a day in the mountains

 

I've written before about how the Blue Mountains are special to the husband and I; it's where we spent most of our time together when we were first dating and a place we continued to visit as often as possible once we were married. And then life happened - I started spending most of my weekends at yoga workshops and classes, which left very little time for rock climbing together.

We knew we wouldn't be able to climb this weekend, but we still decided to drive up and spend the day wandering. We started with a bushwalk that was meant to be short and easy, and ended up being straight down a ravine and then, of course, straight back up. Whew. Lugging around the belly is not easy, let me tell you! But I was glad for the exercise.

Next, we did some exploring. We stopped to take some bump shots, bush whacked a bit, took photos of the flora, and stopped at the three sisters. On a clear day, the mountains can always take my breath away. Once again, we talked about how much we'd like to live up there. I don't think it'll ever happen though; it's way too far from our jobs, and I would miss the beach tremendously.

 

Finally, we spent some time in our favourite towns: Katoomba, Blackheath and Leura. We had a terrible experience at the Bakehouse on Wentworth (don't go!) which nearly resulted in an angry, pregnant lady meltdown. Once we found a nicer place to eat though, I started to feel much better. A generous helping of scones definitely helped. By the time we got home I was so wiped from our outing that I slept better than I have in weeks! There's definitely something to be said for that fresh mountain air.

bump: 36 weeks

 

 

This weekend we headed to the blue mountains hoping for cooler weather and a quiet day. But even at altitude, our indian summer continues and the mountains were not only hot, they were bustling with people. We had a wonderful time though (I'll blog the rest of our day later this week) and found a great spot to take this week's bump photos.

36 weeks. When I look at these shots I'm amazed at my bump - it's huge! It's hard to believe that the baby and the belly will be growing more, but I'm sure they will. On our drive home last night we were talking about how the baby seems like a real person now, with a personality. Bub reacts to loud noises, pushes back when you press its feet, has certain times of day when s/he wakes up and treats us to some acrobatics, and doesn't like to let me sleep on my right side. The closer we get to meeting the little one, the more excited we become. Next month, next month we'll be parents...

especially grateful for, 5th edition

As I reach that point in my pregnancy when the tasks of everyday life have become uncomfortable, I find myself whining a lot. I complain that standing is hard, sleeping is hard, eating is hard, breathing is hard... And while all of that is true, I don't want to while away these last few weeks of my first pregnancy feeling grumpy. I have so much to be grateful for, and when I remembered that I realized that the last time I wrote one of these posts (originally inspired by Whitney) was last August! So I think it's high time to write down, in no particular order, 10 things I'm especially grateful for right now...

1. The new bedding prettying up our bedroom, and making me never want to leave my bed.
2. A good friend who has helped me so much these last few weeks.
3. The fact that next week I teach my last few open level yoga classes. After that I'm down to just 2 prenatal classes a week, which means I'm basically on maternity leave!
4. A Christmas package that my mom mailed me back in October, which we assumed was lost forever, has made its way back to her in Vancouver. It's a hassle, but at least husband and I will get our Christmas/birthday presents after all!
5. The slightly cooler nighttime temperatures which mean we can now sleep with just 1 fan instead of 2.
6. Dreaming about our Canadian summer and making plans.
7. Husband's stable job. 
8. All of Ina May Gaskin's books.
9. Sweet photographer friends who share their talents with me. I'm so lucky.
10. A healthy body. A healthy baby. 

nesting: the beginnings

- Enjoying a hot drink with friends at the addison road markets chait tent.

- A baby project in progress. It will be a mobile with a moon in the middle.

- Beautiful, beautiful kale for our daily green smoothies.

- A yellow carrot! Made into a yummy juice that I'll blog about soon.

- This week's flowers; I love how they look like mini pom poms.

This weekend, at 35 weeks pregnant, the husband and I finally starting nesting. To be honest, I haven't felt the nesting urge kick in yet but I'm a procrastinator so I suppose that's hardly surprising. You'll probably find me at 40 weeks pregnant scrubbing the bathroom with a toothbrush. In the meantime, we decided we better get down to business, instinct or not.

Over the weekend we visited Bunnings, Target, the Bower and Woolworths. We bought cloth nappies and face cloths to use in labour, cozy flannel pyjamas to pack in the hospital bag, baby singlets and other bits and bobs for labour and birth.

At home, we took advantage of a council pickup and de-cluttered like crazy. Best feeling ever. I also cleared out our spare room - a task I'd been avoiding for months - and got it all ready for my mom to stay. Of course, there was also some sewing for baby. A sweet little project I'll hopefully be sharing here on Thursday. Right now we're waiting on a chest of drawers I ordered online to arrive; when it does all of the baby's things will be put away. This week I'll go to Ikea, pack the hospital bag, and write some more lists. Oh so many lists...

p.s. this is my 501st post, wow!

bump: 34 weeks

A late beach bump today. I'm actually 35 weeks now, but let's just rewind a bit shall we... The lovely Belinda and I took advantage of the glorious Easter weather to snap these at Dee Why last week. Now our days are finally cooling down, but I'm sure I'll still have a few opportunities to bare my white belly to the sun in these last few weeks.

So yes, we're in single digits now people. I could give birth in 2 weeks, or in 7. Let's hope it's somewhere in between the two because we are definitely not ready to bring a baby home in a fortnight, but another 7 weeks of gestating may actually break my back. These days by 4 pm I'm full on waddling. It's pretty hot.

The little one seems to grow stronger by the day. We can watch its little feet kicking from my belly button to my ribs, over and over again. Another favourite trick is to press both feet hard into my ribs and push its bottom up as high as possible. Though its sometimes just plain uncomfortable, its mostly endearing. A beautiful affirmation that baby is healthy and strong.

p.s. thanks again Belinda, I love them!

my creative space: yet another doll

 Here she is, the other little doll I made last week when I was feeling blue. Her name is Celeste, and I'm going to hang on to her just in case I have a girl after all. You can see the first Black Apple doll I made here, and the second here. I'm linking up here today, and next week I hope to be back with another 'My Creative Space' post NOT involving dolls. We'll see...

Lastly, sorry for the silence this week. It's just been one of those run around like crazy weeks, and yet never seem to accomplish anything. Today, in fact, I put petrol in the car and when I went in to pay I realized I didn't have my wallet. I was terrified I had actually lost it, but I convinced the guy working to let me run home and look for it. Luckily, it was there so I went back to the service station immediately and paid. The guy looked relieved, and then told me I sound like Ryan Gosling. I'm going to take that one as a compliment. I think. Anyway, all's well that ends well.

healthy(ish) oatmeal raisin cookies

This weekend I was craving some cookies, as much for the baking as the eating. Usually when I bake it is because I enjoy the process - spending time in the kitchen, getting my hands covered in flour and listening to good tunes while I'm at it. Getting a sweet treat at the end is really just a bonus.

I had my heart set on oatmeal raisin cookies, but since I've been trying my best to eat a whole foods diet I searched out a healthy(ish) recipe. I found this one, and it worked so well! I used a combination of wholemeal spelt flour and regular flour, and rapadura instead of sugar as the recipe calls for. The recipe says to use coconut oil in its solid form, but I live in Australia where coconut oil is NEVER in solid form and it worked out just fine. All in all, a total win. I hope you get to try them out!

my creative space: a sweet doll

 In my last post I mentioned that I spent my day sewing up two little dolls. This is doll one, a sweet little girl destined for my friend's brunette baby. I like to think her name should be Mable, or maybe Maple (yet another favourite girl's name my husband hates!). She's the same black apple doll that I made back in December, with slightly tweaked proportions. You can find the pattern for free here.

Sometimes making something completely impractical and whimsical is the best kind of crafting, especially when you're in a funk. Doll two will be blogged next Thursday...

Thanks again for all of your kind and heartfelt comments this week. It's meant so much to me.