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watermelon and green apples

are my devoted companions through pregnancy... no day passes by without a kilo of green sour apples and some watermelon. i find myself more indifferent to oranges which i used to love before, bananas and grapes. what i miss is mango. we have mangos here brought from china, but they are nothing in comparison to the ones i tried in israel and of course double of nothing to the ones amir says grow in south east asia:)
another strange feeling i get is crave for swimming! and it's funny cause i don't know how to swim, just learned last year how to float. somehow i get this confidence that my belly will hold me on the water:) i think it's my baby who will be a good swimmer, and who knows i might learn while i am pregnant to swim as well:) on 30th august is a national holiday - constitution day, we are going to the outdoor swimming pool for the whole day, yey! it's also my sister's birthday, so she might join us there, i hope the wheather will not change our plan. so far it's nice and warm during days - perfect for swimming:)

discovering the world of cramps

my sister is a professional dancer and when i told her about my experience, she said it's such a usual thing among dancers and sportsmen, that she had them all the time while studying, they are caused by overtraining. she said i must have walked too much that evening and my muscels were reacting to it, especially beacuse i am heavyer now:) she also said that if the cramp is so intense that it doesn't let go off your muscle, dancers take a needle and poke the muscle to release the spasm...ouch! that might really hurt! but she said it helps immediately. then my sister started telling me terrible stories about some dancers who tear their muscles during practices and the muscle runs away from it's usual location, so in order to catch it before it runs, after it's ripped, they take a safety pin (!) and pin it to the other ripped end. terrible!

this morning...

I had a terrible first time in my life leg cramp. The pain was sudden and very intense,

I cried and called Amir to wake him up to help me. I heard before that if one has a mussle cramp, he needs to strech his leg and flex toes back towards the knee. I tried doing it but found it very painful. The cramp lasted for about 1,5 minutes, it felt like eternity! Amir massaged my calf and slowly it got better. Gosh, so painful. It still hurts when I try to massage that part. This is what I found on Internet about cramps during pregnancy:

Why am I having leg cramps during pregnancy?No one really knows why women have more leg cramps when they're pregnant. It's possible that your leg muscles are tired from carrying around all of your extra weight. Or they may be aggravated by the pressure your expanding uterus puts on the blood vessels that return blood from your legs to your heart and the nerves that lead from your trunk to your legs.Leg cramps may start to plague you during your second trimester and may get worse as your pregnancy progresses and your belly gets bigger. While these cramps can occur during the day, you'll probably notice them most at night.
How can I prevent these cramps?Try these tips for keeping leg cramps at bay:

• Avoid standing or sitting with your legs crossed for long periods of time.
• Stretch your calf muscles regularly during the day and several times before you go to bed.
• Rotate your ankles and wiggle your toes when you sit, eat dinner, or watch TV.
• Take a walk every day, unless your midwife or doctor has advised you not to exercise.
• Avoid getting too tired. Lie down on your left side to improve circulation to and from your legs.
• Stay hydrated during the day by drinking water regularly.
• Try a warm bath before bed to relax your muscles.

• There's some evidence that taking a magnesium supplement in addition to a prenatal vitamin may help some women. Check with your provider before taking any kind of supplement during pregnancy.You may have heard that having leg cramps is a sign that you need more calcium, and that calcium supplements will relieve the problem. Though it's certainly important to get enough calcium, there's no good evidence that taking extra calcium will help prevent leg cramps during pregnancy. In fact, in one well-designed study, pregnant women taking calcium got no more relief from leg cramps than those taking a placebo.

What's the best way to relieve a cramp when I get one?If you do get a cramp, immediately stretch your calf muscles: Straighten your leg, heel first, and gently flex your toes back toward your shins. It might hurt at first, but it will ease the spasm and the pain will gradually go away.You can try to relax the cramp by massaging the muscle or warming it with a hot water bottle. Walking around for a few minutes may help too.
What if the pain persists?If your muscle pain is constant and not just an occasional cramp — or if you notice swelling or tenderness in your leg — call your practitioner. These may be signs of a blood clot, which requires immediate medical attention. Blood clots are rare, but your risk is higher during pregnancy.

Astana during night

week 20

today's visit to doctor showed that i am 20 weeks pregnant, for the last months i gained 5 kg (!), my blood test was good, blood pressure is normal, the baby is happy (i added that) and that i need to consume more calcium. In two weeks i have an ultrasound appointment, until then we won't know whome we are expecting for sure:):) last ultrasound didn't show any such details. the baby started kicking three weeks ago, i didn't know it was supposed to kick every day, so i was kind of tired of it moving too much inside me. second week of kicking was not as intense and on the third week i am completely used to it, and if i don't feel any movement, I start worrying. for the past week i had backpain during my sleep which made my nights sleepless. the last two days pain went down to my legs, i had trouble walking last night... i shared these feelings with doctor and she conlcuded that i am lacking calcium, whereas my opinion is that it is the neuralgy caused by weight increase of my baby and pressure on my nerves in lower back. i will have more calcium for the next two weeks and see if the pain goes away. not sleeping at night made me realize that from this time on my nights won't be so calm any more, especially first months after the baby arrives. luckily i have a very caring and helpful husband, cannot wait to share parenting experience with him!

pictures from past couple of weeks

we have a family park we went to one weekend with our friend Askhat. It had this huge old equipment excibited from the times of world war II.

in this section of the park old peole were having their dancing party... they were all dressed up and looked happy. i thought it was quite cute:)
Another day we spent in my sister's husband's mother's place..hahaha...we just call her Tatte. she lives in the suburbs of almaty with beautiful view of the mountains and very clean air

one of her grandsons turned 5 that day, this was the occasion we got together. he is a fan of spiderman:)
i never know how to pose my belly for the pictures, this one is funny, like i am afraid to drop it:):):)
trams are for old people here, we love them though, and took a ride after a birthday party
Kamila is at the age of loving antie's shoes
bbq we had last weekend at Tatte's place

three sisters
kazakh hats
the birthday boy!!!!!!a.k.a. spiderman
his birthday cake

making a wish before blowing candles

us coming back from our first ultrasound check
fish being deep fried...yum! another couple has decided to verilly abide by the Will of God
Almaty mountains
the veiw of the city at sunset

flowers my sister bought for us one day, she is so sweeet!
heart- shaped middle
me - tired and sleepy
can u see the tiny foot??????
random encounter in the middle of the city

Flan in Kazakhstan

I will remember Haifa for many wonderful things. One of them is trying out lot of different culture's foods. Yum! I won't even bother going into listing all of them as there is a lot i tried at dinners, parties and weddings! I surely miss this diversity here in Kazakhstan. Although I am a bit lucky that my other half is of differnet culture becouse he cooks so well! I've been trying to see if Kazakhs know what flan is - one of my favorite desserts after Haifa, but only few people, in fact two, in my office knew what it is and tried it at least ones in their lifes. So me and Amir, got the recipe and decided to make it one night. We didn't manage to find a vanila syrup. Not wanting to give up, we tried to use the maple syrop instead and this flan of ours turned out to be soooooooo real and DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!! yum! I brought it to work, now people are asking for its recipe, I am so glad they liked it:):):) How can u not like the flan??? Thank you to Isra for the recipe and thank you to Amir for making it, thank you to me for the idea and being there while it's made:):):)
What would be next??....

Stomach abuse...ouch!

Being pregnant and having a bigger appetite is NOT a good reason to eat as much as i ate yesterday! My goodness! I couldn't literally walk, and sit and function in general!!!!!!!!!!! Our office mate bought all this delicious food to celebrate his birthday during lunch time yesterday and I forgot my hand-break at home...:):) Please!!!!!!!!!!! Moderation in everything!
On this picture i am already sitting with one leg hanging from the chair because couldn't put my legs together - so big was my poor pregnant belly! And, I still manage to smile!
It was a torture to digest all that food, I am telling you! And it's all my fault, can u hear, i am not complaining, just warning you not to do what i did:) The food was delicious!

weekend

Last weekend was sooooo relaxing for us, only me and amir in the house, my sis with her husband went camping for three days. Amir and I went to bazar on saturday and bought gooseberries which amir found amusing, he was excited to buy it but refused to try. I love gooseberries, they are so sour, and I crave anything sour right now. Apparently gooseberry doesn't grow in the Phillippines, Amir called them small watermelons because of the stripes and colour:):):)
On sunday we bought this baby which weighed 17 kg!!!!!!!!!!!! Poor amir had to carry it all the way to home! Thank God it was downheal most of the way! I wish I could help him but for next 5 months I have my own watermelon to carry around..hahahaha
My watermelon is growing so fast, since last week it kicks me every day, I loooooove sensing its movements. since we were relaxing most of the time last weekend, we spent some time talking to the baby, each in our own language. amir felt its kick once, but afterwards every time I would call him to feel it again, the baby would stay quiet:):):) I didn't really want to post a picture of naked tummy, but due to demand of some friends in comments, here it is. I am entering the 5th month this week.
Happy me
Amir is demonstrating half of the watermelon we ate, which by the way was delicious! it was huuuuuge!!!!!!!!!!!!

baby's picture

following the tradition of posting ultrasound pictures of babies on blogs, i am herein posting a first pciture of our baby made a week ago. although the baby is still very small and it is hard to see anything there, we all saw the head, and i even managed to see little fingers on his(?) hand.

dinner out last night

i am soooooooooooooooooooooooooo huuuuuuuuuuuuungry!
Kazakh money
painting on the wall of the first cafe we tried to have dinnner at

Amir is being silly...happy!

Can you tell there are two of us on this picture????????

Amir has worked for a month now, yesterday he got his first salary, yey! We met up after work and went for dinner to eat on it. First place we came to was really nice, we had eaten there before and liked their cooking, but unfortunately there were people smoking all around us and this restaurant didn't have a non-smkoking area. I cannot bear smoke since i got pregnant and we decided to go look for another place close by. I was sooooooo hungry that our searvh didn't last very long, hehehe... We stopped at a fist place outdoors where people were still smoking, but there was not many of them and it was outside, so the smoke didn't bother us much (me and baby). I ate like a preggy, two portions:):):) couldn't move afterwards, but was happy! Amir ordered pork in a clay pot, he said it was delicious, I couldn't try it any more:) The weather now is amazing in Almaty, usually it is very hot during these months, but this year, it's hot during a day and it's raining almost every night, so it's so fresh at night while we sleep. I think it was by my order the weather is being so pleasant on me cause I don't really like continuoes heat... especially now...

Living for two

Last week was my first ultrasound appointment after which i had a complete realization that I am carrying a human being inside me and that I am living two lives at the moment. All this time I knew I was pregnant but wasn't fully realizing what is going on... (may be cause my belly is still smal. Although I was trying to take a good care of myself, say prayers as much as possible and was having some simptoms, I cannot say I was pregnant mentally, rather more physycally. After I saw a little spine and ribs, little foot, head, I think I even saw a hand on the pictures, I couldn't believe it! Like I just learned that I am pregnant! So interesting how my mind was absolutely separated from my body and from what was really going on... So interesting that I needed this visual evidence to enjoy and try to understand my state for this months and... upcoming yearssssssss:):):) Amir was there too and so was my sis, they were sooooooo excited! I wish this visual connection to my baby would last a bit longer, next time I will ask them to show me everything possible, and hopefuly we can make a video as there will be much more to see:):):)
p.s. Ultrasound showed that everything is OK so far... thank you all for your prayers!

During the week-long project of reaching out to our neigbours we found out that in the building we just moved in lives this Israeli family of 6 people - a couple with their daughter, son-in-law, grandchild and their old mother. We were so excited to meet each other on our way back from the grocery store, i saw the woman's smiling radiant face, she was holding this beautiful baby in her arms and coming out of the buidling, i immediately felt some kind of connection and an impuls to come and start a conversation. It was so easy, i asked if the baby is a girl or a boy, what is his name, after i heard the name i raised a question about his nationality, she said they are jews. next followed our exclamation that we used to live in Israel serving at the Bahai World Centre. She was so happy to know that, she said they go there often, in fact, Eliran (adorable child, her grandson) was born there three months ago. She had been to Haifa and visited the gardens together with her family. We meet once in a while in a yard when she walks with Eliran. Now, me and my sis with our husbands are eager to teach them the Faith, although i still have this thought in my mind that we shouldn't teach jews and i try to remind myself that this rule is applicable only INSIDE Israel.

kids who attend children classes in one of the regions of almaty where we had our teaching project recently
this region is basically a village with all its features:)...

me and my sis are enjoying a company of our devoted new friend Ryzhik
watch out! sheeps are crossing the road!...

doors are opening for the Message everywhere
Ryzhik is posing for the cam

one two three, family shot! Amir was still counting when the cam did its job

Amir was serving as a cook during the project to feed teachers of the Faith

beautiful flower in one of the visited houses' gardens