Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Long overdue House update

Well things have moved along quite significantly since I last posted about the house. The downstairs is almost completed. We have the electrics and sewage in and the plumbing all completed and ready to go in when the house is more secure (people have a tendency to steal the copper pipes). Here is a picture of the entrance doorway - with my study to the right:The terza is also looking good. Picture more plants and flowers - we will be spending a lot of time out here:This is the stairway in the kitchen leading to the second floor:The second floor is coming along well. Almost all of the walls are completed. Really all that needs to be done before we are ready to put the roof is the supports for the roof over the stairway and the same for the roof over our balcony. Here is a picture of our bedroom (15'x15') - the door on the right leads out to our balcony/deck - it's a nice size (6'x18'):Here is the view from our deck/balcony:To the right of that we have 2 walk in closets each is about 4'x6'. It is difficult to see from the picture - but I am very excited about my closet - it will even have a little window - so it's going to be more of a closet come dressing room:This will be the en-suite bathroom - the builder forgot to leave space for the window - which will have to be added once the roof is on - CAREFULLY!:The main hallway was so spacious that I decided it would be a good idea to add a second 1/2 bathroom (just a toilet and sink) for the use of the other two bedrooms. Sadly I didn't think of this until the roof was on the first floor - which left us with problems in terms of plumbing - there is no way for the sewage pipes to get into the room:This meant that Julio and his brother had to spend their entire Sunday drilling a hole in the roof down through the first floor bathroom and main sewage pipe:After a hard days work in the blazing sun they were successful (with only a small breakthrough into the kitchen wall):
Here is the hole from below as well as the channel they had to cut into the bathroom wall to take the drain down to the main sewer line. A hard days work:This is the spare bedroom - with my mother-in-law is standing in the doorway which leads to a smaller balcony/deck - that's going to be a nice place for a morning coffee and yes this room will have A/C for visitors:This is that baby's room. It is probably bigger than our bedroom so it can house two kids if we go on to have another of the same sex (lets see how this one goes first!):Finally here is the view from the street. The room you see on the second floor is the guest room. The painted red wood in the windows of the exterior wall is just temporary - we don't want to put in the good doors while all of the construction is going on as they may get damaged:It is all pretty exciting. I'm hoping that the roof will be put on the first floor while I am in New York this month. Then all of the finishing will have to be completed before September (D day is September 29th). I love the house every time I go and visit it and there are very few things I would do differently I we had to start again. It is going to make a perfect home:)

Monday, April 18, 2011

Pregnancy - sleeping, swimming and yoga

Well I'm now in my 17th week of pregnancy. The great thing about this is that morning sickness is pretty much a thing of the past. I still have to be on guard though - if I eat the wrong thing I can feel nauseous for the whole next 36 hours!
I've been finding sleeping increasingly hard. I'm now at the point where I can't really sleep on my belly without squashing it's contents - sleeping on the side is supposed to be best during pregnancy - even better if it is the left side. Unfortunately I was 'blessed' with wide hips (hopefully a boon during childbirth), and as a consequence it is impossible for me to lie on my side without sagging in the waist, causing my back to curve and ache like hell. I've tried putting a pillow under my waist and one between my legs, which help a bit but all in all I wake up with a pretty sore back.
I had determined to do an hour of yoga every day as well as my 1.2 mile snorkel swim. The swimming has been a pleasure - I love the ocean and it also lets me escape from this heat and see friends on the beach. I rarely miss a day.
Yoga has been more of a chore, until this morning! My back felt in such a desperate need of as good stretch out that yoga was great. My yoga teacher is sadly on vacation this month, which means that I am left to motivate myself to do a morning yoga session each day. I am going to persist with this though as it does bring such relief to my back. Looking forward to Selene's return as it is so much nicer doing yoga with a group.

Monday, April 4, 2011

14 Weeks 4 days down (25 weeks 3 days to go)

Yes I'm pregnant! and at 14 1/2 weeks: 3 1/2 months and our little baby is about 4 1/2 inches long. I'm starting to get a big belly, but I look more fat than pregnant. Here are two little pictures taken from our most recent ultrasound:
The first is a 3D ultrasound image and the second is just the regular one. I like the second one cos you can see it's little nose. Maybe my husband and I can see these things because we caught the live version. I can't feel any movement just yet - probably in another 4-8 weeks. Actually I feel rather more like I have a nasty illness (or two month long hangover) than pregnant right now. It is going to be an interesting journey and I'm still finding it hard to put being pregnant together with actually having a child after 5 1/2 more months! We're very happy though. So far all tests have come back with positive results so we are officially out:)

I have been pretty sick, although this is showing signs of letting up A LITTLE. I've given up work almost completely now. We didn't know I was pregnant for the first month as we had a negative pregnancy test result and a light period. As a result this little peanut has been scuba diving on many occasions, while mommy has been lifting tanks weighing well in excess of the recommended 30lbs, running and roller skating!!!

I have been exercising regularly (especially over the last month). I'm swimming a little over a mile almost every day and doing prenatal yoga 3 days a week (working on increasing that to 6 days any day now) and I also plan to re-work daily meditation back into my schedule. I am very blessed in that I do not have to work. My head has been very 'foggy' and nausea has left me feeling like doing very little, but I have taken up painting. It's been something I've been meaning to return to for ages (maybe 20 years!). Anyway here are two of my first attempts:
Between painting and exercise I've been pretty busy. Our house is coming along well too. The ground floor is structurally complete including plastering (sheet rock if you are American), electric, sewage and water (well almost) and the second floor has all of its walls. We are hoping to get the roof on the second floor before the end of this month, then it will be a race against time to get it all finished by D day (September 29th).

When I say I've stopped working - that is not absolutely true. I will be working in New York for my old company for 2 weeks at the beginning of May which will be nice. Great to see friends (both home friends and work), good to fill in some time (I'll be almost 20 weeks when I return to Mexico) and fantastic to get some shopping in. I am desperate for refills of my favorite shampoo and conditioner and I have a long list of baby things to buy. All very exciting!