sweets, letters & tomatos (and the first stretch mark)

The last few weeks have been going by with hyper-speed... I'm doing a work placement again like last year, and together with the progressing pregnancy I find the days just exhausting. In the weekends and some afternoons I feel a bit more energetic. Here's a little catch-up on those more productive moments.

I wrote a couple of letters that I have been meaning to send for a while. I don't know why I don't write snail mail more often, it's so refreshing to compose my thoughts on paper in hand instead on the screen with the help of a keyboard.

I also got my precious heirloom tomato seeds sprouting, the ones that Mini Matriarchin sent me in January as part of her seasons greetings. They have sprouted in a matter of days in a dark cupboard, and now each in their individual peat pots are stretching their little green arms towards the sun in front of the kitchen window.

I hope that the weather warms up a little more. Days and nights will have to become more accommodating for keeping plants outdoors - our balcony is still barren! This morning at half past nine it was only barely 3 degrees Celsius... there's now short green grass everywhere in town, but apart from smaller or bigger buds, there's still no leaves or blossom on the trees. Hurry up warm weather!

For those of you who'd like some updates on how the baby bump is doing - it's doing great; in fact it's got big! We (both me and baby) have just gone through a real growth spurt, with constant food cravings and lots of time spent on eating food or making food to eat. My body morphed into a shape that is obviously the shape of an expectant mother. I love this silhouette, for me it's all about what I've been imagining for the last few years to happen to me. The kilos don't worry me that much, as during the first four and a half months I only managed to put on half a kilo. Now in the last two weeks, I've probably caught up a bit. And yes, I spotted my first stretch mark while trying on a pair of mama leggings in a shop the other day. I guess it's like the first of the swallows in spring - once you saw one it means the rest is coming.

Amongst the normally healthy food cravings (watermelon, yoghurt with honey, avocados, pickles) I've also been craving ice cream and other sweeties. Finland is a funny place for sweets. I'd say when you are offered your first tasting of black as the night salty liquorice and you spit it out thinking what the hell is wrong with these people to call something this horrible a sweet, you might be put off for life. Or like in my case, it could be the beginning of a slowly developing love affair with the Finns' idea of candy. Which, in my opinion is more reminiscent of a practical joke than the idea of 'sweet' that folks in other parts of Europe think of by default.

Right now, I limit my otherwise also well controlled liquorice intake - even though they come in such a temptingly illustrated paper bag from the pick and mix station on the way to the cashier in every grocery shop... They are little sugar bombs after all, and my teeth are not the most resistant type so I only let myself to indulge just every now and again. The two running favourites at the moment is an apple flavoured sugar coated piece of sweet horror, and the other one is a raspberry flavoured lozenge shaped mmmm followed by a salty ewww surprise. Maybe you have to be either a Nordic or a pregnant person to enjoy that.

Hope you are all having a lovely first of May!