Belly pillow

You might have noticed that the whole pregnancy thing is new for me. A whole new world is opening, to use a Dutch expresson. I'm learning new things every day...

Yesterday my best friend and I went shopping. My jeans are getting very snug, so it was time to buy some maternity pants. When we were at Prenatal (pregnant mom/baby store) I decided to try on a pair of jeans. When I walked into the dressing room, I saw a funny little pillow hanging on a hook. We figured out pretty quickly what it was: it was a belly pillow! You're supposed to stuff it underneath your clothes so you can have a little preview of what you're going to look like when you're farther along. It was so funny!

Here they are.. the before and after pictures!

Pizza

Today I was in the mood for something fishy, but not another tuna or salmon pasta dish. I had been reading recipes online and found out that making pizza from scratch was supposed to be really easy. I tried my hand at it, and easy it was! Besides, all the ingredients were in my pantry so I didn't even need to run to the store.

After making a spinach and tuna pizza, I trimmed the crust a bit and ended up having enough dough for a second little one. I topped it with fresh tomato, pesto and mozzarella. But when it came out of the oven, we were already full from eating the first pizza, so I saved it.

A few minutes ago, I found myself eating the mini-pizza, cold. I don't think that's what the midwife meant when she told me to eat several mini-meals a day, but I guess there are a lot of unhealthier things I could have eaten three hours after dinner time...

Coldframe

Inspired by Duct Tape and Baling Twine, who has a family of 10 kids to feed, I started my garden yesterday.

First, I cleared out my coldframe. I could hardly see where it was anymore, because I hadn't used it last year and it was covered in weeds. Then, I filled some pots and flats with potting soil. And then I dug out my seed box. All of a sudden I'm really looking forward to gardening again. I did miss it last year. Of course, I had some tomato plants and a zucchini, but I don't really call that a garden. I mean to do better this year.

That's why I started zinnias (two sizes), sunflowers, zucchini, melons, red onions, gourds and nasturtium. I already have some tomato plants and a pepper plant that a friend of my mom's gave me.
The next challenge will be to get the garden tilled. M has so much to do in the house that he doesn't have the time (and I really don't want to ask him). It's been very dry, so the ground is hard, which means that it's not really an option for me either. I'm going to try and see if we can have a tiller come over and do it for us.

Spring stroll

The midwife recommended that I keep exercising, so tonight after dinner I went for a walk. It was a calm spring evening, and I was in one of those moods where all of a sudden you can see the beauty in little things.
Like for instance these lambs.

And this beautiful row of chestnut trees. I love chestnut trees in the spring, they look so bold and powerful!

Lunch pigeon

Every day for four days now, this pigeon has showed up right next to my patio doors as I was eating my lunch. Every day he's been coming closer and closer to the doors, not scared at all. Today he allowed me to take a picture of him. He's not shy at all. He walk around, pecking here and there, and then leaves again. I wonder if he'll be here again tomorrow..

Not a chicken

Sometimes I'm so glad I'm not a chicken. Imagine having to lay a 7 cm (2.75 inch) egg!

Ok, I hadn't meant to make this an anology. But all of a sudden I'm reminded that I'm pregnant and that the average baby is a lot bigger. Mm, I guess I'm not going to think of that yet...

Dizzy

So far my pregnancy has been painless... no morning sickness, no weird cravings. The only strange thing was that all of a sudden I didn't like coffee anymore. But now I had to call in sick this morning (and yesterday) because I feel so dizzy. The world spins! Even if I eat something (this morning M brought me breakfast in bed when he got up at 6:30) it doesn't help. I didn't have to start until 10 today, so I got up around 8:30. Ate another little bite, took a shower, but still I felt really faint.

I called the midwife and she told me not to worry. She said to take it seriously (and not drive if I don't feel like that's smart) but this will pass. I'm supposed to eat several mini-meals a day to keep my blood sugar levels up. Weird but I guess things could be worse..

Ultrasound

Last night we had the second ultrasound. Last time the baby looked like a little peanut with a flashing light in it, this time it really looked like a baby. I'm usually not too good with ultrasound pictures but apparently the baby was posing beautifully so we both understood which body part was which right away.

Here she/he is! (No, we don't know what the gender is, and we don't want to know either.) Ten weeks and six days along, 4.34 cm from crown to rump.

The baby's head is on the left, you can even see its nose. On the right the leg is clearly visible. It's a baby!