Vegan Adventures...

Hi I'm Mads.

As my sister posted last week I will now be featuring on her blog giving an insight into any crazy adventures I am having. In a nutshell, I'm 23, I live with 5 people in a very crazy house in Sydney and half the things I do make my sister question if we are related.

Anyway to start off I have recently started researching and reading about 'Wholefoods' and all of the amazing things you can make with the simplest ingredients. The basic idea is to eliminate any refined sugars and flours and also dairy products. Through my searching I came across these pancakes that looked delicious and easy to make.

I basically did this....

1. Threw 1/3 cup of walnuts and 2/3 cup of rolled oats in a food processor for a few minutes (each separately) until i got a floury looking substance 
2. Mixed that in a bowl with a pinch of salt and baking soda 
3. Combined 1 very ripe banana, 1 tsp. vanilla extract, 2/3 cup nut milk  and 2 tsp. maple syrup in the food processor and then mixed all that into the dry mix. 
4. Let all that sit for about 30 minutes then cook them in a frying pan as you would a normal pancake

The result is different.....but very very yummy and they don't leave you feeling sick and bloated like a normal pancake would. Watch this space for my next endeavor, chocolate mousse made from avocados...

Cute 'Lil sis, I might need to give these a go. Did Mr C like them too? I'm too lazy to ever make pancakes and things for weekend breakfasts, but these look a lot better than the toast I had this morning. - Big sis. xx

22 weeks...

The bump is growing every day now, I'm sure of it.

Here's Lenny Lump at 22 weeks. He's kicking me as a write this, it's hilarious, exciting and weird all at the same time...

There are no shots of my face here, I look/feel/am really tired today. Mr D took a few, and I look at them and think, oh wow, is that what I looked like today? Tired. Tired and a little bloated in the face as well to top it all off, which I know I should just get used to.

I can feel the days now where Lenny is growing, I'm sure of it. My energy levels plummet and I feel quite emotional. Hopefully an early night and a full night's rest will be enough for him to give me my energy back. Maybe my body is just preparing me for the tiredness you experience when you're a parent? Who knows... all I know is that all the tiredness is worth it when you feel those little kicks.

It's good night now from Lenny and I.

Lenny's Latest

To date I haven't really purchased anything for this little baby... but the further on I go, the more I find myself drawn to the teeny tiny clothes departments. Whilst the Nanas and Great Grandmas are furiously knitting up a storm of warm delights for little Lenny, a few things have found their way into my shopping trolley...

A few things this week.

I got some striped little body suits from Country Road and a wee striped blanket ( you know I like stripes right?). I couldn't find images of the other two... but you get the idea. Stripes!

Mr D chose Lenny's first piece of art for his room. We framed it tonight and it looks awesome. We're big fans of Larry David... if you don't know him, I suggest you do, he will fill your life with awkward moments and laughter.

Nana decided Lenny will need some warm slippers for Canada at the end of the year, so although too big for the first wee while, Lenny will have nice warm feet when we head off to the snow.

Aunty Maddy (my new featured blogging companion) popped into Zara on her lunch break and came away with some little red jeans. These aren't the exact ones, but you get the idea. They're cute, and red. Every kid needs some. Hooray for having a sister in Sydney who loves to shop!

Lastly, I couldn't resist yet more stripes... so picked up a little cotton onesie from Nature Baby.

And if it wasn't obvious from the above shopping list... Lenny is in fact a HE. He made that VERY obvious at our last two scans.

I can't wait to meet my little boy!


A mini Mr D... I couldn't be happier. 

The Ya ya sisterblog

The other day, when emailing my sister numerous commentaries about the development of Lenny, she mentioned she was thinking about starting a blog about various healthy foods and recipes she is discovering and loving at the moment. It got me/us thinking. Why not offer up some space on IFLY here for her insights. It's not like I'm filling this place up with multiple blog posts currently...so may be a good way to ensure more regular postings.

We thought it would be an interesting contrast to have two sisters, with various likenesses and many differences to blog about  life's events and interests from the eyes of both a woman in her early 20's living life in Sydney, Australia with the corporate job and city living social life, and her sister, late 20's, married with a baby on the way... living in a small beach community in Auckland, New Zealand.

It might be interesting... or could be really depressing to see how quickly life changes from young, free, and fun, to marriage, a mortgage and babies. Mind you that's pretty fun too!

What do you think?

I'm going to get her to write up a post and test it out.

Here's one of the last photos we had together, a night out in Sydney. It's not the nicest photo we have together by any means, in fact it's a terrible one of me, but I think it actually captures us in a moment pretty well. I'm doing some dorky fist bopping dance move in my chair, while my sister takes another sip of her drink, not noticing the guy checking her out. He may have been checking out my awesome seated dance moves, but I think we all know that's not true.

And now, here we are... her looking all gorgeous with her other half ready for a night out in town, and me, with my other half and a quarter ready for domestic life.

A new friendship...

This beautiful little girl has no idea that she has a new friend growing in my belly. Here is their first photo together. Amelia meet Lenny...Lenny, Amelia. 

I can't wait to see her reaction to meeting a brand new baby. She will be nearly 18 months by then and can show Lenny the ropes.I hope she teaches Lenny how to sleep through the night too.

We're halfway there...

We've come to the halfway mark for this pregnancy... I can't believe how fast it's gone.
20 weeks!!!!!!!

I feel bad that I gave up on taking belly photos every few days for my husband's stop motion movie plans... but I was too lazy and kept putting it off. Now I'm already looking at my belly and thinking, I should have kept going... time just runs away with me.  So we've decided we will just take random belly photos at different times around home and things to track the growth and marvel in how big it's getting.

My belly button is really shallow now and the skin on my stomach looks quite shiny. I love rubbing oil on my belly at night and feeling Lenny move around in there. No stretchmarks....yet... but it's early days. I'm definitely finding it harder and harder each day to dress myself for work in the morning.
I look at my wardrobe and sigh a lot.
 
Here is a typical after work shot. Yoga pants and a slouchy t shirt. I don't do yoga...but the pants are just insanely comfortable. Thank you for the person who invented these amazing fold over waistbands. 

As promised...more babies.

A big thank you to Cooper's Mum and Dad for letting me share. 

These were taken last year, the day after I found out I was pregnant. It was quite surreal to be taking photos of a newborn, knowing I had my own little baby growing away in there. 

x

There's a baby in there

In the past week it's actually dawned on me that there's a little person setting up home in my belly. I don't know why it's taken me so long, but now I feel officially pregnant. I still think that when I start to feel little movements in there, my realisation of 'oh wow, I'm actually pregnant', will move to a whole new level.

My back isn't actually sore yet, so I'm not sure why I'm standing like a woman after 40 weeks of pregnancy, waddling around, cursing about the sciatic, but there you have it. My ever increasing belly, on a summery Saturday evening, on our messy front door step, before we headed out to a family 50th.

Obi is just passing through in the background there.

 

Little pregnancy updates for anyone who made it this far down the page: 

Oranges and cherry tomatoes have been given the flick. Apples are better than oranges now, so are peaches with passionfruit Piako yoghurt. No new massive outbreaks on my face to report, which is great. Fingernails are growing like weeds and currently resemble claws.Clothes shopping when pregnant officially sucks. 

You know you're pregnant when you walk into a shop surrounded by cute tops and dresses and come away with a pair of black stretch pants with a fold over waist band for added comfort.

This blog has been taken over by all things pregnancy, sorry.  I do actually have several photo shoots to share with you, of other people and babies, which I hope to get around to after I've organised my entire house and completed all of the never ending washing soon.