Belly pictures and other news

Apparently, there is a baby growing in my belly. After weeks of my dad and Nanna asking me "are you sure you're pregnant?", I woke up on Monday morning looking like this. Yes, it really did happen overnight! It's so nice to finally look like I'm expecting, and not just like I've eaten a little too much. This is me today, at 18 weeks and 5 days.

Well, since it's been so long since I last updated, I'm not really sure where to start. I feel like I have so much to say, and yet here I sit, typing and deleting, because nothing seems quite right.

Perhaps I should start by saying hi to everyone who has found this blog over the past few weeks. I've had comments from people here and there, some I know who you are and how you arrived here, and some I have no idea how you found me. But, either way, I look forward to meeting new friends, reacquainting with old friends, and just getting to know who's reading. So, a little request for you. Can you leave me a comment if you are normally just a lurker, or even if you're not? I'd love to know who's reading, where you're from, how you found my little part of blogworld. And I promise to comment more on the blogs I read too. I can't ask, if I'm not willing to do it myself. And for Lotta (and anyone else who wants to get in touch outside the blog), email me at greenjellysnakes @ gmail . com (without the spaces).

Okay, well, I guess I should update on the compact, since many of you have been asking. The simple version is that we have failed miserably, and we've not even been at it for a month yet! Here is a list of what we have bought new since we started, and why.
1) Nappy covers for Peachfuzz. I wanted to make some (and still do), but given my limited sewing abilities at this stage, and the fact that we were down to two covers on which the plastic was torn, making them leak, we were kind of desperate. So we bought four new nappy covers at $5 each.
2) Wedding gift for my brother and soon to be sister-in-law. But that was on our exceptions list from the beginning, so it's not quite so bad.
3) Underwear and other fun things for abovementioned sister-in-law (hens night!). It was a gift, so I don't feel as bad as if I was buying it for myself. And also, I wouldn't actually buy secondhand underwear for myself, so I certainly wouldn't buy it for someone else.
4) Two books (Vegan Planet and Becoming Vegan). I ordered these online. I did have a look on Ebay and in a couple of secondhand book stores, but didn't have any luck. I feel like I could have tried harder to get these secondhand.
5) A bottle of bubbles. Yes, a silly little thing, to keep Peachfuzz amused outside. We don't spend enough time outdoors, and she doesn't enjoy it much when we do. I'm trying to find ways to make it more enticing to her. I could have made my own bubble mix though.
6) Craft supplies - wool, knitting needles, fabric. This purchase was okay according to our exceptions list, because the supplies are to make gifts. I am knitting a little duckling (maybe two or three) for Peachfuzz for Easter, instead of overloading her with chocolate. The fabric is for a quilt, which will also be a gift.
7) Not yet purchased, but I am going out today to buy something for my brother for his Bucks party tonight. A small gift from my husband to him, as yet to be determined, though probably a book of some sort. I know the type of book I'm looking for would be difficult to get secondhand anyway, let alone that he will be receiving it in about 8 hours time!
8) Also not yet purchased, today I plan on buying a jacket of some sort for Peachfuzz, in case it is cold on Sunday (forecast to rain). She is one of the flowergirls in my brother's wedding, and her dress is sleeveless. I toyed with the idea of knitting her a little white cardigan, but with my current knitting skills, I should have started when they were first engaged! I also bought her new shoes for the wedding, though I'm kind of thinking shoes should be on the exception list too.

I think that's it. There may be more that I just haven't remembered yet. It seems to me, that all the time we were toying with the idea of the compact, we were very careful with what we purchased, weighing up each decision carefully. And then as soon as we said we were "officially" doing the compact, all the rules went out the window!

Enough has changed that I don't enjoy shopping like I used to. The best weekend we've had this month was when we didn't end up at the local shopping centre (which we seem to do 90% of our weekends!). But I still feel like we haven't really been trying hard enough. I've been really thinking a lot about our reasons for wanting to do this and whether or not it's something we really can commit to for a year. Ultimately, I wanted this to be a lifetime change in the way we think about things. So, bear with me as I try to figure it all out. As I clear my thoughts up about this, I will share more here.