Thursday, November 06, 2008

So, yesterday passed without incident, other than the cat being freaked by fireworks around here! Ate fresh pineapple, prepared lovingly by my husband late last night, but nothing so far.

So, spent morning baking some cakes for the Ranger stall this weekend, and also one for us so that we can offer cake to any post baby visitors...that's if it lasts that long!! Cider & honey cake......gorgeous. Craig loves it but that could be because he has to drink the remaining cider! Such a hardship! Baked some apple & walnut thins, and now got a banana cake in the oven, so lets hope that looks OK to sell.

Zoe said she might visit this afternoon, which will be lovely. She's got a 6 month old boy, so perhaps the sound of him squawking or playing may encourage ours to think about appearing!

Parents rang this morning to see if any news too. They have a free weekend this weekend and are really hoping they can spend it visiting their grand-child.......wish I could promise them that!

Well, just cleaned bathroom, and downstairs needs a bit of a hoover, so we'll do that and then have sit down this afternoon. It's tough this mat leave lark!

Craig is tiling again today, only about half dozen left, but ran out of adhesive yesterday. Then they'll need grouting, but the main bulk of the kitchen will be done, so at least it can be tidied and cleaned, and maybe Steve and Dawn will see the end is near. Craig will then lay the carpet for the dining area, and fit the low level units they are having along the side, with another small worktop. Will look gorgeous. We get quite jealous with these jobs, cause we can't wait to be able to do a kitchen up for ourselves and have the benefit. One day!!

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

No, before you ask, no news! We all know today is the day, but peanut is not obliging at this stage! Didn't sleep too well last night. Kept wondering about names. We've certainly narrowed the list, and we're getting near to some definites I guess. I was trying to put names together to find 1st and middle names that went together. Craig didn't want to hear my suggestions at 2.30am though?!

Had little trip out to supermarket, as planning on doing some more baking tomorrow if no sign of the sprog. Rangers have a stall at a Christmas fair at the church on Saturday, so if I can make a contribution and take them to one of the girls, that would be nice. They are doing a quiz with the Guides and some chaurch people on Monday night too, as a fundraiser for those going abroad next year. Not sure I'll make it to that, but who knows!

After shopping, I popped into to see one of the girls from my NCT group who had twins on Saturday morning.........they are just the cutest little things you've ever seen!!! 2 little boys, over 5lbs each, which is a good size, but still look so small. They were lying in a moses basket together, which was really sweet, they are just so used to being near each other! Bless! Didn't stay long, but was lovely to see them all.

Other than that, I've been setting up Craig's blog for him as another media for his business. Looks quite good, but not perfect yet! he wants to look at FaceBook too, but I know nothing about that, apart from the fact I got loads of spam e-mails when I signed up, so deleted my account!

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Back ache today......is this a sign??!! probably not, but who knows. Still in bed, propped up with pillows and hot water bottle on my back. Is a lovely pink fluffy HW bottle that my hubby bought me for valentines day! He knows me so well.

Forgot to mention that I went to an Aqua Natal class at Northfield pool yesterday. There were about 7 of us I think, 5 pre-natal (fat people like me!) and 2 post natal. Was 45 mins of running, jumping and toning in the water...very amusing for any others in the pool I'm sure, the sight of pregnant women in swimming costumes is funny enough, without us prancing around! Was fun and I will go again...when that will be who knows! Don't think that is the cause of the back ache, as it has been coming on for the last few days. Besides, over the last 6 weeks or so I've been going swimming, and also the lovely Davnia has a pre/post natal exercise DVD which is quite good. Her comments get a bit annoying when you've watched it a few times, but the exercise is quite good, nice an gentle for someone at 40 weeks.....eek!!!

Peanut seemed to enjoy James Bond last night....think it was the loud chase scenes which got it going! Was quite a short film, and perhpas Mark Kermode was right that there wasn't much of a story, and lots of Bond venting his frustration on various adversaries. But, the nachos and cake were nice (even if they had run out of dips to go with nachos!)

Plans for today, well, guess I should get up and have shower at some point, as I'm seeing the midwife at lunchtime. Last time to see her at my GP's. Next appt is a week Thursday to discuss options if the baby is still refusing to make it's entrance......think we'll both go spare if it takes that long!

Craig slept better last night, with the aid of industrial ear plugs bought from B&Q! Snoring....a common pregnancy side effect...apparently due to increased vascularity in the nose! I even wake myself up sometimes, so no wonder Craig has found it so annoying! Glad the plugs worked.

Monday, November 03, 2008

Wow, made it to week 2 of mat leave...no sign of sprog yet! It's lovely getting all the calls and texts, but lets hope it doesn't keep us all hanging on too long! Tried curry on Saturday night, but no twinges. Have yet to try scrubbing the kitchen floor, or sex, both of which are supposed to help.....hmmmmm, bet a bloke made those up! Eating raw pineapple is also reported to assist in bringing on labour..I'm sure others have more suggestions!

So, how have I been spending my time?? Well, Craig had to get 10 acrylic blocks out to a customer, and they have to have little magnets fitted in the corners, and glued in. The glue sometimes leaks out and has to be cleaned off the block to make them beautiful again..... So this took a bit of time on Friday and Saturday to make sure the client would love them when they arrived. They were a corporate job, and he is getting a few more of those recently, which is brilliant, as they pay well! he's got a big job to produce 15 acrylic pics for a veterinary training school in Hertfordshire. As well as producing them, he and his brother are going down to fit them, so that could be a long day. If anyone feels like coming to keep me and the baby company here on that day, that would be lovely! :-) It's good money though, and I'm so proud of him and what he's achieved. The Acrylic art is flying, not least because his site comes up on page 1 of Google now, so it's getting noticed!

Oh dear.....fireworks starting again. Better go and find the cat and make sure the cat flap is locked. She turns into a nervous wreck around this time of year. I fear a baby will not help her!!! Last year we think she was spooked by a firework and made her hide underneath a neighbours newly laid decking. She got trapped and spent the night under there until we found her the next day. Poor neighbour had to take up some of his lovely decking to release her. She was very muddy and hungry and spooked...other than that she was OK!! Poor thing.

Wea re leaving her again tonight, as we've booked to see James Bond at the Electric in Brum. It's a fab cinema, with sofas (if you book early enough) and can text a waiter to bring you wine, chocolate cake or nachos etc to your seat! We thoroughly recommend it!

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Day 4 of mat leave. Oh this is lovely..no rushing out of bed, can do what I want.......this is not going to last I know so I'm just enjoying it!

Having said that, we did have a bad day yesterday, mainly because Craig was very poorly on overnight on Tuesday - severe D&V and stomach cramps, so no much sleep for either of us. Kind of wiped out yesterday really. Luckily, I seem to have avoided catching whatever it was! All I managed was a walk up to the post office to post my expenses (last bit of work! Yippee!) and buy some more paracetamol. They recommend taking paracetamol when labour pains start! Can't see them having much effect, but who am I to argue with experts??!

Did make about a dozen Christmas cards last night. Please don't be offended if you get a shop bought card, I'll never be able to make enough for everyone! I tend to inflict my art on family first and just a few friends depending on how many I manage to produce! Craig was laughing at how long it took me to make each one. Not being naturally gifted in the arty way, I do tend to fiddle around for a long time before coming up with a design I like. Each one took me about 20 mins yesterday, but I was distracted by Deal or no Deal and other rubbish TV!!

Deal or no Deal..what a strange programme - Noel has become a parody of himself surely. How can he say things like "you played a shrewd game" and "be true to yourself" etc....they chose a box number and it's got a value inside..good or bad...there is no strategy any more than there is for choosing lottery numbers!! The only strategy is taking the bankers money or not! The last 2 days the players went away with nothing......very amusing to me!!! Sorry!

Anyway, back to today's plans. In about half an hour I'll be taking me and bump for a swim, much to the amusement of other swimmers who have been tempted to call Greenpeace in the last couple of weeks to take this whale back out to sea!! Only manage about 12 lengths now, but better than nothing. Would be all too easy to sit on the sofa now, but deteremined to try to stay active...all supposed to help during labour....I'll let you know!

Then later today my hairdresser is coming ot sort out my mop......don't want to frighten my new baby with the site of my hair at the moment! Mind you, be a miracle if he turns up (the hairdresser that is!) as he quite often cancels on the day for a variety of reasons! We'll see.

Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross..........................what a stupid storm in a teacup...how is this headline news???!!!! End it now!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

For fear of shocking everyone too much...yes, I am blogging again! Well, to be fair, I did blog about the house last year (wreck&rebulid), but now life is about to take on another turn, I thought I'd see if I can keep up a blog for the 1st few months of our little baby's life!

This is just day 2 of mat leave, so can't really comment on how that's going yet. Working up to 38 & half weeks was tough going towards the end, but will give us as much time as a family after the birth, and also meant I could easily keep active. Getting in and out of the car was becoming more and more amusing, especially in tight spaces. Still think that turning side ways should make it easier to get through little gaps, but of course, that isn't the case at all! I'm much front to back now, so turning side ways on has just lead to many a work blouse having grey marks across the bump! I have also noticed that there is a tendency for any food droplets to fall directly on to bump.........I understand now why my Dad's shirts always have marks in the same place!!!

I did the sin of weighing myself while at the midwife's last week. They don't weigh you as routine round here, and I was curious as to the amount I'd put on. Although people are very kind saying I look well, and most speculating on the bump being male ("as you're carrying it all it the front"....what ever relevance that had....would amuse me greatly to tell the world it's a girl............... but we don't know yet!!!), you do start to feel like the proverbial beached whale. I have put on about 2 stone...........how much of that is baby I wonder??!! Too late to worry now, so may as well have afternoon tea and a lammington I made on Sunday! Besides, I've been getting varying strengths and frequencies of braxton hicks since about 5 months (mainly when on the cross trainer at the gym back then.....haven't been to the gym for awhile!!), so I'm hoping that this will mean my stomach muscles will be amazingly toned once I've given birth!!! If anyone has ever tried those stupid electrode things you can use to excersise your tummy muscles, you'll have an idea of what BH's feel like and some days I feel I've done about 100 sit ups!

With weather as it is today (it's been snowing here for a while, although now turning to sleet and looking decidedly horrid outside) I'm so glad to be here in the warm. Great plans for before the baby comes are to make some Christmas cards; maybe visit one the NCT girls who's having twins and is getting very bored at home; and read a bit??

Craig is getting quite impatient. However, he still hasn't quite finished his bro in law to be's kitchen, so until he's done that, this baby is staying put..........!!