For Everyone Out There Who Has Been Exercising Lately...

This made me laugh.  Except that, it doesn't really apply to me - given that I'm pregnant AND crippled at the moment (seriously having issues with these crutches!!).  But one day :)

...and it's usually actually me crying, because the workout is so hard...  But hopefully I get past that stage too... :)

PS:  Still feeling great, and loving this junk food detox... is this really me talking??  Obviously I really needed to back off the chocolate a little! :P

Ever Seen a Pregnant Woman on Crutches??

WARNING:  Long sob story, with some excess of wallowing... :)

So yesterday, I walked (obviously excessively powerfully) by my couch, and stubbed my toe.  I collapsed on the couch in pain, and after it really sunk in (the full strength of pain was a tiny bit delayed), I realised it was really bad - like, worse than any other stubbed toe pain I'd had.  I looked at my little toe, and was nearly sick - it was sticking out at a disgusting angle, away from my foot!  Ew!!!

Fortunately I had my phone in my hand, so I called James (in hysterics, a little bit) and I do not remember the exact wording, but the fact that he was in the driveway and bounding up the stairs maybe 30 seconds later (what a blessing that he works down the road!! - I found out later that he hadn't even told anyone that he was leaving! He'd just dropped his work and left!  His boss called later that afternoon to see what was going on :p) might give some indication that I was fairly urgent (and possibly a little demanding) about it.  As I was hanging up from James, Mum was calling (she's got that intuition thing down).  I blubbered that I'd broken or dislocated my toe, and she offered to come over to look after the girls.  I hysterically yelled "Can you be here in 2 MINUTES?!" and she calmly said "No, but I'll be there in 15" (which is about how long it takes to get here).  She also mentioned that if it were dislocated, James could probably just 'pop it back in', to which I may have screamed something about real doctors and painkillers, and "NO!!!".

Poor Maggie, who I'd put to bed only a moment before, timidly appeared at the doorway of my room (where I'd hopped and collapsed dramatically on the chest at the bottom of our bed to try to get dressed) and said "Are you okay Mummy?!".  Oh dear.  Try and hold it together, Abby!  I managed to smile and only sob a little bit, and say "Yes honey, I just hurt my toe a little bit" before bursting into tears and saying "Can I have a hug?!".  Poor little girl!  She was happy to give me a hug, sure that it would cure me I think, and then I pulled it together a little and managed to smile and send her back to bed, before hopelessly bursting into tears again.  When James then bounded through the door, after I'd stopped hyperventilating and pointing emphatically at my toe (which I really couldn't look at again - ugh!!), I asked him to please go to his possibly traumatised daughter and make sure she was okay!  But when he went to her room and started to talk to her about what had happened, she was busily reading a book, and didn't seem to mind anything at all, other than asking him what was happening on the next page.  I guess I was the traumatised one :p  Mum came over, I think exactly 15 minutes after she called, and James carried me downstairs and into the car.  It is extremely difficult to hop, when you're 29 weeks pregnant.  And I'm not sure that it's safe.

When we got to the hospital, he parked where you're not supposed to (not afraid to defy parking rules in light of a wife's sore toe - my hero ;)) and carried me into emergency.  I was painfully embarrassed  but I wasn't having a great deal of success with my attempted at hopping again :p  When we finally got in for the x-ray (they covered baby boy in my belly with 2 of the iron aprons and assured me it was 100% safe before asking if I was sure I wanted to proceed since I was pregnant lol) and then into the plaster room (after a wait long enough to allow me to imagine the awful pain of re-setting my almost certainly dislocated toe many times over and enough to make me shake all over), the doctor said "You've actually broken your toe".  Oh.  Did that mean they didn't need to re-set it??  Of course they did - it had snapped right through at a funny angle and was sticking out - they needed to put it back in place to heal properly  :(  After warning me that they would hurt a LOT, she then gave me 2 giant, painful, horrible awful needles, right into the bone, on either side of my little pinky toe.  The doctor was right.  It hurt, a LOT.  I cried out and sobbed into James!  I was so embarrassed, but I couldn't help it!  And James even seemed to think it was justified, because they were huge, and the doctor seemed to think they were going to half kill me with the pain, and can I use the 'pregnant' thing??  Anyway, thank goodness she'd let me bring him in! :)  And then the anaesthetic (okay, there was a GREAT reason to put me through those needles, shudder) set in, and she fiddled with putting my toe back into place while I was mercifully without feeling in my foot.  Hooray for anaesthetic!!! :)  I was soooo grateful not to feel it, I can't even tell you!  It was like when I got the epidural when I was in labour with Maggie, and suddenly the world was a happy place again :)

So they strapped said snapped little toe next to it's closest relative, and gave me a lovely set of crutches, to use for the next 6 weeks (that's right - until I'm 35 weeks pregnant! - 1 week before Christmas!), or until the pain goes away and I can walk again.

Because I weigh a lot right now, and I'm unbalanced and awkward, it's actually really, really difficult to use the crutches.  They kill my arms, and my left leg - the one I can walk on - is dying!  I don't want to go anywhere!!  It was pretty hard making it up the stairs when we got home yesterday afternoon, and that was before the pain had come back!  Which it has now.  But I know the worst is behind me, and hopefully I NEVER have to get those needles again!!

(sigh) Okay, sob story over, somewhat inconvenient 6 weeks to begin!! :)  It's hard to do anything right now, as cooking requires standing up and using your hands, and looking after or lifting the girls has become ridiculously hard/awkward, but I guess I'll get the hang of it, and hopefully it heals quickly and nicely.

Oh for the sake of one little toe!!!

:p

xo

83 Days of Health: Day 8 ... and a few random bits & pieces...

Healthier Eating Update:  I feel better.  More pregnant & less fat. And just... healthier! :)  Which is actually a pretty good feeling!!  James has suggested I have a dessert a week, like I did back with the fitness challenge, but at the moment I'm enjoying the full de-tox treatment, so I'll keep going 100% for now, and see how I go!  I tend to graze a little at home during the day, so I've been replacing chocolate with peanuts, crackers and hommus, cheese and fruit.  It's amazing how after 3 days fruit felt like a dessert!! (like, really amazing for me!)  I also got some yummy yoghurt at the shops, and eating that with some canned peaches also feels like a dessert - weird, weird!!  This week I had to endure Halloween (that was a bit sad - we had a little party and everyone's scary food looked soooo yummy!), Tammy's birthday dinner including a dessert table with the world's best cake that Jonny and Jessima created, and pumpkin pie - one of my all-time favourite desserts!! - My gorgeous niece Jacey's 1st birthday party involving another one of those cakes, and family dinner - featuring all the leftovers!  But I found it easier than expected, because I knew what I was going to be up against before I went I guess! - Also, I feel like I should be doing this whole thing for health reasons with this pregnancy, so it's easier to say 'no'!  And I am glad I did, today!!

Pregnancy Brain has been blamed for a lot of things surrounding me lately.  I'm suffering from it badly this time! - So many silly things, and I can't seem to form many sentences the right way around!  Not to mention my complete lack of attention span.  At the beginning of this pregnancy I was making myself some toast, and I decided on a slice of honey, and a slice of Vegemite.  I made my toast, and then when I went to eat the Vegemite piece, I thought it tasted really weird - really... sweet.  But it wasn't until I started eating the 'honey' piece that I realised what I'd done, because there was nothing at all on that slice!!
But on Thursday last week, I went to make an online bPayment for our tithing, and after carefully counting James' work hours and figuring out how much he'd made before tax, I made the payment.  Only instead of paying 10%, I paid the full amount.  His entire weeks' wage.  Gone.  Which puts a bit of a dampen on our budget!!! Tithing is one of my favourite commandments to follow, because I can't even begin to tell you the amazing blessings we've received from it, but I kind of needed that other 90%!!! lol.

Ward Changes!  Yesterday we had a special 3-ward meeting at church instead of our usual meeting.  They split the 3 wards and made 4.  James and Mum had been telling me that we probably wouldn't be in the same ward as my family after the split, but I thought that was crazy - we live so close to them! - As if we'd be split!!  But we were!  I really couldn't believe it!  It feels funny to not be in their ward for the first time in my life!  And we're attending at a different chapel too, which is also a bit strange.  But it's exciting for the church! :)  And kind of exciting for us to start in a brand new ward from scratch!  And now James and I are both out of our callings - he was in Young Mens and I've been Ward Music Director and a Visiting Teaching Supervisor, but not anymore!  All new callings in the new ward, we just have a Bishopric at the moment.  Most importantly for us, Dad was released as the Bishop yesterday too - after 7 years!  He was called when James was in his first 6 months of his mission - that seems like a lifetime ago!!  He's the kindest person in the world, and he took the ward through some challenging times.  He has worked so hard, and blessed the lives of so many people.  I can't imagine a more wonderful Bishop, so even though I guess it's great that he gets a rest (he really deserves one, and it'll be nice for him to be able to be around more and spend more time with Mum), and it's been a long time, I'm really sad not to have him as our Bishop anymore!!  Not that our new bishop won't be wonderful as well - he's a lovely man and we're glad to have him in our new ward.  But lots of big changes happening in the church around Brisbane at the moment!! - very exciting.

James is Finished Uni!!  He hasn't graduated yet, but all his classes and assessment are finished, we're just waiting for his results and confirmation of passes (please please please!! - But he feels good about it so I think we're safe!) to graduate!  I booked tickets for his graduation the day they came out, for us, Mum and Dad and Tammy, and James' parents and Nana & Koro, who are flying in for it!!!  So he'd better pass!! :)  I also booked and paid for his robes, and ordered a matching frame to mine to put his degree in.  The university suggest you don't do any of this before it's confirmed that you'll graduate, because you'll lose your money if he doesn't pass, but if he doesn't pass, it'll be the least of our worries!! :P  But I'm glad we booked early cause we got great seats! :)  lol.  Exciting for the girls to see their Dad graduate too :) I can't wait :) If he gets a good job my happiness will be complete!!!

Our boy is due in... just under 11 weeks!!! :D  Which means Christmas is coming quickly!! And James' Birthday, and Maggie's 3rd!!  But I'm so excited for everything that's coming up! :)  And planning to have Christmas presents sorted by the end of November :) - Bring it ON!!!  Also, Maggie already knows 'Away in a Manger', 'Rudolf' and 'Jingle Bells' by heart - so we're ready :)

Last week was crazy busy, and awesome.  3 parties, a fun outing down the coast, a bunch of very late nights, and obviously my brain switched off sometime around April, so it was overwhelming in parts!  This week, we have nothing on at all - at least until the weekend!  The girls and I are ready for some 'down time'.  I think poor James wishes he was, but he's working hard and trying to get job applications in outside hours.  I am excited for when the school term finishes and he's able to have more afternoons off and have a tiny bit of downtime himself.  A job offer would also help increase his work and stress levels!  Hopefully soon! :)

Have a fabulous day!!! :) xox

83 Days of Health: Day 2

1.  Don't expect an update every single day!  I think once a week says 'consider yourself posted'! :)

But I was Google searching yesterday like crazy for some healthy, fun, Halloween party food ideas!  I know most people are rolling their eyes and saying 'Duh - it's Halloween!  It's all about the treats!' and I'm well aware, but we had to take a plate of scary food to a Halloween Mums n Bubs party this morning, and I was keen to find something I could eat when faced with plates and plates of delicious looking goodies!! :)

Anyway, it was amazing how many sites called banana caramel pie 'healthy' when they substituted an ingredient or two for 'lower fat' versions.  I was surprised at how hard it was to find actually healthy, scary ideas! :)  I think the party we did for Tammy for Halloween last year involved more fun, healthy foods than I was finding elsewhere online, but I did find one cute website with some cute ideas! It seems to be some kind of Disney site. But the food isn't Disney - just healthy and fun!  You can find it here :)  I was particularly impressed with idea #6 - brain anyone?!!! :)

Yesterday was great! - Not craving a thing :)  I mean, Milo would be great with breakfast, but you know, I can live without it! (sigh).  I stocked up on nuts, crackers and hommus.  Deep breaths.. :)

83 Days of Health: Day 1

I don't get pregnant in a 'hot, skinny with an adorable tiny little bump' kind of way.  I start 'showing' ridiculously early.  Like, before the first 12 weeks is up, people are asking me how far along I am! - It's not even considered 'safe' to tell people yet!!  Most of this is due to the fact that with the particular brand of morning sickness I get, if I don't have food in my mouth I am siiiiiiiiiiick.  So I'm constantly eating, and eating totally random cravings food, like chicken drumsticks and milkshakes.  I've never craved an apple.  And I feel like I'm going to die if I don't get it right then, so as much as my head is saying 'You're crazy!  You're going to put on 30+ kilos again!' (like I did with Maggie.  I know, ridiculous!), my body is saying "I DON'T CARE IF I PUT ON 50!!! - HAND OVER THE DRUMSTICKS!!!".  My head also tells me that if I don't get my cravings and go through the sickness, I probably WILL be one of those 'skinny with an adorable tiny little bump' people - the ones who lose weight through their constant sickness, but when I'm feeling that sick (like death) and I know that there's a way to feel even a tiny bit better, there's no way I'm not cramming whatever my body seems to be wanting into my mouth!  Sounds awesome, hey?  :)  (the baby you get at the end of it, indescribably so! :))

Anyway, after the first trimester and a bit of 'death to the world' sick, I've been lying down almost constantly, and all my pre-pregnancy dreams of 'This time I'll stay fitter and less humongous' have gone out the window.  You're generally safe, according to doctors, to continue whatever fitness regime you were doing before you got pregnant, just be careful, and don't jump up and down at all, or do crazy stuff.  Sadly, if you stop for the first three months, it's not a great idea to try to pick it back up again, so my dreams of playing netball through to the end of trimester 2 went down the drain at about week 3.  I get exhausted after doing.... almost nothing, and in this pregnancy, my tummy has been spasm-ing a lot, hurting like crazy and stopping me in my tracks.  It feels like my tummy muscles don't exist in the slightest anymore, and if I try to do anything that involves a little bit of tummy tension (you'll find that walking, requires this), it goes berserk, and I'm lying down again for the rest of the day.  It's dumb, and annoying.

Last night I was eating a piece of leftover chocolate cake from my birthday, and thinking of one of my maternity outfits, and hoping that it would fit until the end of this pregnancy.  I suddenly wondered exactly how long I have to go, and added up the weeks, realising that as of yesterday, I was due in exactly 12 weeks!!  Hello 3rd Trimester!! And almost BABY!!! YIPEE! :)  But 12 weeks is plenty of time to get even larger, and so I made what James laughed and described as a 'rash' decision (but a good one - you know he's a health nut!), and immediately put the cake down and decided to go off junk food until the baby comes.

Upsides:

1. Hopefully I'll still fit into a lot of my maternity clothes at the end of this thing!  
2. Hopefully less weight to lose when this baby comes out to join us.
3. Hopefully I'll feel better and fitter, and more able to do everything without being as exhausted.  Although I know this may be offset by the whole '3rd trimester' thing!
4. This may even save money!

Downsides:

1. Halloween/Tammy's birthday this week
2. Being able to eat whatever I want when I have a bad 'throwback to morning sickness' day
3. James annoyingly calling this an 'addiction detox' for the next 12 weeks. - Doesn't me being able to go without it just prove it's not an addiction?!!!
4. Christmas - HOLD THE PHONE!!!!

There's no way I'm not eating all the good, traditional stuff on Christmas Day!!!!  Hence, '83 Days of Health', rather than the 84 days that 12 weeks denotes.  I get that day OFF! :)  Sadly I know from past experience that when you're out of the habit of eating junk food, you don't get those skills back in one day, so Christmas may not be all it usually is in terms of me eating a LOT of yummy food, but a taste'll probably do me by then (sigh).

If baby comes early, so does my junk food hiatus.  Not that I plan on gorging myself as soon as he arrives, but I need jelly beans during labour (is that just me?!), and I'll give myself a tiny break before heading into another one of these Fitness Challenges!!  (It totally worked!  I lost everything I'd put on with Ana AND the weight I'd never lost with Maggie!!! : ) And stopped sobbing through each workout (James is a tough PT!) And then I got pregnant again...).  I guess I'll decide what to do when baby comes when baby comes, but there you have it.  So welcome Day 1, of my addiction detox 83days of health!!!! :)  

I'll keep you posted ;)

2 Fun Dates + 2 Dessert Disasters... :)

The first fun date, was the Stake Ball!!! (Cheering) :)  I love stake balls.  I love that we can get all dressed up and going out and eat dinner and dance the night away at least once a year!  I was terribly disappointed that they scheduled last years' ball on the week we were in Adelaide for my Aunty's wedding.  I really hang out for these.  I don't understand people who don't want to go.  Where else can you have totally fun company and the aforementioned dinner and dancing once you're old and married?!! :)  Anyway, I was determined to have found a totally cute maternity dress by the time this came around (have I cried on this blog enough yet about all my favourite maternity clothes that recently vanished?!  Sob!), but I didn't manage it, so I wore black (dreary, but a lot more flattering than white when you're not so skinny!!) and squeezed into a non maternity dress that I won't be squeezing into again for a while!!  From our joint shopping expedition the fabulous Stacey had found a cute dress however, and looked lovely!!! :)  We went as a double date with Stace and Darren.  I actually didn't want to post any pictures till the 'official' pictures came out - we got fun ones with all the couples at our table, but they seem to be taking a while to get here (this was over a month ago) and I thought I'd post these ones from Stace's phone before I forget!!! :)

Our suave dates having some 'bro talk'!!  This is Julian, James & Darren :)

And me and Stace :)  Don't you love our - angle the camera down to us - thing? :)  Awesome :)

We had lots of fun with all the couples at our table, and hitting the dance floor later on :)  Thanks for double dating with us Stace and Darren!! :)

Then the other week James and I took advantage of a Spreets deal I'd bought a while ago for a Korean Bibimbap feast :)  (I seem to be craving Asian food, non-stop, mmmmmmmmmmmmm :) - not in a bad, awful craving kind of way, I just like eating it right now, a lot more than I ever have before in my life :)).

Anyway, Bibimbap did not disappoint - and we loved the little restaurant!! It was a very Korean family feel - almost everyone there was Korean, and they all looked like they eat there all the time and knew each other.  We loved it :)

(Do you like my wrist bling??  Mum bought a bunch of cute blingy jewellery on sale to go in her dress ups for the grandchildren, but I may have stolen these before the grandchildren knew about them... :))

James always loves Asian food, so I think he's enjoying the fact that I've kind of been shunning my usual Italian favourite (mmm cheesy tomatos and antipestos...) and branching out a little :)

And the dessert disasters I'm proud to say, aren't mine, but I had this photo from James' phone so I had to blog about it, sorry Tammy! :D 

Okay, anyone who doesn't already know what this first one is meant to be and can guess it, deserves a whole one (made correctly) to themselves!! :)

A pancake?!  A plate with sauce on it?!  No!  A choc-mint cheesecake!!  Daddy's favourite dessert, that Tammy generously made for him for Fathers' Day!!!! :)  Yes, it's meant to be a little taller, and not falling off the plate...and it should look.....appetising :)

Poor Tammy put the wrong cream in I think - she had been up for hours cooking homemade breadrolls and a bunch of other stuff, including the world's most beautiful and PERFECT apple pie!!!  

I would have included a photo of it, but while she was on the way down to Mum and Dad's place, the car in front of Tammy screeched on its breaks suddenly, and Tammy had to swerve to miss it and slam on her breaks, and the world's most beautiful and PERFECT apple pie flew off its perch on the front seat and slammed into the dashboard with a loud, squelching sound (or so I was told).  It was killed instantly.  What a disaster!!!

Tammy chopped up some fruit and made an impromptu and delicious fruit salad to accompany her choc mint pancake cheesecake, and it was lovely :)

Good times :)

It's a....

BOY!!!

We're having a boy!!! :)  Way to shake up our girly little household :)  (James probably wouldn't agree that it's 100% girly - just humongous chunks of it :D).  Bring on the Tonkas and the trains (I've been dying to buy a cute, wooden train set for a loooong time), and the blue, and the BOY!!!! :)  He's just perfect, too, according to the scan, and all is well :)  My placenta's right at the front, which explains why the kicks are a little harder to feel, but I love the sweet, soft little kicks he's doing more every day!!  We can't wait to meet him in January!!!!

Here are my little 'to make it feel real!!!' weekend purchases :)

Tiny, sweet little socks!!! :)  It's kind of exciting that we have pretty much NOTHING that isn't pink!! :)  I love shopping for babies!!!

And while we're on the subject of shopping, and blue stuff, I found 'the maternity dress':

If you like it too (don't you love that it's blue?  Totally great for having a boy in that belly!  lol) and you have a spare $399.95 + postage you can get yourself one here.  I probably won't be bumping into you at the checkout lol, but isn't it MUCH more flattering than the usual tight and awkward pregnancy dresses that tell the world exactly how much I ate during my crazy 1st trimester?? :)  I think it's lovely :)