one second every day: january to august 2019

Eight months.

I have not been good at keeping track of my one second every day videos. In the past 8 months, we’ve been getting ready to receive a baby and the truth is that the more I’ve been living up all the moments, the less I forget to register them. On one hand, it makes me a little sad, because I would’ve loved to have a compilation of seconds which really represents what has been going on all these months. On the other hand, I feel that that’s how you’re really supposed to live: enjoying the moments while you’re in them, instead of being in them and suddenly stepping out in your mind to grab your phone and make a video.

Even so, I have managed to mash some very nice moments from 2019.

We started off 2019 without having the slightest notion of what it would bring. On the 1st January, we went skiing and sledding with the same family friends as last year and one of them said they had a hunch that next year we’d be in the same place all together, but that we’d have a baby with us. A couple of weeks later, we found out that I was pregnant and it was a wonderful surprise! January brought so many celebrations and changes, that it will be one of the most memorable months of our lives.

We also found out we were moving to a flat that we’d fallen in love with in December. It was the first and only one we applied for and we moved in March. Between all the packing, unpacking and preparing, there were still weekends in the snow with friends, even though we skied a lot less than last year.

There were a lot of working days. My cousin visited us in February and my brother in May. I still went running from time to time, in the first months as usual, but gradually decreasing to gentle runs and walk/jogs in the forest and finally just hiking well into June, before my doctor gave me a warning.

Even though we went hiking much less than I like (and need), I am still really happy about some of the hikes that I was able to do while pregnant. The most memorable was undoubtedly the 3-day hike with Jo in Mallorca (she wrote about it – day 1, day 2, day 3 and day 4). We’ve known each other for 18 years and we’ve been friends for 15 years now, and somehow we’d managed to never travel together. When we planned this, I didn’t even imagine that I would be pregnant, so it was even more special that I was healthy and fit enough to mostly stick to the plan, with a few minor adaptations (backpacks and growing bellies, hiking uphill, and NO BEER to celebrate at the end of each day). These days will remain one of my fondest memories of these last few months.

I also went camping with Z. twice: once in the South of France, where we also went hiking in beautiful new places, such as Gorges du Verdon and the little villages of the Luberon. In August, not really being comfortable in travelling by car for very long (and forbidden to travel by plane), we spent a few days in Lac d’Annecy, which is very nice and is so close to home that we even tend to forget it is there, which is a shame.

We have a little garden in our new house and Z., the one with the green fingers, has been growing some vegetables that we’ve been able to eat lately (Portuguese kale, zucchini, tomatoes, herbs and beans). And speaking of Z., he is my husband now, because in January he proposed and we decided to get married in a very small civil ceremony before the baby was born (with a big party to come in a few years)! Because of this, my dear friend organised a very private hen party for me and it was the nicest afternoon in Portugal, with my friends just hanging out and being silly.

Also special was going home and visiting many friends and family. My grandfather marked the due date in his calendar straight away. We went on trips and even scout activities with the family. In the street in my home town, people that I’ve known forever saw my growing belly and came up to chat, people that we’ve known forever came up to tell me how happy they were for us. There was so much shared joy (and so much sun after the long winter!) that I really could not have asked for more.

Then, there were other moments: la Fête des Vignerons, countless dinners and grillades with our friends, concerts, birthdays, game nights, people finding out we’re having a baby, birth classes, shopping for baby, folding baby clothes, … a lot of baby things, but also a lot of activities. I feel that these last months have been busy, busy in a lot of wonderful ways and it’s no wonder that often I forgot to capture the one second videos.

This is getting long and probably not very interesting, but I’ve found that looking back I like to look at my own descriptions of what I’ve lived, and in the end that’s what this is all about.

Now, well into the 9th month, I am slowing down and getting ready to receive baby – and to begin a whole new huge adventure!