Bye Gracie!

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!

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

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

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

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!!

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!

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..

..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

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!

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...

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

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

..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!

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

...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

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

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.

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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!

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

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.