30 weeks // bumpdate

I'm so good at bumpdates! Insert sly guy emoji here. I think he is my fave. Also this Mama already has the tired mama hair-do down.

How Far?  //  30 weeks! and four days today and trust me, I am counting those days. Every day done is the biggest achievement over here.

How Big?  //  Baby is as heavy as a coconut. Do with that what you will. I on the other hand have stepped on the scales twice this pregnancy, both times ended in a freak out but I am not being too hard on myself. I have been SO emotional the past few weeks and so what if I eat like an emotional pregnant woman!? I've already started pilates and still waddle the dogs every few days so whatever, my body is busy growing another body, it can have donuts whenever it wants them.
Also I keep measuring a week ahead at the midwife appointments soooo let's all hope that mean's I might deliver a week or two earlier!

Cravings? // Oranges, apple juice, the chocolate and hot chip addiction is going strong... Also addicted to silly youtube videos. You know the day in the life ones where you literally watch someone do their laundry? I've lost my mind.

Stretch marks?  // Going strong on the markless belly! Coco butter is doing its job.

How was this week?  // in a word? Bad. But not even. Even though I cry near daily, I am exhausted, overwhelmed by work, have constant pain in my ribs/back and hips, I still feel really lucky. I feel lucky that I get to feel our baby wriggle and roll and stretch and get hiccoughs and wake up when our alarms go off. It's the best thing to be a pregnant woman, people look at you and smile and help you pick things up and put on your shoes. It's hard work growing a baby but I am so very grateful to have this job.

Weird pregnancy moment?  // The baby hiccoughs are cute. I'm sure one of the weirdest moments will happen tonight though when we go to our first birthing class! I'm so excited. Also weird - I have been SO happy to be doing baby laundry. I HATE laundry but washing our baby's bedding and swaddles and making them smell like softly has been the best.

The nursery?  // Is coming along so nicely! I've bought everything I think I will buy for it now so all I have to do is wait for the rug to be delivered and start putting it all together! I have sort of made a deal with myself that I just have to get through this month, work as hard as I can and then I can decorate and nest and wash baby clothes and try and rest for all of April/until the baby comes.

And here, some more random photos, for luck.

My nightly view looks a lot like love.

A 28 week naked belly.

The start of baby's room!

The baby's corner of our bedroom is my favourite thing to look at.

Reminder:

After a hard weekend for me and my little family, I made two little prints. 

I made this one today because I need it, I need a big obvious reminder to slow down, to focus, to stop being so hard on myself, to forgive myself... A reminder that this time is so precious and that it's okay to be a little bit more selfish, to take care of myself and our baby because I am going to blink and I'll have this baby in my arms. 

I made another on Saturday afternoon after a particularly difficult morning. It says 'the dewey family loves each other'. I just scribbled it on a scrap piece of paper and placed it next to my sick, napping husband. That silly little sign made the absolute world of difference for us, it changed our attitudes toward each other and our situations completely. We stuck together. We put the other person first even though we both felt like we needed looking after. Now I've made a prettier version and hung it above the moses basket in our bedroom.

As long as I have these visual reminders, I think I will be okay. I will also be okay when these hormones calm down... 

That one day in Rome

Lemme tell you a story of this one day in Rome. 

September 5th 2014 if you like to be exact. 

We woke up in our villa on Via Guila (such a lovely villa by the way) with the biggest day ahead of us. 

We started by walking in the wrong direction for 30 minutes - we were trying to find breakfast on the way to the Roman Forum. After a big round about circle, we found a little cafe and the Roman Forum all in one. We had a breakfast hearty enough to sustain us for a couple of hours and a break long enough to recover from our walk. 

As we walked through the ancient ruins, listening to our audio guides, I had a few thoughts. 

One; I felt like shit. Real proper just want a lie down, a cold drink and Harry Potter shit. I considered the weather, the amount of travelling we had done in the past few weeks, the dodgy place we ate at the night before... 

Two; A little tiny part of me kept remembering I was a week late.

I perked up a little bit at the promise of a big lunch before we hit the colosseum. Despite the little hint of nausea, I could have eaten 5 pizzas, 3 plates of spaghetti and 10 ice creams once we had walked around that forum.

We soon enough found this weird mix of a restaurant/nightclub/bakery that over looked the colosseum. We waited about 15 minutes for these terribly obnoxious German women to squabble over spare change and then finally we sat down. One enormous burger, three diet cokes and a plate of chips later I was sort of ready to tackle the colosseum. 

Can I mention that while it was hot and we were walking for kms and kms, I didn't have to carry a thing and my husband even took over the camera while handing me bottles of water and letting me rest in the shade whenever we could. Such a wonder. 

From the colosseum we decided to smash as many monuments in one day as possible, I think this was my Husbands idea... I didn't thank him for it. We wondered through the streets of Rome and found our way to the Trevi fountain. It was under construction and such a shame because that thing is one of my favourite things about Rome. We then walked on over to the thoroughly unimpressive Spanish Steps (sick of my whinging yet?) and off to find our next pit stop. 

We were going to walk home again. Through some big important square I couldn't care less about. My husband and parents could see something was wrong though and thankfully suggested a taxi. More thoughts struck me. 

One; something really was off

two; I just needed a great big enormous delicious ice cream.

We had one of the best rated ice cream joints in Rome right next to our Villa which we visited everyday. On this day our taxi dropped us off right outside it and I near ran inside. Ice cream in hands we remembered we needed toilet paper from the store of all things so slowly made our way over. 

I spotted a pregnancy test in the grocery store. Just chilling out among the bandaids and sewing kits. As I picked one up I said to Nick, this is happening, he replied with a cool 'I know'.

Back at the house I went to the bathroom straight away, I couldn't wait until the morning to take it and I knew what it would show anyway. I did the test, left the bathroom to get my phone from the bed, walked back in and there it was. 

Two dark pink lines. 

What a scary thing to see when you aren't expecting it. When you're in a different country, on a different continent. When your wedding was three weeks ago and your life is far from sorted. When you are three weeks and thousands of kms away from your doctor and solid advice. What a scary thing to see even if you are at home and expecting it! What an instant life changing, wonderful thing.

You know what's happened since this fateful day? The universe sorted us out. We made it through two and a half more weeks of travelling Europe, getting sicker and sicker by the day and when we made it home everything fell into place.

Sometimes the universe just gives you exactly what you need at the exact right moment.

We're so excited about you BD and we couldn't love you any more.