Time marches on.

Time marches on. Far quicker than most of us want at times. I'm not quite sure where to begin after a few weeks absence, so I'll start with a beautiful autumn days beach scene from noon today. 

I know, I live in paradise.

My sweet baby girl turned one whole year old on Saturday! My baby girl is also now a toddler! Oh dear- where has the time gone?! My sweet little one took her first steps at 10.5 months and is now a mini turbo top who started walking at 11.5 months. Busy, busy days indeed! That is a fair indication of what has distracted me from blogging lately.

My hormones are another reason. Since my thyroid test revealed that it is now functioning normally again (relief!!!), I still knew something wasn't right. I'm fatigued often, despite eating well, getting 8 hours average sleep and exercising gently a few days a week. My PMS has become crazy, and my periods irregular (though that is quite common for me). I'm a teensy bit vague at times, and rather anxious and moody, despite doing everything I can to fight it. I have a supportive hubby, a beautiful home, have great older daughters, am in love with my sweet baby girl...Enter the hormone test that revealed where I'm at. On my way out of fertility. Entering a new stage of life, a stage I'm actually confronted by. Time marches on, whether we like it or not. In my case, I'm in the NOT category-not liking it at all! 

I'm not quite sure why this upsets me as much as it does. Really though, I'm not keen of being confronted with growing older. I can dye my greys, hide my wrinkles, but ceasing to produce eggs is something no woman can escape eventually. Really, I'm incredibly blessed to have 3 beautiful girls, and to have literally fallen pregnant instantly with my sweet baby girl just before turning 44. I am blessed, especially when, as a 40+ woman who was labelled high risk, monitored religiously throughout her pregnancy and given countless scans because my baby was deemed small, today, at the Dr's, my sweet one year old is in the top percentiles for height/weight. I have a robust, healthy, active, thriving little person. Go me! 

So now I will have to look at this as forewarned is forearmed. The unknown is scary. But I've tackled scary before, and look who is still standing! Yep, moi :)

Now, though not exhaustive, I'll show you through the missed days...

A vegan feast: zucchini slice, avocado balls on spinach, steamed zucchini, red capsicum and salsa- a lunch fit for a queen :)

A weekend brekky for me and my amazing hubby- a veg filled fluffy omelette.

An abundance of banana pancakes for my sweet bubby. Simply made with mashed banana, milk, an egg and whole wheat flour. They froze well and she finished the last few on the way home from the Dr's today.

One of my favourite spots by the creek, taken on a late afternoon walk.

A stunning sunset taken from my bedroom window.

Being prepared is vital when going healthy. Here are some of my brekky parfaits several days ago: plain yoghurt, chia seeds, pepitas and berries. Too good!

A lovely family dinner with my girls last Monday: Rice paper (or spring rolls) with steamed broccoli and dipping sauce (tamari, rice malt syrup and sesame oil.

These babies were my vegan lunch rolls ready to devour. I wasn't going to let them see the public eye until I had done a 'how to wrap things in rice paper like a pro' masterclass. Alas, that could take a while, so enjoy their unique shapes.

And this is the raw ingredients- too healthy and so delish!

This is my sweet bubby girl, enjoying her new big girl pram/trike at her party on Saturday.

My little girl loves attention. Here she is thriving on the attention the Happy Birthday song brings (that is my dear daddy in the background).

Notice the cake- a basket of strawberries. Thank hubby for that- we wanted something different and he certainly delivered. I do admit, I wouldn't let her eat any- not sure a belly full of sugar and red food colouring was a great idea.

I will say- though i can't believe I forgot to take pictures- I am impressed i managed to pull off a birthday party with 20 or more guests that had an ubundance of healthy food. Thanks to a newly acquired Pintrest addiction (thanks for that Leanne !), I was able to get incredible inspiration. My fave was cucumber slices, spread with cream cheese, and topped  again with a half cherry tomato cut in half again to form an opened winged body. Then, a halved kalamata olive made a head, some chives made feelers, and tiny bits of chopped olive made the lady bug spots. Who said healthy food wasn't fun! 

I made a big variety, and had mini water bottles for kids to drink. Gotta say- I'm proud of standing by my convictions. 

Back to some scenery- a beautiful sunset to end an amazing day of celebration.

And now, we hit Mother's day, celebrated yesterday- Sunday 10th May. These beautiful flowers were from a talented local florist, gifted to me by my beautiful non teen; one of the many gifts I got spoiled with yesterday. Feelin the love people.

Now that all these celebration days are out of the way, I am getting right back into strict healthy eating. I haven't taken photo proof yet, but some of my clothes have begun falling off me. Oh, what a feeling! I will get back there very soon. Cutting out certain foods, like bread and pasta, but increasing others, like whole dairy, nuts and heaps more veg, I am not only feeling better inside, but the weight has been melting off, with only walks and a couple of gentle weight days a week. It is quite fair to say I fell of the wagon when presented with a dozen choc chip cookies from Tasmania upon my non teens return from a grandma visit. And party preps (that strawberry cake had a lot of leftovers!) may have been too tempting to bare. 

But, today is another day. Back to health and well being again. That reminds me- I will have to share my successes with my new, brilliant $20 toy- a slow cooker. Everyone now loves that I purchased it. And considering our oven has died and we are waiting for either a major repair or hopefully- a replacement, the slow cooker is invaluable.

Stay tuned lovely readers- more soon- I promise!