Hello everybody! This I going to be another big post!!!
The Mindful project day #167
I am very grateful and proud of my growing bump!
Specially, I am very grateful that I am having a healthy pregnancy.
Sorry for the cat hairs!! that's what happens when you have a cat and decide to wear black clothes!!
The Mindful project day #168
Grateful for the yummy recipes that people share in their blogs!
Next week is my last week volunteering at the garden. As my belly gets bigger it becomes harder for me to work there since some tasks involve carrying weight or positions that I find hard to sustain. I decided to bake something for the group of volunteers which I have grown quite fond of.
I have always love carrot cake since the first time I tried in Portugal while on holydays with my brother. I've tried to bake it once but it went terrible wrong. A colleague of mine gave me a recipe and while baking it,
I made the silly decision of boiling the carrots....obviously the cake tasted horribly!!!!! 9 years have passed and I finally gained the courage to try it again. Recently I have been following the
http://eclecticalu.blogspot.nl/ where I found a post about a carrot cake. You can find the post here:
http://eclecticalu.blogspot.nl/2016/02/how-to-make-carrot-cake.html.
I decided to divide the dough into muffins-shapes and voila:
The last of the carrot-cake muffins!
Delicious!!!!!! Highly recommend this recipe ( and also the blog
http://eclecticalu.blogspot.nl/)
The Mindful project day #169
I am grateful for people's generosity.
The owners of the garden where I volunteer have three kids and they were kind enough to offer me same baby-clothes which I promptly accepted. This is a huge help as babies grow out of their wardrobe very fast.
As I was growing-up I mainly use clothes that were hand-me-downs from my vast row of cousins and I definitely think this is something to consider as having a child has a huge impact on a family finances.
Here are a few of the bigger-size clothes already washed and ready to use!!
The Mindful project day #170
As I mentioned before I am a bit of a control freak...so I tend to prepare stuff as early as I can for example, when I first went to Sweden I prepared my bags 3 month in advance!!!!! Crazy, I know!!
Anyhow, with our family soon growing there is a lot of things to prepare so I am very grateful that our midwifery centre has organized a dossier with several list:
- A checklist for pregnancy where it describes what you should take care of every week. A huge help, gives you a feeling of being on top of things.
- A checklist of required necessities for mother and baby. As you can see I have been crossing stuff already. I find the list for the baby particularly useful as its very easy to overbuy. For example, when it comes to clothing we have decided (also based on info retrieved from blogs about motherhood) to keep it simple so we mainly bought rompers and long, one-piece, outfits (pyjama-type) that are easier to put on and comfy.
The Mindful project day #171
Humours typos!!
In the dossier we received from the midwife there is a list of symptoms you should be alert about.
Nr 6 is:
LOLLLLL!! You can loose water but if its liquor, you should be concern!!
The Mindful project day #172
I am grateful for my colleagues at the garden.
On my last day at the garden my colleagues surprised me with a gorgeous bunch of pink tulips and
a willow branch with a message from everyone. LOVED IT!!!! I had told my boss that in Sweden it is common during Easter to have a willow branch with colourful eggs and feathers so they made me a similar one, The messages are really kind and definitely made my day!
The Mindful project day #173
Grateful for all the fun moments!
I think its important to notice and be mindful about all those little things that happen in your everyday life that put a smile in your face, they make life lighter!
The Mindful project day #174
I am grateful that I can be surprised by new acquaintances.
Today we had dinner with a colleague from my Dutch curse and her husband at their house.
I am not very good at establishing friendships, it has always been hard as I am quite shy (a bit less now that am older and care less about what others think about me) and I have had a few disappointments along the way. So I was very nervous in the beginning but I had such a great time that I am glad that I didn't shy away from the invitation.
By the way this is what I received from Jumbo (zwangerpakket):
-a magazine (in Dutch obviously) with useful info;
-a pregnancy agenda where you can note down all the little things that happen week by week;
-a comfort/cuddly soft-bunny for the baby (very cute);
I also picked up the offers from Kruidvat but as they did not have everything and I will have to go by again, I will show you a pic later. But heads up it comes with:
- 20 piece newborn diaper pack from the Kruidvat brand;
-a full size bottle of baby bath-foam;
-a toy for them to bite when the their teeth are coming out;
-the kruidvat shopping bag;
The Mindful project day #175
There is nothing like a good smoothie!!!
My favourites are blueberry or strawberry smoothies. I usually add:
-the fruit of choice, lots of it;
-2 to 3 tablespoons of Greek yogurt;
-50-100ml of milk;
-1 vanilla sugar package (8g);
-2 to 3 teaspoons of sugar;
Sometimes I add half a teaspoon of cinnamon, goes particularly well with blueberries.
If you want to splurge a bit you can add Vanilla ice cream instead of Greek yogurt, in this case don't add any sugar.
Blueberry Sunday smoothies!!
The Mindful project day #176
Face products!!
I love face and body creams and when I was working I occasionally splurged myself with a few more expensive items. I really like the body shop for their products, obviously but also for their policy: no animal testing; natural ingredients and Fairtrade. A long while back (lets just say it like that...) I bought this mask:
I haven't used it often (that's why it has lasted so long) mainly because I am not a fan of the smell ("wheaty" smell). However, its very hydrating which is what I really need. My skin is very, very dry and with the pregnancy it has worsen. So I decided to use it up (my small project pan...) to get the most out of it after all it was not cheap and I don't wanted it to go bad.
I am happy for this decision as I already notice an improvement on my face skin yeahhhhh!!
The Mindful project day #177
I am grateful for good weather days!! Specially here in the Netherlands where it rains a lot!
With the pregnancy its good to keep active and a bit of power walk can do wonders specially if you have a lot of low-back pain as I do! Another positive thing, its free!!
I really should try to do more of this!!!!!
This is what I received from Baby-DUMP:
-their catalogue with a coupon to get a free babybox with goodies at one of their stores;
-a pair of tiny white socks;
From Nutricia I got:
-a booklet with important info on pregnancy;
-the most adorable comfort/cuddly soft-polar bear toy;
By registering with them, you also get access to an online, lets call it, assistance to whom you can ask whatever regarding your pregnancy.
The Mindful project day #178
I am recurrently grateful for natural and simple beauty!
The Mindful project day #179
I am grateful for truly feeling loved and being in loved!
This is what I received from Ouders van nu (I picked the box at Etos) :
The Mindful project day #180
Body lotions!!
I think I have used body creams since I first got one from my ex-sister-in-law at the age of 14!! I still remember it smelled like roses and I really liked it!
As I mentioned before I have really dry skin to the point that if I don't use a body-cream for a few weeks I start to have eczema-like dry spots and itchy/discomfort skin. Over the years I have tried a few. Of late I have been using the Cocoa butter formula from Palmer's and I am quite happy with it! These company does not do animal testing and the product is paraben and phthalate free, its very hydrating and I actually like the smell (even the fragrance-free has a bit of smell). On this reviewing website yo can find more info:
http://www.paulaschoice.com/beautypedia-skin-care-reviews/by-brand/palmers/_/Cocoa-Butter-Formula-Fragrance-Free-Body-Lotion. The cons of these product are the fragrance, the use of two ingredients (citrus peel extract and methylisothiazolinone) that are considered skin sensitizers (meaning a long exposure might render your skin sensitive to them; I have been using for at least half-year and had no problems) and that it cannot prevent or eliminate stretch marks from pregnancy. Regarding this last aspect, lets be honest no product can do that!!! From what I hear/read the appearance of pregnancy stretch marks depends on a lot of factors the most relevant one being you skin type! Always using a body cream is not a guaranty that they wont appear but it does help keep your skin moist!
I have stretch marks in my thighs and breasts from my teenagers years when my weight shifted a bit too much, too soon so I know I am prone to them. However, this pregnancy has not brought new ones yet (cross my fingers!!).
Yes, I am the type that squeezes every bit of product out of the container!!
The Mindful project day #181
I am grateful for having such a talented mother-in-law.
We spent this weekend at my parents-in-law. We went shopping for baby clothes/accessories and also fabrics. Our baby will sleep in the crib where my mother-in-law slept as a baby!! How amazing is that!! The crib is still in good condition but the fabrics and mattress need to be exchanged. She was so kind as to offer us the fabrics and her time as she will be sewing the cover and top bed-sheets. Can't wait to see the result, I know its going to look amazing!!
She also gave me this gorgeous crochet-cat she made:
Do you see the resemblance?
Love it!!!!!!
The Mindful project day #182
Sweet gifts!
The Mindful project day #183
I am grateful that the years have brought me a bit more of confidence in myself! It has been a long and hard journey at points and it is still an ongoing work but, worth it!
The Mindful project day #184
I am grateful that my friend M. has time and patience to give me a Dutch lesson every week. Together with my "official" Dutch course, this has definitely hasted my progress in Dutch learning. I can understand more and when I go t the market I am able to talk a bit of Dutch.
The Mindful project day #185
I am grateful for all the artist out there whose art we can at least see (or buy) in the internet!
This might sound silly but sometimes I need some inspiration so I browse the internet for beautiful prints/drawings/designs like these:
The Mindful project day #186
Thinking of the big day!!
Which makes me feel both excited and scared!!!
I can't wait to have my baby in my arms and I am scared not only of the birth itself but to have my baby in my arms.......Do you get that!!
The Mindful project day #187
The smell of Spring in the air!!
The Mindful project day #188
My first comment on the blog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so happy!!
The Mindful project day #189
Enjoying a calm day!
The Mindful project day #190
Saving money!
I am always glad when I can save money whether I am employed or not. To me, it has become very important to leave within my possibilities.
Today I finished a sewing project that I've been working on for a while, bags for metal hot water bottles.
If you notice the baby requirement check list above, they recommend having two metal hot water bottles. New they are pricy for example, at Baby Dump they cost ~ 10 euros each. I bough mine at one of my charity shops for 1 euro each!! the state of the rubber on the lid is something you have to watch out for but at HEMMA you can buy new lids if needed. HEMMA also sells bags for them but they are quit thin and the purpose of the bag, as I see it, is to be able to hold the bottle which becomes very hot when filled so I decided to do my own bags with padding.
I didn't buy any sewing material for it, I had this beautiful Liberty fabric in mint-green with white polka dots which is perfect as mint-green has become my colour of choice for the baby.
I struggled a bit with the bags as the inside padding made the sewing a bit more difficult. The first bag (the one with the bottle on top in the pic) is not as perfect as I would like but its functional.
My sewing buddy!
The Mindful project day #191
Studying Dutch.
I am very grateful that I have the time and opportunity to be in a Dutch course so I can learn the language faster.
Today I received this from Nestle Baby club:
Similar to Nutricia, by registering with them you get access to online info regarding babies.
The Mindful project day #192
We did the 20-week scan today I am so GRATEFUL for knowing that my baby is doing great and all the measurements and nr of legs, etc. are normal. Yes, we did find the baby gender today...but that will be for later!!!
Thrifty treasures:
I while back I had found a metal can in my charity shop that I loved (the small one in the pic). It has a kind of Chinese engraving and I find it very elegant. I use it to keep the ear cotton swabs. Today I found another one, equal but in size, for 1 euro!!. Don't know what I will use it for (maybe to keep cotton pads!?). I think they are very decorative and would look good on top of a bathroom counter or dressing-desk.
I also found these 3 baby long-outfits in very good condition. The top white one is new, the other two were pre-loved but are still in very good shape:
They are good cotton (you can feel it) and they come from brands known for their quality:
Total price: 1,50 euros, yes you read it correctly!!
The Mindful project day #193
I am grateful that I can have my health check-ups specially during pregnancy.
Our midwife advised to go to the dentist at least one time during pregnancy. I have read, I think in the Babycentre website (
http://www.babycentre.co.uk/) which I definitely recommend, that pregnancy has usual quite an impact on your teeth health and due to hormonal changes you can bleed a bit more often from the gums. I have always had trouble with my gums so I decided to follow the Midwife advise.
Going ,at least, one time to the gynaecologist during pregnancy is also advised, specially if you haven't done this in a while.
If you are pregnant, do consider doing these check-ups. Being a healthy mother is also a gift that you give your baby/child.
Have a lovely day!
