Keeping myself Busy

Ah pregnancy... The joys of creating life, caution! Beware of unspoken side effects..

As I previously mentioned, pregnancy has been a revelation to me, as I am sure it has been to every other mum out there. I think pregnant women fall in to two categories, those that love and revel in all the wonders of the experience and those that don't! I fall into the latter category. Which came as a surprise! I was only dying to get pregnant after we got married so I expected that I would love it all! Shout it from the roof tops. Proudly display my growing bump and offer it to all to have a little rub of. 

I don't feel that way at all!

Before I go any further, let me just say that while I haven't loved pregnancy, I am very happy and very excited about what comes at the end of it. No, not the huffing, panting and, if I am to believe some people, window shattering screaming, but the little baby! To me, it's a means to an end and well worth experiencing!

What I found most peculiar is that it really does all seem to be a conspiracy. I think that at the end of the pregnancy, before they hand me over my little baby, "they" will make me sign a non-disclosure agreement forcing me to keep all things undesirable a secret from other women...

What secrets am I speaking of? Well, at the moment I have been signed off work for the remainder of the pregnancy because I have a condition called SPD. It is basically a softening of the pelvis which makes walking, climbing the stairs, sitting down, standing up, rolling over in bed very difficult and sometimes a little on the painful side. And by painful I mean there have been nights, as I try to roll my sizeable self from left to right, that I have been fairly sure my pelvis is about to split in two! By Jaysus does it hurt! But then other days it's grand and I can waddle about with minimal pain but lots of discomfort! 

So, taking into account my poor movement, I have been trying to find ways to stop myself loosing my mind.  The weight watcher in me was less than pleased that I had taken a liking to baking. And I was getting good at it too - too good if I am honest! Every evening himself came home to something new... Red velvet cup cakes, chocolate brownies, ginger biscuits, lemon Drizzel cake - which was so lemony and delicious that it made your cheeks squeak!! And loaves and loaves of bread.

Alas, himself had to sit me down and plead with me to cease and desist with the baking! I reasoned that as he was partly to blame for my current shapely shape, he too should also gain a little tummy so as to make me look small and dainty... He didn't bite! So I took on board what he said and decided it was in everyone's best interests to find another hobby. And also, all the standing was flippin killing me hips!

So I have found my new hobby! 

I have started knitting! I have my supplies and I am attempting a baby blanket.

Here is how it is going so far...

Casting on my stitches

And we're off

I shall keep you posted on my progress!

Where oh where have I been?

It's been a very very long time since the last time I blogged an entry! I realise this weight watching wife has all but fallen off the face of the earth! But, in my defence, I have a very good reason for my MIA status!

I am still a weight watching wife, I am just watching my weight go in the upward direction instead of the downward direction! The tummy on me these days is out of control! But then, it is also currently being called home by Baby Mc! Yes, for those of you that do not know, I am pregnant. Very pregnant! I am currently 8 months and counting - 34 weeks to those of you the have experienced pregnancy and count by the weeks! 

I have about 6 weeks officially left in this, assuming that my little one is as punctual as his/her mother that is! If he / she has their fathers genes, well, let's just say we could be still waiting for a grand entrance in 8 weeks time!!!

So, for those of you that read my blog, you may be able to do the math and realise that this little bundle of joy of ours is due to make his/her entrance on the 5 April 2014. This date is also the date of my first wedding anniversary! So myself and himself were very organised after the wedding!!! 

Pregnancy has been an interesting time! I have been truly blessed with a relatively plain straightforward pregnancy! No morning sickness, but plenty of queasiness in the early days! Even now, 34 weeks in, the sight of scrambled eggs can turn my cheeks green! I've had the odd dose of heartburn - an indication that I will give birth to a head that is full of hair, or so I am told!

One of the things that surprised me the most about pregnancy has been my ability to retreat into my own little bubble. I have deleted my facebook account, stopped blogging and become less and less sociable. It is most unlike me! Most people are very surprised at my deleted Facebook account and expected me to go straight back on it. If I am honest, I sort of thought I would too, so I never made an "announcement" of my intention to delete the account in case I only lasted a day! I feel such an announcement is similar to a kid announcing it's running away from home - it'll never last and it's only for attention!

The reason I've decided to come back to blogging is that I have about 6 / 7 weeks left, which means in about 12 weeks time I can return to my weight watchers class and get back on the horse - so to speak!

I expected to use pregnancy as a licence to eat rings round myself. And there have been days that I have done that! But I have been relatively well restrained! Which will hopefully make my return to my pre-pregnancy jeans a quick and easy task!!!

Thought for the Day

Complete Body Fitness.... its not a lie

I am back from my first bootcamp with Complete Body fitness.  I am pooped... as I said earlier, I tried so hard to think of some valid reasons not to go - hayfever, sure I can't be in the pollen.  Ah but the class is in doors. In door's you say?  Sure aren't I allergic to dust! Eh, no your not.

I had an internal monologue such as the above for about 20 minutes. In fact I'd wager I burned half tonights calories just thinking of reasons not to go - such was the energy I put into it. Eventually I got up and went. Thankfully I was clever enough to avoid the couch altogether or I'd have never made it out.

I got to the class and felt all shy and unfit, as you do.  Especially when all these waif like ladies were hopping about the place. But, in all fairness, Alan the Complete Body Fitness boss, was really lovely and welcoming.  It also turns out that one of the waifs was really nice to me and buddied up with me to do the cuicuts. And she's being doing it for a year so here's hoping she was like me when she started out and I end up like her!!!

That's where all the nice stuff ends. 

Oh sweet devine baby jesus... thats what I kept saying over and over throughout the whole thing. And I am pretty sure that his clock and timers are wrong. There's no way that hour was a real hour.  It had to be some sort of vodoo hour cause it was long.

I was sweating in places I didn't even know I could sweat. My sweat was sweating.  At one point he told us to get a drink - I couldn't hear him over the sound of my blood pounding in my ears... at another point we had to sit on a trampoline holding our legs up and a weight at our chest. Lets just say if it wasn't a trampoline I don't think I'd have got up. I used the springs to get some momentum going to propel me to my feet!!

The class was good. Even if I do know that I will be hardly able to move tomorow.  Himself has promised to run me an ice bath tomorrow evening.  For the first time in my life that actually sounds delightful!

Here's to feeling the burn!!!!

Week 4; Day 3

It's week 4 and Day 3. Today is the day that I start my bootcamp.  I have spent the last 2 hours trying to think of reasons not to go. So far, I can't actually think of any reason that doesn't make me look lazy. Because the truth of the matter is, even though I know exercise is a way of being healthy, I sure wish it wasn't!

I will take my measurements this evening and at the end of my two classes a week for four weeks I will retake them and see if theres any changes...

Feel the burn!

In Memory of my Godfather

On the 27 June 2007 my Godfather was diagnosed with a fatal brain tumour. We were told that he had 12 to 18 months to live.  Two weeks later, they told us that he had six months to live. 

He took his last breath on the 18 July 2007.

Our family lost a character.  He wasn't perfect, by any stretch of the imagination.  He was flawed but he was beautiful.  He had weaknesses, namely the horses and the drink, but he was wonderful in his own right.

My Godfather was never a constant presence in my life.  He would come in and out of it from time to time, always leaving me with the feeling that he was proud to be my Godfather.

I would love to say that he is in my thoughts and I feel the loss of him every day since he passed, but that would not be true.  Just as it was during his life, he comes in and out of my thoughts and I feel the loss of him randomly.

In the weeks leading up to his death we all, as a family, tried to spend as much time with him as we could. Some of my favourite memories of him are of us laughing in Beaumount at one thing or another. Mostly at my Godfather and Himself joining forces and slagging me off.  One of his favourite things to say to me was "what did I ever do to deserve a godchild like you"... depending on what had happened in the previous moments depended on whether he meant it in a good or not so good way!!

His death was one of the saddest things that has ever happened in my life. Even now, 6 years on, I feel an ache in my heart when I think of that time. His funeral was the day before the release of the last Harry Potter book. It was the first time in years that I hadn't gone to a late night book store and bought a Harry Potter new release at mid-night. I bought that last book the morning after his funeral. I read that last book quicker than I have ever read any other book – it took me 10 hours in total. When I bought the book, I got into bed and told Himself that if anyone rang for me, called to the house or wanted to speak to me I was not available.  I was sick, out of action or whatever it was he wanted to tell them. I lay in my bed and avoided the reality of his death by immersing myself in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. And when I woke the next day, I hid in that book again. And again. And again. The thought of trying to face the reality of his death was just too hard to take.

But that was 6 years ago now. The ache is still there, but not as raw. When I gave his eulogy, I said that a family is a chain, each person a link that makes it stronger, but now that chain is broken. And that is the truth.  My family and I are blessed. We are lucky enough to still have our beautiful, strong (physically, mentally and emotionally) Grandmother (or Mother, or Great-Grandmother, depending on where you come in the family!) still with us at the grand old age of 85.  She is made of the stuff that role models should be made of and she is the kind of woman I want to be when I grow up.  My Godfathers death made me realise how quickly everything can change. Literally in a heartbeat. And it made me appreciate the family I have and the time we get to spend with one another.

Today, I think of my wonderful Godfather and I smile. I smile at his memory, I think of how much he would have loved to see me get married. I remember how he promised he would be there on my wedding day. I hope that he was.

Some people have a specialness about them that allows you to forgive them and love them unconditionally. He was one of those people.

Godfather, if I could have just one more day with you I would make you steak and chips, I would have one more drink with you and I would ask you, what did I ever do to deserve a Godfather like you?

Thought for Today

I need to remember this. ..