Dates that Crash and Burn...

James and I go on the BEST dates.  They're memorable, involve spending quality time with my favourite person, and ... well, they're memorable.

Our very first date consisted of us driving around for an hour trying to find a park which was lit up at night.  It turns out, none of them around here are...  So James finally ended up parking the car with headlights shining over a park, and we sat and ate the yummy picnic supper he'd prepared (hot chocolate, marshmallows and Tim Tams - full points for chocolate ratio!), while I was a little nervous about 'bad guys' in the dark at this random park, then we went to a friend's party, and drove my sister and some random friends home.

In the random order they occur to me in, here are some of the other awesome dates we've been on:

• Last Saturday night we dressed up and drove all the way down the coast, to redeem a Spreets voucher I bought a while ago, for a '3-Course Italian Feast'!! - It sounded great, lovely antipasto entrees, beautiful Italian meals and yummy dessert.  I even thought that if dessert looked any good, I might have a 'treat for the week' for the first time since I started my 83 days of health!!  Our first tip was when I called the 'restaurant' to say we'd be running late for our... booking.  I stopped myself from saying 'reservation' by the way the young girl answered the phone, "Something-or-other pizza!".  It sounded like she tried not to laugh as she said "Yeah, okay" and then hung up.  We rocked up to the takeaway pizza place with a couple of chairs and tables for dine-in guests, and at the urging of the 'waitress', sat wherever we wanted.  We sat outside.  She brought us a couple of menus, and just double checking the conditions of the voucher I'd bought, I asked "So, no steak, right?"  She looked surprised, and said "That's right! - We're also out of lasagne  and you can have any dessert you want, but the only dessert available is the sticky date pudding" Ah, okay.  I went to a gorgeous Italian restaurant once, and had an amazing chocolate ... thing ... (if only I could remember what it was, or where that restaurant was, sigh..).  That's what I was hoping for.  No WAY I was ruining my health challenge with sticky date!  There is not a single spec of chocolate in that!  Our entrees were somewhat successful.  They just took a really long time to come.  We looked back and noticed there was a single cook in the kitchen, running around like mad.  After a while, he ran through a door at the back of the restaurant, and appeared in the next door Thai restaurant!!  Apparently he asked for reinforcement, because a moment later he reappeared in the Italian 'restaurant', followed by another cook, taking off his Thai outfit and donning the appropriate apron :)  Awesome :)  Then, a girl walked into the Thai place and placed an order at the front.  She then followed the Thai restaurant waitress out of the Thai place and into the pizza place, where they put her order through on the Italian 'restaurant' till...  either there's something really strange going on or the 2 places are cojoined, and share staff and tills.  For some reason all of this made us giggle like crazy, as did the couple at the next table, who were not hiding the fact that they'd been waiting for their meal for what seemed to be a very long time, and were extreeeeemely irritated.  But with the reinforcement of the Thai chef, eventually all of our meals arrived.  For mains I ordered crumbed chicken with chips (there wasn't a lot on offer!) and James ordered the fettuccine chicken pesto.   I couldn't stop laughing when they brought out James'.  Maybe the 'waitress' should have told us they were out of fettuccine too - but the spaghetti chicken pesto looked awesome :D  And my chicken came with a side of 5 chips, and some bonus veggies and a bonus salad.  We're pretty sure I cleaned the restaurant out of the last 5 chips :)  The tiny pieces of sticky date that eventually made their way to our table didn't look remotely appetising, and James quickly ate both so we could get out of there - running to our car (okay, I was on crutches, so it was more of a fast hobble) through the torrential rain of the crazy thunderstorm which had created the mood for awesome date :)  Thank goodness we have so much fun together, especially when things don't quite turn out the way we expect - Spreets have got to stop calling things 'feasts' and takeaway places 'restaurants'!!
  
• Then there was the awesome Valentines Day Scavenger hunt of 'special places' I put together for James last year.  We started off with the girls and the plan was to go to the playground with them (the first one where we ALMOST had our first date - no lights after dark there ;)) as one of the steps, and then drop them off to Mum's as another step, and after a few stops we'd end up at the temple cliffs where we'd meet up with our awesome friends the Macs, and have a fun picnic.  Due to weather restrictions (like, torrential rain), each stop became about a second long, kind of lamo, and we ditched the hanging out with the girls at the park part completely.  Later the rain died down to almost nothing, but we didn't exactly dwell at our picnic spot at the cliffs!
  
• And while we're on the subject of the Macs - there was the 'Glow Worm Caves' adventure.  We rocked up at a very remote location, where a lone scientist runs a little glow worm expedition on his property, where he accidentally found a glow worm wall (not cave) during a drunk evening stroll which almost killed him.  Really long story, but between the $70 000 outdoor toilet, the glowing mushroom room, the fake glow worm business cards, and the story about the woman who chose the wrong leaf to wipe herself with, the night was extremely informative, absolutley hilarious, and kind of terrifying!!  I couldn't wait to get off the mountain and back to civilisation!!  Obviously, these were not the glow worm caves most people go to and talk about.  Which is probably why it was such a bargain! lol
  
• And speaking of bargains, and the Macs, there was the time they called us to say they'd found a great 'Living Social' deal - an island paradise 2 night getaway for some ridiculously low price.  They said the island was just off Stradbroke, and looked amazing!  They'd already booked theirs for around Australia Day, and did we wanna join them?  Apparently the apartment next to theirs was free, so if we were keen, we should call quickly before it got taken!  It all sounded great.  We said 'We'd love to!' and looked up the bargain.  It became apparent as I opened the deal, that travelling with out of towners was not without risk.  "Why does it say Coochiemudlo?!!!" I exclaimed to James with some panic.  I'm not even worried about hurting the feelings of Coochiemudlo dwellers.  Because after 2 nights, lots of rain, lots of mud, tennis courts with not a raquet or ball on the island, dvd players with not a DVD on the island, a restaurant which 'doesn't open' (don't plan to buy half your meals there...), $10 mini towel hire, and really, really dirty floors, I'm calling false advertising!  They could at least admit that the island is basically a mud slab floating in the ocean! - At least then the 83 other obviously out of towners who bought the deal (haha :)) would be going into it with their eyes open!! Thank goodness for good company - and things only seem to get funner - or at least funnIer - when circumstances are a little tragic... which is why James and I spend so much of our dating times (and that entire weekend!) in stitches...
  
• Last year I was beyond excited when I won tickets to EVERY SHOW put on by a Brisbane theatre company for their theatre season.  That was 6 SHOWS!!!  6 awesome, fun, out of the ordinary and will not even touch the budget dates :)  I've been to see shows by this company many years ago and they were FANTASTIC!!!  Except, they're not anymore.  They're really terrible.  By the last 2 shows we were desperately trying to find excuses not to turn up, but when you've got free tickets to a $65pp show, you really feel like you should go, you know??  Also, we felt sorry for them.  Fortunately the very last show was by far the best, but by then our expectations were so low that all they had to do was hit a lot of the notes in tune.    I kind of want to go into more detail about their very lowest point (which James missed half of because he fell asleep), but I don't want to get specific on the (very, very) remote chance that someone involved catches wind of this and I hurt people's feelings.  But be careful about the prizes you claim.  It was a really painful time for us.
  
• The Proposal:   James had it all planned out - the walkway lit with candles, the dinner, the ring... and he was all psyched to do it for a Friday night in August 07.  Then I accepted an invite for us to have dinner at my brother's house that night - we didn't have anything planned that I knew about!  Rather than tip everyone off to the upcoming proposal by telling Jonny we wouldn't be there, or re-psych himself to propose another day, James simply decided to pull over and propose on the way!  So we got engaged on the side of the road in one of the dodgiest neighbourhoods around :)  Classy ;)
  
• The other week we decided to go on a date to the Southbank Friday night markets.  I haven't been for ages so was excited to check them out.  We rocked up to find out that it was pretty much the only Friday night of the YEAR that the markets aren't on, due to the Brisbane River Festival... sigh... does this stuff happen to anyone else?!
  
• Another time we decided to eat at an Indian buffet at Southbank.  There are so many yummy food choices there, it's pretty hard to fail, but we did.  To the point where when James picked up a tongful of salad, a swarm of flies flew out from underneath.  And we actually saw cockroaches scurrying around under the tables.  Try taking a bite after that!!  We didn't even complain.  We just left.  Shudder!
  
• Then there was our awesome honeymoon.  The first part of it was spent on a houseboat.  We loved every second of it.  Despite the fact that the toilet clogged, we ran out of water and there was a giant river rat onboard which ate a lot of our food, and our Lionel Richie concert tickets!!!! (don't worry - I don't know if the ticket booth people bought our 'eaten by a river rat' story but they reprinted them for us).  By the time we got back to dock and hand over the keys I was DESPERATE to get to a toilet.  But the owner hadn't mentioned he'd be working that day, and wasn't home.  After running up and down the road both ways of the rural river road and determining there was not even a servo nearby, James kindly broke into the guy's house so I could use his toilet, then we waited patiently for his workday to finish.  Fortunately he didn't mind the break-in at all, and was very interested to find out about the rat - he'd suspected that there was one on board...
  
• Every year on our anniversary, we book a little holiday, and I get a bad cold.  Then I lie in bed the whole time watching DVD's or really bad TV, begging James to go out and have some fun without me.  He hangs out with me anyway, and I try to do more than I feel up to and ruin every outing we try to take.  It clears up on the way home.
  
• Often, even if we do manage to have dinner somewhere perfectly nice, they'll forget us, and we'll be sitting there for an hour and a half watching every other table come and go before we ask about our order, or they notice us and bring us our meal with lots of free extras on the side 'for the little wait we had this evening'.  

Our dates often really suck it's true.  I'm sure there are bunches more bad ones that I can't think of right now.  But I don't know if I'd change that - we usually end up having the kind of hilarious time together that you just don't get in more beautiful or serene circumstances.

And we have had a few awesome dates... the Lionel Richie concert they let us in to even though our tickets were in pieces, the time we went and saw Wicked (not the theatre company we won tickets with..) and once we ate at a beautiful Turkish restaurant at South Bank called Mado - recommend!  And there have been many normal dates involving sushi and a movie, and beautiful dates to the temple.  It just seems to be the 'outside the box' events that end in trauma...

Tomorow is our 5 year wedding anniversary :)  We have, a really, really fabulous evening planned.  I was more excited before Tammy asked the other day if we were sure we wanted to do this together, because our hit and miss date ratio is so high.  But risking it we are... I'm sure it's an un-ruinable event... but if everything goes wrong, thank goodness we're in it together!! :)

83 Days of Health: Day 16

I'm so used to saying 'no' to junk food now, it's like second nature.  And I'm not always wishing I could grab a chocolate bar as a snack when I'm walking past them.  Chocolate milk is the only thing I'm still craving, and BOY do I crave chocolate milk sometimes!!!  Maybe I'll have one sometime... like on Christmas Day lol...   I eat fruit like it's going out of fashion.  Last night a lovely friend made us dinner to save me a night of kitchen-hobbling (thankyou thankyou!) and she even gave us Mangoes and yoghurt for dessert, and it was like heaven!!  I predict getting a LOT out of mango season this year! :)  Mmmm.... :)  I'm really glad I'm doing this!!  It hasn't even been that hard once I decided to go for it, so I'm convinced my body was wanting the change, even if my taste buds weren't..... and don't you think how easy it's been is just proof that I wasn't addicted?!  Must point that out to James... :)                    Healthy Day!! ;) xo

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 ;)