#BabyTraveller … dubbed little “Krümelchen” in German. Incredible bliss is boxing its way through my lower abdomen while I type here … “No wonder baby’s as active, with these active parents”, I smile once more, feeling proud. “Krümelchen is the youngest Taekwondo fighter”, my godmother Angelika writes joyfully, when just a few weeks ago WE passed our blue belt exam, the first advanced level in the martial arts of Korean Taekwondo. Proud, is what I do feel.
But let’s start from the beginning, shall we?
This picture is to reveal … nothing yet, actually.
Except maybe five smiling faces. My dear mum (the similarity is not to be denied, I know- let’s see how that will continue 😉 ), Terry & Sarah Lee from England, dear and long-standing friends of the family, who traveled to see us on the occasion of my mum’s 60th birthday, as well as my dear Georg at my side. And me. (Still) Slim. And yet, at this time probably only a few hours or days old, you may already imagine a tiny little “Krümelchen” in my belly. Which, of course, doesn’t prevent us from celebrating mum’s birthday first, blissfully unawares …
… taking trips (Southern Germany here we go, with my colleagues of the European Erasmus+ project #EuropeTour) …
… going for a hike at Weissensee in Carinthia (slim, still) …
… and continuing my Taekwondo training with my loved one and his mum (“ever since I fight with my mother-in-law, we get along much better” ..!).
Pregnancy Month 1: I’ve got no idea. Thus doing what I’ve always known to do best: Planning a big trip!
Canada is just around the corner, and I’m to go join GoMedia travel conference in Calgary, having Georg join me as well. We are both overjoyed, excited, and somehow … it’s on the back of my mind that my period is overdue. Two days. Five days. Then 10 days. Mh. “But I can’t just do a pregnancy test on the go, just a day before leaving!” I say to Georg, who promptly packs it into our luggage. My birthday is just around the corner, and if Canada doesn’t mark a special occasion to find out, I don’t know what does. Still a little time until then, too. And maybe my period will come. And maybe it’s nothing. Only …
Pregnancy Month 2: Now having quite the idea. Just not telling anyone back home .. not just yet.
Five minutes after the pregnancy test (positive +3, meaning I’ve already been pregnant for well over five weeks) I get a marriage proposal. It was not planned like this (the pregnancy test, not the marriage proposal). Georg took his time to prepare well in advance, on the occasion of celebrating my 35th birthday in Canada. In my overwhelmed state of mind, I say something like, “Yes … but marrying, I also want to be able to celebrate and have a drink or two, not be bulging through the seams ..!” Words by a faithful native of the Lower Austrian wine region, who has just said her goodbyes to a good glass of wine for at least a year. Laughing, we decide to enjoy one thing after the other, and first continue our trip to Canada with baby inside and the pregnancy news …
… doing some Taekwondo guest training in Calgary on my birthday: Crazy pastimes bring the craziest (and nicest) people together all over the world …
… announcing our good news for the first time among family here on the occasion of Thanksgiving with good friends Linda & Gord Hoy in Calgary, who I’ve first met on my Canada journeys back in 2016 …
… continuing our lovely couple trip through the Rockies, stopping at Medicine Lake in Jasper National Park, one of the most beautiful corners on Earth (the photo hides that besides, I’m also fighting some classic fatigue, nausea and sensitivity to smells) …
… visiting Darlene & Vaughan on Salt Spring Island, our “Canadian grand parents” is what they feel like, who take this lovely picture of us (still slim) …
… and enjoying one final training at North Shore Taekwondo in Vancouver as a final highlight to our trans-Canada journey!
Pregnancy Month 3: Things are starting to show.
Literally. Towards the end of this month, I notice for the first time a minimal bulge in my lower abdomen. Nausea, fatigue and a heightened sensitivity to smells disappear just as quickly as they came (thank the heavens! a mum-to-be who was plagued by classic symptoms for only three weeks …!) and my pregnancy glow second trimester, as the Canadians lovingly described it, is in for an early start. For a good month now, Georg and I enjoy the incredible warmth, love and touch of breaking the news to friends & family: There is nothing better than announcing a child, I notice. All the people in the world, no matter what, react in exactly the same way: with absolute joy for the parents to be. At most, the announcement of a wedding can keep up I presume. But a baby … in the rush of the first few weeks back at home, it seems to us like the most beautiful thing we could ever have told anybody out there.
Listening to baby’s heart beat, seeing it move for the first time, left me completely speechless and grateful …
… and it’s quite gladly that we move our scheduled trip to New Zealand for another time in the future, as family …
… taking up, well, a different kind of literature in the meantime …
… and being super super proud that fitness is still in the daily scheme of things: Here’s to the happiness of passing my blue belt in Taekwondo at exactly 16 weeks pregnant! #Kiap
Pregnancy Month 4: My brother takes the lead – Little Lea moves in.
The first addition to the family comes to us well prepared: Since quite some time, my brother Julian and his girlfriend Christine have been planning for a dog. Finally, the time has come, and little fluffy Golden Retriever dog Lea moves in with them, happy to play with us, all the time possible (unless, like all small children, she is sleeping). Wonderful. Like a small preview of what will soon fill our hearts and home: The daily rhythm of feeding, sleeping, playing, sleeping, feeding, sleeping, playing … haha. We have no idea really. And I think that’s a good thing. Still up to enjoying those lazy, lazy morning hours while we can …
Darling Lea … what a joy to our families …!
… and just like all small children, she just knows what’s best (and how to look good sleeping)…!
Pregnancy Month 5: I’m to publish this post and find no category for it.
Creative travel? City trips? Travelling with the locals? Or rather, a new travel blog category altogether: Family Travel.
Life is set to change forever. One of the greatest journeys, perhaps the greatest ever, has begun. I do not wish to turn Creativelena.com into a typical “mum blog”, there are already too many out there I believe, often with too much information (especially live, in my opinion). I don’t always need to know and see everything from everyone. And I would like to stay with my favourite topics in writing, that is, inspiring people, powerful stories, incredible destinations, (creative) experiences – all from another point of view, I guess. How we manage the fine line between happy blogging and real privacy will certainly be more of a challenge than ever. For me, it takes courage to face up to this new life, devotion, love, joy, the ability to laugh about oneself and welcome the support of our (global) family. For a start, I’m already following experienced “mum travel bloggers” for quite some time, learning my lessons from and with them:
- Claudia Schlager, who writes for the Lower Austrian “Freets” travel blog: https://freets.at/category/familie
- Jenny, who publishes on a typical family travel blog “Nunu reist”: https://www.nunu-reist.at
- Frankie Thompson “As the Bird flies”: https://www.asthebirdfliesblog.com/motherhood-diary
- Abigail King “Inside The Travel Lab”: https://www.insidethetravellab.com/category/trip-advice/family-travel
- … and many more (do leave me tips of motherhood (travel) blogs that you know and follow!).
Guys, too, can write about the subject, and here are some of the best:
- Mark Richards “Best Dad I Can Be”: http://bestdadicanbe.com
- Ricky Shetty “Daddy Blogger”: http://www.daddyblogger.com (who has also released a great eBook for dads written by dads!).
Soon enough, dear fellow writers such as Christine Neder (“Lilies Diary“), Fee-Jasmin Rompza (“Fee Ist Mein Name“), or Samantha Barbagallo (“The Wandering Wanderluster“) will also be mums; you may want to take a look at their updates. I am already curious as to when our children will meet one day, and how they will communicate … though mum has, as some of you might know, seven spoken languages of her own in stall for that 😀
As for now, there is still (a little) time: Thinking about new blog categories (and cooperations), about new forms of work and travel, as well as first of all, simply enjoying the peace and quiet, the move to our new house in Vienna, the life as aspiring parents and what will come in just a few months …! We are so ready and eager to see #babytraveller for the first time in May …!
… and a Happy New Year to all of you !!!