2/366 - Pickle's recovery sleep

2/366

Poor Pickle woke on New Years Eve with a nasty cough and cold.  It's the first time he's been sick, and it's been horrible listening to him cough.  I'm surprised at how lightly I've slept, as I wake to every snuffle, just in case.  He's starting to feel better though, and has been sleeping well to fight against the last of his illness.  I'm loving how pudgy his hands are, and his dimpled chin (just like his Daddy's) is my favourite bit.

Cheers, KangaRue :)

Update
I discovered Project 365 last year when following The Boy and Me on Twitter, and was inspired to do my own this year.  She is doing a weekly link-up for favourite photos of the week.  I was debating between sentiment and technique, but think this photo meets both criteria, hence it being my linky this week :)

Project 365* - A Photo a Day

I love the idea of taking a photo a day to reflect back on the year.  I will endeavor to post them here at least weekly, but ideally more often.  Sometimes I'll include details, but no doubt there will be "silent" posts too.

We spent New Years Eve with good friends, having a fun and relaxing evening, though Pickle has his first cold and is not currently the cheeriest.  Today we caught up with some other friends, and I was seriously impressed with their Gingerbread House.  While I didn't think to get a photo before we started demolition, it was fairly early on in the process...

1/366*

It was a quick snap with my camera phone - after getting home at 2am, Pickle still wanted to get up at 7am and I almost forgot about Project 365 in my sleepiness.  So it will be good to see my photography hopefully develop throughout the year (no pun intended).

* While it's known as Project 365, 2012 is a leap year so there will be 366 photos.

Cheers, KangaRue

Food for Energy

I have been exceedingly lax in keeping my blog up to date of late, and I can only offer my sincere apologies.  I have loads of blog posts bouncing around my head, but with trying to catch up on study and looking after my (unbelievably) 9-week old baby Pickle, I haven't had the opportunity.  I promise my birthing story and loads of foodie related posts will follow in due course.

Pickle had his jabs a couple of days ago, which has thrown his schedule right out of whack.  He doesn't realise he's tired and has been a little scritchy... he is currently asleep attached to me via his Baby Bjorn!  While he's only got my milk to help him recover, the rest of us have other alternatives...

My friend Nikki runs Nikki's Healing Kitchen, specialising in holistic health and natural foods (hey, did you like how I did that transition?!).  I have a lovely friend, Chaz who met Nikki when they both studied to be chefs at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts in New York City; he introduced me to Nikki when she came to live in London.  She's an absolute sweetheart, and I can vouch that she practices what she preaches without being preachy, if you know what I mean?

Next weekend, Nikki is holding a Food for Energy lecture.  So to discover:

• Which foods are best to eat to maintain your energy all day long;
• Which foods may be draining your energy, wreaking havoc on your insulin levels, and adding those extra pounds; and
• How easy it is to incorporate healthier whole foods into your diet; then...

... get yourself down to Holistic Health (64 Broadway Market, Hackney, E8 4QJ) on Sunday 30th October at 1:15-2:15pm*.  Tickets are £12 in advance or £15 on the door - which includes a handout, recipe and some energizing food samples - and you can pre-book by emailing nicole@nikkishealingkitchen.com or phoning Holistic Health on 020-7275-8434.

Other than helping a friend help others to discover simple ways to naturally increase energy through diet and lifestyle, this is not a sponsored post.

* remember the clocks roll back an hour in the wee hours of Sunday morning.

Cheers, KangaRue

Competitive Mums already...?!

I have a lovely yoga teacher.  I was doing her classes before my pregnancy, and switched to pregnancy yoga this year.  The first 8-week set of classes I attended commenced with about 8 attendees, gradually dwindling as Mum's-to-be left on their maternity leave.

Just one new face last week, and another newbie this week.  A maximum of 5 attendees this round, so a small, intimate class.  Now I must say, everyone I've met so far has been just lovely.

So today's new girl is barely showing, but is at the 20-week mark (where I am).  I feel enormous, and said so with a laugh.  Some sarky comment came back at me... I'm surprised at how the competitive Mums are already showing up.  I mentioned that it depends on how each person's uterus is positioned... and got a smug smile back.

So I turned to one of the girls I've known a while and mentioned that I saw the doc last week, and had mentioned that I'd been worried that I'd not put any weight on yet.  New girl then, a little more quietly, mentioned that she'd already put a stone on.

Who's smug now then?  But perhaps I shouldn't have said that I actually lost 4kg's the first month after I found out I was pregnant... and have actually put on 600g since  *blush*

Has anyone else come across competitive Mums this early on?

PS.  I'm off for my 20-week scan tomorrow, wish me luck?  Halfway there!

Cheers, KangaRue

Stressed much?

I've been lucky so far with my pregnancy, I fell pregnant pretty quickly (at the "geriatric" age of 37) and have had very little "morning" sickness etc, etc.

A couple of weeks ago I woke up with pins and needles in the fingers of my right hand.  6 hours later they finally went.  In the interim I jumped onto Twitter and asked if anyone else had experienced it - a couple of people asked if it was pregnancy related... bizarre, "how are pins and needles in my fingers pregnancy related?" I thought.  Apparently it is - having then searched online, I found out that sleeping on my back (which I had that night), can cause it.  Sleeping on my left hand side has alleviated it - if it kept happening, apparently a wrist splint may have helped.

So when on Saturday I got spots before my eyes, that increasingly got larger, started flashing and then went to blur (I could only see half of BoyWonder's face when I looked at him), I only slightly freaked.  And then the headaches - on and off since - kicked in.  Jumping online I worried that it could be pre-eclampsia.  Had any of these symptoms lasted for more than a couple of hours at a time, I was prepared to go to the hospital, but they didn't, so first thing on Monday I went to the GP.

The GP tested both my blood pressure and urine, both of which were normal.  But he was concerned, so he sent me to the emergency eye clinic at Queen Mary's Hospital.  Spending over four hours in the hospital to be told a doctor couldn't see me that day was frustrating, so I headed back first thing this morning, this time organised with books to read.  Which was a pointless effort, as they nurses soon put drops in my eyes that, once the stinging wore off, had the world in a complete blur!

After further examination, it turns out that it's likely a type of migraine.  With pregnancy your blood vessels get bigger in order to pump the additional 5 litres of blood in your system without raising blood pressure.  While the doc wants to run some blood tests etc. tomorrow, it's likely that it's just one of those pregnancy-related things.

Oh, and was I under any stress... between working full-time, studying part-time, and being pregnant, no... but perhaps my plans for five loads of washing, gardening, study and baking a cake for the weekend was expecting a bit much.  As it was, I got none of these things done, as I've been suffering with the headaches or asleep to escape them... so I guess this is a SilverLining that it wasn't anything serious, Pickle is fine, but it was just my body letting me know that perhaps I need to slow down a bit.

Cheers, KangaRue