Bouncing back

So many things have changed since I last logged into this account. Infact I actually forgot how to log on..

The start of the summer was the last time I posted, and even though I kept meaning to come back I didn't feel like there was really a point.

I'm now 26 weeks pregnant with my 3rd baby, another girl, due at the end of April. This pregnancy has been by far my most enjoyable. Settled in my home and happy in my relationship, I finally feel confidence in my abilities as a mother. However, during this pregnancy I have found out I have hypothyroidism - meaning regular blood tests and daily medication. This isn't ideal as one of the symptoms is tiredness - I also have low iron so it's been a bit of a double whammy. I have wondered if this was why, at 12 weeks gestation, I decided my cravings for milk chocolate were so extreme I was going to give up my vegan diet. I now know what a mistake that was - my diet became so over processed because I suddenly felt like it didn't matter what I ate and that I was free to eat whatever I wanted. My weight increased massively and I felt really sluggish. After encouraging my mum, dad, brother and sister in law to become plant based I felt like a real hypocrite, I was also struggling to care about any of my reasons for becoming vegan in the first place.

Although I don't really do New Years Resolutions, I decided that on the 1st January I would do Veganuary, and pretty much straight away I felt better. I felt like a weight had been lifted (from my shoulders but also my belly) and although my bump is doing well, I feel like most of it is baby now instead of food. I've also had more energy and have enjoyed walking more than I used to.

This in turn impacted the way I viewed trying to be low waste. It felt as though that interest had disappeared also. I did buy some second hand Christmas presents (for example, all of Tillie's Happyland sets were second hand as well as most of her Sylvanian families sets whilst Jacob had second hand games for the Nintendo and PS4). Presents I bought others were fairly thought out and aimed to be as useful as possible, except for the large Jurassic World Lego set I bought my husband.

Trying to be as low waste as possible really does bring me joy, however sad that sounds. It means that as often as possible I really think about what I'm buying and whether or not we really need it. I've started borrowing books from the library again, I've collected lots of glass jars so that I can buy dry goods in bulk rather than in plastic packaging, I've decided to cloth diaper my 3rd child and bought half of those second hand from a friend as well as using 'cheeky wipes' rather than baby wipes. However, my favourite thing to do is to buy gifts that are as environmentally friendly as possible - Jacob has a friend from school's birthday coming up, and so I've used the Green Tulip website to buy a wooden toy that will be sent without any plastic packaging.

Basically, I feel like I spent 3 months a bit lost, no longer knowing what it is that I cared and stood for. But it didn't take long to find it again.

xx

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash