The Eccentric American Mama in Cumbria

                          How far along?   26 weeks 4 days. I'm a bit late with the posting, our holiday put me back a bit :) Total weight gain/loss?   17.4 pounds, and I am starting to feel the difference. I can now understand why overweight people find it so difficult to climb up the stairs! When I get to the top of even a short flight of stairs I'm out of breath, it's not easy carrying around this extra weight. Maternity clothes?   The jeans I'm wearing are my faithful Gap maternity jeans but the t-shirt, courtesy of Josh's sister, and the cardigan, from Target, are not maternity and they still fit, although as you can see from the photo I have not buttoned the cardigan all the way ;) Stretch Marks?   None yet, I'm praying that if I can continue on a gradual weight gain they won't appear however I know I haven't officially "popped" yet so it is possible they'll come later. Sleep?   Two nights ago I was up half the night stres

How far along?   25 weeks  Total weight gain/loss?   Still haven't weighed in yet. Maternity clothes?   Yes however it was really cold this morning and I wanted to wear my cuorderoys so I did the hair elastic trick.   See here for info. Stretch Marks?   Still can't find any, but my skin is beginning to look a bit translucent, either that or my veins are bluer than normal. Sleep?   My maternity pillow is finally my new best friend, sorry Josh.  The only complaint is that if I want to switch to the other side it involves a lot of wrestling, I basically grab the pillow and do a semi-flip in the bed which inevitably wakes up Josh. Best Moment this Week?   Swimming in the sea, sunshine, and my amazing date night on the beach. We ate at a fabulous restaurant with a view of the ocean.  We shared jamon iberico and the lobster risotto, quite possibly the best thing I've ever eaten. I even had a tiny glass of red wine that Josh picked out at the restaurant, it was exqui

Christmas has always been one of my favourite holidays, and it's not just about the giving and receiving of gifts that makes me love this time of year so much, although that was probably a contributing factor when I was a child.  I think it has more to do with the jolly mood that everyone gets into, and there's no one more jolly than my father at this time of the year.  As soon as Thanksgiving finished he and I would bundle up and go into the fields to find the "perfect" Christmas tree.  As most of you know, it takes me about 20 times longer than the average person to make a decision, especially for something as important as a tree.  We would walk around from tree to tree, short listing a few before circling back around to completely change that list and then repeat this process for the next hour or two, all while shivering away.  The number one priority for me was to get the largest tree that would fit into our door.  This usually ended with my father having to cut

How far along?  24 weeks and 2 days Total weight gain/loss?   I'm not sure, no scales in Tenerife ;) Maternity clothes?   Yes but my pre maternity bikinis still fit just fine. Stretch Marks?   Not yet, still slathering on my  Mama Mio   Sleep?   I find it very difficult to only sleep on my side so I asked the midwife if I could sleep on my back and was relieved to find out that it's not the end of the world if you wake up and find yourself on your back. She said if I was compressing the vein that provides oxygen to the baby I would wake up feeling sick and dizzy. She also suggested putting a pillow just slighly under the side of my hip to elevate the uterus slightly so that there isn't a risk of compressing the vein/artery, or whatever it is that gets compressed, when you're on your back. Best Moment this Week?   Making the best guacamole I've had since leaving Santa Barbara. All the ingredients I bought were local to the canaries and tasted incredibl

It's official, Josh and I have selected the colours we want for the nursery.  We were back and forth for a while, or should I say I was back and forth, as Josh usually just lets me do whatever I want when it comes to such things.  However, he did have one request that he was adamant about, NO BABY BLUE!   This colour is Manchester City's colours, and as a Manchester United fan, there was no way it was going to make it as the predominant colour in our nursery.  Considering the limited options in bedding for baby boys, I actually found this to be a difficult request.  Initially I decided on navy blue and red, and Josh was satisfied with that.  However, I kept thinking how nautical and preppy it was, two things that don't exactly scream Joshua and Tatiana, never mind their future surfer dude.  Then I remembered that I wanted to put this nursing chair I re-upholstered traditionally in baby boy's room. After all, I did put a lot of work into recovering this and I was go

Let the Pumpkin Carving Begin! Josh planning out his design Attempting to carve out a curve with a regular knife Attacking the insides! The spooky result :) Two very satisfied people with their wonderful creations, my pumpkin is on the left, he lost a tooth. Last year Josh and I came to the realisation that pumpkin patches, as we know them, don't really exist in this part of England.  This was a shocking discovery for us because we are literally surrounded by farms, I thought that surely one of them would grow pumpkins!  I searched long and hard for a patch last year and the nearest one was 2 hours away.  Not willing to give up that much time for a pumpkin, we turned to our only other option which was the grocery store.  However, upon scanning their so called "large pumpkins" we were far from impressed, the largest one they had was the size of a honeydew melon.  Since I basically grew up on a pumpkin patch I was not satisfied with my opti

Batty About Baby Tee How far along?  23 weeks Total weight gain/loss?   12.8 pounds, gained 0.8 last week. Maternity clothes?   Yes, they're just way more comfortable.  I need to buy some maternity leggings though, hopefully I can find some holiday themed ones :) Stretch Marks?   Nope, my  Mama Mio  tummy rub must be keeping them at bay. Sleep?   Not the best, still getting up every night to use the bathroom.  Last night I finally decided to get out of bed at 4:30 and have a shower.  I was up feeling guilty about not being able to stomach healthy food, like vegetables and worrying that the baby would have a nutritional deficiency, I blame my mother for all this worrying! Best Moment this Week?   Finishing the telephone seat and club chair for Jess's photography, will post photos after they've been taken professionally. Worst Moment this Week? I would have to say Hobson's walk last weekend, although I pretty much laughed the whole walk so it w