Day 15 - TLT

So I've decided to in a way blog retrospectively! It'll be easier to blog about yesterday during the day today and so on as I'm just too tired by the time I get to the evenings that I just sink into bed!! So...yesterday was a pretty good day...other than being super hot and humid!!

Started my first foray into raw uncooking. Had Zane's apple breakfast bowl. Think I chose the wrong type of apple to use though as it was way to juicy for my liking!! Hers seemed a lot dryer and more sticky than mine. Maybe I'll add less almond milk to the next one! Had a salad for lunch with bacon and then dinner last night I made chicken mince rissoles. Never made rissoles before but they turned out great! Just had a few rissoles with a big salad. I don't think I drank enough water yesterday though...just felt like I didn't have enough. Went walking last night and did some uphill work and ran the last 5mins or so.

Things have been crazy lately. I feel like I haven't dedicated enough to the challenge the last 4-5 days. Need to get myself back into the right mind frame. It's just been hard with 2 sick kids etc. the house is kinda falling apart so need to get stuck into that too! The list is neverending...

See you tomorrow
Crystal

Days 11-14

As you can see I've broken my habit of blogging every day. *sigh. There really is no 'excuse' but it's been a rough few days! Sick kids (and still sick!!), birthday party at the coast, catching up with a friend whose just separated from her husband etc etc. it's been stressful, tiring and I'm glad to try and get back to some normalcy! I've cheated with food, and feel horribly guilty but at the end of the day I need to forgive myself and move on. It's really hard when things are outside of your control!! minor going to list all my foods over the last few days. I'll just start fresh tomorrow. On a good note though I went to the raw food uncooking class Friday night and it was awesome!! Learned heaps and starting tomorrow I'm trying out some raw recipes! Should be fun!!!


Until tomorrow!
Crystal

Day 10 - TLT

Wow! 1/6 of the way through the challenge!! Go us!! A good day today! Stuck to my ins and outs. Had a chocolate craving today though!! I'm not a big chocolate person anyways but knowing that I couldn't have it I think made me crave it more!! Didn't give in of course! Much easier to not give on when it's not in the house anyways!! Went for a 5k run tonight and actually felt super! It's still 'hard' for me to run 5k but tonight was the 'easiest' 5k run I've done so I must be getting fitter in my body and mentally stronger as well!!

Food for today...
Breakfast - lemon water, green hydration drink, bacon, egg
Lunch - tuna salad, lemon water
Dinner - slow cooked turkey breast, olives, salad

Off to bed! Feeling a bit weary tonight!
Crystal

Day 9 - TLT

Had my 'cheat' day today. Wasn't planning on having it today but had a friend over for morning tea and I wasn't even thinking and I had a slice of apple cinnamon cake! Lol. There goes my no refined sugar rule so I decided well I might as well have my cheat day today. Didn't have a cheat meal...just cheat snacks. Meals were still within what my ins and outs are. Did an earlier hot yoga class today at 4:30 and I felt really good doing it. Back on the wagon properly tomorrow though with my food!!

Food for today...
Breakfast - egg salad. Lemon water, green hydration drink
Morning tea - apple, apple cinnamon cake slice, crackers
Lunch - bacon and mushrooms
Dinner - green smoothie after yoga, ham and mushrooms

Crystal

Day 8 - TLT

Well today was a better day than yesterday. I stuck to my plan and felt pretty good today. Went out for my run tonight and did a 5k run and felt good afterwards. Mentally in a good place today overall. I'm hoping to start seeing some real results on the scale this week. I'm exercising a lot and quite intense and watching my food intake so it has to start coming off sooner or later hopefully! I'm feeling so much healthier though and that's so much more important!

Food for today...
Breakfast - egg salad, lemon water, green hydration drink
Lunch - tuna salad, lemon water
Afternoon tea - 1/4 apple
Dinner - homemade chicken mince rissoles

Yoga tomorrow afternoon! Can't wait!
Crystal

Day 7 - TLT

Today was a rough day. Today was the first day that I felt hungry. I was so hungry!! Not sure why because I didn't change anything I was doing. Not only was I hungry but I just felt off this afternoon. Funny tummy, massive headache. Maybe it's my body finally showing signs of withdrawal from the various foods I've eliminated for this challenge. Still went for my run tonight but it made it 25muns rather than my normal 30-35mins. At least it's something though!!

On the up side I turned down cupcakes at a friends place this morning and afternoon tea this afternoon of chocolate cake  with family visiting. Felt good to say no and the craving wasn't actually too bad!

Food for today...
Breakfast - veggies, bit of left over fish, sautéed mushrooms, lemon water
Morning tea - apple, grapes
Lunch - egg salad, lemon water
Dinner - chicken breast with natural Greek yoghurt and Parmesan crust, lemon water
Snack - nuts, seeds, dried cranberries

Tomorrow is my 500calorie day...

Bye for now
Crystal

Day 6 - TLT

Short post today!! Very busy day! Shopping in the morning, grocery shopping, took the kids to the park and went out to a friends in the evening. Very proud of myself as my friend had chocolate pudding slow cooker dessert with ice cream there for us and I politely declined and proceeded to tell her about my 60 day challenge! It was hard because it did smell SO good!! Another thing I have to note is how long it takes me to grocery shop now! Since I'm
Much more aware of labels, ingredients etc it's quite a mammoth task!!

Tried the bonfire teriyaki fish last night! OMGosh!!! DELICIOUS!! My almost 5 year old devoured it and went back for seconds!!

Food for today...
Breakfast - 2 eggs, sautéed mushrooms, lemon water, green hydration drink
Lunch - tuna salad, cucumber, tomato, carrot, beetroot, lemon water
Dinner - teryiki fish, veggies (broccoli, carrot, zucchini)

See you tomorrow!
Crystal

Day 5 - TLT

So today is my 'cheat' day. To be honest I wasn't overly excited about it. Kind of dreading it really. But I've had so many people say you need to have a cheat day or cheat meal. It helps your body get better accostomed to the lower caloric intake on the other days etc etc. But I still wasnt happy about it. I feel guilt for cheating...I feel like I've let myself down by cheating. I only had 1 cheat meal today. Couldn't handle cheating anymore than that!! It's bee a tradition in our household that Friday night is pizza night. So I are normally for breakfast and lunch and then went for my 5k run and had pizza for dinner. Did it taste awesome and remind me of all the things I've been missing the last 5 days...nope. To be honest it made me feel like crap. Yes slightly physically sick but more mentally like crap. Not sure what I'll do with my other cheat days/meals because I really don't want to do THIS again. As punishment (lol) I'm going to do the 6am hot yoga class in the morning. I'm sure I'll feel sick there after eating pizza tonight. Lol. Really though..,what my 'cheat' day has made me realise is that I don't really want that 'stuff' anymore at the moment. I'm liking how I'm feeling by all the healthy eating etc and I don't like how the crap makes me feel! Just another reinforcement that I'm making positive changes in my journey I guess!

My food for today...
Breakfast - egg salad, lemon water, green hydration drink
Morning tea - handful of crackers, nuts, seeds
Lunch - chicken salad with cucumber, carrot, beet root, tomato, cheese
Dinner - UUGGHHHH Pizza lol

See you in the hot yoga room in the morning!!
Crystal

Day 4 - TLT

I can't believe we have hit day 4 already! Only 56 days to go! Lol. No seriously though the last 4 days have actually been 'easier' than I thought they would be. Today Dr Espen posted a short video saying people were emailing saying they were struggling a bit, feeling overwhelmed etc.  It got me thinking today. Why am I not feeling those things??! I'm giving up a lot of bad habits food wise yet my body seems to be handling it well. I've already noticed a big increase in energy, mentally more aware and not a huge amount of cravings. I thought the cravings would be bad. Especially since I'm still having to  cook meals for my family that include some of the  things I'm not able to have.  But I'm doing ok! I'm assuming my exercise has helped curb cravings, help with energy etc as well but I'm sure others are exercising too!  I'm honestly not sure why I'm not 'suffering' like those people!! Maybe I should just be thankful but in the sane respect it makes me wonder if I'm doing something 'wrong' here! I suppose everyone's journey is different and this is just that very thing rearing it's head.

It was a positive day again with my food and exercise. I was able to get to an earlier hot yoga class late this afternoon rather than the evening class which I usually do so that meant I could go out for a nice 40min power walk tonight. I took a break from running tonight. I want  to do another 5k run tomorrow night to make 4 for this week!! Weighed myself today as well. Found out I'm 1.7kgs down since Monday so that's pretty awesome!!

Anyways, food for the day...
Breakfast - lemon water, egg salad with carrot and celery, green hydration drink
Morning tea - apple
Lunch - salad with carrot, beetroot, tomato, cucumber, cheese, left over steak from the family's dinner the night before
Afternoon tea - nuts and seeds, dried cranberries
Dinner - green smoothie after my hot yoga class, last serve of the egg salad!!

Tomorrow is my 'cheat' day. The handbook says a cheat day is good for you. I'm having a bit of trouble processing what I want to get out of my cheat day. I don't want to gorge myself all day on all my forbidden foods. I don't think that's the point. But I'm also not craving things in a big way either so I'm not sure. I was thinking I might have a cheat meal rather than a day. Friday is normally our traditional pizza night. Might have some pizza and hope it doesn't make me feel ill!! :/

See you tomorrow
Crystal

Day 3

Day 3 is almost done and dusted! Lemon water...tick. Green hydration drink...tick. Fish oil supplement...tick. Green veggies...tick. Today was my first fasting day under the 5:2 diet. It's actually been a lot easier than I thought. I didn't feel hungry during the day. But I did feel hungry when I went for my 5k run tonight!! But that passed after I got home, had a good drink of water, showered and  organised things for tomorrow.

Food for today was obviously less due to the fasting but here it is...

Breakfast - egg salad, apple, lemon water
Lunch - chicken salad with carrot, beetroot, tomatoes, cucumber,

Day 2

Hello friends!! Day 2 of my 60 day challenge is now complete!! And it was a pretty good day!! Started the day with my lemon water and then mixed up my green hydration drink for the first time ever!! Talking a look at it it looked pretty gross I must admit but it actually tasted pretty good!! Even Eve was taking swigs of it and didn't want to give it back!! Also had my fish oil supplement today and my coconut oil so I'm well on track for my 7 food/substances in!!

Mentally I was a bit fatigued today. Not sure if that's a result of cutting out refined sugars or the no carb thing!! I went grocery shopping today as well. Omgosh it was quite eye opening to stand there and actually read the labels thoroughly!! It seriously seems like everything has sugar in it!! Was trying to find an alternative 'snack' to things like crackers and potato chips and found these chickpea crackers and was like yum!! But then I checked the ingredients and yup...sugar added. Darn it!! Crazy how it's added to almost everything!! I did get a chance to make the bonfire egg salad today though!! And all I can say is yum, yum, yum!! Even Mia said to me at dinner "this is awesome mum!!"

Also did some reading today about the fast diet or the 5:2 diet. Definitely seems like something I want to experiment with during these 60 days. So tomorrow will be one of my 2 'fasting' days. Should've interesting to see how I feel after doing this for a while!!

Here's my food intake for the day...
Breakfast - lemon water, green hydration water, 3 hard boiled eggs
Lunch - salad with baby greens, carrot, beet root, cucumber, chicken, lemon water
Dinner - about 100gms of oven baked chicken breast, small amount of bonfire egg salad. Only had a small dinner as I went and did my hot yoga class tonight. Also had the green smoothie after my class.

Tomorrow is coming so it's time to get some all important zzzzzz's!!

Bye for now!!

Day 1 - TLT

Day 1 is almost complete!! How exciting to be embarking on this journey!! I can't say that today was easy. But in the same respect it wasn't too hard. I was able to stick to my foods out list. I did my daily exercise by running 5k plus I did the push up exercises that were sent in the first daily email. What I DIDN'T do though is have my green hydration water. Wasn't organized enough in the morning between getting the kids sorted at breakfast, getting school lunch done, etc etc that I forgot to get it ready. I won't be making the same mistake tomorrow though!! For me planning is key!!

Here is my food intake for the day...
Breakfast - tbsp coconut oil, lemon water, 2 hard boiled eggs
Morning tea - apple
Lunch - salad with baby leaves, spinach, carrot, beet root, cucumber, tomato, grated cheese, organic steak, lemon water
Dinner - juicing (beet root, carrot, apple etc), nuts and seeds, dried cranberries

After hearing Dr A talk about the 5:2 diet I have set a task for myself for tomorrow to research that approach as I'm very interested in trying it for this challenge!!

Until tomorrow!!
Crystal

60 Day Bonfire Total Life Transformation

Tomorrow I'm embarking on a journey...a 60 day journey!  It's called the Bonfire Total Life Transformation (TLT). It's not about weight loss...it's a complete transformation (although I'm hoping weight loss will be a component for me!!).  The staff at Bonfire will be guiding all us challengers through the entire 60 day process. Equipping us with tools, knowledge, recipes, motivation etc etc to help us complete our own individual challenges.  It's all so exciting!! I'm excited to be a part of this awesome experience!! My team leader Dr Espen (who's also my chiropractor) will be an essential part of my journey.

As part of the journey you have to set goals. Achievable goals! Habits you will change. Foods that will be eliminated during the challenge and foods that will be added. You also need to identify your motivations for doing this challenge.  One habit for my challenge that I want to start is daily blogging about my challenge journey. A form of accountability really. I want to be able to track how I'm going, how I'm feeling, how I'm looking and my struggles and triumphs.

So this is the start...my first blog entry for this challenge which officially kicks off tomorrow. Here are my lists of things for the challenge... I'm so ready to get started!!

7 HABITS
1. Make sure I exercise in some form every day .
2. Make sure I eat a proper breakfast every morning.
3. Look myself in the eye every morning and say 'you are worth it' and 'you can do this'
4. Focus on my positive attributes and not my negative ones
5. Involve my girls in the healthy changes as much as I can
6. Make dinner my lightest meal and breakfast my heaviest each day
7. Keep a daily blog about my challenge.

7 FOODS/SUBSTANCES IN
1. Coconut oil
2. Lemon water
3. Fish oil supplement
4. Green hydration water
5. Juicing
6. More green veggies!
7. Nuts

7 FOOD/SUBSTANCES OUT
1. Potatoes
2. Pasta
3. Rice
4. Bread
5. Soft drink
6. Refined sugar
7. Potato chips/snack foods

My Motivation Statement
"My motivations for doing the TLT are quite 'simple' to express. As a mum to 2 young girls I want to provide a good example for them. I want to model for them what a healthy mind, healthy body and healthy life means. I want to learn how to be the best me I can be so that I can be the best mum I can be. I want to learn healthy habits I can implement for the rest of my life. Most of all I need to start making myself a priority again. After having kids (and even before!) I always put myself at the end of the list. Bottom priority. It's now MY time. And I can't feel guilty for making myself a priority. I need to believe in me."

So until tomorrow my friends, take care!

Love Crystal

A Metal Plate

Sorry I have been a bit MIA...I had an accident last Monday and its seen me out of action since then. So what happened you ask? Well I had to go to the bank machine (in the pouring rain) to get some cash out and as I walked from the car to the bank machine my feet slipped out from under me and I fell on my backside and I put my left hand (palm down) down to break my fall. I fell hard...boy did I fall hard!! My wrist started to swell almost immediately. And by swell I mean it absolutely ballooned up!! The pain was enormous...the most intense thing since my sciatica pain back in 2009. Unfortunately I had to pick Mia up from school so after getting my cash out I had no choice but to get in the car and drive 1 handed (which is quite the feat when you have a manual) to Mia's school to get her. Even trying to get eve out of the car in the pouring rain 1-handed was SO hard. I got into Mia's school and asked the teachers for an ice pack. I was shaking from shock by that point but Mia's teachers were so wonderful. They helped get the girls into the car for me and I managed to get us all home. David got home from work about 1/2 hour later and took me straight to the doctor. The doc immediately sent me off for X-rays. By this point the pain was making me sick to my stomach...I couldn't move my wrist or arm at all. The doc got the X-rays and immediately I knew things were serious. 'The break isn't where I expected' he said. 'You will most likely need surgery' he said. 'You have not 1 but 3 fractures' he said. So they strapped it up, put on a sling and sent me to the ER. My good friend Jill was kind enough to take me to the ER and stay with me until they assessed what needed to happen. At the ER they did a CT scan and have me a temporary cast and made an appt for me to see the orthopedic surgeon the following morning. Went and saw Dr Jtham the following morning. He proceeded to tell me that what I had done was the worst break you could do to your wrist. He said surgery had to be done and a metal plate had to be put in as well as bone grafting done. The surgery was scheduled for Thursday morning. I was on strong painkillers to try and get through till the surgery. Thursday morning came around and I was looking forward to the surgery so that I could finally start recovering. I hated leaving my girls. I had to stay in hospital overnight as well. The surgery went well. Dr Jtham said my wrist looked great and that he didnt anticipate any further problems. I had a very hard time waking up from the anesthetic. It wasn't till about 8:30pm before I could keep my eyes open for any length of time. David brought the girls in for a visit and I looked shocking!! Lol. I had my morphine drip in, cast on my arm and oxygen tubing in my nose. Both girls handled it all so well though. I'm so proud of them! So I've been home now for a couple if days from the hospital. Starting to feel a bit more human. Pain is slightly better but I still need painkillers. My main problem (thanks to the painkillers) was severe constipation. 6 days later and things are now 'flowing' a bit better lol. All in all this has been a pretty traumatic experience...and it's not over yet. I see the surgeon again on Thursday when they will take off my cast and put on a splint. I will be in the splint for 3-4 weeks but its removable for showers etc. fingers crossed everything heals ok!!

That's all for now...I'm exhausted!!

Crystal

Another Week...

Another week down! I can't believe how fast the weeks are going now that Mia is in school! Again, not too much to report this week. Mia had a big week at school as it was her 3 day week. She cried on Monday and Tuesday a bit when I left her but Wednesday she was fine. I'm so proud of her and how she is doing at school. Her teachers have told me that she uses her manners, loves her art and craft and loves playing with her friends. I love picking her up at the end of the day and spending the next half hour hearing all about what she did, who she played with and what her favourite bits of the day were. All the while her throwing in the phrase "I missed you while I was at school mum". Melts my heart!!

Eve and I had a pretty simple week! I got my regular cleaning tasks done but Eve was a bit out of sorts still being a bit sick so we just took it easy. I did manage to get some sewing done and did a passport/travel doc holder for me to take when the girls and I go to Canada in a few months. Here is the finished product..

Other than that my crafty stuff was on the backburner this week!! We have been enjoying some family walks lately and Mia LOVES pushing Eve in the pram. Here she is being such a good big sister!!

Also, my new stroller arrived this week!! The one that I ordered to take to Canada on our upcoming trip. This stroller is AWESOME!! It is called the Quicksmart stroller and it is an award winning design! It folds up so small, comes in a carry case and is made specially to fit in the overhead lockers of planes so you don't have to include it with your checked baggage!! LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!

And a few more pics of our week...

Until next week!!
Crystal

I'm Late...

No I'm not late in the way that I KNOW you are thinking...what I mean is that I'm late with my blog post for last week. My sincerest apologies to you all!! We have been struck down with sickness in our household...well Eve and I have been anyways!! Luckily our little schoolgirl has escaped unscathed as has her father!! Lucky them! Eve and I are still struggling to get over it. Mine was almost gone and it has now flared up again!! Now onto last week...

A fairly uneventful week overall. Mia did SO well with school drop offs. No tears at all!! I was one proud mumma!! Only a 2 day week at school for her last week. She had a great time and did lots of crafty stuff!! Wednesday the girls and I went to our first music class for the year which was lots of fun. Singing, dancing, instruments etc made for a great morning out. Then on Thursday Mia had her first play date with her new friend Chloe from school. Mia has done nothing but talk about Chloe since school started so I thought it would be nice to invite them over. The girls had a great play together, her little brother Lachlan and Eve had a great play together and Helen and I had a lovely chat! We hope to catch up with them again soon!! Here's a few pics of the girls from this week...

I managed to get some cleaning done last week, a bit of knitting and a bit of sewing.

Talk soon!!
Crystal xx

Mia The Schoolgirl

What a HUGE week this week!!! My baby girl (who certainly isn't a baby anymore!!) started her first day of Kindergarten!! She had 3 days at school this week (Mon-Wed) and overall she did so well!! Monday was a bit of a rough day (for both of us) as Eve and I dropped her off at school, stayed for a little play and then had to say goodbye. Mia cried but the teacher picked her up and distracted her enough for me to leave. I was TOTALLY lost the entire day! Even though I had Eve at home with me the house felt so empty and I couldn't stop thinking about Mia, wondering how she was going, if she was eating the food I sent, if she was making friend etc. I got nothing done all day!! lol.  When Eve had her sleep I even sat in front of the tv and didn't even turn it on...that's how out of it I was!! There were tears on Mia's part but also on my part once I got back into the car after dropping her off. I felt this sense of loss...my baby girl is growing up and leaving the next so to speak! When Eve and I picked her up that afternoon the teacher said she took a while to "find her groove" but once they moved from outside play to inside play she was more settled. Tuesday drop off was even worse tear wise for Mia. She cried quite hard and REALLY didn't want me to leave. But when I picked her up at the end of the day the teachers said she did really well and settled much more quickly and didn't ask them nearly as many times when I was coming back to get her. Wednesday was more tears but not as bad as Tuesday and about 2 mins after I left another parent came out of the school, saw me in my car about to drive away and told me that Mia was happily playing. So the fact she settled within 2 mins of me leaving was very reassuring. Wednesday was by far MY most productive day lol.  I came home after school drop off, played with Eve, put her to bed, cleaned both bathrooms, put on slow cooker beef stroganoff for dinner and did some sewing. I know both Mia and I will eventually "find our groove" with this new thing called school but it has been a very emotionally draining week (for both of us!). Mia seems to really have enjoyed herself though and loves to tell Eve and I all about her day when we pick her up. That in itself is reassuring. It is now Friday and she has already asked a number of times yesterday and today when she gets to go back to school so that's a good sign! Only a 2 day week for her next week (Mon-Tues) so fingers crossed the crying subsides even a little bit more!! Here are pictures of my big school girl!!

Other than school starting this week not much else has happened. I've managed to do a bit of sewing and am trying out a new pattern and a new technique (ruffles) to make a pair of pants for Eve. Mia saw the fabric and now wants a skirt out of the same fabric so I'm now working on that too! Here is the start of Eve's pants...

That's it for this week! Talk to you soon!! xx

Hmmm.....

Oh my goodness...it has been about 9 months since my last blog post!!! Talk about SLACK!!!! I REALLY need to get back into this because I see it as the best way to keep track of everything that happens in our house from kids getting teeth, visits with family and friends etc etc etc!!! So my goal in 2013 is to blog AT LEAST once per week just to keep track of everything!!

I don't think there is any way for me to catch up on everything that I have missed in the last 9 months so I'm not even going to try!! lol  With that being said I will start with this last week...

Mia was due to start Kindy (I know!!! The time flies doesn't it??!?!) on Tuesday but due to all the storms, flooding, etc her teacher wasn't able to get into the school and so school was cancelled for her first day :(  Mia was quite disappointed as we had been getting her all excited for her first day (including getting her special things for her lunchbox etc) so she was sad about it being cancelled but is really looking forward to Monday. She has a 3 day week next week (Mon-Wed) so that should really help her get adjusted to her 'new' life as a school-attending little girl!!

Other than the disruption this last week of floods etc there hasn't been too much going on. Yesterday I came down with a HORRIBLE head cold and Eve seems to be getting a bit of it today and is kind of cranky, high temps etc. Lets hope both girls don't get it as bad as I have it because it isn't fun!!!

I'll leave this post with some pics.  We had a WONDERFUL visit from my parents last Sept/Oct and had the lovely Kacey from Jae Photography take some photos of us and the girls which turned out beautiful!!

Woohooo....first week of blogging complete...lets see if I can keep it up!!!

Ok! Here We Go!!

Right...so....yeah...it has been a while. I am SO bad at keeping this blog up to date!! Everytime I post I say I need to try harder but I am not doing too well at it!! Oh well, here we go with a brief catch up anyways!!

Mia is turning 3 in 9 day!!!! 9 DAYS!!!!! It is crazy!! Her party is this Saturday. It is "rainbow" themed and Mia is SO excited!! I am doing a cake this year rather than cupcakes like I have done before. I have to make 5 or 6 half cakes in different colours to put on top of the other to make a "rainbow". Not too hard but a bit time consuming! It should look great though! All of the food and decorations are all going to be rainbow coloured. It is just going to be a small affair with family and close friends coming. Mia can't stop talking about it!! She is just blossoming into this beautiful young lady. She is so kind, considerate, funny, loving and the list goes on!! She is always telling me that she "so loves me" and she is such a wonderful big sister to Eve. She always wants to "pat" her and hug her, tells her she loves her all the time, "talks" to her etc. It is so nice to see! Here are a couple pics of my gorgeous ALMOST 3 year old!!

Eve is growing SO fast!! She just turned 3 months old and ALREADY she is super cheeky!!! She has about 1000 different facial expressions!! She has now "found her voice" and "talks" ALL the time!! Just like her big sister!! She loves Mia to death - always wanting to watch her, smile at her, laugh at her, talk to her etc! I just love seeing them interact!!!

And here are my 2 girls together...

David and I are doing well. I have been sick a few times with another suspected case of mastitis and a suspected case of food poisoning but I am on the mend! The days are long at the moment with David working at Uni as well as school so he doesn't get home most nights until almost 6:30 or later.

Well off to bed as Eve will be up in a few hours to feed!!!

Chow for now!

Baby Eve Annalise

Well she has arrived!!! Mia's little sister arrived on 22nd December at 4:31pm. She was 6lbs 13oz, 50.5cm long and her head was 34.5cm circumference. We named her Eve Annalise. The Annalise was because of my Grandmother. Her name was Anne and we wanted something that contained Anne in it. The delivery went fairly smoothly...

It was decided that I would be induced due to the difficult delivery that I had with Mia. With Mia they said if she was any bigger it would have been a c-section delivery due to my narrow pelvis bones. As a result, with this pregnancy we did a grown scan at 35/36 weeks to see how big the baby was because if she was measuring bigger we were going to induce to try and make sure it was a natural delivery. I went into the hospital the night before (the 21st) and they checked dilation. I was ONLY 1cm!! They then put in the gel and then the fun began. I had a HORRIBLE night. Massive cramping, contractions etc. I thought for sure labour was officially going to start. They gave me a sedative to try and help me sleep but it did NOTHING! First thing in the morning my obstetrician came in and checked how dilated I was. After ALL that suffering overnight I had only moved to 2cm dilation. She then broke my waters and we hoped the contractions would start coming! Unfortunately that didn't happen. I was walking the halls back and forth to try and get things "moving" but after a couple of hours of nothing my ob told the midwives to set up the drip to get things going. It was at that point that I decided I was going to have the epidural. Because we weren't sure if this would be another forceps delivery I made the decision to get the epidural early rather than wait and see what would happen. So they called the anethetist and he was there within about 20mins. He put in the epi (which BY FAR was the worst part of the labour experience!!) and then the drip was started. Because of the epi I was bed bound for the rest of the labour. The drip started working about 11:30am and my ob came back around 1pm to see how dilated I was. 4cms...ONLY 4cms!! I was sure I was going to be there all night at that rate!! They kept increasing the drip to bring on more regular contractions. By about 4pm I was feeling the more intense contractions (not painful but I knew they were there) and started to feel pressure. My ob arrived again right after that and checked and I was ready to push!! Yippee!!! 5 contractions later and Eve arrived. She decided to do things quickly though. Most babies will get their head out first and then on the next contraction the body will come out. Not Eve. She came out all in one push. Surprised everyone - even the ob and the 2 midwives! The 2 midwives were busy having their own conversation and didn't even notice her come out until the ob called out "ummm ladies, we have a baby!". It was quite funny really!! Within 15mins Eve was breastfeeding like a champ - a totally different experience to Mia!! I didn't get back to my room till almost 10pm. It took a while for the epi to wear off so they didn't want to move me till then.

All in all Eve is a wonderful baby. She sleeps quite well and feeds like a trooper. I am so excited for her to get bigger though because I want to see her play with her big sister and I am so curious to see what she will look like and what her personality will be like. In terms of comparing Mia and Eve as babies, the temperament is basically identical so it will be so interesting to see if Eve is like Mia personality wise!!

Anyways, here are a few sneak peaks of the pics taken by Jae Photography of my beautiful girls and Eve!

Oh and I just realised I am going to have to update my blog header now that I have 2 little princesses!!! :)