30 Weeks Pregnant

The weeks to go are about to reach single digits! This little girl will be here in no time!

This week:

• The weather has gone from 33 degrees to about 10 degrees in two days. I much prefer the colder days.
  
• I got some intense fluid retention pains in my feet and hands after working a long, busy, hot day yesterday. It was so sore to move them and so I fashioned myself some slippers out of wet flannels and they worked perfectly!
  
• I think it is safe to say that iced chocolates are my pregnancy craving. I drink a good few a day when I am working. Just milk, ice and choc syrup though. It does the trick without leaving me feeling totally guilty.
  
• I had my parents stay with us for a bit and it was so nice to see them and they looked after us so well by taking over the kitchen for the week!
  
• Sleep is still pretty tough, the number of pillows on the bed are increasing and Killer is getting frustrated at how many night time bathroom trips I have to take. What a hard life she has!
  
• Baby C is being spoiled already and plans for her baby shower are underway! Hopefully tomorrow we can purchase some drawers (to be up-cycled) and get some foam cut for her bassinet.
  
• Baby C is now as long as my foot (39-40cm) and starting to pack on the pounds. I can feel her hiccuping quite often and the kicks I used to feel are now more like stretches and rolls as she is starting to run out of room.
  
• Bending over, doing up shoelaces and picking up items from the floor is getting tough! 
  
• We get another scan at the end of next week so Dave gets to see her again!
  
• We started ante-natal classes this week and the first one was pretty cool! Lots of info and potential friends and future baby playdates!

xx

28 Weeks Pregnant

This girl-flavoured bump is definitely making itself known now! I feel like FINALLY I'm past the 'Is-she-preggo? Better-not-ask-in-case-she-ate-too-many-pies' phase.

This week:

• Third Trimester baby! Home stretch! Although it is dawning on me that this baby girl has to come out somehow and each day she just gets bigger! I do want her to cook as long as possible though.
• She is bang on her growth dates, and in the last scan I saw her do a big yawn and stick her hand in her mouth. Hopefully she stays that chilled out once she leaves her cocoon.
• I am getting HUNGRY! My appetite has been more or less the same so far, if not less, but now I am finding myself still hungry after eating a full meal. Still no cravings though!
• My sleep is becoming more and more interrupted by multiple toilet visits and the need to use all the pillows to support my back and ever-growing tummy. I am secretly glad though because I was the worlds deepest sleeper so it is good practice for those long nights ahead of me. 
• The preggo hormones are back again, I am finding myself irritated at tiny little things but can still see how silly I'm being at the time. Sorry Dave and Workmates!
• Baby C is doing some decent wiggles and kicks now, it makes my whole tummy jump around and Dave still gets the biggest kicks. She is head-down at the moment so I get lots of feet to the ribs too. 
• Baby C is now weighing in at around about 1.3kg. She is as big as a large eggplant and can blink her pretty little eyes and eyelashes. 
• I am back to being super tired, like I was in my first trimester. Naps almost every afternoon are on the menu.
• Baby C gets hiccups quite a lot too. It feels like little rhythmic movements, usually against my hip bone, about a second apart, lasting from a minute up to about 5 minutes. You can feel it by putting your hand on my tummy too!

Keep doing what you are doing Baby C!
xx

Baby C Gender Reveal!

We finally managed to find out the secret that Baby C was keeping from us! She was obviously trying to be ladylike at the 20 week scan and cross her legs!
All is going well in her world, she is measuring perfectly for her dates and all the important bits are there! She was being very cute during her scan, big yawns, hiccups and sucking her hand. I must have rocked her to sleep with my walk to the appointment!

We are absolutely stoked to be able to call Baby C a 'she' rather than an 'it'. I have a feeling she will be a real Daddy's girl.

I will be back with the regular updates later on this week!

26 Week Update

This week I am saying goodbye to my second trimester. Trimester numero tres looms ahead and I know that after the next few weeks of uncomfortableness, our baby will be here with us. Exciting!

This week:

• Baby C is the size of a head of lettuce.
• Baby C is having a great time using up all the space my tummy has to offer, but has been pretty chilled out the last couple of days.
• Baby C's eyes are practicing blinking.
• I am beginning to have some super uncomfortable days and nights where my back aches but I have a secret weapon I will be sharing with you in a day or two that gets me through.
• I have my next series of blood tests coming up. I very much dislike getting blood taken from me so having three lots taken in three hours doesn't sound like fun. It is just routine Glucose testing but still. I plan on having some sort of delicious treat for lunch because you have to fast for 12hrs before hand!
• Next scan day is only a couple of weeks away! Any votes on Boy or Girl?
• Still no cravings but I am overheating to the max!
• Dave has been treated to some powerful roundhouse kicks to the hand. I'm positive Baby C knows when Dad is there.
• My belly button is still an innie.

Gluten Free Gingerbread Cookie Recipe (and Homemade Plum Jam!)

 

 My sister-in-law is gluten intolerant and I find the fact that a lot of my absolute favourite baking treats are off limits to her. So this year I am going to try and either source some great recipes or adapt my own to make gluten-free treat-eating less limited!

One of the first things I made were these Gingerbread objects. They were going to be gingerbread men but I was missing the key item - the cutter. So thanks to Holly, I made stars, flowers and birds.
Unfortunately my sis-in-law missed out on tasting these goodies so Dave and I have been munching away at them this week.

Verdict: The mix was pretty sticky and hard to work with, but the resulting biscuits still kept their shapes. They are the kind of biscuit you need to eat with a cup of tea - tasty but quite dry.
Eating them, you wouldn't know these were gluten free which overall makes them a success for me!

Here is the recipe I adapted from Hansells

1/3 cup golden syrup
1/4 cup softened butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 egg
2 cups Gluten Free baking mix (or 2/3 cup each of rice, potato and tapioca flours and 1/2 tsp of xanthan gum)
- See more at: http://www.hansells.co.nz/Recipe/XnaI4IupI0Kea3WwqpVOYw#sthash.tpLJvjX0.dpuf

Ingredients:
1/3 C Golden Syrup
1/4 C butter
1/4 C Brown Sugar
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Allspice
1 tsp Ginger
1 Egg
2 C Gluten Free Flour (I used mostly a pre-mix, but used cornflour and buckwheat flour to roll the dough out)

Icing:
1 T butter (softened)
2 C icing sugar
Hot water to mix

Method:

• Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celcius.

• Melt together the butter and golden syrup.

• Mix in the rest of the ingredients with a wooden spoon.

• Roll out dough on a lightly floured (Gluten Free flour or cornflour) surface. 

* I tried this and used way too much cornflour for no result so I rolled out the dough on a sheet of baking paper

• When dough is around 1/2cm thick, cut out shapes with cutters and place on a lined baking tray, leaving room for spreading.

• Bake for 12 min. They will harden as they cool.
  
  
• To make icing:
  Mix butter and icing sugar with sufficient water to get icing to a thick piping consistency. Beat until white.
  Put icing in a piping bag with a small nozzle and decorate gingerbread as desired. Be creative!

The other baking exploit that we undertook last weekend was to begin our journey as jam-makers. We stripped our over-laden plum tree of the last of its fruit and Dave set out with the fun job of pulling the stones out of 2kg of plums.
The cooking process took longer than expected but we ended up with delicious Plum Jam! slightly tart but still sweet and sticky. We filled 4.5 jars (500g) and we have already delved into the half jar. YUM!

Our recipe was simple:

Plum Jam

2kg plums - stones removed
2kg white sugar

-Bring to the boil and reduce heat and simmer until a blob of jam dropped onto a cold plate wrinkles when you push your finger through it.
-Pour into hot sterilized jars and seal.
-Make pretty labels for the jars.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup golden syrup
1/4 cup softened butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 egg
2 cups Gluten Free baking mix (or 2/3 cup each of rice, potato and tapioca flours and 1/2 tsp of xanthan gum)

Icing
1 Tablespoon butter
2 cups icing sugar
few Teaspoons of water to get it to the right consistancy
Method:
Preheat oven to 180C
Melt golden syrup and butter in large bowl.
Allow to cool and add sugar, baking soda, spices, egg and all the flours.
Beat with wooden spoon until forms ball - should still be a little sticker than standard flour would be
Transfer dough onto very lightly floured board. Roll out until around 1/2 cm thick.
Cut out men.
Place on non stick tray 3 cm apart.
bake for 12 mins, until firm but not rock hard as they harden as they cool.

Icing
Mix butter with 1/2 cup of icing sugar until white. Slowly add rest of icing sugar and water until firm consistancy is reached.

Ice men once cool, store in an airtight container
- See more at: http://www.hansells.co.nz/Recipe/XnaI4IupI0Kea3WwqpVOYw#sthash.tpLJvjX0.dpuf

24 Weeks Pregnant

We have been having a couple of 30 degree days lately. Those roasting NW winds make me retreat to the cool of the house with an ice block in my hand.

This week:

•  I get to say I'm 6 months pregnant!
• Dave can feel some huge kicks from Baby C and likes to watch my tummy move when Baby C is moving around.
• My belly is getting in the way now, it has grown so fast that I forget it's there. I find myself underestimating the gaps I can squeeze through and having to stand an extra step away from the bench at work.
• It should be around 4 more weeks away that I get my next scan so I can finally find out whether Baby C is a boy or girl. 
• We have ticked off the majority of our big ticket baby purchases now, bassinet, cot, buggy and capsule/carseat. It feels good to know that the biggest stuff is out of the way. True to form we got it all second hand and Dave has already finished the bassinet makeover. 
• Baby C has been GROWING! My poor abs are putting up a huge fight and giving me grief sometimes. I also think they make Baby C sit back quite far so my back plays up too. But it all means that Baby C is fattening up.
• Food Faves: Still no cravings! Just a desire for fresh fruit and I have been chowing down on large amounts of grapes and nectarines. 
• I am getting more and more clucky, we spent some time with friends and their 5 week old girl and she slept on me for a good hour and it was bliss. It's hard to imagine the transition from giant belly to snuggly newborn though. 
• I had my first week back at work after the holidays and survived 40 hours! Long may it last!
  
  xx

{DIY} Recycled Wood Fox Art

The wall above our bed has been empty since we moved in. Mostly because we needed some larger scale art, and also because I was too scared to put holes in the walls. Even though they are 'our' walls it still feels like a big deal.

When we moved in there was a bunch of skinny wooden battens shoved in the wood pile that Dave saw potential in. One nice sunny day later and we had a bunch of battens de-nailed, cut to size, arranged, re-nailed onto a frame and sanded back. This time I actually did everything except the sanding! I won't mention how frustrated I got at the hand-saw after having the luxury of power tools.

Dave and I decided on a fox image. Why do we like foxes so much? I think because I see them as a cross between a dog and a cat and they are pretty sneaky. Sounds like a pretty awesome animal to me!
We found an image we liked, made it poster sized and cut out the stencil. Well, Dave cut out the stencil.

We wanted clean lines on the edge of the fox so we decided not to use spray paint like we usually would. I traced around the stencil with pencil (rhyme) to get an outline so I could paint around it.

Once the fox was painted we gave it a rough sand, put a clear coat over top and we were done. A piece of art we created together to pretty up our bedroom.