Thanks Thanksgiving...

Yes, I am a Kiwi, and no, we don't really celebrate Thanksgiving here... However, every year our Church has an amazing Thanksgiving service dedicated to all the things we have in life to be thankful for. We also spend time, as a church, looking back over the year and being thankful for all the awesome things that have happened over the year.

And then there's this....

A giant 5.5kg Turkey!!

That's right, we won a Turkey at church... What sort of church do I go to?? An awesome one!

Everyone that came today wrote their name down on a little slip of paper and at the end of the service one name was pulled out and they won the turkey... And it was me! So cool! I have never cooked Turkey before, any tips? It is one rather large turkey too, in fact it almost takes up half of our freezer, so am thinking we will need  A LOT of people to help us eat it :)

Workout of the day: holding this turkey up for these photos!

I know I am a few days late, but the things I am thankful for are:

• Firstly, my God. He is faithful and loving and His grace is sufficient for me.
• My husband... He is so amazing and I definitely have to say that I am the luckiest lady alive to have him as my husband and as the father of our child.

Thumbs up for a happy baby!

• I am thankful for a healthy and growing baby and a smooth-sailing pregnancy so far. We are so excited to meet our wee Bubba and thankful that God has blessed us with this beautiful little miracle.
• I am thankful for my amazing church and Church family
• I am thankful for my wonderful family who are always looking after me, as well as Tim's family, of which I am blessed to be apart of. 
• I am thankful for my job and for Tim's job
• I am thankful for this blog and even though it's mostly me just speaking schmack, it has allowed me to connect with people all over the world, to inspire, encourage and be inspired and encouraged.
• I am also SUPER thankful for ALL YOU WONDERFUL READERS! Thank you soooo much for reading my blog and for all of your support with everything, you are all fantastic!
  
  I could go on forever about the things I am thankful for, but this about sums it all up for right now I think.
  
  
  How was your thanksgiving and what is ONE thing you are super thankful for this year??

The Tear Factor...

Gotta love coming home from a busy day/week, putting your feet up on the couch and watching the X-Factor... Especially when they have their thanksgiving performances. But tonight it really does have to be called the Tear Factor... Talk about emotional... Yeesh!

 
Thanksgiving is a wonderful thing and the contestants all have amazing stories of people who they are thankful for (even the really annoying ones, who I suppose aren't so annoying now that I know a bit more of their story's - Doh!).

Another thing I have learned is that crying is a BIG part of pregnancy... It's ridiculous really, a bit of a joke. I have been lucky (or should I say Tim has been EXTREMELY lucky) that I have not turned into pregnant-zilla, but I do CRY soooo easily! It's just crazy! I will cry at someone being kind or saying nice things, I will cry at a cute baby ad, I will cry at getting a letter from our sponsor child, I will cry thinking about what it'll be like with a baby (in a good way), I cry about seeing baby ducklings cross the road, and I TOTALLY cry when I hear this song and the list goes on... And on, and on... And ON!!

But it's all good, and it's got to be better than throwing tantrums right???

What sorts of things make your eyes water - pregnant or not? 

Do you like the X-Factor and has the thanksgiving show gained a few tears from you? 

Who are you thankful for?

Keep watching this space as I will do my very own thanksgiving version right here. But until then, have a great weekend (I know it's a tad early - can you tell it's been a BIG week?), and HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!

26 weeks and my spare tyre...

Today I am officially 26 weeks. Can't believe how fast that time has gone but I still feel like 3 months to go is still a long time.
Anyway, so today I put on this t-shirt...

Super happy much?

It used to be one of my favourites (well it still is as long as I can still fit it) as it has a picture of a bike on it exactly like the one that I used to own and ride everyday in Italy. It also was my favourite because it was a nice and loose t-shirt that was really comfy. It still is really comfy but not so loose anymore. And the bike tyre sits perfectly where my spare tyre now is.

And speaking of bicycles and spare tyres...

Lately (since I have been expanding so much) I have been finding it a tad difficult to find core/ab exercises I can do that are comfortable and baby-friendly. So as part of my at-home-weight-workout this evening I gave bicycle crunches a go...

Does my bum look big in this exercise??

I am actually crunching although it just looks like I'm relaxing on the floor.

So why do I even need to do these exercises you ask?? Well... Web MD (which my husband has actually banned me from for reasons we won't go into here) says this:

"You need to be physically active during pregnancy. It has terrific benefits that are associated with a better pregnancy outcome and even shorter labours. It's a win-win for baby and for mum." 

"Your abdominals and your entire core, including your pelvic floor, should be strengthened throughout pregnancy, and doing so will help not only during pregnancy, but also aid in labor and delivery -- and recovery." 

I love that, thanks web MD - I am thinking I like the sound of that a lot! Here's a list, from my research and from some input from my PT friend and various pump instructors, of what some good ab/core exercises to do during pregnancy are...

• Planks - Even though I find these an actual killer now and can only hold for less than a minute, they are still fine for you to do. Do them on your forearms on the ground or on your swiss ball, either way is fine and just hold for small amounts of time.
• Bent leg raises - lying on your back with hands next to your butt, or behind your lower back for support, have both knees bent at a 90° angle and lower one leg at a time so it's parallel with the floor, then back to bent. Repeat each side. I used to do both legs at once but this has just recently started to become too difficult. 
• Opposite arm leg reaches (I also call that the superman/woman)
• Gentle standing pelvic tilts, seated belly breathing, or tightening abs, holding, then releasing, are all good ways to keep ab muscles in top condition too.
• Not to mention the numerous core exercises that can be done on the TRX as seen in this post here. 
• This awesome website here  also has some great core exercises for during pregnancy, and not only does it name some, it also has video clips of how to do them, and it tells you why core exercises during pregnancy are important and beneficial. What more could you want? Check it out!

 All those exercises are also great ones to do non-pregnant as well, and you can do them with more intensity and resistance too. They are also excellent getting-your-body-back-after-a-baby exercises too, but we'll get to that part of things a little later down the track in 2013.

What exercises have you, or did you, find to be really effective during or after pregnancy? 

Favourite core/ab workout or most effective or painful one?

Wonderful weekend inspiration...

Tomorrow I am heading north with my hubby to celebrate his Mum's 60th... Will be fun to catch up with the family and celebrate all of Sue's great milestones in 60 years.

I am a huge fan of inspirational and motivational quotes and sayings
so I wanted to leave you with some little gems to motivate you and inspire you through your weekend.

Thanks to this always trusty website and my crazy addiction to this amazing website, here are some treats for you...

Like a workout or treating a friend

So true! Get out there and work your booty off!

 I love this one as I am a firm believer that each day, each place, each thing you do, and so on, is TOTALLY what you make of it! So enjoy this day, this weekend and...

 And...

Food for thought...

Lately I have been super busy with school work as well as still trying to have a life, and get lots of bits and pieces done around our house before wee one joins us. My priority is my teaching job and doing the best job I possibly can before I go off to have this baby. I am absolutely loving my job and my students - I teach 9 and 10 year olds - and my school is totally the best!

The only problem is, this job is very tiring, not to mention growing a wee baby... Which means that there is less energy for workouts. I have still been pumping up the jam (doing pump class) 1-2 times a week at the gym but my running has turned to run/walks, and inconsistent. I don't mind this but I do need to do better with my consistency.

Ever find this a struggle? Starting an exercise regime/plan and struggling to stay consistent?

This evening I went for about a 6km walk. It was only ever going to be a walk as I really just did not feel like wearing my support belt today, and I just get a wee bit too much discomfort if I try and run without it. I loved the walk but really felt like running the second half especially. Was quite a nice change though to just walk.

If you are a newby to exercise or are really just trying to create some great habits and consistency in your workouts, this website here  has some excellent tips...

"Once you have decided on the type of exercise you want to engage in, creating consistency means being realistic about how much time you need to devote to your regular exercise regimen. Create a workout schedule that involves at least a few minutes a day for a warm up, 20 minutes for a cardio activity and additional time for strength training and a cool down. You might write down your schedule to solidify your commitment to your exercise plan."

Great advice to people starting out, or you can take some gems from that if you are a bit like me at the moment and struggling to fit everything in.

Tim is away tonight on a Managers retreat thingee so I came home and had a nice dinner of fish and veges... So good! After that, however, I decided that I was allowed to indulge in some fruit salad with ice cream and caramel sauce. YUM!

Treat city!!

Don't get me wrong, I am trying to eat really well during my pregnancy and I am not buying into everyone's comments that 'It's ok, you're eating for two so you can eat whatever you want'. This is somewhat true, I am eating for two, however the second person is only teeny weeny and only requires an extra 300 calories from my behalf, so the 'eat-what-you-want-because-you-are-pregnant' excuse doesn't really cut it. I am a bit more partial to indulging in treats a little more often than I used to though. I think I could actually live off ice cream!

Now that I have had that little burst of thought, here's a preggy pic update to keep you happy... Or unhappy if you're not into that stuff??

6 months preggers and check out the bump!

As I mentioned, Tim's away, thus the reason for the cheesy selfie! And thus the reason for eating treats on the couch whilst (supposed to be doing school work but am blogging) watching this victorious victory speech live from Barack Obama...

Got to say, although I am not American and can't vote so it doesn't really even matter, I am a bit of an Obama fan (sorry to all the Romney fans out there). So good on you Obama, and great victory speech. Yip, NZ might be small and totally a gazillion miles away from any other country but we do get some of the world news over here you know :)

American readers (and anyone else) - What do you think about Obama's success in this election? 

I don't really know too much about politics, but I do enjoy hearing people's opinions on the matter and sometimes even share my own... Would you believe I share my opinions?? 

That's about all for now but please, keep watching this space for my guest posts and my giveaway coming up, as promised!  

Exciting things to come...

Hey everyone,

Just wanted you to know that I haven't gone AWOL but I have just been extremely busy lately... Work, life, work and life... Busy, but loving it!

Anyway, I want you to know that I have not forgotten you and I do have some really exciting things coming up on the blog really soon. Including some guest posts and even a GIVEAWAY!! Woop! My first ever giveaway is coming up... How exciting!

So please...

CRG :)