right now – May 2014

Bornholm 2014

May has been so full that it has just raced by! We started it in Denmark, with a week to visit family and friends, and then the last three weeks have been full on handing over work and responsibilities, preparing for Baby’s arrival in about a month’s time. I can’t quite believe we’re this close already. So much of this month’s post then got taken over by Baby prep rather than the usual discoveries. But this is right now. This is where we are…

This month I’ve been mostly…

reading. not much honestly. I didn’t even manage to start my book club’s choice this month – and it was my suggestion (The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd). But a friend gave me a novel as a baby shower gift this week, telling me I’d need something to do when I was nursing… so there is hope!

feeling. tired. I’m eight months pregnant so the exhaustion is pretty common (so I’ve been told) but what is not so normal is my near complete inability to nap. I can lie in a dark quiet room for an hour, utterly spent, and still not sleep a wink. Someone send help?!

watching. Big Bang Theory. again. One idea I’ve learnt through HypnoBirthing is to limit the amount of negative thoughts and emotions being allowed in to your head prior to giving birth. I am hugely visually impacted so all stressful or emotional TV is now off – only things that make me laugh and cringe in delight allowed for the next month! Sheldon is going to make my birth easier (I may be the first person in the world to have said that…)

nesting. It’s kicked in with full force. I’m pinning all the cute nursery photos (although we won’t actually have a nursery – Baby will be in with us) and writing lists and lists of things that need to get done and cleaned and reorganised before Baby makes its appearance.

cooking. I hosted two events this month – a Scottish lunch for our international lunch club, and a Baby Shower for my sweet friend Rica. All the Scottish recipes are linked to in that post. The baby shower cooking included these lemon cheesecake tarts and these leek and goats cheese puffs (I added peas too).
And then there was the day I just had to make honey beer bread so sent Rasmus a text asking him to buy beer on the way home from work (he’s very trusting of his pregnant wife).

DenmarkMay2014

travelling. to Denmark and back. All ten plus hours in our little car. The last three hours may have been one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life. But it was worth it to see so many family and friends. We stayed in Copenhagen some days, headed back to Bornholm for a long weekend with Rasmus’ parents, made a quick stop on the island of Ærø to see my BIL and then a weekend on the German border with my SIL and her family. It was busy and chaotic but wonderful.

listening. to my birthing playlist, which is slowly being added to on deezer. It’s a bizarre mix of Taize songs, U2 and Nina Simone. But I feel happy and relaxed when it’s on so that’s a good sign!

preparing. to go on maternity leave. Kind of. When you work voluntarily, there’s no such thing as an end date, and anything you don’t hand over yourself just won’t get done. So I’m busy finding and training new volunteers for our Serve the City projects this summer. And then I’ll officially sign off. Maybe. (oh please baby don’t be early…)

gardening. I wrote a post this week about how we grow our own food on our little urban balcony. And yesterday I pulled up the first big handful of radishes. Oh the satisfaction!