Hunting and Gathering

About a week ago Eleni found a little basket on the property. A small, plastic basket, covered in dirt and grass and smudgey-snail-gross-ness. It's actually meant for keeping clothes pins, I think, because it has a space on the handle where you can hang it on the clothes line....and she found it half buried in the dirt out by the clothes line, which also lead me to believe that that is what it's purpose is. Or what it's purpose was, anyway.

So a little clothes pin basket. Nothing special or exciting about that.

But this little basket has become a very important and extremely exciting addition to our daily routine. This little basket now lives outside the front door, waiting each day for us to step outside so Eleni can grab it tightly in her hot little hand and gallop around the yard searching for amazing treasures to fill it with!

Some of our favourite treasures to search for are:

• SNAILS! Although preferably just the shells because Eleni finds the squishy, gooey snails a little gross. Not to mention, you can't hear the ocean roaring inside the shell if it's all filled up with fat snail
• ROCKS! of all different colours and shapes
• OLIVES! 
• FLOWERS! 
• and anything else that looks interesting and can fit into the magic treasure basket....yes, we have tried to put one of the kittens in the basket - but she didn't find it as fun as we did.....

Yesterday's hunting and gathering mission: 

white snail shells!

Why just the white ones? 

I don't know.

That's what she wanted.

Thankfully she didn't say purple snail shells or else we'd still be out there...

The loot!

While she's specific about what the goal of the search is 

(for example: white snail shells), 

this is of course just a guide, 

since you never know what you're going to find out there 

and we need to be able to pick up and observe anything and everything we come across.....

even if it's sheep poo poo.....

but that was a lesson learned....

....she was really unhappy with that discovery,

I don't think she'll be adding sheep poop to the basket again

Baba got in on the search too which was fun,

 because we found out 

he's really good at finding snails

The house

and rain clouds, although amazingly it didn't end up raining

Now we've changed plans and decided to look for olives, 

which, around here, is a LOT easier than looking for snails...

...and the snails are pretty easy to find

Posing with Baba

After we're satisfied with all the treasures we've collected in our magical little basket,

we sit down at the big stone table to dump out the contents and examine them thoroughly,

....and we have a snack

....and sometimes we like to colour afterward

And since Baba joined us, 

we finally were able to use the extra set of hands to get a photo of the twins!

28 weeks, or 7 months along now!

We had our monthly check up on Monday, and my doctor was very happy with everything. The girls are just over 1kg each, which is a tiny bit above average for twins at this stage of pregnancy. They're both positioned with their heads down, and fairly close together, as if they're telling secrets to each other in there. It's very cute! They've been head down for a couple of months now, so there's no talk of scheduling a c-section yet, which I'm VERY grateful for. 

Did I mention that my doctor's last name is Maxairas?...

Yeah, this translates into something like 

"The Knives"....

...But Doctor Knives is very on board with my goal to give birth to the twins naturally, he's done it before and not concerned about it as long as things keep going the way they have been so far with the pregnancy. He also said, "Your cervix is fantastic!"....which is a little weird in the wording but good news anyway, and another reason why we have nothing to worry about right now in terms of how and when these babies will arrive. Everything is on track and looking good! "Fantastic" even.

And as for me, I passed my Gestational Diabetes test with flying colours!!! 

WOOO HOOO!!!!

I'm doing a happy dance over that one, since Christmas is coming and no one wants to be on a strict diet at Christmas time! 

Also my blood pressure was perfect, which was a huge relief because from the beginning it's always measured a little high. Nothing the doctor was really concerned about, but enough that he asked me to monitor it at home and keep a record of it for him. I think finally getting moved into the new house probably helped a lot, because that was a pretty stressful situation for everyone. 

I've gained 16 kg (35lbs) so far, which Doctor Knives was also fine with although I'll have to careful during Christmas....not strict, but careful.

So everything is going very well. I will say, though, that as I've now entered the third trimester of pregnancy......I'm veeeeeeerrrrrry tired. Actually, if I'm being completely honest, some days I've never felt so tired in my life. I hate to say that because in about 2 short months I'll be experiencing 'tired' on a whole other level, but I'll talk about it anyway....I'm wiped out!  Also, it's quite a bit more painful to carry twins than it is to carry just one. At least for me anyway. I can feel feet and knees in my back, they're jabbing me up under the ribs, sometimes Baby A lodges herself into my pelvis in such a way that I can't move from the pain and all I can do is try to rub her back and make her move back to where she usually likes to hang out. And besides the babies, my body in general just aches from weight and pressure and loose joints etc....it's all usual pregnancy stuff though, and it will all be over soon enough. 

And I can still keep up with Eleni on our magic basket treasure hunts everyday, so that, for me, is enough to say that I'm doing just fine!

Have a good week everyone! And may all your baskets be over-flowing with treasures!