my-speck

i'm pregnant and it's going to be a rollercoaster

Things to do with great eggs (and passionfruit): #2 Passionfruit Icecream February 26, 2011

Hello!

 

So one of the bonuses of living in a city where it rained for three months straight and then suffered the worst flood in 30 years is that everything we planted in the garden this year has thrived.   We bought two passionfruit seedlings about a year ago, and put them in to run up our back stairs and back deck railing.   And they have just thrived.  We previously had one there but moving away from the house for a few years the poor plant just didn’t make it without the loving care and attention (water and food) we gave it, so was just a broken bunch of sticks when we moved back in two years ago (has it been that long already!?).  I recall however that it did take more than one season to fruit when we have previously planted passionfruit.  Not this time. (more…)

 

Things to do with great eggs: #1 Creme Caramel February 19, 2011

Filed under: cooking,eating,Parenting,pregnancy — rakster @ 2:59 pm
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Simple, good, eggy (almost two a day from our new extended family).

fresh creme caramel

This is of course so that I can eat enough protein when pregnant.  Not just because my savoury-tooth switched entirely to a sweet-tooth when I was first pregnant and has got even more sweetly-pronounced the second time around. (more…)

 

Dear Baby: Kick, kick, kicking away. February 15, 2011

Dear Baby,

So, I’m now 22 weeks pregnant, and all is going well.

I feel kinda guilty about not writing more about this pregnancy on the blog – sharing more intimately what is going on, as I did last time.

But for some reason I just feel more at peace with the whole process, and for some reason, a little more private about it all too.  Just like it is a calm and peaceful journey that we are going on right now, and that we are getting to know each other quietly while you’re growing, moving and kicking around down in my slowly-expanding belly.

You feel to me like a different baby than your brother.  I can’t put my finger quite on how or why or what is different, it is just a different feeling.

Common to last time, I have a renewed vigour for food and all things edible.  Last week your dad was out for a meeting one night and wasn’t going to be back for dinner but I had a hankering for a nice meal, so I cooked myself a two course meal that I had a craving for.  It took 4 hours to cook, in between looking after and playing with your brother, getting him fed and bathed and to bed, but it was well worth it… (more…)

 

Teaching ‘baby’ – Movie Monday January 24, 2011

Hello,

When your Grandma K asked what you would like for your birthday last year, I asked that she get you a baby doll. As I figured no-one else would want to give you one (as you’re a boy and most people stick to gender-specific gifts even when they know kids of all persuasions like to play with a variey of toys). And I knew she would oblige.

And you have come to love your little ‘baby’. It comes and reads books with us, sometimes goes to sleep with you during your daytime naps, and generally you share things with him/her. I think that knowing mummy has a ‘baby’ in her tummy has made you think more about your baby too, so it has started to feature more prominently in playtime of recent. This video captures you ‘teaching’ and ‘helping’ baby on the two occassions recently when I managed to get the video going in time. Totally un-prompted, you were doing this when I came along and started the video recording…

love mum

 

Hello down there. Hope all is well. October 21, 2010

Hello little pumpkin,

How is it all going down there? I hope well.

I’ve been thinking about you. Multiplying rapidly. I’m thinking you’re a girl. No reason to, just think you are. Maybe it’s a wish. Maybe not. Who knows.

My brain is going about 10,000 miles a second, same as it did when I was pregnant with your brother. I’m starting to get kinda tired, like exhausted, at the end of each day. About 6pm and I need to get into bed for a nap. But don’t always get the chance. …

quick note. just wanted to let you know I’m thinking of you!

love mum

21 October 2010

 

you know you’re pregnant when… October 20, 2010

Filed under: family,healthcare,Parenting,pregnancy,Raising a Child — rakster @ 8:49 am
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You know you’re pregnant when your 16 month old (yes 16 months omg I can’t really say ‘baby’ anymore, and soon we’ll move to ‘nearly two’ rather than counting in months. too quick! too quick!!!) can replicate the exact sound, pitch and timbre of your digestive farts.

Yes. The digestive farts are back in full force, and much as I’d like to think I’m the kind of refined woman that manages to keep it to herself, there just isn’t holding it in, particularly at home, and particularly when only a 16 month old is around. Who can he tell, right? …

Mm… I may be creating a little fart monster. He can now also say, “Fart”, and does so with glee.

He’s a boy, so it was bound to happen anyway, right? right? I maybe just sped up the process slightly.

written: October 20 2010…

 

Finger lickin’ goodness. May 14, 2010

Alternately: “Is my dad a cannibal or did he bite my finger by mistake?”

Hello!

Bad Parent of the Day Award today – very simple.

DAD. For biting your finger as he was attempting to eat some food that you were offering to share with him.

Your reaction: disbelief, then loud crying and screaming.

End result: 20 minutes later, red swollen finger….

ooow!! someone bit my finger

ooops.

love mum

P.S. Note, you were hungry. As per the photo, you continued to try to eat your spinach and cheese muffins with blended roasted vegetables through the tears.

 

Eating? Yes. Sand. March 4, 2010

Filed under: activities for kids,pregnancy,Raising a Child — rakster @ 5:21 pm
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Hi Poogie,

we went to the beach last weekend.  And you got your first sand eating experience.  It reminded me somewhat of G&K’s dog MoMo, who when you took her to the beach would eat sand and drink the water and then for the next while as you walked / ran along the beach the poor thing would wince and scrunch up her back as she pooed projectile-style salty water.

the baby eating sand

Sand-eating poogie. Yum Yum.

Thankfully you didn’t do that.  Just a bit of simple sand eating.  I didn’t notice sand-laden nappies, but I assume it was in there somewhere.  I don’t like to look THAT closely.

love mum

 

Birth Stories – hopefully the start of a series… February 1, 2010

Today I’m getting around to another one of those not-a-new-years-resolution resolution: get there with the birth stories. Well, start the process anyhow.  Did you notice I was digging around in the storeroom the other day looking for a book? It’s all related.  I thought I’d start simply with a letter I wrote to some friends a month or more ago – but if you’re reading and you want to take part, drop me a comment… home birth book

Hello!

As I think most of you know, I started blogging when I was pregnant & have continued on with my ramblings since then. One of the important posts that I haven’t got around to yet is finishing off the birth story post. I’ve almost got it down, I did most of it in the weeks after Poogie was born, but time is slipping away, and I want to get it out there. I’ve requested a dad version too, which is due before christmas sometime (husband read a book with dad’s versions of birth stories before Poogie was born to help with the birth preparation and found it really helpful). And I have an idea…

When I was a kid, my mother shared her experience having my sister R2, with our family, and had a home birth, which I watched. It’s still one of the best and most memorable experiences of my childhood. Perhaps another reason I remember it so clearly (apart from the event itself) was that soon after that my mum helped edit a book on birth stories. I wrote about my sister’s birth and did a picture, which was published, along with many other stories, in the book. My mum’s story of my birth and my sister’s birth, and my grandmother’s story about my mum’s birth was also published in the book. So. I had the idea before Poogie was born that it would be nice to publish not only his birth story, but republish those of others in my family at the same time, so they’re in one spot and celebrate us all. And, thinking about it further, I thought that it would be an idea to publish a few friends’ birth stories too – that is, if they wanted to share them.

So – here is my request to you. If you have a story (or two, or three) that you (or your partner or kids / family) would like to share, I’d love to be able to publish it on the blog. I’d be happy to do so. Just words, photos and words, anonymous, not-anonymous.. Whatever suits you best…

Love me

P.S. The book my mum worked on was about homebirth – but we’re interested in all types of births, babies or experiences 🙂

 

You made me cry… You got sick for the first time August 10, 2009

Filed under: pregnancy — rakster @ 1:32 pm
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Hello Poogie,

Well. You seem to have an ear infection but are coping pretty well with it. I on the other hand have been in tears. Worried that you’re ok. We took you to the pharmacist yesterday as we were worried, but on her advice and our own assessment you didn’t seem too bothered and so today we’re here at the doctor’s surgery waiting to be seen.

I don’t think I was quite prepared for how strongly upsetting, worrying and essentially heart-wrenching I am finding it. I teeter between telling myself you’ll be totally A-OK fine (which I know you will) and worrying – not about any specific bad outcome as such, but just general worry. Mostly just upset worry that you will be in pain.

waiting at the doctors

love mum