My Changing Shape and more Cravings

So the waistband of my trousers are beginning to get a little tighter, my skirts are sitting a little snugger and my t-shirts are beginning to strain a little around the chest area. Yes, people, the little one within me may be only 10 weeks old, but s/he is starting to make it’s presence visible on my body. I can’t believe that I soon have to start stocking up on maternity wear and get a bra fitting at Marks and Sparks. Unfortunately, my belly is at that stage where it doesn’t quite look pregnant yet. It just looks like I have had a serious case of overindulgence of the culinary kind. You feel like telling people ‘No, no, I don’t need to go on a diet, I’m pregnant’. Ah well.

The morning sickness has still not abated (sorry for going on about it) on the contrary it seems to be getting worse and the result is that I am exhausted most of the time. Sometimes being in this constant state of ‘unwellness’ makes me quite annoyed because I know I am not sick and yet I feel sick, if you know what I mean. I have also become quite irritable – from having people touch me, to feeling the water on my skin as I take a shower, to having the duvet on my body – all irritate the hell out of me. Even the feeling of having my hair brushing again my neck is a constant source of irritation so I am thinking of visiting the hairdressers soon and going for an extremely low crop. I have been wanting to do this for ages so this is my perfect excuse. My daughter is going to be devastated though as she says I look like a princess with my long hair. *Bless*

I am also having these crazy dreams – being in a plane crash, having violent quarrels with strangers, and posting abusive comments on peoples blogs are just a few of the dreams I have had in the past few days. But the experts say pregnancy sometimes does this and when I think about it, I do remember having very weird dreams when I was expecting my daughter. I’m still having my crazy cravings and here are a few of the things that wander in and out of my mind.

1. Amuge – I have no idea what else this fruit is called but growing up in Benin it was always called this. They are little black velvet covered pods which grow in bunches and when you crack a pod open, it contains a little orange fruit which you suck on and there’s a tiny seed inside which you spit out, obviously. Anybody know what else this fruit is called or even know what in the world I’m going on about?

2. Otien (you’ve got to forgive my spellings here, I’m crap at native words) aka Cherry – I’m sure you guys all know this one. An orange coloured fruit with a brown plug like contraption on the top which you pull out with your teeth and then you suck on the fruit pulling out the soft sweet sour pulp into your mouth. It contains hard brown half moon shaped seeds. Sometimes, there is a bit of it which you can turn into chewing gum. Ring any bells at all?

3. Ube aka Black Pear – Ahh, you all know this one well! It’s popular during corn season. You either roast it or pop it into boiling water until soft. It’s greeny soft flesh is delicious on it’s own or sprinkled with a bit of salt. It’s usually eaten with boiled or roasted corn. And speaking of corn, can anyone tell me where I can get some REAL corn from? Not this sweetcorn crap that’s sold here.

Ah, I’d better stop now before I start to dribble down my chin.