Santa Shoeboxes, pregnancy cravings, rainy days and road trips!

Today I feel like doing a rambling update kind of post!

This year, for the first time, we took part in the Santa Shoebox Project.  It's an awesome charity project for underprivileged kids - I pledged two boxes, and Mia had lots of fun helping me decorate, shop, and pack the boxes!  We dropped them off on Friday.  Wish we could see little Jane and little Faith's faces when they open their boxes filled with goodies!

We've been having quite a few rainy days lately - and then it's so nice to just snuggle indoors and watch movies and play inside, however, sometimes it's necessary to get out a bit or go to the shops - Mia liked wearing her rain jacket and splashing in puddles of water!

Today I'm 14 weeks pregnant.  Officially into the second trimester!  Nausea is feeling a lot better, still sometimes, but not as bad as it had been.  Still very tired though. *yawn*  Two weeks til our next scan, can't wait to find out if Mia's going to get a baby sister or a baby brother.  I sorted out my cupboard, packing away all the clothes that I won't fit into until after pregnancy, and made space for maternity clothes.  Need to still shop for a nice pair of maternity shorts for holiday time, a maternity cozzie, and a dress for my brother's wedding coming up in January!

Pregnancy cravings I've had: last week I was planning on making spaghetti bolognaise for supper, and just got an overwhelming urge for some broccoli and cauliflower veggies to go with it - so that's exactly what I did, and loved it!  Last night I wanted fish, lentils and spinach, so that's exactly what I did, and it was so yum!  Two weeks ago we went to a restaurant for dinner, and I wanted steak and spinach - it was delicious!  Yes, my body seems to be asking for lots of extra iron...

I love that I get to spend so much time each day with precious Mia.  She's growing so fast - every day I am amazed.  We have lots of fun together, I love our special bond.

Mia and I have been gallivanting lately.  Last week we went for a fun playdate to friends in Joburg, and had a fun morning there.  Yesterday we went to Joburg again, and we were spoilt with a delicious pasta lunch that a friend made for us.  And the gallivanting doesn't end there!  Tomorrow Mia and I are off to Pietersburg to visit my folks for a few days. Yay!

Business has been quiet... Hoping it picks up again during November, I need Xmas cash!!

I made a yummy broccoli and bacon salad this weekend, will share the recipe soon.

I think this is enough rambling for now! ;-)
xx

Non-Alcoholic Champagne!

I am so excited about JC Le Roux's new non-alcoholic champagne!

It's the pink one, La Fleurette, and it tastes delicious - just like sparkling wine, but without the alcohol.

Now this preggy fairy can also be at social events and celebrations with a glass of bubbly, woohoo!

Highly recommended.  Costs around R46, and found at Makro's liquor store.

It's perfect, never mind for during pregnancy, but any time - now I can enjoy a bottle of champers all by myself and not feel any horrible after-effects, hehe! 

Try it!

JC Le Roux La Fleurette Non-Alcoholic Champagne / Sparkling Wine
xx

* * Edit:  OK, the fact that it is non-alcoholic doesn't mean you can polish a whole bottle off by yourself!  That's what I did on Saturday night, and I slept so badly on Saturday night, very restless and kept waking up, and on Sunday I had bit of an upset stomach.  Looked at the ingredients list - "dealcoholized wine" - I'm sure, alcohol or not, a whole bottle of that can't be good! LOL. Oops.  Well now I know! ;-)

Such a relaxing Sunday!

Today was the perfect kind of day!  I feel so relaxed, content, and in love with my little family. ♥

It started raining early yesterday evening, and didn't stop for 24 hours - divine!  So nice to hear the rain during the night.  And best of all, the overcast morning meant the sun didn't wake Mia up - we all slept til 9am!  I got up just after 6am to cover Mia with her duvet, and to do a 'rain delay' on the irrigation system, and then fell blissfully asleep again.

We all snuggled and cuddled in bed til 10am, and then went out for a Spur brekkie, it was really yummy, I had a very happy tummy!

Then Mia and I baked some cookies - it was a new recipe for nutella cookies, but they went very flat in the oven and were one big mess by the time I took them out... However, they were super yummy, especially once cooled, nice and crunchy!

After that, we napped for an hour and a bit - soooooo nice! :-)

When we woke up, I went for a gym session, which felt nice and invigorating.

Wyn just cooked us hamburgers for supper.  Mia and I are watching Beauty and the Beast now. 
This is the life!
xx

* * Edit:  At bedtime, I told Mia that I had a wonderful day.  "Yes mommy", she said in her sleepy bedtime voice.  I asked her what was her favourite part of the day. She answered, "Eating!"  Oh I giggled! Whether it was the Spur brekkie, the nutella cookies, or the hamburger, I don't know.  Possibly and probably, a combination of all of those! ;-)

12 Week Scan!

Yesterday was our 12-week scan at the Foetal Assessment Centre.

How wonderful to see this growing lil person inside my tummy!

First thing I thought was, "thank goodness there's only one baby" - after the 8 week scan, the radiologist had said she can't confirm yet if there's one or two, I was quite nervous about that!

The second thing I thought was, "this baby is so relaxed and quiet!" - it had made a huge impression at me at Mia's 12 week scan, the way she was moving so much, it looked like she was doing water ballet, and was actually expecting the same now.  This lil baba was resting with its chin on its chest, too cute, and only gave lil jumps when the doctor pressed hard with the probe on my tummy.

All is good, measurements are all normal, baby measuring at 5.5cm and heart rate of 174bpm.  Nuchal fold measured 1mm, and the Downs Syndrome test specifies that it should be less than 2.5mm.

We were hoping that the doc might be able to tell us whether the baby is a girl or a boy - but she couldn't see.  She said if it were 13 weeks instead of 12 weeks, she would have been able to give more of an indication, but for now, girls bits are swollen and boys bits are quite small, so hard to tell.  It's OK - just another thing to look forward to, and four weeks til our next scan will go by fast!

I had to have another blood test done afterwards though - I am so over that!! Hopefully the last in a long time.

We got some cute piccies of BabyV², I keep looking at them!

Nice lil profile

 

A precious leggy!

 

A small hand next to the head, waving hi to mommy and pappa!

 

Beautiful profile of my miniature person

 

Mia is super excited and loved seeing the scan piccies

 

Love

 

12-week bump!

Ouch, ouch, ouch!!

I'm feeling very sorry for myself.  Haven't been in this much pain in a very long time, well, if ever!

Yesterday I went to the dermatologist to remove a sebaceous cyst on the back of my neck.  I've had it for a very long time - years in fact.  It started off as a blackhead, then became a small pea-sized lump.  It didn't bother me however, it wasn't painful, it was just there.  In the last two weeks, unfortunately, it got bigger - to the size of a R5 coin maybe, and became quite sore, tender and itchy... So I knew something would have to be done about it.

I was reassured that at 12 weeks pregnant, it's safe to have the local anaesthetic used.
I had hoped the doctor would only need to make a small incision and drain it, but nope, he said he's going to have to cut it out...

The local anaesthetic injection was so, so painful, but luckily over in a few seconds.  Then the doctor said words that he would later have to take back, "the worst part is over now."  The cyst was a lot deeper than the dermatologist had initially realised, and as he was cutting, I started feeling it. Ouch, ouch, ouch!  He injected me again, and carried on, and after a few minutes I had to tell him no, it's too sore, he must stop, so he injected me a 3rd time.  Ouch, ouch, ouch!

I think it took about ten minutes for the whole procedure, but oh my word, it was the longest 10 minutes of my life.  The feel and the smell of blood running down the side of my neck and face had me feeling very dizzy and faint!

It's in such a horrible spot, centre of back of my neck (well, luckily I can't see it, I guess) but it means lying down is very uncomfortable, and I also can't move my head sideways.

My expectation had been that, yes, it's going to be painful, but then it's over and done with and I can just carry on.  But gosh, it was so much worse than I ever imagined it would be!  I can't pick Mia up at all, it's too sore - we skipped our Tots class today because of this, which is a pity.

I have to go back next Monday to have the 3 stitches removed. I'm already dreading it, remember how painful it was when he removed the stitches after he cut my moles out.  Ouch ouch ouch.

On a happier, positive note, at least I have something to look forward to - today is our 12-week scan!  Very excited to see this lil belly-bean again!
xx

Mia's 3-year photo shoot

We did a photo shoot two weekends ago, with my friend, the talented Karin Meiring.  Find her on Facebook or on her website - she's really got a knack for just capturing special moments, perfect face expressions, and freezing precious memories for us!

The photo shoot was lots of fun.  Wyn was relieved that he didn't have to feature too much, and Mia had so much fun having a tea party, playing dress-up, and painting nails!

All the photos are so special, but here's a selection of my favourites:

Pregnancy Update: 11 weeks

There's a questionnaire that I did every month during my pregnancy with Mia, and can't believe I haven't started doing it yet with this pregnancy!

1.  How far along are you now? 11 weeks today

2.  When is your due date? 29 April 2013

3.  What has been your preggy high this week? Enjoying the beginnings of a preggy bump, and nice to have pregnancy as a reason to go to bed early!

4.  What has been your preggy low this week? Still some queasiness, on and off.  And struggling to find maternity clothes in the shops!

5.  What is your current over-riding emotion? Excited for next week's scan!

6.  What is on your list of things to do in the next month regarding preparation for baby?  Hm, not really anything specific at this stage. A lot can only happen once we find out if it's a boy or a girl.

7.  What is your current craving? Not a specific craving as such, but I'm really loving yoghurt at the moment. And chocolate...

8.  How are you feeling physically? Good mostly, a bit tired and drained sometimes.

9.  How are you feeling emotionally? Shame, poor Mia, hubby and Nala the dog - I'm quite irritable often, oops.

10.  How is your partner dealing with the pregnancy at this stage? Good. I like how he holds my tummy at night when we sleep!

11.  How are you feeling about the pregnancy at this point? Excited.

12.  How much does baby weigh/measure at the moment? No, don't know at all. At 8 week scan baby was about 1.6cm. Should be around 4cm now. How cute!!

13.  How much weight have you gained to date?  Eeeek. Am so nervous about this. 2kg up already...

14.  What is the nursery room theme and what have you done for the nursery recently? Oooh no, will start thinking of this once we know baby's gender.

15.  What are the latest baby-related items you have bought or got given? A very cute little panda-bear beanie and mitten set from my special friend Debs, and a babygro and blanket from skoonma. That's all so far, but no worries, I know this collection will still grow! ;-)

16.  What are you looking forward to? So excited for next week's 12-week scan. Can't wait for a proper bump, I look like a pie-thief at the moment. Also looking forward to feeling baby move. Good times ahead!


Here is the link to the questionnaire I did when I was 11 weeks pregnant with Mia:  http://blogs.parent24.com/jessicaviljoen/2010/03/16/march-preggy-questionaire/
I left out some of the questions that I felt weren't really too relevant, and changed one or two of the questions to suit me better. ;-)
Will do these updates monthly!
xx

My lil social butterfly

We had a fun weekend filled with friends!

It started already on Thursday, when we met some friends at the dairy farm for lunch.  Gosh, how the little people adore the open space there! They ran about, looked at chickens, cows and calves, ate fish fingers, and just generally had a good time.  When we had to leave, and Mia realised we were headed towards the car, I had to pick a lil tantrumming body up and haul her to the car with promises to come back to the farm soon!

 
Then, on Saturday morning we went to a fourth birthday party, nearby here at a farmyard venue.  The kiddies got to feed the chickens, ducks and goats, and went for a pony ride.  Super cute, fun, and Mia loved it!

 

On Saturday afternoon, we went to a third birthday party, at a pretty tea garden venue in Joburg.  Mia had fun playing on all the jungle gym equipment and swinging.

(Thankfully, she was so tired when we got home on Saturday at noon, after the first party, that she had a good 1.5hour nap before we left for the afternoon party!)

Then, on Sunday, we met our special friends and fellow blogger, Rox and Layla, at a nice lil coffee shop nearby here, that has a small water fountain that kids can splash in.  Oh, what fun the two girlies had!  These two little girls are such cute friends, it's so nice to see the interaction.

While Rox and I could sit enjoying something to drink and a bite to eat, (well, mostly sit... sometimes had to run and apprehend a little girl headed towards the car park, or to rescue shoes from the water fountain) the two girls splashed, laughed, and had a few sips of pink milkshake every now and then.  When we were finished, and changed the girls into dry clothes, they took a spin on the animals-on-wheels, that you have to use your legs to propel forwards.  They sort-of got the idea of the motion, but mostly we had a bit of a workout in pushing them around the fountain. ;-)

 

 

All in all, fun was had by all!

We ended off the weekend with an early evening braai on Sunday, just to spend some time relaxing with Wyn too.  I think he had a nice relaxing weekend in front of the tv, being able to watch what he wanted to for a change, while we gallivanted all over the place!

xx

Healthy pregnancy goals

I'm ten weeks pregnant!

Preggy symptoms I'm experiencing: waves of nausea, on and off through-out the day - this has gotten better than earlier weeks, but still sometimes feel very queasy! I'm tired, very very tired, gosh.  And then quite hormonal - very irritable, poor Mia, hubby and dog...

I'm terrified of gaining too much weight.  I found a nice eating plan in the Your Pregnancy magazine last month, and am trying to incorporate the meal ideas from there.  It's really balanced, including wholesome, healthy food from all the food groups, and importantly, enough, but healthy!

A typical day is something like this: Breakfast: one cup of oats, or poached egg on seeded bread, or 2 weetbix with a fruit.  Snack: Provitas with cottage cheese. Lunch: Low GI or seeded toast with avo, and a yoghurt. Snack: Fruit or fruit smoothie. Dinner: Chicken/grilled fish/steak with small serving of brown rice, wholewheat pasta or baby potatoes, with unlimited veggies.

I really like the sound of that! Definitely going to try my best.  And need to curb my love of chocolates, oh my goodness, how I love choccies...

Exercise-wise - I want to aim to go to the gym 4 times a week, and do 20 minutes of cardio (I prefer walking at this stage, but sometimes cycling or elliptical trainer) and then 15 - 30 minutes of weight training with the weight machines, or the circuit.

I don't manage 4 times a week very often lately - sometimes the tiredness gets to me, other times busy with other things, think have been averaging 2-3 times a week the last month, and definitely want to put a conscious effort in to exercise 4 times a week.

My fluid-intake is mostly good, as I drink lots of water and tea. However, weekends are not so good, as I tend to go for coffee and coke then, oops... Will make sure to reduce those choices!

I take Preg-Omega supplements, plus Caltrate-Plus every day. (OK, most days, probably remember 5 days out of 7!) and sometimes add some vitamin C or vitamin B if I feel I need the extra boost.

My skin is still breaking out lots, gosh, I forgot that this happened during previous pregnancy too! For now am treating it with extra exfoliation and soothing mask treatments.

I'm so scared of getting more stretch marks! With my previous pregnancy, it went so well, until literally the last week, week 38, I got a couple of stretch marks just below my bellybutton.  Really don't want any more!  At this stage I'm using Vaseline Intensive Rescue cream, mixed with Bio-Oil.  However, will ask for a Christmas or birthday gift of the Mama Mio Tummy Butter - most divine preggy cream ever... with a bit of a pricetag to it, unfortunately.

I'm looking forward to a preggy bump (I'm convinced it's starting already, although I look more like a pie-thief at this stage!) and can't wait to feel lil baby's movements.

Exciting times ahead!
xx