet. The wind has been fierce the last few days as well.

Today we have been exploring this hillside full of half dug up roman ruins and cute wee ancient whitewashed churches. We had intended on seeing the Catacombs where 5000 early christians are buried but they were closed for repairs. It was fantastic morning, we had the whole hillside to ourselves and coming across a really well preverved roman ampitheatre looking out over the sea and a small fishing villiage made it feel like we'd discovered it ourselves.

This island is volcanic and quite barren and kaikoura-esque with huge cliffs in parts. Its full of the white cubist architechure with blue windowsills and doors you see in postcards. A charming place really. We are off to Sifnos for a few nights tomorrow, before returning athens, then travelling overland to Patra where we hope to catch a boat up the Adriatic sea to Venice.

I dreamt about the children I nanny for last night, I think I miss them quite a lot. We are also missing our wee goddaughter and her mum.
Love to you all reading..adio