Um. You look different.. Was it that Southern food?

Well, it's probably a little to do with that. But it's a lot to do with our wee Sophie.
Here's how this belly of mine expanded in the last 9 months.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last 20 weeks - In 5 Words or less.

Hmmmm. Is this doable? We shall see. It's almost like those life lately posts on crack.


September.
Baby moon. Two sweet words. A modern construct in a modern world. Regardless of your thoughts on a baby moon. We had saved my most anticipated trip in the States for fall of 2014. And we happened to be pregnant, so baby moon it became.
In short: Houston to Vancouver. Ferry to Victoria. Ferry to Seattle. Drive to Portland via Mount St Helens. Drive to Crater Lake via Columbia River Gorge. Drive to the Pacific. Then, casually trot down to San Fran. And let me just say, it was my favorite trip in the States. There will be so many Travel Thursdays coming from that trip.

So much happniess. Victoria is beautiful.

Crater Lake. There are actually no words.

Latourell Falls. One of so many beautiful spots along the gorge.

Two Baby showers!
So spoiled. A lovely afternoon tea at work. And a surprise shower and early thanksgiving from our adopted Texan family. We are so blessed to have a family a world away from our home.

Organizing a move in your Third Trimester.
Yeah, nah. Don't do it. Instead, enjoy little things. Like football. And donuts. This was a time of making the most of some of the things I love about America. Like football. And donuts.

Like donuts.

And football.

Little Man!
Our Texan family has been going through the pregnancy journey with us. And the bestest news... Little man decided to come two weeks early so we got to meet him! And spend a week with him. So happy and blessed to meet him.

Houston to Dubai. Dubai to Perth.
All I can say is that the other side of the world really is, the other side of the world. So far. So, so far. But having best friends waiting for you at the other end is rad. With a capital R.

Dude, we are kind of homeless.
Well, not really I suppose. We have a hotel for a month. But this baby mama has been waiting to nest for 7 months. Someone get me a house. Stat.

Wow. 29.
Is it me or did 29 years go pretty fast? Hmmm. Pretty happy about the way my 29th year has gone. Let's see how year 30 will be!

Sophie got in some great Happy Birthday kicks.

The view from my birthday lunch. I don't hate it here, not at all.

We have a house! And a thermomix!
Cue cleaning, building idea furniture, trips to the department store, trying to rest but really sucking at it, listening to the house noises, wondering whether we will be murdered or if it's just the house, scrubbing the bath, taking baths, chatting to Sophie, seeing our lovely friends, hoping for the temperatures not too get too high, being happy when temperatures stayed under 35, sulking when they got higher. And oh the thermomix. So much happiness in one machine.

Nesting.
It's like all the things I imagined and pinned and plotted suddenly started coming to life. So much relief, glee, excitement and aqua. I believe its a pregnancy thing.Can't wait to do a "nursery tour" and share where I got all the pretty things from.

I just love her Moses Basket.

This makes me happy.

Yes. This Ikea hack is my favorite thing ever.

Baby Shower.
I really have the bestest friends. So lucky. So lovely. Vintage woodland themed amazingness.

The origami garland.

Liz makes the cutest cupcakes.

Christmas!
The lead up to Christmas was mostly spent distracting myself from the upcoming delivery. So I made lots of Christmas decorations and tried to rest up. Christmas away from home is always hard. I was up anyway so I skyped my family at 4 am so I could watch my wee nephew open his presents. Totally worth it! Christmas Day itself was spent with our dear friends celebrating a special ladies birthday and enjoying the sunshine.

These lovely angels were a Pinterest win indeed.

You know when you nail something that you didn't have a pattern for? Very stoked!

Our lovely treeling.

Garland wall in all its loveliness.

Baby watch - two solid weeks of contractions mean we are just waiting for her to pop out (that's totally how it works right?). One day they will last more than a few hours and then it will be game on. For now it's a perching on the birth ball and waiting kind of game.

New Years!
Party animals. Well except not! More resting and wondering if all these contractions would lead to a baby born at 12:01 on January first. Nope! She's still there.

So that's us, all up to date! Its been lovely catching up with you guys! And I'm sorry. I guess I totally went over the 5 word mark.

It's the First of January

In case you weren't aware.

Which means all sorts of things.

It's a time when people set out to make changes in life. Start anew. Rekindle old flames. Lose the Christmas poundage. Start that book. Decide to repaint the house. Swear you will be better at communicating this year, or better at those 5:30 runs, or better at making time for yourself.
It's a morning of hangovers feasts (just one last bad meal before the new year diets) , Christmas tree taking down (why are we doing this hungover?), and long slow looks at that old wall planner that needs to be replaced with a shiny brand new one.

If you have had a rough 2014 it's a time for hope of what might come. If you've had a great year it's a time to be thankful and hope for more awesomeness.

For me, it's a time to feel utterly blessed. A year ago today we decided to try for a baby. We were in New Zealand visiting family, and fell so in love with our nephew it set in stone an idea we had been playing with back and forward for quite some time. Today as I sit here, I can feel our wee one kicking about as she gets ready to make her way into the world.

Today is January the first. It also marks week 39 of our pregnancy. And it is 8 weeks since we left the United States and made the trip to Australia. Hmmm. What other milestones can we mark today? Well, it's been 20 weeks since my last blog post. 20 weeks? Wow. That wee break went on and on. And so much has happened since then. So much good blog material. Yikes. The thing is I guess, I really struggled to balance a blossoming Bebe, full time work, wifedom, traveling the States and my blog. So, sensibly (I think) the blog had to take the back seat. And here's a confession. I have missed writing. So much. I mean, at this point I also miss margaritas, crossfit and barely cooked steak, but they were totally worth the break while I have been growing wee Sophie.

So here is the question... Can I get back into writing at the verge of having wee one..? And can I keep it going through her newborn stage? Will I be writing when she fits her 3 month onesies? And then, can I get stronger with balance and keep writing when I eventually get back to work. I don't know really. But it's the first of January. It's worth a try right?

Goodness, it feels quite nice to write something that isn't a to do list.

It was kind of a crazy old year.

Week 18 - Life Lately

18 weeks - this week has been a tough one, but with the love of Rob and and awesome outpouring of support and love from friends and family we are doing good. Still in a lot of pain but our wee girl is safe and sound. 

Focussing on positives - being in hospital wasn't fun, but we got to see our little girl again which was both a relief and a massive happy bubble.

Happy for the nausea to be gone -  and with it the vege aversion. Yayah.

Keeping positive - Took some time this weekend to do happy stuff. Including watching one of the stupidest, awesome and most hilarious movies ever, Talladega nights. 

Planning the nursery - even though he hates dealing with Ikea crowds, Rob took me there to cheer me up and help me plan the nursery. What a guy : )

Shopping for our little one - you guys! How crazy cute is this! One of the little outfits I have been buying for Sophie.

Date night - we had a date night with our Texan family, and ate some amazing seafood - Po Boys aren't Paleo, but man are they tasty!!