It might just be...

Why this might well be the healthiest baby in the world...

Today for breakfast I have a smoothie that I made with beet greens, blueberries, cranberries, a banana, plain yoghurt and pomegranate juice!

Danny would hate it!

Gifts gifts gifts!

So there were nine of us at my work baby shower! It was super fun! They really should adopt this tradition in England, it really makes you feel like people care about you.

Lisa had made an adorable little cake, which unfortunately I felt the need to eat two pieces of and made myself sick for the rest of the day. I mean, who needs two pieces of cake in one afternoon?



I made funnies about how there was no way something that was going to fit into these baby-grows (onesies) was going to fit inside my belly...


and I received some lovely gifts... babygrows, a book of classic fairy tales, receiving blankets, shampoo, a picture frame, a nappy changing mat... all such wonderful and useful stuff!


Thanks so much guys!


As an aside, my dog brought me a dead baby rabbit into the bedroom this morning at 6am. Lovely bleary eyed start to the day!

Baby Shower

Tomorrow is my first ever baby shower! Sad as it may sound, Im super excited! We are having a luncheon with the ladies at work. This was the cute announcement sent out...

Good afternoon everyone.

Please mark your calendar

And don’t be late

For this very very

Important date.

We are hosting a baby shower

For Lauren Klimetz.

It’s expected to last for

About 60 minutes.

The Date is Set

May 25th at noon

So bring a present and some food

We’ll meet in the Conference Room.

Lions, tigers, and bears,

0h my,

Animals stacked from

The floor to the sky.

The Jungle is their theme,

So animals and such

Can be found where she’s registered

At Target, Amazon* and Baby’s R Us

Do they know what they are having?

Yes, it’s a girl or a boy.

No matter what,

It will be their little pride and joy!

We hope you can come,

We hope you can meet.

Please R.S.V.P

On the sign-up sheet.

33 week belly pics

Some of these are from the weekend at the beach and some were a quick snap taken in the baby's room last night...

WARNING: skin exposure below!

Baby moon is officially over...

Monday we drove back up to Miami, in our car with no air conditioning. We stopped off for a walk on the beach part way but the wind was too gusty for Danny to want to go swimming in the sea. We checked into our hotel, which, like everything in Miami, seemed especially dated, though not in a cool retro sense, but in a tired-needing to be renewed sense. Danny played in the water at Miami Beach and I took a nap on the sand. We ate at a so-so diner, sharing a burger and house salad, but never fear, we had our own milkshakes!

Danny complained about our lack of ac and threw in the 'my wife is pregnant and was not happy' and they knocked $110 off our $170 bill! It always pays to ask right! The worst they can do is say no!

The flight home Tuesday was uneventful and practically empty.

We plunged back into real-life with a to-do list the length of a kite string. Very sobering. The biggest problem with 'our' to-do list, is that I cant help with most of it. Its not necessarily the 'helpless' feeling that I mind, its the pressure upon Danny to do it all. Its not like there are any jobs that we can get someone else to do, we just need time I suppose. Its a good job pregnancy has brought an unusual calm over me.

Oh and before anyone tries this remedy, be warned, my broccoli had died by the time I got home. So this age old remedy of spraying broccoli with dish soap that I hear about from everyone, didnt quite work for me; but Im guessing I used to strong a solution and perhaps needed to dilute it more. Other sad vegetable patch news is that deer ate my bean seedlings, though left the tomatoes, thank goodness. The little erhms also mutilated my apple tree, leaving just a few leaves and a single apple. Now I have to erect a fence round the apple tree, which will be an eye-sore in my front yard, but Im not losing a perfectly healthy tree to some flea-ridden deer. They ate some random flowers in my flower bed by the road, but Im less mad about that, just mildly niggled.

To end on a positive garden note, everything else around the garden is looking fantastic. Dont get me wrong, I have some major weeding and up-keep to do, things that need staking and so forth; but for the most part, it looks great out there and it keeps itself. Many of my elephant ears eventually came back from their long hibernation, my hydrangea are all blooming already; some that last year were white are now blue, and some that have never bloomed for me are covered in little flower heads. My spirea are flaunting their pink beauty. Three of my clematis remain in bloom and the stella d'oro day lilies have begun to open. The nicest surprise of all was the opening of the Holly Hocks by the mail box in the deepest shades of pink-purple and the imminent lavender deluge alongside the bright yellow coreopsis. If only I knew someone who would take pretty pictures of it all for me...

Baby moon Part Deux

What a beautiful day!

In the morning we relaxed by the pool and splashed around in the water.

In the afternoon we sailed to a mangrove island and snorkeled around the shallows. Unfortunately, Danny didn't see that much stuff, I say unfortunately because we really went for him. I however, saw a ton of stuff! I was more about the floating around, than the swimming, so I guess I just chanced upon more wildlife. I was floating around, minding my own business when some kind of ray swam along the reef just in front of me. It was a little grey one, about 2 feet across. When I looked up, this long skinny fish with a pointy nose was swimming past me. I felt a little uneasy and watched it pass, following it as it left, and watched the water where it had been for a while to ensure that it had left. Then it came around me on the other side; gulp. Turned around and came past me on the left side again; bigger gulp. At this point I lost it and bolted for the boat; that long skinny fish unnerved me. On swimming toward the boat I also swam over a huge black ray laying on the floor, it was a good 6 feet wide! I asked the staff what the big skinny fish was that was circling me and low and behold, it was a barracuda! Had I have known there were barracuda in the water, there is no way I would have been in there too! Mind you, I had asked the lady if there was anything in there that could hurt me before I got in, and she had said no!

We had an early dinner in town at Fogarty's, again! I know, I know, sad to eat at the same place twice when you only have three nights to eat in one town, but we were really tempted by their menu and really enjoyed the food the first night; and they had blended drinks! So Danny was tipsy by the time our dinner arrived! My dinner was delicious though; pan fried grouper with crab stuffing, rice, asparagus and red bell pepper sauce. After a frosty drink refill, for the non-pregnant one, we took the shuttle back to our hotel and watched the sun go down sitting on our balcony, before enjoying the huge jet-bath in our 'apartment'. What a beautiful end to a beautiful day!

Tomorrow, on to Bahia Honda State Park for more relaxing on the beach and snorkeling! It doesn't get much better than this! The funniest thing is our random sunburn! We are both doing pretty well, but we both have some random spots of red. For me its the inside blotches of both knees, for Danny its the little strips on his shoulders where he sprayed the front and I sprayed the back and we didn't over lap!

This has to be the most relaxing and indulgent few days we have had in a long ass time! The baby, on the other hand, has been about as animated as it can be!

Baby moon Part I

Key West, FL, here we are!

Our hotel 'apartment' is so large that it has two bathrooms, fans in every room, even a fan on the balcony that overlooks the pool. Which is where we are going now for a late afternoon swim, since I hate sea water!

Broccoli saviour

I am pleased to announce that spraying a diluted environmentally friendly washing up liquid (or dish liquid for you Americans) does in fact kill the little tiny caterpillars that were eating my broccoli down to its skeleton. And it doesnt seem to have had any effect on the head itself. I did have to do a second application today, for new caterpillars, but saw the remains of the old ones.

Spraying both front and back of each and every broccoli leaf did make me think about how hard it must be for organic or pesticide free farmers. I have less than a dozen broccoli plants and it still took some love to spend my lunch hour spraying the leaves.

My first Mother's Day

This past weekend was Mother's Day in America, and it was my first.

I woke up early as usual and got ready to head out for a walk, trying not to wake my husband. I found my sunglasses perched on top of a sealed envelope and a white box. I went out for my walk, bought some juice and headed back to the hotel. I picked up the card and little white box and went to wake Danny up. When I opened up my first ever Mother's Day gift, boy did I cry my little heart out! I already knew I was going to cry as I had been thinking about how good to me Danny was. Not because he bought me a gift, but let's face it, diamonds are a girl's best friend! but because he is just a wonderful, thoughtful, generous man, and I really could go on and on with the adjectives that describe how fantastic he is.

So my first ever Mother's Day made me appreciate just how well I am looked after and what a wonderful husband I have.

Thank you Danny, for being so wonderfully you!

(yes, my eyes are now full of tears!)

Busy busy bumble bees!

Friday we drove to Nashville and shopped til we dropped! We bought an armchair/glider, ottoman and dresser for the baby's room, though I have to say, its less exciting spending LOTS of money when you dont get to take anything home. I feel relieved though, at least the furniture is now on its way! We bought some cloth nappies and swaddling blankets at Pickles and Ice Cream, a baby boutique in the suburbs, and not to mention our first baby toy! The cutest cordoury bunny you ever did see, with big floppy yellow ears! I love it!

Saturday was the low key, chilled out wedding of Hannah and Doug, which was nice. Though I really should have put sunscreen on before the wedding and packed more food for myself! I was starving by the end of the day and exhausted. I didnt get nearly enough to eat and passed out pretty quick, though that husband of mine came in from the movies around 1230-1am ish and of course, that was me up for a few hours.

So Sunday I was even more tired and hungry! Went to a fancy extended family brunch and ate my little heart out, of course giving myself that pain under the ribs that signifies that you tried to stuff too much food into an area where there is very little room. Managed to sleep a little on the way home though, and get a few more rows on the blankie completed, which of course, is no where near being finished!

We took Monday off work to get some things done around the house, so that was yet another tiring day. I have to say, Im beginning to feel rather tired at most times. Not bad to be first feeling like this at 32 weeks eh!

In complete contrast to last weeks prenatal class, we went to the epidural class at the hospital tonight. I was in a mood about it because I really didnt want to go, but realise that it is better to be prepared for an unknown situation. But I have felt pretty rough in the tummy today, had a bunch of Braxton Hicks this afternoon and scoffed down my scrambled eggs and Spaghettios on toast, so I was not in a good frame of mind. The contrast in this class, apart from not wanting to go, was that everyone there was freakin' huge! I was no longer the biggest belly in the room. Also, everyone there was country; what does that say about me? No, it does not mean Im country, it means I didnt fit in! So why do professional looking people go to prenatal classes and country looking people go to epidural classes?

Exciting news: we ate the first produce from our garden yesterday! Our snow peas were delicious and I got to pick another handful tonight. The broccoli is coming along too, surprisingly, and the lettuce and spinach is pretty much ready to pick! Salads all round then eh! Sad news: my broccoli is covered in little tiny caterpillars, so I tried spraying it with Method dish liquid, so we shall see how that does. I didnt have the energy to bend over long enough to squish them all.

Super exciting news: Danny is putting together the baby's crib as I type! We put up some of the decals and they are adorable! So excited to put up the rest!

Wow!

We went to our first prenatal class at the hospital last night, and oh my gosh, I am huge. I began to get a feeling for this when I got my hair cut wednesday and another lady at the salon was a week ahead of me and had a belly about a quarter of the size of mine, but that could have just been her, right!? Well, last night there were more pregnant bellies in one room than I had ever seen and it was officially confirmed, mine was the biggest belly of them all (apart from the obese woman and the overweight woman, of course). And the worst part is, usually you can speculate that these other women may just be less further along than you, but we were introduced by due date, and there were women up to 3-4 weeks further along than me! And still my tummy was twice the size of theirs.

Danny's theory for my huge stomach is that because I am so short, I have to grow out in front, as there is no room within. I like this theory. Its not like Im any bigger anywhere else, well, ok, except for my bottom, but that could be for balance! What sort of worries me, is that my belly is all baby - it is rock solid and you can see the movement, so its not like it has lots of fat padding. So another of Danny's theories is that its just a rather large baby; oh dear. But I suppose a bigger baby makes a healthier baby, I just cant help but think about the pain and the tearing. Not that any of this matters, as there is nothing I can do or even want to do about the size of my huge stomach. And the funny thing is, I dont even notice it; I dont feel big, I dont have trouble breathing or catching my breath, and unless I slouch forward, which isnt good for you anyway, I dont notice any discomfort in my torso. So perhaps the baby is just all out front.

My huge stomach will be immortalised in family portraits at Hannah and Doug's wedding this weekend in Nashville, which if you keep up with American news, got flooded by the rains last weekend. In fact, Nashville received a record amount of rainfall, ever. So it could be an interesting weekend, and perhaps smelly, as they are requesting that people only use water for drinking. I hate to be irresponsible, but I am going to take a shower before the wedding though. I might be big and ugly, but I dont have to smell too! And perhaps my lovely new haircut will take people's attentions away from the watermelon someone stuck to my front. Dont worry, I realise nothing bar Danny walking around naked is going to take away from my huge belly, and Id rather he kept his trousers on in public!

Tummy tactics

Many months ago, my friend Meg asked me why pregnant women hold their stomachs. At the time, my answer was that I held my stomach because I wasn’t used to having it yet. But now Im used to it, and I still touch my tummy, so I started to wonder why… There are actually many reasons why I touch my tummy…

If the baby is kicking or wiggling around at an inconvenient time, such as in a meeting or when I am trying to get to sleep, I hold my tummy as this often makes it stop moving.

I touch my tummy when the baby is moving around because I like to feel its movements. Obviously, having read the last comment, you know that this is counter-productive and often stops the baby moving. I also don’t understand this one because I can feel it from the inside, so why do I feel the need to feel it from the outside with my hands too? Who knows.

I tend to touch my tummy when someone asks me how far along I am. I guess that’s sort of a defense response type thing. And please people, stop asking me if its twins, Im seriously not that big! Though I did measure what used to be my waist last night and its now 38 inches in circumference! (a sweet 26 inches just a year ago; a measurement Im sure Ill never see again!)

I touch my tummy for comfort. This may be hard to believe at 31 weeks along, but I often don’t feel pregnant, or at least I don’t feel any different from not being pregnant. So its nice to touch my tummy to be reminded of the fact that Danny and I will have a little family of our own here soon.

I often scratch my tummy or pretend to scratch it in the hopes that mentally this will help me stop itching!

Ive been told that random strangers may come up to you and try to touch your stomach, so holding your belly will then be a protective thing.

Im sure I can think of some other reasons…

Pregnancy dreams strike again!

This dream was vague and I don't remember much about it. All I know is that it involved salt and vinegar crisps (translation; Kettle chips), vampires and my mother. And no, I was not hungry for crisps, or blood for that matter. Though it was another one of those sleepless nights after 4am, even though I got up and drank a glass of milk to calm my hungry tummy.

Weekend rain: day two

Well, today has been a lot more successful on the 'do nothing' front. I did wake up early, but it was a good thing as there was no rain between 7 and 715am, so I took the dogs outside for a bathroom break before it started up again. I got back into bed though, had a nice conversation with my mummy! Met the girls at Lusa, the new Portugese cafe in town for brunch, which was really nice and relaxing. The food was ok; dont know that I would eat there again. Made bread, ironed a few items of clothing and sat down on my couch eating popcorn.

Its 4pm and the only other thing on my list for today is to do my yoga dvd and make myself a fantastic lentil stew for dinner, so I think Ive got the rest of the day covered, eh!

A successful day of doing nothing! I shall pat myself on the back!

Weekend rain: day one

Well, remember that I was going to get some much needed couch time this weekend?

hmmmm. Yes. Quite!

I cleaned the house, though this was rather satisfactory. Doing all sorts of unusual jobs such as washing the dogs beds. I actually have yet to stuff the cushions back in the covers. I did sit on the floor with the dogs for two hours through a particularly heavy burst of rain and thunder as they really do get scared. Then all of a sudden, the sun just came out! So of course I went straight outside and weeded my vegetable patch, though it desperately needed it, so that was good. Then inspired, I popped to the store for marigolds (stops the slugs), basil (stops the deer, apparently, and helps with fertilisation) and zinnia seeds (just plain beautiful!). Then I planted all of these. Oh, and bought an ice cream sandwich on the way home!

But now, at 6pm, I promise to sit down here soon! Ive just got to stuff those dog beds and make my dinner! Which I am particularly excited about (dinner, not dog beds) because they had some more of that buttery delicious broccoli at the farmers market this morning.