European travels of a chocoholic London lover
We’re off to Udine, Italy today for our first day trip abroad as a family. Yay! Hope all goes well 🙂 We were supposed to have done it earlier but due to different circumstances we just didn’t manage to go (e.g. bad weather, sickness, home renovation etc). So, this is my April’s Wish List:
Less stress, more play: I need some more downtime and less of self-imposed obligations.
Stop the time: I can’t believe my baby boy’s almost 6 months old! I’m already forgetting how he was as a newborn.
What a dreary month. As I’m writing this I’m suffering from a cold but even worse my baby’s got it too! It breaks my heart to see him sick. So this is my March’s Wish List:
GOOD HEALTH I wish for the good health for my baby. It frightened me when I saw that he had high temperature. I know there are many children and babies out there with serious illnesses and I’m complaining here about a cold but my baby’s only four and half months old and this is the first time that he’s been sick.
SUNNY AND WARM DAYS It snowed here on 1st of March! Can you believe it?! And it’s still very cold. I wish for the spring to finally come.
I still have to remind myself that it’s 2018 and it’s already February. So, here’s my February’s Wish List:
SLEEP: A rare commodity for a new mum. The first two weeks were the worst and then somehow my body adjusted to the lack of sleep. But now after three months I still feel tired and wish for more sleep even though baby V. wakes up only once during the night and then again in the early morning. Maybe some of these unique candles would help me to relax and sleep better.
NEW KITCHEN: My kitchen is pretty outdated and I’d really like to get new kitchen gadgets. However, there are other areas of our flat that need to get done first such as the bathroom so the kitchen will just have to wait.
I didn’t really make New Year’s resolution list but I still have many wishes for 2018. It might be easier to write them down for each month. So this is my January’s Wish List.
TIME: I need more time. I wish the day could last 48 h instead of just 24 h. Then I could play more with my baby but I could also do other things. Like clean up a bit. Spend more quality time with my husband. See my friends more often. Write. Eat chocolate. And do all the other important things.
SHOES: I recently bought a brightly coloured winter jacket. Now I need some killer shoes to go with it. Maybe one of these wedge heel boots.
Last year I published an overview of my year in 12 photos. One photo for each month of the year. I decided to do it again this year. However, this was a much different year because I finally got pregnant and welcomed my baby boy last month:) So happy! But that meant that I didn’t travel much. Actually there was only one trip abroad in the whole year and that was a day trip! I know, very pitiful for a travel blogger. Though there were plenty of local day trips and a very lovely babymoon.
So this is my 2017 in 12 photos:
January
My husband and I spent a few very cold days in his parents’ summer house on the island Krk. The whole place was virtually deserted so we went for a walk by the sea and we played board games at home.
February
I did a course for a tourist guide and got my licence later on. One of the places we visited during that course was the tiny town of Osor on the island Cres. I meant to post about it to continue my Discover Croatia series but life got in the way.
Hello World!
I am baby V. I am a boy. At least that’s what they’ve told me. I don’t know yet what’s a boy but I’ll find out. I won’t disclose my full name because my daddy S. doesn’t want that. He’s concerned about my privacy so he doesn’t want to see my adorable photos plastered all over the Internet.
I was born on 4th November during a full moon. My mummy and daddy waited for me for so long so I just figured I could keep them waiting for a bit more and I passed my due date. But I had a very good reason for that. As it turned out I was the only baby that night on the maternity ward so I had the full attention of the entire staff. They were very kind and helpful to my mummy. Of course, I helped her too 🙂 She wanted to have a natural birth so it took a long, long time but she made it through. And there I was, finally in her arms. To be honest, those first minutes in the outside world weren’t as fun as those comfy 9 months in my mummy’s belly. Some people were measuring me while I was naked (how rude of them) so I was very happy when they put me in my mummy’s warm embrace. And then I ate. What a strange feeling! But a good one. Oh, I forgot to tell you how big I am. I weighed 3.72 kg when I was born and I am 54 cm long.
9 months…wow…such a long time, right?
The first few months seemed to have lasted an eternity but then suddenly time didn’t stand still anymore and here I am expecting my baby boy any time now 🙂 Well, in a few weeks. I’ve been blessed with an easy pregnancy so far or maybe I just have a no-nonsense attitude towards it. I’m hoping for an equally easy and fast delivery though.
So what to expect when you’re expecting? I’ll share with you my story 🙂
The worst part was the waiting bit. The wait for that first ultrasound which proved that I’m pregnant and that the baby is doing okay. I had morning sickness all day long during the first trimester. But I didn’t vomit. I just felt sick. However, I could eat and when I ate I felt better so I ate. A lot. And gained a few kilograms in a period when you’re not ˝supposed˝ to gain weight. Other changes included dry skin and bleeding when brushing the teeth. All normal occurrences during the first trimester (bleeding when brushing your teeth comes back in the last trimester). There were occasional bouts of exhaustion and sleepiness and emotional insecurities. At one point I felt very trapped and worried about my future career prospects especially since I had to cancel some freelance work and decided not to look for a new job whilst I’m pregnant. On top of that we decided to cancel our travel plans too so at one point I literally cried my eyes out when my husband went on a short trip and I stayed at home. I also did a course in that period and successfully passed all the exams. I got my tourist guide licence! But then again, it was just another thing I couldn’t pursue at the moment. However, this pregnancy didn’t come easy to us so we decided that I need to focus on the baby.
The second trimester started with heartburn. I liked those less than the morning sickness because I didn’t feel better when I ate. I felt worse. But I just had to endure it and in the retrospect it didn’t last that long. I was happy to see that I started to show. I no longer looked like I ate too much chocolate. I looked pregnant. There was my baby bump getting more visible by each day. I got first leg cramps in that period too. And first swelling of my feet. That’s not a nice sight to behold. There was also mysterious throbbing pelvic pain which sometimes felt unbearable (perhaps the stretching of ligaments, I didn’t have any urinal infection). But that passed too. My boobs got bigger pretty early on actually and they even started to leak. Already, I know. And my belly button? It changed too. The good change was that my hair looked fuller. During pregnancy your hair falls out less so you have fuller hair but then after the delivery your hair falls out a lot. But you won’t get bald!
I spent a day in Trieste with my best friend and that was actually the only trip abroad I took this year! Yeah, very exciting for a travel blogger! Especially when I see so many other pregnant travel bloggers still travelling a lot during their pregnancy. Then we found out that I’m expecting a baby boy! So happy! We decorated the baby’s room and I started to do some baby shopping back in June. And I felt first baby’s kicks! Very gentle at the beginning and then more forceful.
Continue reading “Pregnancy update: Overview & Final countdown”
