Update on pregnancy

Dear world,

Unfortunately I'm not put of the woods yet. With that I mean that after I wrote my Pregnancy diary post on Sunday, yesterday my pains started again. I had a horrible day at work yesterday and I was in pain all day. Nothing worked - peppermint tea or pills. Sitting at my desk hurt me even more...

Today I went to my GP and she gave me even more to think about. She was unable to put a diagnostic and gave me a letter for another scan that is suppose to identify if there is anything else wrong with me - kidney stone or fibrosis. She also gave me some solution that is suppose to help me to have a bowel movement - apparently even that can cause me pain. 

London Sites That Made Me A Cool Mum

Never be confused about what to do in London again! There's plenty for kids to enjoy, with enchanted Harry Potter nooks and the double-decker tours (at the top of course!). There are also loads of free activities, like quirky museums, free cinema and skateboard-bound street art exhibitions. After a day out in these places, my kids were singing my praises as the coolest mum this side of the River Thames.

Pregnancy diary week 22

I'm now 22 weeks pregnant. Since yesterday to be more exact. I was so looking forward to this weekend as my last weekend was not very nice...my old affected my mood and you know...it's just not nice to feel ill.
I had big plans for my Saturday. I was suppose to entertain my daughter while daddy was out at his photography course. The weather was nice so a trip to the park was in order! Only that it wasn't meant to be... While tidying up and preparing to leave the house...my belly start hurting badly! It was like a constant stabbing pain on the left side of my belly. The pain was going up to my back. Every now and then the pain was getting even stronger! I thought that if I lay down and rest the pain will go away....
Only that it didn't...as the minutes and hours were passing my pain was getting worse.
Baby was moving a lot too so I wasn't very worried from that point of view. I was just scared that what I'm feeling might be contraction even though a contraction is not only felt on one side! My daughter was caring for me and we both watch cartoon and fell asleep at some point. She slept for about an hour and a half and I think I only slept about 10 minutes as the pain didn't let me.
During my laying on the couch my twitter ladies were keeping me company with nice words that help me not get into a panic.

Silent Sunday 29/7

Pregnancy diary 21 weeks

Yesterday I had my second scan. The three of us-boogie,daddy and mummy-went to St. George's Hospital together. I wanted my daughter to be with us as well.
She couldn't stop talking though...or stop moving...somehow she was trying to distract us from looking at the scan.
Below you can see a picture of the scan. Not very good I should say. The lady wasn't very good with capturing the baby...:(

Romanian tomato soup with rice

I've been thinking to cook my dad's tomato soup for ages. Yes you hear me right! My dad's. He cooks the best tomato soup ever. It's simple and delicious!
And simple is what I need to cook while I'm at home with a cold.
So last night I cooked my dad's tomato soup as I remember it.
This is a soup that can be eaten hot or cold. Perfect for a hot summer day and for a day when you just want to heal your sore throat!

I looked in my fridge to try and find some vegetables to add to my so. We didn't go shopping last weekend so here is what I found and added to my soup:
- 1 red onion
- 1 red pepper
- 1 small courgette

Words of Wisdom 23/7

Hello world! What a surprise today I stayed at home again! Of course my cold is not over...and on top I have a bad cough! Not that the sore throat is gone! Nope! My daughter still went to nursery and I felt guilty for staying at home... I know I'm not well and I'm suppose to take care of myself but still felt guilty.
I just don't know how to take care of myself...I'm too busy just taking care of others. Not that that is such a bad thing!
So the Words of wisdom today are about Care,caring....
Here are my favourites:

Garlic soup

I'm Romanian and I like garlic! My hubby says that romanians eat garlic with anything. More or less is true...LOL. Thing is if we put garlic in a dish it's always lots!
For the past couple of days I've been suffering with a very bad cold and believe me when I tell you a cold it's even worse when pregnant!
So today, as soon we got home from up north I decided to cook a soup for my sore throat! The only problem was the fact that we didn't have any of the ingredients need it to cook a traditional Romanian soup. One that my mum always use to cook for me when I was having a cold....no carrots..no parsnip....
Well we didn't go shopping since last Sunday so it was understandable.
But then I remembered that Nigella had a recipe for soup with garlic. As I said before anything with garlic is right down my street!

Pregnancy diary week 20

Today I'm writing you after a day of not working...
The past three nights were taking out of a nightmare. Slept around 3-4 hours each night between several trips to the toilet. Besides the disturbing trips to the toilet I'm experiencing - my rheumatism and my varicose veins are causing me leg pains. This horrible weather needs to go as I don't know how long I can take the pain anymore.
Last night I even had a bit of a fever! For that I blame my husband and he's cold!
Or maybe I should just blame the weather!
The baby is moving like mad too which I am really happy about but that keeps me awake too!
I don't remember my first pregnancy being the same. I remember that my daughter moved a lot during my 3rd trimester but not the 2nd.

Carrot biscuits

Last weekend I baked carrot biscuits. Saturday morning I discovered that the carrots o had started to get a bit mouldy and something had to be done.
So I start looking for a recipe. I found one on a Romanian website/forum but I think that the lady didn't write all the quantities correctly as when all mixed everything was a bit dry. So I added a bit more oil and a bit more of others and I managed to bake some quite nice biscuits.

Words of Wisdom 16/7

I've been dwelling over the keeping the "Words of Wisdom" series or not for the past couple of weeks. The same themes are going through my mind and ideally don't want to make these posts something boring to read or something that my adders will delete as soon as it arrives in their inbox.
I will keep it going for another 4 weeks though and try and think of themes that are more interesting.
For this week I thought that a good theme will be PLAY.

Mix-Tape Monday - Romance

Today i decided to join Mix - Tape Monday again. I love this meme but i wasn't sure if Clara  still runs it.

Well now that i discovered that she does i will try and join her every week. Today's theme is "romance" so right down my road really.

I will like to share with you "Our Song" - my hubby's and I song:

Andy Williams

"Can't take my eyes off you"

Silent Sunday 15/7

Satcap 14/7 - Memory lane

Hope you all had a nice week. Mine was so and so. 

Today for the Satcap Day i have an older picture. It's from last year.

You already know the drill so if you have a caption for it i would love to read it:

Satcap is hosted by Mammasaurus so why not go over for some more fun.

Things and change

This last week was tiring and just a bit too much to to handle...

 I feel exhausted.

 I know that I feel so exhausted because I am pregnant and it's something normal. I don't remember feeling so exhausted last time when I was pregnant with my daughter though. 

This whole pregnancy is so much different then my first one! I can't believe that I'm almost 20 weeks pregnant. 

Half way through my pregnancy...

Milk chocolate cheesecake

I've been in quite a mood for cooking and making cake this last weekend.
Over the time I tried and developed this recipe for milk chocolate cheesecake.
I remember that the first time I used dark chocolate but my husband and my daughter found it a bit too strong - chocolaty.

Words of Wisdom 9/7

Hello my lovelies! Today I just want to share with you a poem about love and friendship. Not much to say. Lets all feel the love during this ugly weather:

"Love and Friendship"

I love you, not only for what you are,
But for what I am when I am with you.

I love you, not only for what
You have made of yourself,
But for what you are making of me.

I love you for the part of me
That you bring out;

I love you for putting your hand
Into my heaped-up heart
And passing over all the foolish, weak things
That you can't help dimly seeing there,
And for drawing out into the light
All the beautiful belongings
That no one else had looked
Quite far enough to find.

I love you because you have done
More than any creed
Could have done to make me good,
And more than any fate
Could have done to make me happy.

You have done it without a touch,
Without a word, without a sign.

You have done it by being yourself.

Perhaps that is what
Being a friend means
After all.

Easy chocolate chip cookies

Yes they are really easy to make. I have to admit that I was inspired by Nigella's chocolate chip recipe but I changed it to suit the ingredients I had in my cupboard.
I think I've done a pretty good job and my daughter and hubby really enjoy eating them. Really good and not very sugary.

Silent Sunday 8/7

Yummy cottage pie

This afternoon the weather was that brilliant so I decided to cook a cottage pie for dinner. Cottage pie is one of the family favourite. So hearty and yummy!
It reminds me a bit of the Romanian Musaca even that one is a lot dryer than cottage pie. I didn't use any exact quantities for vegetables or potatoes. Only for mince - 400gr of organic mince beef from Sainsbury.

So I peeled about 10 potatoes I think....and cut them as small as I could. The smaller you cut them the faster they boil. I put all the cut potatoes in a pan and leave them to boil on a low heat.
Separately in a large pan I put a bit of vegetable oil to warm and then added some diced white onion:

Satcap 7/7

Saturday!!!! Oh...this last week was sooo long! Our holiday in Majorca seems such a long time ago and it was only a month ago!

Today i have a picture that i took on holiday with....my hubby.

I thought it is time to be featured again so here you go:

So now i dare you to find a caption for my picture! Can you?

Don't forget to go over to Annie's Blog as she put up a picture with her hubby! 

Enjoy!

Baking cupcakes

Last week my daughter and i experimented baking and decorating cupcakes.

We were not very successful because we forgot about the cupcakes baking in the oven and they end up a bit dry. Thanks God that there was enough icing and decoration to put on them and cover them up. 

My daughter love eating them though:

Desktop picnic

Picnic at my desk! How cool is this concept?! The other week the lovely people from Morrisons send me a hamper formed of cold deserts and decorations for my work desk. 

Even artificial grass - "faux grass"! So good for when is raining outside. Is like being in the park! Somehow...

I love eating my lunch outside when is sunny but if that is not possible then i can have a picnic at my desk with the help of the grass!

Here are a couple of pictures that my hubby took when i got home! 

And yes that is a bottle of wine! But please believe me i didn't drink it yet! It's still on my shelf. I did think that maybe i should open it for my colleagues friday after work but then...changed my mind. I will keep it and enjoy it after my baby is born! 

My favourite desert was the cheesecake! So damn yummy! You have to try it! It is from the Morrisons M Kitchen range. Really good indeed! And is only 3£ at the moment. 

My daughter however loved the Bistro Lemon/Rasberry Posset. 

I know it was meant for my office desk but how could i not share some of the goodies with her?!? 

Look how much she enjoyed!

So why not get yourself some "faux grass" and have a picnic with Morrisons M Kitchen desert at your desk! The weather is still pretty horrible so picnic in the park is not an option at the moment. 

Words of wisdom 2/7-Parenting

Hope you all had a nice weekend! Today I would like to you about "parenting".
Do you follow a particular method of parenting? You know like the "Baby whisperer" method or "Gina Ford" method or Supernanny's method.
I think when my daughter was a baby I was mostly following the Baby Whisperer methods. Her approach fitted with me. It seemed more human I guess.
As she become a toddler Supernanny's methods appeal more to me and my hubby.
So we start implementing the "time out" method and the "reward" method. Sometimes she is ok with it but most of the time she hates being put in time out. I guess all kids hate it. Giving her hugs and talking to her like she is an adult seems to work better though. So when my friend Suzie sent me the below video I was quite intrigued:

The concept of the "love house" sounds really good to me. If by showing my daughter love I will solve the problem of tantrums then I might give Naomi Aldort method a go. For the next month I will scrap the "time out" method.
My daughter is a confident child and I want her to be confident for the rest of her life.
I don't want her to think like her mummy that she is not good enough.

What do you think about this new type of parenting? Or maybe is not at all new for you and you already deal with you children tantrums and struggles the same as Naomi? I would live to hear from you and see how you make your home to be a "love house" and note a "war home".

For now I pledge that I will treat my daughters tantrum and demands different and in a more loving way. There are lots of videos about Naomi's methods on YouTube so even if I don't have her book I will still have lots of information.

SALVE
might bring
SALVATION

Pregnacy diary week 18

So this is my second pregnancy! And it feels a lot different this time around I have to say. I remember that when I was pregnant with my daughter I use to check Babycentre website every single day. Sometimes more than once a day as I would spend a lot of time chatting on the forum with other expectant mothers. With some of them I am still friend with on Facebook. This time around not so much. I rarely check my Babycentre app to see what's happening with the baby. I guess I am bit more busy this time. Instead of chatting on the forums I blog and chat on twitter.
First time around, my hubby use to take a picture with my belly every single week. This time I'm already 18 weeks and we didn't take one single picture. I mean I have pictures with me since I became pregnant but not with me posing and showing the belly.
Is it just me or was is for you the same? With my daughter we've done every single bit of the pregnancy special and I feel that this time we don't do enough...
I wonder if it's because I am more worried this time. I worry that something bad will happen every single day....oh dear..maybe I should just calm down and enjoy rather worry and worry constantly.
Don't get me wrong I am really happy and I'm really excited. In some ways is like being pregnant for the first time. The future looks bright in some ways. Oh...what am I doing?!? I'm babbling!!!

My daughter is excited as well! She thinks she will have a sister. It will be so lovely! We don't know what we are going to have yet though. Boy or girl...who knows?!? All I want is for my baby is to be healthy and to come out ok.
According to my daughter if it's a boy I can always have another girl next year! Funny!
We will find out on the 25th of July what it will be. Maybe.

It will be really difficult to have our second baby in a one bedroom house but people done it before and I think we can do it as well.
Financially it will be hard too as there will not be a lot of money left after we pay our
rent and bills from my hubby's salary.
I think that next year at this time we will be a low income family. Oh...it so worries me!

You might wonder why we are having our second baby if we can't afford it but...we thought that if it will not happen now then when?!? I have a sister that I love lots and hubby has 4 siblings too. We hate thinking that she will grow up without a sibling. We hate her not having any family after we pass away.

We might actually move back to Romania - the kids and I - next year. For a while. And then my hubby will join us or we will move back here. Who knows?!? I'm sure that somehow we will survive. We love each other lots and I'm sure we will find a way.

What do you think?

Silent Sunday 1/7