Bump Update: Favourite Books & Prenatal Excercise

This second trimester is so much fun. I am feeling great and my energy is back.
 While I am still working my normal and pretty busy schedule, every free minute is spent with baby/pregnancy related things.

I am making smoothies every morning, eating heaps of fresh organic fruits & veggies and I am back to my lively self.

We will probably only do this once, so I am enjoying taking it all in and making the most out of this special time. Every week this little bump is growing...it all seems to happen so fast.

I have been reading a great deal about pregnancy, birth and parenting. My favourites so far are:

Bountiful, Beautiful, Blissful by Gurmukh
Simplicity Parenting
You Are Your Child's First Teacher
Ina May's Guide To Childbirth
Gentle Birth , Gentle Mothering

It's all so exciting and I am so hungry for Information right now.

And while have been doing my Kundalini Yoga Meditations (many great ones are also in Gurmukhs Book above) I was craving a little more Aerobic exercise than just my usual yoga to replace my running.

I have never been to a gym in my life and I am not usually into funky workouts but I really started enjoying my "Expecting More" prenatal home videos by Sarah Hayley. There are dance style cardio workouts, strength & sculpt classes and combined workouts. They all have a great intensity and really make me sweat, yet they are gentle and safe enough for pregnancy. I have been following the suggested schedule of 5 workouts a week and two days off.I replace her "Salutations" with actual prenatal Yoga but stick to the other workouts. It has given me so much energy and really perked me up.
The real downside is the music in those videos, but after I learned all the moves I can now play my own music with it and just keep the video on silent.

I also went for my first swim of the season this week and hope to get to the beach a lot in the coming months, the cool water felt amazing!

If you are pregnant, planning to be or have a friend that is, I hope this was somewhat helpful.

I am by no means an expert and the above are just my personal opinions and experiences.

My favourite Stretch Mark Tummy Oils

Good thing I already had a very clean, toxin-free beauty routine before I was pregnant, so I was able to continue most of my favourite skin care (e.g. Edible Beauty) , body care and makeup.

My skin has become much drier though all over the body and of course I am also trying my best to avoid any stretch marks and keep my growing skin firm and elastic and hydrated. It's also a nice ritual to celebrate this changing and growing body and honour all this hard work it's doing.

I really enjoy my daily oiling sessions :)

Truth to be told, no matter how much oil and moisturiser you use depending on your individual skin, hereditary conditions and how quick you are growing stretch marks can not always be prevented.

Because I am a bit of a beauty nerd, I have tried and used quite a few different all natural and organic tummy oils. Here are my favourites:

Divine Mum's Tummy & Body Oil
Beautiful bottle, luxurious feel and a very pleasant and super subtle scent.
I was able to tolerate this even when I had morning sickness.
This gem can be used by Mum's AND babies of all ages including newborns.
It's very hydrating yet absorbs the fastest from all the oils I have tried, which makes the use even more practical. The bottle comes with a pump, which makes my life so much easier, no mess or oil spills here It's a real favourite, yet the most expensive out of my selection.

DnA Elements Mama Belly Oil
It has a light citrus scent and goes on very rich, which makes it great for massage. And the evening, however, it takes a little longer to be fully absorbed.
The bottle is sleek and beautiful, yet it has a big opening which makes the dosage a little tricky.
It comes at an affordable price in a sleek stylish glass bottle. (not pictured)

Weleda Stretch Mark Massage Oil
This one just exudes wellness & relaxing! The scent is very soothing and beautiful to me. It absorbs into the skin beautifully and is a really great choice for a pampering body treatment. It can be used before, during and after pregnancy and has been developed with midwives and doctors. I really enjoy using this one and enjoy the scent now in my second trimester. I think it will remain a favourite for my belly and breasts after birth as well. If you are particularly sensitive to scents in the beginning of your pregnancy simply wait a few weeks.

Last but not least

Edible Bubba Vanilla Dream Oil
The Baby massage oil is a real treat gourmand lovers. Created for babies it's too good not to use on pregnant grown-up bellies and bodies. I have always had a weakness for a good natural vanilla fragrance. With it's extremely gentle and hydrating ingredients this one is a real winner to be used on Babies skin (including newborns) and works as a perfect body oil for breastfeeding mamas, (as it's all edible your bubba will be safe to suckle on your skin!) It's the perfect massage oil with it's rich texture and doubles as bath oil (when you add it to the bath with a little of the Orange Blossom Baby Hair & Body wash or your regular shower gel. I like that this one is a real multi-purpose oil and is perfect to use on the baby as well. I will keep stocking up on this one!

As this is my first pregnancy I am researching and trying out a lot, but for a beauty lover like myself, that's kind of fun. I hope this was helpful to you.

If you have any favourite cruelty-free pregnancy products, please share in the commentsI would love to hear from you! And of course, I keep you up to date with my most discoveries.

Jane Iredale Summer Campaign

In September I flew up to Noosa to create one minute makeup looks for Jane Iredales latest Summer campaign. It was such good fun and an amazing team on set.

All the looks are wearable and very natural and subtle. I liked how all models were different ages and colouring really showing a variety of looks that suit pretty much everyone.
They are all created with real women in mind that only have a few minutes to do their makeup and are far from the usual complicated & ultra detailed Youtube makeup looks.

It's fun to see the final clips and I thought I share them here with you.

If you like the videos above check out all looks in the Jane Iredale Austalia Youtube playlist here

I really love working with the Jane Iredale products, they live up to my professional standards, are kind to the skin and are all PETA certified cruelty-free. Most of the range is vegan too!
My pro kit contains quite a few items of this brand and my collection continues to grow.

I hope you enjoyed some quick,simple, practical & natural makeup ideas for Summer!

My first trimester round up

Have you heard the big tiny news? It has already changed everything...
I am officially through the first trimester, so I am about to feel fantastic, or at least that's what everyone is telling me.

After feeling amazing and glowing and grateful for two weeks after finding out I was pregnant, nausea and fatigue kicked in.

I was beyond surprised how these early weeks have knocked me off my socks and just put my life on hold while our baby was doing all this amazing growing.
My intention was to just keep feeling healthy and fabulous and to stay fit right from the start.
But easier said than done. I had to surrender and give my body all the rest it demanded. I was somehow able to work but then afterwards I was just too tired to keep my eyes open.
It didn't help that I had a lot of travel, super early starts and extra busy days this time of year when all I really wanted was snacks and naps. It really felt like having nasty flu/stomach bug/virus that just won't go away.
None of the general advice of trying ginger etc. helped my nausea at all. None did the constant snacking, although without snacking I did feel worse.
The only thing that helped was lying down, curled up in bed and closing my eyes.
Sometimes something really sour would help a little like eating an Umeboshi Plum.
Another saviour was practising Kundalini Yoga meditations, even short and simple ones. Together with a very gentle practice with lots of rest.
Connecting to the few close friends and family that knew our news from the start was so great and helpful too.

Taking a vegan, organic whole foods prenatal vitamin every day (which I started a few months before I was pregnant) made me feel at ease about my nutrition on days that I wasn't able to eat as well as I had planned. The MyKind Organics Prenatal Multi were the best I could find.
I also take the B12 Spray from the same brand. I also took a vegan DHA supplement.
On mornings when I wasn't able to get much down I made myself a breakfast smoothie in the Vitamix.
By adding some vegan protein powder, it was a full meal, while also making sure I got my fruit and veggies.
I felt like my body had gone on autopilot and just did its own thing.
And when this body needed sleep there was no way I could keep my eyes open.

I had so many great plans for the blog and lot's lined up, but hey, I had to grow this baby and wasn't able to do both at the same time. I didn't expect this at all, I thought I keep going, as usual, doing lot's of things at a time and just going to bed a little earlier. Little did I know...

Even though feeling nauseous and tired I still somehow enjoyed the first trimester somewhat.
I always reminded myself that I was doing my best. While I was lying in bed, I started to read some great books about birth, pregnancy etc.
I really loved

My cravings were for carbs I wanted Sourdough and Potatoes at all times! I didn't like anything raw, except Oranges.
I am not usually a picky eater so this must have all been pretty confusing to the husband.
Cooking has been off limits, it was either Dave that had to cook or we actually just had something very basic..

The smell of coffee makes me sick as well, so I won't go near it. 

I have definitely learned a lot about surrendering already, about letting go and about prioritising in these early weeks.

I also started to show and quite a few clothes no longer fit. I love that little bump but it needed some bigger clothes.
So I went for an online shopping spree ordering new flowy Summer clothes, swimwear and new bras....because a few things have changed over here.

Here is to the second trimester...the fun one! It's so good to feel better while I am typing this :)
P.S: We are already loving this little Plum so so much.