It's good to be back... an update

Hello! Is there anyone still out there? I have been MIA, I understand if you've all gone AWOL.

Things have been rolling along since Richie's birth. He is 10 weeks today! I can't believe how time has flown! It's certainly gone a lot faster than the last few weeks of my pregnancy!

I've decided to do an update using sub-headings as my brain is full of thoughts and I don't want to forget anything...

Family

Richie Jack has settled right into life in our little brood and Molly (despite the expected adjustment issues) absolutely loves having a little brother. She loves him hard. In fact, much of the time I am trying to stop her from smothering him with her affection. I am truly in love with my son. He is the sweetest little boy and is so chilled out, only really crying when he needs a feed, sleep or nappy change.

Our household is in the midst of change right now as our lovely housemate is moving out as she is marrying her love in 6 weeks time. I'm so happy for her but will miss her so much. We interviewed a prospective new housey but decided after meeting him that we would like to have some time as a family unit. It was nothing to do with him. He was a lovely guy who would have fitted in nicely however it just wasn't sitting right. We can't really afford the rent on our own without using some of our savings however it really feels like the right thing to do so we are just going to have to make it happen somehow. Our lease is up in February next year so we would have to spend about $3000 extra if we were to stay here in our own until the end of the lease. If we did that, we would then find something smaller (a 2 bed unit or something) in the new year or find a new housemate to move in with us. I figure we will know what the right thing is at the time. Until then, we are going to be focusing on frugality and thriftiness in  big way. Stay tuned for more frugal living posts! I welcome any ideas for interesting ways of bringing some more income into the household.

I am meeting my half brother for the first time soon! This is extremely full on as he has been estranged from my father for as long as I have been alive. He's about 20 years older than me.

Home

With our housemate moving out comes the exciting prospect of playing "house tetris" and re-arranging our space!! Molly will be moving into our housemate's bedroom (with floor to ceiling wardrobes! Storage!!!), Molly's old room will be becoming our study, the front room will probably be a play room/guest room/second living room, we are getting a smaller fridge and dining table for the kitchen area as we have not had an indoor dining table since we have moved in! The place is going to feel so much better. I am also planning to get into the garden, grow some veggies and just generally make it feel a little bit nicer. Ahh! Home! :)

Parenting

I am trying to be more proactive with my every day engagement with Molly. During the end of my pregnancy it became the norm for Molly to watch a lot more TV than I am really comfortable with. I felt bad about this however I didn't feel it was fair to ask her to turn it off considering I was not really prepared to or capable of helping her find activities to fill her time. But now I am and I'm trying to make up for lost time :).. I have bought some craft books and we are choosing a few things to do each week. I'll post some photos of our creations as we complete them. This week's first activity is making a mini worm farm!

Friends

I have also decided to be more intentional about connecting with people in our community. I have started going to the gym and walking with a kinder mum and I've been making coffee dates with some of the other parents. I have met a lovely woman who has really similar values around social justice/environmental issues/community connection etc and we are having a cuppa tomorrow morning. Her house is amazing. Her family are renters but have a great relationship with their landlord and negotiated a secure long term lease in exchange for their family purchasing rain water tanks and solar panels for the house. It's a great deal for both parties. They also have an amazing veggie garden, chooks and they pretty much never buy anything new. I've also put our family on the waiting list for the Western Organic Collective. I don't know how long it will take to get in but I am really excited.

Health and Fitness

I've got some work to do!

This area needs a lot of work. I have fallen into bad eating habits. It's not my main meals- I still eat loads of veggies, yummy alternative grains, lean meats, fruit etc.. it's the extra bits and pieces. The chocolate, baked treats, ice cream etc that have crept back in and are stopping me from losing the weight I put on during pregnancy. I have about 20kg to lose. I hope to lose it by the end of the year. I think that is a realistic goal.

I have started working out again. I am gradually building up my weekly sessions. At the moment I am doing a circuit class at the gym on Tuesdays, Walking with my friend on Wednesdays, trying to get to the gym on thursdays to do my program and walking around the tan with my mum on Sundays. I would like to build this up to doing something every day eventually consisting mostly of running and weights as I know these activities make me feel really good and give me a really nice shape.

Craft

Molly learning to sew

Crafting is my new outlet. I have taught myself to crochet and am in the process of learning to sew. I get so much pleasure from reading craft books and perusing blogs for ideas. Stay tuned for pics of my creations! I am thinking of doing some giveaways. Anyone want a pressie??

If you're still reading, thank you! I love knowing that there are a few of you out there supporting me. Please drop me a comment and say hi! 

Much love!

xox

Eggs & pelvic pain...

After suffering for several weeks with fairly severe pelvic pain, a friend of mine suggested lecithin to ease the pain. I had never heard much about lecithin before so I did what all good bloggers do and I "Googled it"..

I found out that a great source of lecithin is the humble chicken egg!

So three days later, and eating 2 eggs per day, I can confidently say that my pelvic pain has eased substantially! I am quite shocked at the super swift result! I am so thankful to my friend for suggesting it... 

I have some exercises from my osteo and have been advised to get a support belt..

If this combination (eggs, exercises & belt) is all it takes to feel better, I'm stoked! 

Ohhh YEAH!! Yoga baby!

I have just returned from my first prenatal yoga class... actually, it was the first time I have ever set foot in a proper yoga school. I LOVED the class and am already eager to get back there next Tuesday night.

Oh boy was it different to yoga in a gym!! I wrote on my registration form that I had a little experience doing yoga (thinking that I had a bit more than that), however when I walked in and all the other students started loading their arms with prop after prop after prop, I started wishing I'd written "Absolute beginner, please explain slowly".

I was lucky to lay my mat next to a very helpful and friendly woman who has obviously been attending the class for some time and she told me which props to get and what is usually done to begin the class. After my initial semi-panic, I settled into the first relaxing, opening pose and waited for the instructor to begin.

What I noticed about this class was the very gentle, slow pace. The whole thing was 1.5 hours so there was no rushing through anything. The second, and very much welcomed, thing I noticed was that there was no mirrors! So I spent exactly zero time worrying about whether I was looking fat, wearing the right clothes etc and could just try and feel the positions and trust that the instructor would tell me if I was doing anything incorrectly. She had corrected a few other people and was walking around whenever she wasn't demonstrating a pose so I felt confident that she would notice me if I was doing something drastically wrong. I LOVE having no mirrors!

It was nice to be with a whole bunch of fit and healthy pregnant women and I look forward to seeing them each week and staying fit and healthy myself.

I have been following (somewhat loosely with intent to become stricter) Dr. Gowri Motha's nutrition guidelines from "The Gentle Birth Method" and I am already feeling much better. There are a couple of basic principals to follow and then variations based on your metabolic/ayurvedic type. The two key things to remember are to avoid wheat and refined sugar. The reason is to ward off swelling and fluid retention to create an open and clear pelvic area for the baby to pass through and to limit the amount of sugar both mother and baby has access to to prevent gestational diabetes. The book is great and I am really enjoying looking at a different way to prepare for the birth of our baby. It is basic clean eating really. Pretty much what I was doing before I got pregnant however a larger volume of food to meet the daily caloric requirements.

The exercise recommendations in the book are brisk walking every day (30 mins minimum) which I am already doing most days, swimming and yoga. I will also add in some other resistance work also pretty much because I love it..

At 18 weeks I am feeling little movements every day but they are irregular and I can't make out a pattern yet. It is so nice to feel the movements and I am pretty sure I felt a kick with my hand on the outside of my belly last night. That was pretty cool. I can still hide my belly but can dress to flaunt it too and have had people comment and say that I'm "showing". I think I am carrying a bit neater than my last pregnancy. I am pretty sure I had put on 10kgs at least by this stage last time- in total last time I gained something like 40kg. I am really being more careful this time so hopefully I can contain my weight gain a little (lot!!) better. The nutrition and exercise plan should really help! The problem with trying to gain weight slowly after being obese then healthy, then bigger, then healthy etc. is that you never lose your fat cells. They just flatten down and can fill up again very easily if you allow yourself to be too lax with nutrition. Anyhow, I am hoping for the best...

I have moved my old blog (the one that followed my first pregnancy) from Vox to type pad as Vox is closing down on thursday. If anyone is interested in visiting the address is www.gomumma.typepad.com  and I started writing at 24 weeks. I wish I'd have posted more belly pics to be able to compare to this pregnancy but I didn't. I'm going to have to troll through our old lappy to find them. Hope it doesn't crash in the process.

Hope you are all having a nice day! Please say hi in the comments if you pop in!!

:)