New travel countdown - Stockholm!

I can start a new travel countdown, yeah! In just 85 days my family and I will be visiting Stockholm, Sweden. I have never visited one of the Scandinavian countries before, so I am pretty curious. I am really looking forward to it. In searching our new family city trip (last year we visited Rome), we did a little bit of digging to what Stockholm has to offer. But I will have to do some more to get up to speed what we can visit there.

Ciao!
Ixis

75 days no period

It has been 75 days since my last period. Or actually my withdraw bleeding. Haven't had a normal period since I quit birth control. I did ask my doctor about it several weeks ago. I visited him for a spot on my back and while I was there I asked him about the cycle and when I should get worried. 

He explained to me that nature decides when I will get my period again and I should definitely take 6 months to a year into account. 

So, October 22nd I took my last birth control pill. Since I quit I did experience some changes:

• More pimples on my face after 3 or 4 weeks
• I did experience some emotional changes, but only in the beginning. I felt a little bit more down and confused. Like my hormones were a bit confused themselves
• My hair just felt thinner and thinner.
• I lost weight. Perhaps I don't retain that much fluid anymore
• After about 2 months my skin went back to being reasonably normal. I still have some pimples now and then, nut I also eat chocolate and stuff, so that might as well be the cause.

Sometimes I do feel some cramping it seems like. But until now, no period. It has only been a little over 3 months, so I have to be patient. It is a good thing I didn't quit birth control because we are trying for a baby right away. I think I am glad I quit now. Because if I did quit because I wanted to get pregnant, and it would take a long time to have my period again it would be quite stressful.

It is a bit stressful now too. Just because I am curious if I still function properly. But according to my doctor I should definitely give it some time. And then again. My boyfriend and I are planning to have some nice holiday trips. Thinking about Canada this year and maybe West-USA next year. And maybe then we would like to start a family. By then I will be 29/30, so a nice age in my opinion. 

Ciao!

Isis

!!*2016*!!

Hello 2016! A new year. Unbelievable how fast it is going. It is such a cliché, but time is really flying. Not only when you are having fun. It is such an effort for me to live in the now. 

I love the quote, yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift. It really shows me what life is about. Surely you have to think about the future, surely you have to remember the past. But the only moment you can really influence is the now, today, the present. It is not for nothing it is called 'present'. Today is the day you live, today is the day you can decide to do what makes you happy. You are smart if you do things that will also make sure you will or can be happy in the future, but most is now. You don't know if the people you love are still with you in the future, you don't know if your health is still as good as in the future, you don't know if you still have your job. So why postpone what you can do today? 

I love this, this is how I want to live, but I find it difficult. Because everyday things take my attention. They absorb me and get me stuck. They prevent me from seeing the bigger picture, from what is really important. Well it is not entirely true. Especially all the fuss at work the last few months, also help me to remember this. So I try to live by it. It is damn hard for me, but as often as I can, I try to remind myself. 

What will 2016 bring. Who will know. A new year, new opportunities. Will I (we) make nice trips? What will happen job wise? I finally got my fixed contract. But all the changes for my department will surely get some crazing things to happen. How about my personal life? I quit birth control. Not to get pregnant yet, but I am turning 28 this year, and babies around me do get my baby jitters going. A new chapter in the book of Ixis. 366 (leap year) blank pages to fill (well it is the 11th, so 355 left). What will they be filled with? For the most part it is up to me.

Ciao!

Ixis

Change

Change is the only constant in life....... It sure is.

Christmas tree

Hello December, Hello cold whether, hello Christmas Tree. Today my boyfriend and I put up the Christmas Tree. Even though in the Netherlands today (December 5th) is Sinterklaas, we already put up the Christmas Tree. Mostly because tomorrow we have a birthday, and also next weekend we have other plans. The time of Christmas songs has come. From tomorrow on I think we will hear them a lot on the radio. It always is a cosy time of the year.

Hopefully it will be cosy at all aspects in life. At work it is quit troubled. Our projects are not going as wanted because ideas about what we expect from each other differ quite a lot. Hopefully everything can be worked out.

Ciao!
Isis

I quit birthcontrol...

Not to get pregnant, but just to get to know my body again without the additional hormones. I quit the birthcontrol pill. On my 'cycle' I was supposed to get my period last monday. Today is thursday. My friend also quit the birthcontrol pill a while ago, and it took 8 months for her period to come. 8 freakin months!!! So I am a bit nervous if my body still 'works'. And when it will be then. I think I feel some side effects allready. My hair feels greasy more quick. I just have to wait and see. But that is hard on me. The more my mind is caught up in it, the more long it will take probably. My friend started again with birthcontrol. But who knows, if it does take a while for my body to get a (regular) cycle, maybe by then we feel ready to welcome a child into this world.

Ciao!

Ixis

Finally some news.... I can stay!

Finally! It took like for ever. But last week I was told I can stay at my job. Permanently! They gave me a fixed contract. Got the letter in the mail november 6th. Waauw, my first fixed contract. A new chapter in my life.

Ciao!
Ixis