How far along?18 weeks, 6 days (as of posting I’ve started week 19 now)
How big is baby? A mango!! (which so happens to coincide with the start of the mango season here in Australia. I’m eyeing them off)
(Notice new outdoor furniture that we assembled today as well. And my wilted basil plant in the white pot lol. We’re missing the cushions as they had sold out, but still it was nice to sit here watching the sun set).
How I’m feeling? Still feeling good – I feel like I’m at a point where it seems a little cruisy. Each week I just feel like I get bigger and bigger but otherwise it’s been pretty drama free. My belly still itches like a mother which is really annoying me. Anyone have any suggestions for relieving this??
Quitting sugar has been harder than I thought this time around. Mainly because I’ve been wanting juicy, fresh fruit like mangoes and watermelon and allowing myself to eat that instead of chocolate. However, the effects of sugar on me – no matter where it came from – are the same. That includes the bloating.
See exhibit A.
That’s bloat + baby.
But the difference now is that I can blame it all on baby
Fitness? Doing as well as I can manage – I think I have to accept that my body isn’t quite it used to be (and even then it wasn’t a hugely well-oiled machine). I tried a slow jog on the tready at the gym the other day and I was puffed by 1.5km. Gah. So brisk walking it is. Walking the dogs and swimming is really where I am at the moment and it’s been kinda humbling in a way to…just…accept that. I think I might post about this in more detail.
Weight? As I’m getting bigger so is my weight. Which is awesome because it means baby is growing!!
How I’m changing? Ok so you’ve all heard of my itchy belly…well it’s also itchy boobs now. #FML. I look deranged as I try and discreetly scratch myself and it’s not really working. The discreet thing that is. Also since we spent most of this long weekend baby item shopping, I’ve started to notice prams a lot more. Like I stare young couples down in an attempt to figure out what they have. I’m so confused.
What I miss?I found a replacement for wine!!! I found this brand at my local supermarket that makes non-alcoholic wine and it hits the spot. Like *ALMOST* the same – I miss the little buzz you get from wine, but this has been good on the warm summery-type evenings we’ve had over the last few days.
Symptoms? Pimples are coming back and I think it’s because of the weather changing from cold to hot to cold again. Maybe the mangoes as well. Ugh. Also…I THINK I can start to feel the baby move. I mean, over the last few weeks I’ve been getting little jabs here and there and then a bubbly type feeling (which I know is NOT gas) so I’m getting all excited. Evs puts his hands on my belly as much as he can but nothing from the outside yet.
Cravings? Oatmeal. Weird I know. And avocadoes are back in my book again. Had the best brunch at a local cafe and it was so so good.
Aversions? I’m kinda starting to get off eating meat. I prefer to eat around it and would much rather eat the side veggies etc than the actual meat part. Thinking I need to make more vegetarian stuff.
Highlights this week? Buying our first baby clothes ever! They had a 30% off storewide sale at Bonds over the weekend and I bought some jumpsuits and the cutest stripy leggings. Is it just me or are chubby legs with a big, saggy nappy the most cutest thing to see in stripy leggings??
Can I just pause here and say, where in the WORLD did the year go?? Um, how is it November already? I woke up today with the long weekend looming in front of me and wondered, how did we get here?
And then, Evs decided to completely blow my mind when we were walking the dogs by informing me that he has known me more than a THIRD of his life. I looked at him open mouthed and realised that it was true and lamented the fact that the years seemed to be slipping by and soon I’d be an old granny rocking on my chair on the porch and everyone would have died or forgotten me.
Ok, so I may have gotten a little carried away.
Anyways, reeling it back in a bit – I am very glad because it’s LONG WEEKEND. Well, I’ve made it one by taking Monday off and Tuesday being a public holiday for Melbourne Cup Day (aka horse racing event where everyone gets dressed up and wears hats and then get very drunk and lose their money).
Evs and I have finally decided to do something about the fact we have STILL not yet bought a single item for the baby. Like not even one bootie. (booty?? That just sounds like an odd thing to be buying for a child).
So, after sending him a spreadsheet a colleague’s wife had made when she was pregnant and getting a reply from Evs only minutes later to tell me he was already ‘modifying it’ and going all organised-geek on me, I thought we better get on it.
The weekend looks to be typical Melbourne with bouts of sunshine and rain and I plan to make the most of the sunny bits.
As for you, hoping the weather is treating you ok after the various rampages throughout the world (Sandy I’m looking at you. Girl, you need to CHILL).
For your reading pleasure:
So it seems like I’ve been doing it ALL WRONG for years. What you say? Washing my hair of course! (Stop laughing). I discovered this post from Hair Romance and it’s made a world of difference to my naturally wavy hair. Check it out – it may just surprise you.
There was this moment of time when I had more friends married and/or popping out the kids then not. And trying to organise a get-together would invariably mean that it’d turn into a family-fest when I wanted to do was to see how my friends were doing. Like REALLY doing. And now being on the borderline of turning into a baby-toting person I was told I was the one who ‘tipped the balance’ haha. That being said – I hope that I don’t lose my friendships afterwards. Do you think you can be friends when only one of you has kids?
Anyone who knows me know I love spouting off random Disney songs at any opportune moment. So this post that lists the 10 Best Disney songs for the single girl just had me all a-flutter. My favourite – of course “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid.
I’m the kind of person that when travelling, formal exercise kinda takes a backseat and I count walking everywhere and sight-seeing as burning calories (which of course is then made up by copious amounts of cocktails. Whatever.). However, I’m trying to change that a little bit and this post from Em over at Happy Tree Pose on How to take your yoga travelling is a good one for those also wanting to feel a little bliss off the mat.
So Halloween is over and I struggled through it in my retake to Quit Sugar again. There may or may not have been a day when I took the leftover candy to work so I wouldn’t eat them all at home and then proceeded to eat way too many at work. #Fail. And then reading all the Halloween themed posts got me drooling and my heart skipped a beat when they saw these. Yep – they are Dexter-style blood-spatter cookies. Make them if you dare.
I don’t know yet whether I am having a girl or a boy. I don’t even know if I WANT to know. However, if I have a girl then this list of 100 things of what this woman wants to teach her daughter is heartwarming. And so so necessary.
For those on the Quitting Sugar bandwagon with me (or even those who said are you fucking CRAZY?! Thanks but no thanks!) – avocadoes are one of THE best foods out there. They are full of healthy fats, low in sugar and contain more fibre than a lot of vegetables. Sarah Wilson posted recently on 12 things to do with an avocado and I just so happen to all the ingredients to make the Chocolate Peanut Butter Mud Shake.
What’s on for this weekend? (Melbourne peeps – going to the races??)
At the start of the year, like many, I had a lot of ambitions. One of them was to Quit Sugar. I started on and successfully completed Sarah Wilson’s 8-week program that got me kicking the habit.
I was converted and started preaching a sugar-free way to all that would listen.
Fast forward a few months. Ok….most of the year.
About halfway through the year, and looking back it was funnily enough after coming back from holidays in Sri-Lanka and falling pregnant, I started craving the sweet stuff again. When I found out I was pregnant and couldn’t have my beloved wine, I think I started compensating by replacing wine with chocolate. MILK chocolate. And if that amount is anything to go by, then I was well on the way to becoming an alco.
Lots of compensating was done.
It was done in the most overt way that I didn’t even realise I was doing it. I’d accept a handful of M&M’s while watching a movie, and then find I’d eaten the whole packet. Foods that hadn’t graced our kitchen for a long time suddenly started sneaking back in for those “just in case we have visitors” moments. Vegetables were on my hit list for things I couldn’t stand the sight of. I started feeling sluggish and tired and bloated and I put it down to the joys of being pregnant.
The funny thing was, everything tasted SO SWEET to me still yet I couldn’t stop.
Weird.
Anyways, Sarah is throwing out the call to one and all to get back on the wagon – no judgement – in her pre-Christmas program. It starts today (29th October) and after seeing that and reading Laney’s post, I thought it was just the kick in the pants to get me back on track.
That being said, I’m all for listening to my body and if I wake up in the middle of the night with an itch only two things can cure (and the husband’s asleep)…well….I’m not going to feel guilty over that.
It’s really all about re-calibrating myself and getting to a place where I feel as good as I did the first time around. It’s also about respecting my body and ensuring that I’m giving this little baby all the best nutrients it can get.
The best thing about doing this is that I KNOW I CAN DO IT. I have done it before.
Evs is on board leading up to the silly season and I’ll be posting my journey here again for those who are interested. I bought the IQS cookbook when it came out as well and have since made some of the delicious recipes from it. One of the things I’ve been wanting to do more here is post more quick and easy healthy recipes, only because I tend to use blogs as my main source of inspiration for food and I want to share how easy it is to eat delicious food while taking care of your health.
For those interested, to get yourself started, I have a few posts I wrote the first time around that might help. I also highly recommend getting the I Quit Sugar e-book because it covers a lot more than what I did (or you can get the bundle with the cookbook which is also good) (and as a small reminder, they are aff links which means I get something small for it – which means – woohoo one free coffee for me!! )
You can also sign up for Sarah’s newsletter which will also give you a lot more tips and discounts on some of the things she mentions in her book as well. There’s a ton of support out there through the IQS community and I’ve joined Laney’s FB group as well which is great for meeting other people and sharing like-minded things related to quitting sugar.
As for me – I’m starting by getting myself prepared. I’ll be doing my weekly grocery shopping tonight and making sure I stock up on lots of nutritious food. I’ve made a loose meal plan for the dinners I want to make this week and will share some of the recipes as well here too.
So for the week:
Monday – leftovers (my cousin gave us heaps of food from the weekend – all healthy Indian stuff, so that with some rice will do )
Tuesday – Vegetable Noodle stirfry (may chuck in some meat for the husband, but I have tofu/paneer that needs to be used up)
Wednesday – Vegetable Cauli-rice (Evs will most likely have a steak with this)
Thursday – Stuffed chicken breasts with home-baked spicy sweet potato fries and salad (or possible going out for Pho)
Friday – Cheesy mushroom quesadillas
I’ll also be preparing for my breakfasts by making a batch of my fructose-free granola and removing all tempting things from my fridge and pantry.
A few weeks ago…ok, probably close to a month ago now I was the winner of a blog competition from this lovely lady that had me squealing for joy. Part of the prize was a cookbook from one of my favourite chefs – Heidi Swanson, author of the amazing blog 101 Cookbooks and various other cookbooks.
The book sat on my desk, waiting for the perfect moment for me to flick through the pages and really immerse myself in it (Does anyone else do that?? Hold off on things so they can savour the moment more??). I did that one rainy Saturday afternoon when Melbourne was being a jerk and not being very Spring-like with the a bite or two of the chocolate that accompanied the prize.
Unfortunately, my pregnancy aversions at that stage meant I wasn’t so enamoured with dark chocolate and could only eat a little bit but it was happily devoured by Evs who didn’t even care that it was raw, organic and pretty much fructose free.
Anyways, I had my eye on a few things I wanted to try (the pepper tempeh being recommended as a good one!) and a week or so later I got my chance when Evs proudly walked into the house one evening with our very first broccoli from our veggie patch.
(Picking kale)
If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen the picture I posted there a few nights ago when we made it, but we have loved it so much that I’ve made it twice since. I based on the recipe from Heidi’s book above, but since I didn’t have..err…the main ingredient or two I kinda improvised with what I did have and loved the results.
The best part of this is that it it SO QUICK – it took me about 15-20 mins from stove to plate, including prep time. The first time I made it with fresh spinach and ricotta ravioli but made it again yesterday for dinner with soba noodles because as per usual I forgot to get the main ingredient.
For those who haven’t had the pleasure of eating soba noodles before – soba Noodles are thin noodles from Japan (about the size of spaghetti) made out of buckwheat and can be eaten in hot or cold dishes. One of my favourite memories is that of being in Hong Kong last year in the middle of the hot summer and eating the most amazing Soba Noodle salad with eggplant and mango paired with delicious crisp white wine… *drool*.
Man, I miss wine.
ANYWAYS.
Aside from being tasty as hell, soba noodles contain buckwheat which has a great number of health benefits including:
100% buckwheat noodles are gluten free (check the label as sometimes they are a mix of wheat and buckwheat flour)
Buckwheat is uniquely rich in proteins (12-15%) and the essential amino acid lysine (5-7%), which is lacking in most cereal grains.
Contains numerous B-vitamins and magnesium which are essential to our health. The magnesium found in buckwheat can also regulate your body’s insulin and glucose production, helping you ward off diabetes.
Said to be able to lower your cholesterol levels and blood pressure by absorbing the cholesterol in your small intestine
High in dietary fibre as well which is great for you know, THOSE days when you need some help being…regular.
Healthy Chilli Soba Noodles/Ravioli with Broccoli
(serves 2-4 (depending on your serving sizes), adapted from Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Every Day (Harissa Ravioli))
1 garlic clove, smashed (OR if wanting to be quick, 1 tsp minced garlic)
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
2 TB freshly squeezed lemon juice (OR, if you forget to buy lemons, 1 tsp white vinegar works too)
340g fresh/frozen cheese stuffed ravioli/tortellini OR 60g dry soba noodles
1 head of broccoli, washed and chopped into bite sized pieces
30 g flaked almonds, toasted (Can also use pepitas or pine nuts)
goat’s cheese/feta to taste (for pregnant ladies – just make sure the cheese are pasteurised. The ricotta in the ravioli is fine because it gets boiled through)
30 g chopped black olives
Bring a large pot of water to boil. In the meantime, make the chilli marinade – in a small bowl mix the smashed garlic, crushed chilli, olive oil and lemon juice/vinegar. Add a sprinkle of sea salt to taste (THIS by itself it SO YUM. I’ve used it as a salad dressing since as well. SO good.)
Toast the flaked almonds in a small pan until golden brown and then set aside.
When the water boils, add salt and then the pasta/soba noodles. Soba noodles usually take about 4-5 mins to cook, and ravioli about 4-6 minutes.
About 2 minutes before the pasta has fully cooked, add the broccoli into the water and continue to boil for the remaining time. Drain and rinse with cold water.
Put the pasta/noodles and broccoli into a large bowl. Toss with about 3/4 of the chilli marinade and most of the flaked almonds.
Serve into small serving bowls or a platter and top with more of the chilli marinade and the remaining flaked almonds. Crumble some goat’s cheese and sliced olives on top. Eat with delight
Man it’s been a long week! I’ve been dipping in and out of here, loving all the well wishes and wanting to respond as soon as I can.
But, life gets in the way. More to the point, work gets in the way which leaves me exhausted in the evening and scouring the net on my phone because laptops are abhorrent to me after hours. After spending a fantastic weekend last week getting my blog-geek on at my very first blogger conference at the ProBlogger Training Event (which I’ll blog about!!) and then almost running to the hills when faced with aisles and aisle of baby-related items at the Pregnancy and Baby expo – all I want is a quiet weekend.
I’ve been feeling good – physically and emotionally. Pretty much everyone knows my news at work and I’ve had a few people come up to me and say conspiratorially “I’ve heard a rumour about you…” to which I start to reply with an exaggerated wink “Well, it’s true…WAIT. What rumour?!!” before I realise I probably shouldn’t be admitting to anything that might be floating around the office about me.
I’ve started up at the gym again this week. This time at the fancy-schmancy new one where we now do our swimming. They had a good deal on for $30 for 30 days and I thought I’d try it out now that I was feeling good and not inclined to fall asleep on the couch in mid-sentence.
This weekend I have to vote, go swimming, pick up a Snoogle, head to a friend’s 30th birthday drinks, meet the girls for a pancake brunch and then another good friend and her husband for a Thai dinner. In between all of that there’s a small issue of cleaning the house. Sigh.
But I hope to steal a few moments in between running around and catch up on my favourite blogs and play around with my own (Which just sounds rude. At least it’s not in public). And for you (since I skipped my Wekeend Reading last week – how RUDE you say and I know. I’m sorry) here’s a few to get you going this weekend.
You may have seen the rounds going around recently of our Prime Minister giving a particularly fiery speech to the Leader of the Opposition who has been constantly dogged with claims of being sexist and misogynistic. While I did applaud Julia Gillard for finally standing up for herself, I hesitated a bit to put her up on the pedestal of feminism for that speech. I think perhaps it was to due to her essentially defending a man (the Public Speaker) who had just resigned from Parliament due to some crude, truly sexist text messages – slightly contradictory to what she was speaking against. It’s complicated – but this post from Katherine resonated with me.
We’ve all heard the spiel about how fats are evil – that “low-fat” is the only way to go to lose weight. Doing the I Quit Sugar Program not only debunked that myth for me, it opened my eyes up to what exactly we have been misled about fats. Sarah Wilson has a great informative post on fats and which ones we SHOULD be eating for our health. It may just surprise you.
After some truly inspiring sessions at the ProBlogger Event, I’ve come away with a million ideas to take this blog (which I will share soon!) and reassessed my own approach to blogging. While I’m passionate about what I write about, my take has been pretty meh. This post from ProBlogger talks about some of the habits of highly ineffective bloggers. I know I am guilty of a few of them and have vowed to work on them, but hopefully it might help you too.
Want to take up yoga but don’t know where to start? I’ve had a lot of people ask me recently how I got into yoga and found the one that was right for me. To be honest, I consider myself a newbie and am still searching for the ‘right’ one that keeps me coming back again and again. For those wanting to start yoga – I say just do it. And to get started, here are 10 tips for beginner yogis to help you on your journey.
In other news, a little while ago this video went viral after a news anchor in the US was attacked for being a bad role-model because she was her looks promoted obesity. She replied in a way that was eloquent and right to the point, but the point came up about the concept of body-shaming. What do you think – is Being Fat Always Unhealthy, Or Is Saying So Body-Shaming?? Via Thought Catalog
This sounds like me – EVERY.SINGLE.MORNING. I have this love-hate relationship with sleep (more love than hate because I’m very good at it) and this just made me laugh. Who doesn’t want to go back to a dream of riding a giant cockroach through a burning building?
With motherhood looming ahead of me, there are many many things that go through my mind. Like why do so many mothers’ lives revolve around poop? Will I ever get out of the house? Will listening to Pearl Jam help my baby love classic rock or will it shame me by only being able to fall asleep to the Biebs? But most of all, I wonder about the kind of person I’ll be after. I’m fiercely protective of my identity, even when I haven’t got it all figured out and like Em, hope that I can be a person first, mother second.
I found this brand at my local supermarket that makes non-alcoholic wine and it hits the spot. Like *ALMOST* the same – I miss the little buzz you get from wine, but this has been good on the warm summery-type evenings we’ve had over the last few days.
