15 weeks

How far along? 15 weeks, 3 days

Maternity clothes? Bought some maternity jeans yesterday. YAY for comfort!

Stretch marks? I finally purchased Palmers skin therapy oil.

Sleep: Not too bad, as long as the hubby doesn't decide to fight off the xbox zombies at 12am!

Best moment this week: Snow! Cooler weather = more clothing to cover up with, haha. 

Miss Anything? Halloween parties! a) No drinking allowed b) No energy to party anyways!

Movement: None

Food cravings: The best chili cheese burger in town. (we even drove 30mins in the snow to go get it!)

Anything making you queasy or sick: Still a lot of headaches :( And today I had killer heartburn (which I never got before pregnancy)

Have you started to show yet: I finally starting to feel like I'm getting a little belly.

Gender: We find out in 2 weeks. EXCITING!

Labor Signs: None
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!

Looking forward to: Getting 'le belly.

Snowtoberfest!

Fall surprised us this year and decided to dress up as Winter for Halloween bringing New York over 3 inches of snow (with more on the way tonight) in a pretty historic storm. I've only been around for about 4 years, but I'm pretty sure this is not what October in New York is suppost to look like.

Mom's Apple Pie

When we went apple picking we got so caught up in the fun of actually harvesting our own fruit that we forgot how many apples the average human being would possibly be able to consume. The HUGE sack of apples has been sitting in our hallway (can't even find space for it in the kitchen) and even after packing 2 apples a day for my work lunch, I had hardly made a dent.

It was time to get baking!

Lucky for me, my mom has the best recipe for her homemade apple pie. I practically grew up on this stuff.

This recipe is so quick and easy and has the yummiest of results. I made 2 pies using those disposable pie pans you can buy at the grocery store. Of course, if you only want 1 pie just halve the recipe.

1. Beat together the butter and sugar. Mix in the eggs and vanilla.

2. Add the flour, salt and baking powder and mix it up (I used my clean hands) until your dough comes together to form a ball.

3. Divide your dough in 3. The first 2 parts will be used to make the pie shells and the other will be split and crumbled on the top of the pie later.

4. Squish the dough around the pans until they are covered evenly.

5. Your pies shells should look like this.

6. Peel the apples! I used about 4-5 apples per pie.

7. Cut the apples in quarters.

8. Fill up your pie with the apples (this is just a picture of the first layer) I added another one on top of that.

I then sprinkled a little bit of cinnamon over the apples. (this is optional)

9. Remember that 3rd ball of dough? Split it in 2 and then grate (using a grater) it over the top.

 10. Bake in a 350F oven for 30mins until golden brown

Perfect served warm with a scoop of ice cream on the side.

ENJOY!

Pumpkin Carving Inspiration

The other night we went to check out the "Great Jack O Lantern Blaze" at the Van Cortlandt Mansion in upstate New York. I have been wanting to go for the last 2 years, so I finally made time to do it.

The carvings are just unreal and it really inspired me to a) purchase a pumpkin & b) carve that sucker.

14 weeks

How far along? 14 weeks, 3 days

Maternity clothes? Not yet, just a lot of unbuttoning going on

Stretch marks? No, still need to buy cream!

Sleep: Good! Resting the spare pillow against my belly when I'm on my side helps.

Best moment this week: GOODBYE 1st TRIMESTER! 

Miss Anything? Not having to check labels for "If pregnant consult your doctor being using"

Movement: None

Food cravings: Chocolate

Anything making you queasy or sick: Dizzy if I get up too fast, and totally out of breath climbing the stairs

Have you started to show yet: A little, nothing drastic.

Gender: ?

Labor Signs: None
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy, but tired!

Looking forward to: Getting my energy back

Home Sweet Home

This is my 'home'

Well... let me clarify a bit, THIS is my 'home'

I live on the "3rd" floor apartment of this multi-family house. They call it a "studio apartment", I call it a "glorified attic". But when you live in New York and are living off of a Nanny/Student budget, sometimes your living room has to double as your bedroom thanks to a Walmart pull out couch.

The word HOME is a very interesting and comflex one.

Home is where the heart is, right? Well if that is the case then my 450 square ft space does not qualify!

This is my 'home'

I grew up in the South African beach town of Scottburgh, KwaZulu Natal. I lived there my whole childhood and my parents still do! Scottburgh will always have a special place in my heart, but can it still be my home if I left when I turned 18?

This is my home

This is Sunday River ski resort in Maine, USA. It became my first home away from home and the very first place I ever lived in the US. I only worked and lived there for the 2004/2005 ski season, but it is where I grew into an adult and finally gave living on my own a try. I whole heartily fell in love with Maine and have been back a few times since arriving back in the States.

This is my 'home'



I moved to London for a bit and ended up living there for 3 and a half years. I ate fish and chips, drank Ribena and totally latched onto the culture. I even ended up picking up a bit of a British accent for a while. (I pick up accents way too easily) I still drink tea and pick up a packet of 'Walkers prawn cocktail crisps' every time I go to Fairway Market.

The truth is that it is very difficult for me to pin point exactly where 'home' is because I have been searching for it my whole life. Although travelling is very exciting, I became very lost and frustrated at having to pack up my whole life into a 25kg suitcase every couple of months.

Today I can happily say that I have found myself.

This is my home

13 weeks

How far along? 13 weeks 4 days

Maternity clothes? I found a pair of (non-maternity) jeans that still fit! WOOHOO!

Stretch marks? No, still need to buy cream!

Sleep: Hard to get my neck comfortable with the headaches.

Best moment this week: Seeing the little one at the scan. He/She is moving and jumping around like crazy. 

Miss Anything? Celebrating my birthday with a glass (or two) of wine.

Movement: Can't feel it yet, but it certainly is!

Food cravings: Not really this week.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Still having a lot of headaches, and feeling pretty light headed at times.

Have you started to show yet: Not too much.

Gender: I think we have our finalist names for both a boy and a girl now.

Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Pretty happy.

Looking forward to:  Going shopping for new clothes.

Weekend Update ~ Birthday Edition

Between working 11 hour days, fighting off headaches and building a baby in my uterus, by the time Friday afternoon rolls around, I'm totally pooped which normally results in weekends of take outs, Netflix marathons and pure laziness. This weekend I decided to make a bit of an effort since it was my birthday.

My husband picked me up from work on Friday afternoon and made me swear not to look in the back seat of the car. (Trust him to go birthday shopping just hours before picking me up!) P.S. I'm only kidding... he does night shift and I usually have the car during the day so he had no other time. After getting home and taking a shower, I walked back into our room to find candles lit and not one, but TWO bunches of flowers!

I was then in full fledged birthday mode and demanded to open the couple of international birthday packages that I had been staring at all week from my mom and my best friend. Mike got me the "Bridesmaids" dvd which was super sweet because he knew how much I was dying to watch it, and its not available on Netflix for another 2 LONG weeks. He then took me out to The Melting Pot for dinner which I have been dying to try out for over 2 years now. We wined soda'd and dined on an amazing 4 course fondue feast and were totally stuffed and ready to Zzzz after we were done.

On Saturday we slept in for a little bit and then took a drive upstate for a Fall essential and something that I have never done before - APPLE PICKING!

The sun was shining, but the air was crisp and Autumny and totally perfect. After admiring the massive pumpkins (anyone have an extra $250 lying around to spend on a vegetable?) we headed up the hill to the apple orchard with our empty sack and long pole. Ten minutes and only about 4 apples later, Mike came up with the genius idea of just climbing the apple trees and picking off the good ones all the way at the top. After only a few minutes of tree climbing, picking, dropping, catching and bagging we had a whole sack full of delicious apples and felt pretty proud of our strategy.

After all that intense labor, we treated ourselves to donuts and warm apple cider for the drive home.

Does anyone have some apple recipes for me? I have a whole sack full of Macintosh's screaming to be sliced, chopped, backed, stewed or fried.

Halfway to 50!

Today, the kid in that picture above is turning 25. That kid also happens to be ME!

What a whirlwind year it has been!

My 24th year of life was a great one. I got engaged, married, moved, adopted our fur-son, said goodbye to my best friends, lost more of my accent and found out I was expecting our first child.

WHIRLWIND right?

I can tell that this year is going to be no different with so many fun things and adventures ahead.

I'm off to go do birthday things and hopefully stuff my belly full of cake!

Happy 15th October everyone.

12 weeks

How far along? 12 weeks 4 days

Maternity clothes? Not yet, thank goodness for the warmer weather so that I can get the last out of my shorts that still fit!

Stretch marks? No, still need to buy cream!

Sleep: Pretty good.

Best moment this week: Getting to eat both breakfast and lunch before 11am, blaming pregnancy

Miss Anything? My regular headache pills

Movement: Not yet
Food cravings: Corn, there is a big bag waiting for me in the freezer.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Having A LOT of headaches which turn into migrains. :(

Have you started to show yet: Not too much.

Gender: Trying to find names for both genders... so far we have our girl favorite.
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Miserable when the headaches are around.

Looking forward to:  My 12 week scan (tomorrow!)

32 years!

These 2 crazy kids are my parents.

Today they celebrate their 32nd wedding anniversary and I couldn't be more proud to be their daughter.

To be (or what not to be)

Halloween is coming and although I don't have any plans (yet) I still love looking for costumes since Halloween in South Africa is not as celebrated as it is here in The States (not by a long shot!) 

I usually end up putting something together VERY last minute using stuff I find around the house. (Thanks to my major low budget!) These are the things I usually come up with:

Goth Cyndi Lauper & Zombie Doll

This year I really want to take advantage of the pregnancy costumes because I find them hilarious (even though my belly won't be too large by then). Here are some costumes I've come across:


I wonder if I could convince Mike to wear some yellow shorty shorts?

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Have any prego Halloween outfit suggestions?

What are you dressing up as this Halloween?

Sisterly Lurve!

I have a sister.

She lives 8000 miles away.

She blogs over ~here~

Today I am wishing my dearest big sister a very happy birthday.

I have always looked up to her. When we were younger she was always so creative and fun (she still is) and she really inspired me to be more creative and fun in my own life.

She always came up with the most fun imaginary games to play and birthday party themes (which I would copy at my own party a few weeks later).

We had this creative writing game in our PC where she would come up with fascinating stories and I would always sneak hack into her account to read the latest chapter of her "book" without her knowing.

(Until now. whoops!).

Happy Birthday Tracey!

I made you this virtual cupcake, since sending birthday cake via airmail could get messy.

Week 11!

How far along? 11 Weeks 3 days
Maternity clothes? Not yet, but wearing sweat pants since my jeans dig into me.

Stretch marks? No, need to buy cream!

Sleep: Depends on the day. But so far, so good.

Best moment this week: Realizing that I'm almost done with my first trimester

Miss Anything? Smoked ham.

Movement: Not yet
Food cravings: Twinkies! Although Mike wouldn't let me buy them!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Life! Still getting a few days of morning sickness.
Have you started to show yet: Just enough for people to think I've eated too many cheeseburgers.

Gender: ?
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy, but sometimes my fuse is a little short. (sorry husband! Blame the hormones)

Looking forward to:  My 12 week scan next week