Having a Wonderful Weekend

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It's been a pretty good week. Mainly because we had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner at my Aunt's house and we also got to see my dad and his wife on Tuesday. We're super excited also because we're flying to London next week to visit Matt's family. I can't wait to see Henry playing with all his cousins! We've been looking forward to this since we booked our flights back in August.

Today we've just been chilling and getting ready to put up the Christmas tree and all the decorations. I can't wait to celebrate Henry's first Christmas! And I'm so super excited that my sister will be here too.

We have such wonderful families, lovely homes and with this tiny little bun in the oven currently, I feel I have so much to be grateful for.

Hope you're having lovely weekends too!

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On a separate note, I'm SO pleased for my friends Katie & Reuben of House of Humble for winning a trip to New York at the Voices of 2013 event in Australia! I can't think of a couple that deserves it more.

Feeling Blue

Love this greeting card I found on Etsy

Argh. What a day. It's not even midday yet and already I just want to curl up under the covers and not come out again until tomorrow. I try to be as positive as possible on this platform, but today, life has just got the better of me.

It's good to let it out, right? It's just been one of those days where the universe is set on pissing me right off. From noisy neighbours yabbering away from 3am until 5am, to Henry waking up extra early (5.30am) and refusing to have his morning nap (he still hasn't had it), to Matt losing his car keys... it's just been awful. And I actually broke down and cried.

I blame it on the tiredness (and possibly, the pregnancy hormones). But already, I can tell that being pregnant is going to be a lot less relaxing this time around.

I'm hoping a tall stack of pancakes and a steaming cup of jo will set things straight.

What gets you out of the doldrums?

We've Got News!

Yep, there's another bean on the way! Henry's going to be a big brother! I can't imagine him being a big anything but, yep, it's happening!

I always wanted my kids to be close in age, one reason being I want to try and recreate the relationship I have with my sister (we're only 18 months apart). So as soon as my doctor gave us the ok, I knew we would start trying right away. Much like the first time around, I never expected it to happen so quickly! I fell pregnant when Henry was about 5 months old. Having kids with only a 14.5 month age gap just sounds crazy to me. But so exciting too!

I also like the idea of going through the baby years all in one go. It's going to be tough with two under two for the first couple of years - gosh, I know that - but after those first few years, I'll be able to throw myself right back into my career and into trying to get my body back to looking somewhat like what it used to. I'm not going to complain. I don't think I've actually had it THAT bad as far as my body is concerned. I think my boobs still look great (even though they do look like someone else's boobs entirely which is something I had to get used to), I haven't spotted any stretch marks and the baby weight was slowly but surely falling off.

But, now, that's all changing! I don't need to worry about losing the weight just yet and I can bask in the happiness that is pregnancy once again. I loved being pregnant and I just hope that this pregnancy is as good as my first one. So far, so good! Actually - even better. I had nowhere near the amount of nausea this time around as I had with Henry. Let's see how the rest of it goes...

We had our 13 week ultrasound today, and I was really hoping they would be able to tell the sex. The technician did have his initial suspicions but I won't share those just yet...

Yet another thing to look forward to!

Pancakes (from scratch)

What's a Sunday without some pancakes? I got ahead of the game by making a whole batch yesterday and freezing them to eat for breakfast for the rest of the week. I also couldn't wait to use the authentic Canadian maple syrup sent to us by a good friend over there.

I've never made pancakes from scratch before (I always use Bisquick ready-made mix), so I woke up ready to scour the net for a good 'from-scratch' recipe.  I found Nigella Lawson's take on the fluffy American pancake and, based on the reviews, I decided to give it a go.

To be perfectly honest, I wasn't too pleased with the results. They were tasteless (even though I added a touch of vanilla essence to a couple of them) and rather rubbery. 

I might try Jamie Oliver's recipe next, but until then, I'll be eating these bad boys for the rest of the week. However bad they might be, they're still the best darn breakfast food there is.

Oh, and for those of you living in Athens, I am beyond thrilled that pancake house, Melinikon, will be opening up in Kolonaki on November 27! Finally - pancakes in Greece!

Do you have a tried and tested 'from-scratch' pancake recipe? I'd love to hear it!

Evolution of a Baby (8 months!)

I totally missed the 7th month, but who cares when I've got cute little pictures of Henry at every month up until now. Bubs, on November 8 you turned 8 months old! So much closer to a year old than to being a newborn. How. time. flies. Just when I think you're at your cutest stage, the next month comes along and you're even CUTER than before.

You're now crawling all over the place (we really need to carpet these tiled floors!) and pulling yourself up onto furniture to stand up straight. How you love to stand up straight and tall and walk around the room. I think you'd be happy for me to take you by the hands (hunched over like Quasimodo. Not doing any favours for my back) and walk you around the room all day long.

Your bottom pearly whites are just that - the two cutest little teeths I ever did see. Oh and that smile you flash more and more often now - it melts all of our hearts. You look just like your Daddy when he was a baby. We love how it's so much easier to make you smile and laugh. From tickling your neck and belly, to making silly faces (Daddy loves to do those), to travelling to the stars and the moon and the planets (again, with Daddy), to Mommy going 'uh-oh' every time you drop something on the floor, to Daddy pretending to drop you, to playing with Poppy - so many more things make you laugh now. Your laugh = the cutest sound in all the land.

And you just LOVE watching football. And playing football. And throwing your football around. This makes Daddy very happy. What also makes Daddy happy is how you cry when he leaves the room. You're definitely showing more interest in Daddy now. I'm going to need to get used to this.

Bubs, it's an absolute treat watching you grow.