Pops of colour on grey days, a gift from one of my littlest friends and comfort food – this is the week that was…
Wagga Wagga to Worcestershire & back again
August is one of those quintessential transition months in Wagga Wagga – spring-like weather will show up for a day or two at a time, but then is punctuated by the grimmest of wintry conditions. The days are getting start to get longer, but the mornings will still often be frosty. In this month of contrasts, this is what’s been making me smile…
The further my pregnancy has progressed, the more my outfit choices have reflected comfort. Dresses and stretchy waistbands are now everyday staples, as anything that pulls too tightly across my bump has felt constricting and itchy. A couple of months ago I started looking for a few items that I could wear both during my hospital stay and in those first postpartum weeks, when I’ll no doubt be a little sore and tender and spending most of time at home.
After overwhelming success with Ripe branded maternity wear in the early part of my pregnancy, I turned to them again and in the process I think I’ve found the world’s comfiest lounge pants…
The other day my brother and I were reminiscing about some of the food we used to eat after school to keep us going until dinner was served. It was always a meal I looked forward to, ravenous after a day of learning, and usually consisted of toast or savoury biscuits with cheese, some fruit and maybe something a little sweet. It got me thinking about other childhood favourites and immediately chocolate slice sprang to mind…
I loved playing games when I was a child – board games, guessing games and even a few PC based games as computers became a staple of everyday life. However, after I left school most of the games suddenly stopped. It wasn’t until I really met Adam that games became a part of my life again. When we lived in England, he introduced me to game nights (dinner + post meal frivolities) and also to computer or mobile based games. I knew the latter of these existed, but I’d never really been bothered to look into them. The one day Adam showed me a geography based game…
Adam’s been working interstate this week, so I’ve been using his absence as an opportunity to cook meals that’s he’s not so fond of. One of those is pasta melanzana – a favourite solo supper of mine for many years. It’s an easy mid-week meal, that’s vegetarian, quick to assemble and generally provides enough for leftovers for lunch the next day. Its star ingredient is eggplants – a vegetable I love, but that Adam’s rather ambivalent about….
I often think July feels like one of the longest months of the year, mainly because it’s smack bang in the middle of winter when the days are short and everyone has well and truly settled into hibernation mode – preferring the cosy comfort of home.
In the midst of this season of winter, I’m still finding plenty to smile about though…
I’ve been aiming to make 2019, my year of calm. My goal was to set out and carve out more calm moments in everyday. While I think I’ve been quite good at finding and committing to occasions of calm – 10 minutes to quietly enjoy a cup of tea, half a day to read or binge watch something, or a single night away somewhere lovely – I’ve realised I haven’t been so good at having prolonged periods of calm.
Something I didn’t mention in my second trimester diary earlier this week, is that I’ve been having a few pregnancy-induced issues with my blood pressure the last few months. It’s resulted in semi-regular bouts of being dizzy and light-headed, feeling nauseous, and having hot flushes – often lasting several hours. It’s been something my doctor has been keeping an eye on and after a particularly prolonged ‘turn’ earlier this week she decided I needed some time out to recover, so she sent me off with a medical certificate for a few days rest…
I can’t quite believe I’ve now hit the third trimester of pregnancy. Instead of counting the weeks up, Adam and I counting the weeks down until we meet out little person.
The second trimester is often described as the ‘golden period’ of pregnancy – where that first trimester sickness has abated, but the aches and pains of the third trimester haven’t quite taken hold.
For me personally, it was very much a trimester of two halves…