This week has been pretty solid. The high emotions and tensions of the past week or two have lessened, and I feel like we’re making some progress in a few areas. Always nice to see!
Baby: I thought it was time to check in on little baby this week! Baby is now around 1 2/3 pounds and 14 inches in length, according to Baby Centre. I’m feeling more kicks than ever (especially overnight—uh oh!), and it seems like the real estate is getting a bit tight in there! I can’t wait to meet this little one. Every time I see a newborn on the TV or in person, my heart just melts. I have full-on baby fever. Knowing how fast the newborn stage goes by, I’m really looking forward to soaking up all the snuggles that I can. I can’t even believe it when I look at pictures of Adriana as a baby. She already seems so far from that stage! The baby vs. toddler stages are sooooo different, lol.
Mood: I mentioned how emotional I was feeling over the last couple weeks, but this week has been a bit easier, and I’m feeling more positive. Much of this is thanks to my friends reaching out and offering their love, support, and some fun invites to hang out and unwind. My sleep has also been a bit better, and that always helps a ton.
Home life: Houston, we have working laundry machines again! Kudos to Eric for the difficult install that he navigated with finesse. We’ve done no less than a million loads of laundry to catch up, but guess what? I don’t mind because the new machines are so much fun. (I’m sure the thrill will wear off…eventually.) In other home news, I finally decided that I’m going to refresh our office space. It’s been cluttered and uninspiring for as long as I can remember! This week, I picked out some office furniture and a few decor things, and I can’t wait to start putting it together over the next few weeks! My theme is gold and white (I’m still deciding on an accent colour—any ideas? I’m considering a bright green…fresh plants + wall art), and I’m pumped to create a new look. I’ll be sure to share sneak peeks on Snapchat!
Nesting: I booked Clothesline to pick up a bunch of boxes of donation items in a couple weeks. It’ll feel so good to get rid of stuff we don’t use (old dishes, books, clothing, and other odds and ends). We’re also giving away a few pieces of furniture. I can’t wait to have it all out of the house, and free up more space! This urge to “minimize” and “simplify” has hit me strongly, and I have a feeling the nesting bug is behind it all. I find myself wondering what I can accomplish over the next few months…or at least before I hit my next wall.
Nursery: I finally started looking at cribs this week. I’m going with modern furniture for this nursery, and I’m quite excited about the beautiful options out there! I’m not in a huge rush because we’re planning on having the baby sleep in our room (in a co-sleeper) for the first few months again, but I would like to have it at least set up before baby arrives.
Hair/skin/nails: I’m not sure why, but my skin has broken out so much in the past couple days! Must be the hormones shifting or something. Or maybe it’s the sweets I’m eating. I might try scaling back the sweets a bit and see if that helps.
Sleep: My sleep has improved a bit this week and I’m not having insomnia right now. We’re all waking up really early in the morning because it’s so bright out after 5am. Adriana used to get up around 6:15–6:30am and lately she’s been waking around 5:20am. We’re all a bit bleary-eyed in the morning lately. We might look at getting her better blinds for her nursery as her current ones let in a lot of light.
Wearing: I forgot about a dress I bought way back in the winter from Pink Blush Maternity, so I pulled it out this week when I was going through my closet. It’s super comfy! (I’m wearing it in the photos in this post.) I’m normally not a maxi-length kind of girl, but this dress won me over. I’m sure there’ll be a day when I tire of stripes, but that day isn’t today.
Symptoms: No major changes in my symptoms this week other than having a bit of sciatica pain for a couple days, which has since gone away. I also had one night with some upper right rib pain, which brought back so many memories of my first pregnancy—I remember just sitting on the couch or at my desk with ice on my ribs for weeks. Luckily, I haven’t experienced that with this pregnancy yet! I’m hoping my ribs are still stretched out plenty from last time, heh.
In desperate need of: A hair cut.
Exercise: I’m still doing the same workout routine more or less, but I had a few days this week where I felt a bit slower and cut it down accordingly.
Cravings: Ice cream cones, so much! Especially the Salted Caramel and Chocolate flavour by Coconut Bliss. I’m actually thinking about checking out an ice cream maker because vegan ice cream is so darn expensive! Let me know if you have a good ice cream maker to recommend. Other cravings this week: green grapes, these fruit chews, freshly baked sourdough bread.
Best thing I ate/drank all week: Dehydrated beet chips with sea salt from the St. Lawrence Market (Peter’s Natural Health Foods). SO GOOD! Adriana, Eric, and I couldn’t stop eating them! Thanks to Sophie for the tip in last week’s Friday FAQs. You guys always have the best suggestions.
Next midwife appointment: July 12th
Days left until Oh She Glows Every Day is released: 76
Days left until Adriana’s 2nd birthday: 91
Days left until due date: 98
Hi Angela,
Love these posts as I’m exactly 10 weeks behind you. I love my Cuisinart ice cream maker. The trick is to always keep the bowl in the freezer and then you are always ready to go. Its so easy to whip up some ice cream. I find it doesn’t freeze great though, better freshly made and more like soft serve.
Julie
I have the Cuisinart ice cream maker and I love it. It is so easy to use and I just keep the bowl in my freezer year round. I have had lots of success just swapping the milk/cream for coconut milk in regular ice cream recipes. I did have a kitchen aid ice cream maker attachment for my stand mixer, but the bowl got a tiny crack in it after very little use and started leaking whatever liquid they use between the layers into my freezer. I’m not sure if this is a common problem, but I wasn’t impressed with it.
Thanks, Julie!
Hi Angela,
If you have a Kitchenaid stand mixer, they make a special ice creamer maker attachment that works really well! It’s nice because you don’t have to buy a separate machine. Love reading your baby updates!
Hey Rebecca, Thanks for the tip! I’ve heard great things about the attachment, but have yet to try it out! It looks like there are a bunch of other readers who feel the same way based on the comments below. :)
So glad to hear things are going well! And yes, lots of energy in the air with the solstice recently. The dress is super cute, too!! I own a kitchen aid freezer bowl made for ice cream, and I cannot honestly recommend it even though it is so darn convenient when you just have to place it, along with a paddle attachment, on the mixer. I find no matter how long I freeze the bowl, and how long I pre-chill my ice cream mix, I never get small ice crystals to form and this results in exceptionally icy, hard homemade ice cream. Good luck on your ice cream maker quest and for sure share which one you decide on!! For now, I’ll be hoarding pints of Coconut Bliss in my freezer….ha!!! :)
I hear that is a general problem with homemade ice cream! I’ve tried it in the past with an ice cream maker and found the same thing. I will definitely let you all know if I discover something good. ;)
We just use a small, non-descript CuisineArt ice cream maker. Nothing special. But we did fall in love with this recipe: http://www.veganbaking.net/recipes/frozen-desserts/ice-creams/vanilla-ice-cream
I like the site because it explains the science behind why it works. It’s also a great base (you can add fruits, drizzle in chocolate, etc.) We did find it to be a little too sweet for our taste, so only used 1/2 C white sugar and 1/4 C agave, with only 1/2 T vanilla extract. But it was the best starting place we found!
Thanks for the tip! Sounds delish :)
I always love reading these pregnancy updates and I’m so glad you’re posting regularly again – puts a smile on my face every time without fail :) I just thought of something random while reading the cravings bit: Have you ever during either of the pregnancies had cravings for meat and/or dairy products? I’m vegan myself and I was just curious haha
Yes, I definitely have! This pregnancy has been quite a few weird cravings for hot dogs, lol. Luckily I have a go-to for those which I buy occasionally (field roast sausages….so good!). So happy to hear you’re enjoying the updates. :)
Thanks for posting these lovely updates! I am also expecting my second, same age gap between kiddos with my second due a week or so after my son’s birthday. I feel as if I could be writing these posts :)
Keep up the great work, mama
Congrats on your second Dayna! Sounds like it’ll be an interesting year for both of us!
Hi Angela, that dress looks lovely on you and the bump grew a lot! :-) I enjoy so much reading these baby update posts of yours even though I’m not a mama yet.
How fun that Adriana & the baby’s and your cookbook’s “birthday” are all so in the same time! :-)
Speaking of cookbooks: I recently bought your 1st cookbook and read it every chance I got, loved the personal stories, the stunning photos and the delicious recipes, so I pre-ordered Book #2 and am impatiently counting back the days until its release!!
Have a lovely weekend!
My ice cream maker is one of my most essential kitchen gadgets! One can of coconut milk and 1/4 cup maple syrup plus any add ins you can dream up makes amazing vegan ice cream! Teaspoon of vanilla is delish , with cocoa powder = Wendy’s Frosty. Fresh fruit mixed in or as a topping… Heaven :) I have a Cusinart and it suits my purposes .
I have a cuisinart ice cream maker and it is the best appliance i have EVER bought. My oldest son (now almost 15…what? how?) is allergic to dairy, eggs, peanut and tree nut, and the cost of buying “safe” ice creams for him was getting absurd. It makes dairy and egg free ice cream that we all love. We’ve done vanilla, chocolate, strawberry swirl, cinnamon (served on top of chocolate upside down pudding cake for cinco de mayo), and pumpkin spice. I totally think you should get one!
Ohh, almost forgot…mint chocolate chip, too!
I second the Cuisinart ice cream maker. My husband is lactose intolerant and I like making coconut milk ice cream for him in the summer time – just as long as I remember to stick the darn bowl in the freezer the night before! I have a couple recipes on my blog, but the best resource I’ve come across is Deena Burton’s “Let Them Eat Vegan” because she has an entire chapter dedicated to making your own ice cream.
In terms of the blinds to encourage more toddler snoozing, we installed an Ikea roller shade (this one: http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/20309116/) last summer. It works like a charm and has been an early-morning sanity saver. I love that it’s mostly invisible unless it’s down, and works behind our more colourful curtains. Good luck!
Enjoying the pregnancy updates!
Question for you – you mentioned you experienced painful rib issues in your first pregnancy. Currently expecting my first and in rib agony, aside from ice…did you find anything that worked well for you to relieve it?
Congrats on your pregnancy! Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything that provided relief for my rib pain. To be honest, I didn’t even find ice helped overly much. Maybe someone else has a good tip they can share! I hope the pain ends for you soon…it’s such a painful thing to go through!
Years ago, I splurged on this cuisinart soft serve ice cream maker (http://www.cuisinart.ca/cuisinart_product.php?item_id=80) and it’s been one of my best purchases of all time. Vegan ice cream is so much cheaper to make than to buy and, depending on how many flavors are available to you at your usual supermarket, you get so much more variety ! Also, if you ever need to replace parts of your machine, the parts for this machine are easy to find on amazon. It makes fantastic soft serve ice cream but you can also pour the ice cream in an air-tight container and let it harden for regular ice cream. I suspect some of my family and friends come visit mostly in hope that I’ll make them some ;) I’ve been playing around with vegan ice cream recipes for a while now and I’d be happy to share favorite recipes if you want !