Posie’s Place

My little boy turned 1 last month!  The past year has flown by so quickly I can’t believe he’s a little boy already!

After quite a break, some technical issues, a new host and going back to work full time, I’m finally back in business!!!

I’ve got a couple of recipes to share and will post them soon!

Yesterday was my little site’s 1st birthday!

I cannot believe that Posie’s Place has been up and running for a whole year!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has read and supported this site in it’s fledgling year.  I hope you have enjoyed the range of recipes I’ve posted.

Here’s to the future, more recipes and some posts about our new adventure as parents!

I’m soooo delighted!!! We finished the nursery this afternoon!!

Stewart spent a long afternoon building the final piece of furniture and then it was my turn to vacuum, put all of the babys clothes into his wardrobe and add the finishing touches to the decorations..

We’re happy with how things have turned out and the room really does look like a nursery now! We’re planning on spending what remains of our Sunday night with our feet up watching a couple of episodes of Arrested Development.

With the majority of preparations complete for the babys arrival we should be able to start taking things easy over the next few weekends.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!!

Pamela

As I said in the update to my last baby post on Friday I have been diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes.  Although my doctor said it’s not a severe case she said that it would be better for me to meet with a dietician to have a diet plan drawn up to keep things under control and to give me a more complete understanding of what GS meant for the rest of my pregnancy, my baby and my life after he is delivered (when hopefully my diabetes will disappear).

I’ll be happy to eat and do whatever it takes to make sure the next 14 weeks are safe for me and my baby and that he is delivered healthy.

All weekend I trawled the internet reading about diabetes and  diabetic diets.  I decided that the best thing I could do would be to keep a food diary until I saw the dietician, this would allow me to demonstrate what I eat and when I eat it.

Monday morning I got a call from the dietician and was given an appointment on Tuesday afternoon (they don’t keep you hanging around here in Switzerland).  Off I went with my little food diary thinking that I was doing pretty well and that I was quite knowledgable about diabetes.

I was wrong Continue Reading »

Just thought I’d post a quick update on the progress of Jr.

Baby was looking good yesterday when I had my latest check up, he was busy eating his fist and then sucking on his thumb. He had a major growth spurt since my last appointment 5 weeks ago and now weighs 780g.

I failed my glucose tolerance indicator test yesterday, due to this I will be spending all of Friday morning drinking sugary drinks and having my blood tested every hour for 3 hours. Just really hoping that I haven’t developed diabetes. I have put on a lot of weight in the past 5 weeks and really need to try and monitor it carefully over the next few months. No more desserts and chocolate for me! The problem is that I’m hungry ALL THE TIME…

Been having some strange sensations in my upper right abdomen, not quite pain but more tingling. My OBGYN thinks it could be due to adhesions from my gallbladder surgery from a few years ago causing this. I was just saying to a fellow blogger the other day that I hadn’t had any problems post gallbladder..

One things about living here in Switzerland is that you don’t just chuck stuff in the bin but all paper, cardboard, batteries, metal, packing material, clothes, shoes, household electrical items, wood, organic waste, old furniture and glass (I’m sure I’ve missed things out) MUST be recycled. This isn’t such a bad thing I think you’ll agree, it’s a bit of a hassle at times but cerainly makes you aware of how much waste you generate. We have certain days each month when paper/metal etc is collected but if you miss these then you can take things to the recycle park.

All last weekend we worked in the house gutting the cellar and loft and taking car loads to the recycle park. Since our car is small and the recycle park is only open for 4 hours on a Saturday morning and closed on a Sunday this will be how we are spending our next few weekends (weather permitting! At the moment there is about 5″ of snow outside).

Monday night we drove through to Germany and with the help of Derek we picked up the nursery furniture. Stewart can’t begin building anything yet as we have a sofa bed in the room which will hopefully get picked up by BaselStadt on Friday morning. Del is being a star and coming over tomorrow night to help Stewart get the sofa downstairs (5 flights of stairs!!) since it won’t fit in the lift.

Progress is definitely being made and we can really see things taking shape. We thought we may as well use this as a perfect opportunity to do all of the jobs that we kept putting off…

The new tumble drier arrived this morning and so I have spent the evening washing all of the babys clothes, as soon as the furniture is built I’ll be able to sort everything out and get it put away. We got a package from Isobel (my mother-in-law) she knitted the baby three more cardigans. They are absolutely gorgeous!! One of them even has little cat face buttons!! Really cute!!

I’ll update things on Friday hopefully with some good news from my glucose test, fingers crossed!

Pamela

UPDATE: Well Friday is here and I have just returned from the doctors. I’ve been diagosed with gestational diabetes. Next step is to see a dietician to try and get my blood sugar under control by modifying my diet, if that is possible then I wont have any need for insulin.

Have a great weekend folks!!

Pamela

As I said we really enjoyed our trip to Glasgow, as I posted before we were really quite worried that we wouldn’t reach Scotland for Christmas due to weather problems in London but thankfully by last Sunday all was well and our trip ran very smoothly. It was rather strange in fact as things turned out I had never seen Heathrow Airport so quiet.

After the festivities and the majority of the visiting was over it was time to get down to some nitty gritty shopping, since I don’t sleep late it was a perfect we took the opportunity to hit the shops and buy lots of clothes and things for the baby in the sales. During my last scan we found out that we’re having a boy so now we can really buy clothes and start to think of names. I know some people prefer to wait to find out but I’m really glad we know, I love being able to refer to the baby as him now instead of the baby or it after all he is a little person.

Before setting off for Glasgow I ordered some decorations for the nursery online and got them delivered to my grans house, the theme chosen for the room was Winnie the Pooh since it was unisex. I have some really nice stickers for the walls, a room thermometer, the changing mat, a little towel insert for the mat, a Tigger sleep suit, the light shade, a couple of pictures for the walls, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger and Eeore soft toys and a Piglet rattle. Katie wants to make us some curtains so I’d like to see if I can get matching material. We got a call from the shop in Germany where we ordered the nursery furniture to say that it is now ready to be collected so Stewart is planning on starting to clear the room this weekend. I really can’t wait to get everything in the room organized!!

I should also mention the wonderful little cardigans that my mother-in-law Isobel has knitted for the baby they are absolutely beautiful!! We brought three back with us and on the day before we left she went out and bought some blue wool to do a couple more. Isobel also knitted the most beautiful blanket which we will treasure. We certainly have a very lucky little boy on the way.

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2006 was one of the most ground breaking years of my life. Heath wise for both Stewart and I it has contained may trials but ended on a high.

The year began well in Glasgow with Stewart and I spending Hogmanay (New Years Eve as it is known in Scotland) with a group of our oldest and closest friends. We had a great time and it really got the year off to a top start.

Things changed somewhat as during the week of our return I received news from my doctor during routine monitoring that I had returned abnormal results showing abnormal cells which if not dealt with could progress to cervical cancer. This was the scariest moment of my life. It is definitely the news that everyone dreads receiving. The C word even being mentioned rocked my life completely especially since my own mother had died of cancer aged 42.

After a further test to confirm the situation and a second opinion it was decided that my best course of action was some surgery to remove a cone of tissue containing all of the possible problem cells. The surgery was very simple and I was home the same day and back to work the following week but I think it’s safe to say that this whole situation really changed something within me. The only negative side of the surgery was that in a few cases there can be future complications relating to having children. A few months later I had a follow up test to check whether the abnormal cells had returned but I’m happy to say that this was clear. Last week I had another check up to monitor the situation and I’m currently awaiting my results but fingers crossed that those are also clear, if that is the case then the monitoring should become less frequent. Continue Reading »

Happy New Year Everyone!!!! Hope you all had a great time at Hogmanay!! We travelled back yesterday and didn’t get home until around 5.30, we had been on the go since just before 7am so we were absolutely shattered. It was really great to get home, unpacked and into pj’s. I wasn’t sure if either of us would still be awake for the stroke of midnight but we managed to watch some of the fireworks and then we tottered off to bed..

Glasgow was brilliant, we had a wonderful Christmas!! We had dinner at my parents-in-law, it was a traditional Christmas meal consisting of melon, then homemade soup, roast Turkey and ham with all the trimmings followed by profiteroles and a cheeseboard. Isobel really out did herself cooking for a smaller number than usual, only 14 this year!! I think everyone ate too much but it was wonderful!!! Then off we went to Natalie’s house to wish her a Happy Birthday.

Christmas had always been a double celebration for my family since it is my best friend’s birthday on Christmas day and so we always had the family dinner thing in the afternoon/early evening and then attend Natalie’s birthday celebrations later on. This year with baby on the way there was no alcohol involved, for me at least…

The birthday girl

Natalie, Gareth and Stewart gassing.

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I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year!!With all the madness at Heathrow we have changed our flights to avoid the fog, here’s hoping we make it to Scotland on Christmas Eve!

Best wishes

Pamela

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