Remembering Mikey

It's 2 year today since Mikey passed away, and still he stays in my mind so vividly. Loved and missed by many, may his spirit be with us today! Enjoy the memories.

Sister Izo & Dad Nov 05
Mike & Tatiana Dec 04
Mike's 26th bday
Mat, Shellz, Mike, Petal, Monkey & me Nov 05

Memorial- Jan 06
Soon after diagnoses 2004
Karlos remembering Mikey

Rudi with roses

March 2005
Mom & Son - November 2005
Mikes 27th b'day Nov 05 Sister Izo & Michael
Mike & Josh 2005
Dad & son Dec 05


Mikey Mike xmas 2004
Tatiana, ma, Mike xmas 04Memorial - Jan 06
Mike, Sister Liesl & Jason Dec 04
me, Mike, Somayya November 05

Happy New Year!

Photo's of New Year and our week in Polperro

Happy new year to you all!

Thought I'd update you on our happenings....Steven and I had a lovely 2 week break! We went up to Nuneaton to Stevens family for a few days over the christmas period and spent some time with family and friends. We played lots of board games and had a lot of fun...no white christmas though, in fact it wasn't even that cold when we were in Nuneaton, which is quite surprising!

We then came back down to Cornwall, to a little fishing village called Polperro (which is about an hour and a half from where we live). We rented out a cottage there with 2 of our friends, Rob & Claire, for a week. We went for some nice walks, and went crabbing (it got very competitive especially between the boys!), played loads more board games and just chilled out! It was so lovely to just get away! We had 2 more friends join us for New Years Eve, as the whole village gets dressed up in fancy dress and congregates in the pubs and then in the village square for the countdown to midnight. I went as a pregnant Nun, there were loads of other nuns, but I think I was the only pregnant one! Steven was a mummy, we wrapped him in bandages (over long johns) and painted his face. Rob was a fab "Celebrity, get me outta here", Claire was a Cowgirl kitted out with horse and all, Nathan was a crazy prisoner from a psychiatric rehab centre and Polly was a beautiful Bumble Bee. On New Years day all 4 left and it was just Steven & I alone in the cottage for 2 days. We were truly lazy, sleeping til 10 everyday and reading and relaxing with the occasional walk up the cliffs in between. I finally got over all the coughs and colds and caught up on sleep and I feel like a new person. My body is definitely telling me to take it easy and sleep more now!

Steven bought me a Juicer for christmas and we've been making fresh fruit juice almost every day, which is so delicious and has made me feel so good! It seems the secret is to leave the juicer out so we're reminded to use it. We're trying to use organic fruit as much as possible as it seems contradictory to try and be healthy and then put pesticide ridden fruit in the machine.

I have just 1o weeks left til I'm due (30 March) and this bump is growing rapidly and really moves around loads, especially in the evenings..it's very cute! I go to see the midwife again in over a week...my check ups are getting closer and closer together. All my tests so far have been normal. I do feel very lucky I think I've had a really easy pregancy so far. I've been taking a iron supplement called Floradix, which you can buy from Health shops and I must say i recommend it to anyone who's feeling a bit unenergetic or just needs a lift. It's completely natural and has no preservatives in it so has to be kept in the fridge, and has a range of vitamins in it and is one of the few supplements that are completely safe during pregnancy.

I've put on 8 kilo's so far and am feeling rather heavy, climbing the stairs sometimes leaves me out of breath. The baby should be 33cm from head to bottom now, which seems quite a large thing to have inside me, and were it born now, it'd be fully formed and more than likely survive. By now my blood volume has increased by 40% and my heart is working up to 25% harder. Blood flow through the placenta has reached 450 litres a day...the human body is pretty incredible!

I'm going to be working with the kids 3 or 4 days a week until the end of February, when I'll take a month off and just chill and prepare my body for giving birth. I'm going to be sad to leave the kids and their family...they are so lovely, but am planning to start doing things from home once the baby is born (or a few months after). I can do my massage, and possibly some web-design for local businesses and I'm probably going to do a short child-minding course which will enable me to look after a couple of children here at home.

We think we have found our dream house...we will let the estate agent know our decision tomorrow so hold thumbs that no-one has got in before us. It's a 2 bedroomed cottage on another farm just a couple of miles down the road, and we can really see Petal spending her first few years there. We will move at the beginning of Feb, so more busy times ahead!

Steven & I are going to a birthing workshop next month which focuses on breathing, massage and positions for labour and we've decided that i'm going to (if possible) have the baby at the birthing unit in Helston as they have a birthing pool and I've heard such fantastic things about waterbirths reducing your chances of tearing and water being natural pain relief. It is a midwife run unit and only takes one mom at a time, so i have to hope nobody else is already in there when I go into labour, otherwise I will have the baby at home. I'd rather not go to hospital if I can avoid it, but of course one never knows what will happen, and I may need to go to hospital... whatever will be will be!

I've started drinking raspberry leaf tea, which softens the cervix in preparation for labour and will start taking arnica tablets about a month before to help reduce shock and bruising and help the healing process. I also started pregnancy yoga classes on Monday, so am feeling like I'm getting quite well prepared....hopefully! It was strange to be in a room with 12 other pregnant woman, but really nice actually to meet others who're going through similar emotions and feelings.

I finish my web design course in 1 week time, I'm busy on my final assignment, which is fairly complex, but fun. Massage is going really well, I feel like i've really got the hang of the practical side of it, though I still don't know how I'm going to remember all the muscles and other body systems!! but I have another 7 months to go. The tutor has let me start on my case studies now ( i have to massage 5 people, 4 times each, and do really detailed reports on each massage, and hopefully I will have progress to report). Stevens especially enjoying my practice..though I'm not doing enough of it!! I got a massage table which was very reasonably priced..a good investment, me thinks!

Steven is really enjoying his course and he is still working part-time with the family in Truro. He's had a few weeks off Uni which has given him time to catch up with his reading and written work. It's been so good to spend lots of time together and we are feeling closer than ever and are both so excited to meet our little one! We keep changing our ideas on the name though...we found one we both really liked but our pronunciations are quite different...so we'll see!

Enjoy the photo's! Lots of love and fairy dust from the 3 of us

Photos taken today at our home...10 weeks to go!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world" Ghandi