Half way!

Can you believe it!

We are on the downhill stretch... we're halfway there and will be meeting our little honey so soon! It's gone so fast so far, and now we're here, all of a sudden we realise how much we still have to do before our little one arrives.

Our twenty week appointment went really well. Everything from the scan last week was perfect. The doctor I saw ordered blood and urine tests to form a base line to keep an eye out for preeclampsia because of my hypertension (even though my blood pressure has been BRILLIANT since I've been pregnancy)- I guess it's just one of those just in case things. One of the awesome things about being pregnant is all the extra blood going through my body means that the nurse found my vein really quickly and I bled well (for a change). Except I now have this massive bruise which is a little sore. Oh well...

I've been so lucky in this pregnancy... barely any morning sickness, my baby is developing perfectly, and Pete and I are both enjoying it so much.

Bubs has been getting lots of exercise lately, and I love it. Pete's been able to feel the movement a couple of more times, which he loves. I'm also starting to notice bub's patterns of sleeping and waking. We've had our first two antenatal classes, the first was physio where we did massage and weird relaxation methods, and this week we had one about pregnancy and giving birth in a normal labour. We felt just so enthused after the close up videos of the birthing process. Not. I'm so glad I don't have to visually be a part of that! Very scary, lucky God made my body especially to be capable of doing it! It's all pretty amazing though.

Anyway.. thought I'd pop in a pic that Pete took on our 'halfway day'.... this is me at 20 weeks. I can see a fair bit of difference from my 18 week shot, what about you?

Prac blog is LIVE again

Start tomorrow... enjoy :)

The link is down in my sidebar somewhere.

That's all!

Zoey x

Yummy Recipe

I made up this yummy risotto recipe for dinner tonight. Was beautiful, and Pete loved it too!

INGREDIENTS
* 1 onion, diced
* teaspoon of crushed garlic.
* 1 cup arborio rice
* 2 cups chicken stock
* Splash of white wine
* 400g tin of chopped tomatoes, drained
* 4 or 5 mushrooms
* 1 chicken breast

METHOD
* plug in rice cooker, pour in a little olive oil, and set to 'cook' and heat onion & garlic for about 3 or 4 minutes or until sizzling.
* add rice, and stir for about 2 minutes
* add stock, wine and tomatoes - you may need a little salt also
*Put lid on rice cooker, and allow to cook until it flicks to warm- try to give it a stir once while it is cooking.
* chop chicken breast into thin slices, and cook in a frying pan.
* slice mushrooms, add to the chicken (when chicken is cooked)
* When rice is finished cooking, stir chicken and mushrooms through and leave on the warm setting for about 5 minutes.
* Serve with a sprinkling of fresh parmesan and a dollop of sour cream.

YUM!!!

Last Night

Me: Bubby is giving me some really huge thumps tonight. I'm sure you will be able to feel it soon.

Him: I hope so!

Me: Maybe you should try now, seriously they're pretty strong.

Him: Okay, where do I put my hands?

Me: Places his hands on the right spot. Just there, stay still.... did you feel that?

Him: No, I didn't feel anything.

Me: What about that one?

Him: Looking very crestfallen. No. I can't feel it.

Me: Poo. Hopefully it won't take much longer, it feels so hard to me.

Him: I hope so too.

We both lie back in bed and start reading. I rub my tummy and plead inwardly with bubby, "Please bubby, let your Papa feel you kicking me!"

Bubby: *THUMP THUMP THUMP*

Me: Throws book at Pete, who jumps. Pete, I felt that one with my hand. Try again!

Him: Sits up quickly and leans over to put his hands on my tummy. Okay.

Me: Maybe if you press your hands down a bit harder? Just be still. It may not feel very hard to you, just concentrate.

Him: Was that it? I think I felt it!

Me: Yep, it's kicking heaps right now

Him: I can feel it, I can feel our baby! Leans over to kiss my tummy and whispers, "Thank you bubby, I love you"...

Disclaimer: The above photo is not my tummy and is almost definitely photoshopped.

Ode to my Happy Place

Noosa just isn't the same without my double chocolate chip blended cream grande frappucino.

Saturday mornings just aren't the same without an awesome coffee shop with comfy couches and yummy almond croissants to visit with my mum and sisters!

Silly Starbucks man for not franchising your business! Don't you realise what you have done? And seriously, why get rid of the Noosa one but leave the one in Mooloolaba? And I still had money on my Starbucks card! I know I can visit Mooloolaba, or Brisbane, but I WANT THE ONE IN NOOSA!



I miss you Starbucks

*sheds a tear*

Baby's first photos

Today we *finally* got to see our beautiful baby. All I can say is WOW!

Our appointment was at 9.30 am, and I was told I didn't have to drink any particular amount of water, but not to empty my bladder for half an hour before my appointment. Only thing was that the clinic was running about half an hour late, so I ended up having to hold on for a lot longer. I was so busting by the time we went in. The sonographer asked me how I was feeling, and I replied with "Busting!". She laughed and told me that it really isn't necessary to have a full bladder these days...

Anyway, she gelled me up (she was very nice and had heated the gel first so it wasn't even cold!) and away we went. We saw our baby straight away. It was kind of shrugging and wiggling, looked like it was trying to get comfortable. It was love at first sight for both of us. Bubby wasn't being very cooperative, I think it was sleepy and didn't want to move when the sonographer poked it, so I had to do the moving so she could poke at me from different angles. Eventually, she told me to go and empty my bladder to see if bubby would move from that. I told her that usually bubby loves to move when Mama has a full bladder! But no, bubs still did not change position, although it wiggled down from under my belly button, which helped a bit. (I told Pete to look out cos bubs is already exhibiting the stubborn Dutch genes!). It started waving its arms around though, and sucked its thumb for a bit, and then rubbed its eyes like it was sleepy. This first photo is taken just after that. Pete thought that was just the cutest thing ever and has been insanely clucky ever since. We got to see the baby's heart and brain and kidneys and bladder - it's incredible to think that we've seen inside our baby. Another thing I really loved is now I know for sure that the little things I've been feeling are definitely bubby moving - as when we saw bubs kicking or stretching on the screen, I could feel it. It was SO cool. Oh, and the cheeky little thing would not stop moving once I got to uni after the scan...

They have officially changed my due date until the 17th of January.. so I'm only 4 days out instead of a week... but like my doctor said, bubby will come when bubby wants to come! So that makes me 18 weeks and 2 days today. That first photo is my first belly shot which Pete took this morning. I've been noticing a real difference in my clothes lately, and in the past couple of days my tummy has started to get really hard. I thought it was still quite low (as your uterus starts growing from in your pelvis and at my last checkup had only gotten to just below my belly button), but from today, I know that bubs is actually sitting much higher than I thought.

It feels like it's really truly all happening now, and we're so excited. It was so amazing to see our baby and I loved every minute of it.

a few of my favourite flair...

Dentist again

Well back to the dentist again today. Was meant to be next week, but I had a bit of pain in the tooth that was done first, so they got me in quicker. Unfortunately because I had had pain they couldn't finish the root canal off. They just gave it another clean out, did an x-ray and put another temp filling in (which, by the way, is orange). So that means I have to go back two more times instead of once. I was so upset when I came out - am a bit hormonal this week - I'm so over having to go back. My mouth was sore after this time because they did x-rays and the card things were so sharp they cut inside my mouth. Plus I have an oversensitive gag reflex and when they took the x-ray I gagged, so it didn't work out properly and they had to do it again. It sucked!

Luckily they're hoping what they've done (which was to stuff some kind of medicated dressing into the root passage before filling it) will keep me out of pain until after the baby is born and I won't have to go back until then. So fingers crossed that the pain stays away! I can't just try and put up with it either because pain could mean infection which could harm bubby, so I have to go straight back if that happens.

Anyway we're off to Noosa tomorrow after uni classes... it's my bro's birthday on Monday so we're doing some birthday stuff this weekend.

Oh and congrats to my little sis Alexie on *finally* going for her Learners, and (of course) getting them first time!

Okay... off to eat my yummy baked golden syrup dumplings that I made for dessert.

Later gaze!

Meet Jazzi

This is Jazzi, named in memory of a special doggy, and our baby's very first special toy. Pete and I found Jazzi when we were out shopping the other day and couldn't resist her. She's so soft and fluffy, and bubby will love her.


In other news... yesterday I felt our baby doing somersaults. Apart from that it made me need to pee REALLY bad, it was the coolest feeling ever. I think s/he was dancing to the music at church. I've noticed that bubs moves the most when I need to go to the toilet. I'm not sure if it's because I can just feel it better with a full bladder, or because my full bladder makes bubby feel squashed, lol. I can't wait till Pete can feel the kicks and movements too!

My artistic husband

How cool is this! It's a piece of art by my hubby that is a part of his arts course he's doing at the moment. I think it's really cool and he's done a great job. It's not quite finished yet.. he has some more work to do on it at uni tomorrow, but when it gets home, it's going straight to the pool room!

Baby clothes!!

The way we're going bubby is going to have more clothes than us when he or she arrives.

We've been picking up a few bits and pieces, as well as receiving a few beautiful gifts... They are all so cute and we love imagining our baby in them!

It's been tricky trying to find neutral pieces actually... everything seems to be either REALLY boy-ish or REALLY girl-ish...

Today we were having a look through Target and they were having a clearance so we got a few cute bits and pieces. We got a few winter things in size 0, and some teensy little size 0000 summer things for when bubs is born.

We're getting quite a collection...

runaway ball

On the weekend we went to the park and Pete and our mate were kicking around his awesome footy that he absolutely loves, and suddenly it got stuck in a tree! I had a great laugh watching them for about 45 minutes throwing an almost full bottle of water up into the tree trying to dislodge the ball.

They were very proud of themselves when it fell.... it was SO funny.

I've circled where the ball was in the tree

Baby update...

This awesome little machine is called a doppler... and it is what today allowed Peter and I to hear our baby's heartbeat!!!

We had an appointment with the doctor today and finally got to hear our baby's heartbeat!!!!!!!!!!! It was so incredible, and really reassuring. It feels so good to know that everything is okay. The little heart is pumping away at 155 beats per minute, and the blood is pumping through the umbilical cord at the proper rate... and my tummy was making lots of awesome noises lol. It was just so.... wow!

I've also been feeling definite flutters, and my bump seems to be growing every day. We are just getting so excited...

When the doctor felt my uterus, she said that I feel like I"m further ahead than what I think... according to our original dates I'm 17 weeks, according to the 7 week scan I'm 16 weeks, and according to my doctor I'm 18 weeks!!!! I'm sticking to the 17 weeks for now, and we'll see what happens at my scan in two weeks. Bubby will arrive when bubby is ready I guess!

Love from the happiest Mama and Papa to be in the world!!!!!!