The Story of Our Lives!

Very very blessed are we...

2012-02-23T12:02:00.004+11:00

You know, I think we may indeed be one of the most blessed families in the world.

We have a beautiful landlord named Jim. He is about to turn 82, and is one of the most amazing, kind, gentle, thoughtful, considerate, generous, clever, wonderful Christian men that we have ever met.

For starters: he is renting his granny flat to us at a minimal rate, (which enabled us to pay off the $25,000 debt Alastair brought into our marriage just days before our first anniversary). Minimal, as in, we'd be hard-pressed to find a motel for a night, for what he charges us for a week. He does all the lawns and gardening, saying "you've got enough to think about with your little girl" whenever we offer any sort of practical help. And those two things are only the beginning of his kindness to us. It would take me a year to write everything he does to make our lives easier... we are just constantly blown away by his servant-heart...

Anyhow, yesterday, would you believe it... he installed an air conditioning unit upstairs for us! Whenever it gets above about 25 degrees outside, it becomes stiflingly hot up there, and the only room that is up there, is our bedroom (where Annie sleeps too). A few weeks ago, Alastair went and talked to Jim, to ask if we might be able to put a little portable air conditioner up there or something, because Anthea was finding it hard to sleep... and lo-and-behold, this is what he came up with!

I keep thanking him, but he doesn't want to hear about it. :) I guess I just want to say that even though sometimes I complain about living in a tiny two-room granny flat, that we are so infinitely blessed... God's love is constantly being shown to us by this grandfather-figure at the other end of the hallway. May God bless you Jim, a thousand-fold!

PS to last post

2012-02-21T08:31:00.002+11:00

Oh, I was going to add... the other thing that set me on edge on Saturday night was that a friend of my parents assumed I was pregnant and started talking about it with me, asking how I was going with the second pregnancy! :( I think that's really rude. Just sayin'.

The things we do...

2012-02-20T21:29:00.006+11:00

Here I am, less than a week since I last blogged - go me! :)

The rest of last week was fairly straightforward... at home on Wednesday... shopping on Thursday... mothers' group and the completion of another workbook on Friday (only 3 to go now!).

Then along came Saturday. It was just a monster-big day. Lovely, but enormous.

It started Friday night really, Anthea woke every hour through the night. So that wasn't a great start to the weekend. Meaghan came and stayed the night on Friday so that she could come down to Murrumbateman/Yass with us on Saturday. We left at 8.30am, stopped at Sutton Forest at 9.30, and got to Aunty Heather's (Murrumbateman) at about 11.30. Had a lovely lunch and afternoon with them, even though Annie didn't sleep much. At about 5pm we went to a birthday party (combined 50th/25th for mother/daughter friends) in Yass. It was great to see so many of our friends in the one place; many of them hadn't yet met Anthea! But it was hideously hot, and she wouldn't feed and wouldn't settle, so unfortunately I found it rather stressful and overwhelming. We left at about 10pm and headed home, arriving just after midnight. Annie was good on the way home - slept most of the way. But once we were home she just wouldn't settle until after 2am.... and I had a bit of a meltdown. :(

If the beautiful family who threw said party read this, I want them to know that it was a lovely celebration, and it was absolutely nothing they did or didn't do that made it work out like this for me... thank you for inviting us! It was just me and where I'm at just now... hopefully I will learn to handle these situations better in the future and be better company! Or maybe big get-togethers just aren't our thing at the moment...

Yesterday, (Sunday) we just had a quite day, which was really good. Anthea was still a bit tired and grumpy, but last night she slept from 8.30pm til 4am when I put her dummy in, then slept til 7.15 when I fed her and put her straight back down and she woke just after 10am! Today she has slept a lot too, and she is much happier. :)

Some really nice things though: at the party we were able to sit with friends whom we hadn't seen for nearly a year... and both of us have welcomed new babies since that time! Also, I met two lovely women who have been following my blog for a while without me knowing. And, for one miniscule split second, I felt a tiny weeny bit famous - isn't it only famous people (like Danielle Carey) who have Amazing Unknowns read their stuff? :) Anyhow, it was so lovely to meet them, and to learn that they like reading about even the little things that I blab about here. :)

And now.... photos! These are the most recent, but certainly not the most flattering:

Ready for the party, but looking like a dag. (Thanks Aunty Meaghan! Did you take a nice one?)

Sporting the new running shoes... courtesy of Aunty Meaghan!

Annie just wants to stand up all the time - her legs are so strong!

Reading "Good Puppy" in the highchair

And this is today, helping me with my workbooks. :) She'd just woken up from a lovely, long, afternoon sleep, and Mum was down helping me so she took a photo. :)

And lastly to Amanda: yes, everything in my brain seems to be poo-related at the moment. Ahhh the joys... :P Yes, as I type we're waiting on the three-day poo again.... :)

A bit of an update

2012-02-14T11:28:00.003+11:00

At the moment, here in Wollongong, it just doesn't seem to stop raining. Apparently, the average rainfall in February is 150mm, but we've already had over 170mm and we're only halfway through! So I've been struggling with getting the washing done (our laundry is outside - in the rain!), and, once it's done, I've been finding it hard to get it dry! Especially with the cloth nappies and everything.

I've also discovered that it is extremely difficult to do the groceries in the rain with a baby. So I've just not been going out. Which, I think, led to me almost going crazy last week - stuck in a tiny granny flat, wet (and smelly - after a day of sitting there and just not getting dry) washing on the clothes horse filling up the "lounge room".... I was just so over it.

But this week things are looking brighter. I guess everyone has their ups and downs... last week was really a bit of a down for me. Poor Alastair helped me over my little meltdown - he's getting quite good at that. :)

Okay. Whinge over.

Since my last post, I have actually completed nearly 6 of the last 10 workbooks for the Community Pharmacy course! So that is exciting. My mum has been coming down to help out with Anthea once or twice a week in order to give me a bit of time to concentrate on my work, which has been great. Yesterday she even cleaned my laundry from top to bottom while she was here - like seriously, she even washed the door!!! :)

At the end of last year, we left Keiraview Uniting Church. It was kind of sad to leave our friends behind, but I spose that the ones we keep up with outside of church are the "real" ones - and there are a few of those. :) Then we had a couple of weeks off, and have, for the last three or four Sundays, been attending the Wollongong Christian Reformed Church. And we have been really enjoying it - good solid teaching, friendly people... just what we need! :) We are now in the process of becoming members there.

What else...? Um... oh, Alastair is four weeks into an eight-week Liver Cleanse Diet. He's doing really well and has lost quite a few kilos now (I forget how many). Eating more salads and heavy brown bread has been good for me too - obviously while I'm breastfeeding I'm not dieting, but the healthier eating certainly isn't doing me any harm. I am just hungry all the time though, so need to cook myself something with a bit of meat or add some cheese... just to bulk the meal up a bit. :P

Anthea is still growing well, and she'll be 6 months in a couple of weeks - I think I'll start her on solids soon. She is such a funny little thing... chewing everything and dribbling constantly. I really hope she's not going to be one of those kids that has to wear a bib til they're 3 because of the dribbling thing though... :P Not quite sitting up on her own, but happy to sit in the highchair and watch everything that's going on. She's just started to laugh when we do blow-fishes on her tummy too, it's so cute. :) She also likes having drinks from my drink bottle, but I think she back-washes a lot, ew. :P Most of this year she has only been pooing once every three days, but every so often it seems there's a bit of a back-log of poo, and we get one a day for a few days in a row. It doesn't bother her, so I guess everything's fine!

She's just woken up, so I'll finish here. Photos next time! :)

General busy-ness!

2012-01-23T21:32:00.006+11:00

What a busy month January always is! Always lots of out-of-town (and this time, out-of-country) visitors... umpteen dozen birthdays... the usual trying to get back into the swing of everyday life... dealing with horrendous humidity that saps you of your energy... and that sort of thing. It's all in a day's work of course, but to me, January always seems to fly by.

On Saturday morning, Aunty Meaghan got back from her 5-week trip to Europe, bearing lots of gifts for us all! She brought Anthea little clog slippers from Holland, a double-breasted duffel coat from London, a dress-up flamenco dress from Barcelona (for later on!), beanies from Prague, a necklace from Switzerland.... amongst other things!!! :) The Swiss chocolate was sooooo good... and she even brought back a beautiful woollen coat and Swarovski crystal earrings for me! How generous she is! I love her, and missed her terribly, so am looking forward to her visit tomorrow immensely! :)

Anthea is continuously a joy to us... not that we don't have our unsettled difficulties and such, but on the whole, she's really good. She rolls over now - all the time. No more lying on her back playing happily with her toys, if she's put on her back, that's the cue to start rolling. Problem is, she can only roll from her back to her front, not the other way... and she doesn't like lying on her tummy! So I put her down, and before I get two steps away, she's on her front, and she starts to grizzle...

The other day she was down for her afternoon nap... and when it was about time for her to wake up, we heard her cooing and laughing, so went up to say hello.... and found this:

How cute does she look with her "monocle" on?!?! :)

Here she is on Daddy's shoulders... having the best time!

And lately, she's enjoyed sitting in the highchair while I do dishes or whatever......

So generally, my days are full and busy, and I love being a Mummy. :) I have 10 more units to go to finish my Certificate 3 in Community Pharmacy, so I'm really really really trying to get them done.... but it's not happening. :( And I'm not really sure how to put more hours into my day to do them, either! I'm flat out getting washing/dishes done and trying to do some dusting or vacuuming! And by the time Annie goes to bed at night, I'm ready for bed too! Any ideas???

Today I rang a friend with whom I hadn't spoken for a while, so it was lovely to catch up with her and hear what she's been up to..... and I was able to ask questions like "My hair is falling out in clumps, I think I'm going to go bald! Did that happen to you and does it ever stop?!?!" Then, what a surprise, she emailed me a bunch of photos of her kids so that I could see how they've grown. :) She reminded me that I hadn't blogged in a while, so I particularly hope she enjoys these pictures. :)

Random thoughts

2012-01-03T20:43:00.003+11:00

And so Lachlan arrived on Wednesday 28th... and thus far, his visit has been different from what I expected. We went and stayed the weekend of 30th/31st/1st at Mum and Dad's so that he could spend lots of time with Annie, but I think I had unrealistic expectations for the weekend... I thought we'd do more sitting around talking and chilling together. But he's madly practicing most of the time... when he sits down, he's got his laptop with him... and when he talks, it's as though he's using a megaphone - all the time. And he slams doors when Anthea's asleep... and answers the phone really loudly... and I found it all a bit hard to deal with. Times have changed, and I guess we've all changed too...

Besides that, we had a trip to ED for Alastair after the steak he ate on New Year's Day attacked him... far out. You'd think he could just chew his food. :P No, it's okay, I still love him. :) That happened mid-arvo, and we went to emergency just after 8pm, got home just before 3am - wow, it's a whole 'nother world there at that time of night!!! That was very confronting.... the swearing druggo, the girl who's threatened an overdose so the cops have taken her 9 month old baby from her, so she's screaming and kicking the place down, swearing at the security guards (called in for our protection, I think)... far out. So I was very tired the next day. I'd gone home at about 9pm to feed and put Annie to bed (since we'd been told it'd be about a 2 hour wait before we could see a doctor), and Mum and Dad minded her for us, so that was very helpful, and at least she'd had a reasonable sleep.

I completely do not understand the poo thing with babies. We are still going at least 48-72 hours between poos at the moment, which is really weird. It's scary as you come up to the 48+ hour mark, and as every nappy change goes past without a poo, you wonder where she's putting it all and how massive it's going to be when it finally DOES come!!! As at this minute, we haven't had a poo since 11am Sunday......... eeeek..... it's scary going out with that hanging over you too - because often the poo that comes after 3 days warrants a bath to clean up - so if it happens while you're out... um... yeah.

Anthea just loves her showers with Daddy... I take her in to the bathroom all nudie, and she has a big grin on her face... then when she hears the water, she starts squealing and laughing, and the arms and legs start going - it's so cute!!! Meaghan's away, and when she heard that Annie had rolled over last week she was most upset, and said she'd better wait til she's home before she starts sitting up... hehe..... I'm sure she will, she's only just gone 4 months.

So I've just re-read all that, and it's a jumbled lot of random thoughts, isn't it! Oh well...

An update in pictures...

2011-12-31T23:53:00.004+11:00

So much has been going on, and we've been so busy lately! It's late New Year's Eve, and we're at Mum and Dad's spending time with Lachlan while he's home (he's only back for 9 days!!). It's nice to see him, though sad that Meaghan is away in Europe so we're not all together as a big family. I'm missing her a lot - and from what I've heard, she's missing us too. She had a vomiting bug over Christmas too, poor girlie.

Anyhow, I don't really know how to sum up the last few weeks in words, so I'll do it in pictures instead. :)

Our Christmas tree - lights on:

Lights off:

And some of my favourite decorations:

O

Our 3rd annual Gingerbread Day at Donna's - my house:

Our houses (nice look, Hamish!):

The fruits of our labour:

And on Gingerbread Day, Anthea got to have her first bath in a "big" bath (since we don't have a bath at our house) with her 8-year-old friend, Mairead - how happy does the bubby look?!?!

Christmas dress from Great-Uncle Jonathan:

Cute picture taken by Aunty Meaghan, the day before she left for Europe:

Mr. Fox - Annie's Christmas present from Uncle Lachlan:

First ever cuddles with Uncle Lachlan!

The chocolate piano I made for Lachlan:

Christmas Day with Pop (Alastair's Dad):

Daddy got a new computer game for Christmas... he was watching Anthea for me for a few minutes yesterday, and this is what I discovered when I came back:

And my parents earlier this evening... dressed up for a Dutch New Year's Eve/80th Birthday Party... how cute are they?!

Now, for some reason, those last two pics have decided to align left, and I can't fix it!!! Having tried several times, I'm just going to leave it - Happy New Year everyone!!! :)

Time goes so quickly...

2011-12-23T22:49:00.006+11:00

My poor bubby has a cold, and has been so miserable and out of sorts for the last few days. :(

Hence my silence here... it will probably be after Christmas before I can update properly... but I hope you all have a lovely festive season! :)

Here's a picture of our dear girl a couple of weeks ago, before she got sick. She was in bed with us on a Saturday morning, laughing and carrying on! :)

And here's a recent family photo:

Just a quick one

2011-12-13T14:43:00.003+11:00

I have much to blog about when I get a chance - we've been busy! The Christmas Tree is up, and we had our 3rd annual Gingerbread Day on Saturday which was enormously fun... lots of photos to share!

But for now, these will have to do. Dress - and photos - courtesy of my sister Meaghan! :)

Sooooo funny!!!

2011-12-05T22:11:00.002+11:00

And this... ohmygoodness... this is classic. You have to check it out:

Babies

I'm still laughing. :)

For a laugh...

2011-12-05T21:59:00.002+11:00

The 25 best/worst similes

Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the center.
He was as tall as a 6′3″ tree.
John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.
She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.
The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.
He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame. Maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.
Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
The lamp just sat there, like an inanimate object.
He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.
The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn’t.
Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.
The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
She walked into my office like a centipede with 98 missing legs.
The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.
The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.
It hurt the way your tongue hurts after you accidentally staple it to the wall.
He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.
The thunder was ominous-sounding, much like the sound of a thin sheet of metal being shaken backstage during the storm scene in a play.
The red brick wall was the colour of a brick-red Crayola crayon.
Fishing is like waiting for something that does not happen very often.
Her eyes were shining like two marbles that someone dropped in mucus and then held up to catch the light.
I felt a nameless dread. Well, there probably is a long German name for it, like Geschpooklichkeit or something, but I don’t speak German. Anyway, it’s a dread that nobody knows the name for, like those little square plastic gizmos that close your bread bags. I don’t know the name for those either.
Her artistic sense was exquisitely refined, like someone who can tell butter from I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter.
It came down the stairs looking very much like something no one had ever seen before.
The dandelion swayed in the gentle breeze like an oscillating electric fan set on medium.

Most, if not all, of these are submissions to a Washington Post contest.

Annie-the-Pooh and the Blustery Day :)

2011-11-28T12:05:00.006+11:00

It was a cold, rainy day, and we'd been at a funeral... so she was tired and snuggly by the time we got back to Mum and Dad's house and I wrapped her up in her teddy suit :)

This one is a bit blurry, but don't you think she looks like a little
animal popping up out of its burrow?? :)

Cute and snuggly with Grandpa :)

Facebook addiction...

2011-11-21T08:38:00.003+11:00

Last Thursday, I deactivated my Facebook.

It's a bit of a long story, but the short version is that Alastair and I have been thinking about it a lot... read lots of articles and stuff. We're uncomfortable with Facebook's privacy settings, amongst other things.

But since deactivating, it's become more than that. I didn't realise how addicted I was. I didn't spend hours each day on Facebook... I haven't had oodles of time to spare now that I don't have it. But I would check it quickly several times a day, (it might only take me one or two minutes) just to see what was happening... just to see what was going on... and I think it was actually a gossipping mechanism! I reasoned that I was just keeping in touch... but that's not really it. I was - or rather, I am - addicted to knowing what's going on. Not in a current-affairs-and-news kind of way, but in a who's-going-out-with-who and a what-is-so-and-so-doing kind of way... and that can't be a healthy way to spend ones life!

It's also become a habit... across the top of my browser I have shortcuts - email, online banking, blogger, weather... and Facebook. I check them all out of habit. On Saturday, before I knew it, I'd opened a new tab and clicked the Facebook shortcut. Given that my account is deactivated, it had a message to tell me that and to ask if I wanted to reactivate - and it was only when I read that message that I realised I was opening up Facebook without even thinking!!! That struck me pretty hard...

And so, I'm going without Facebook for now... and majorly suffering withdrawal symptoms, by the sound of all this! It reminds me of 1 Timothy 5:13 though, and I know Paul is talking about younger widows here, but read: "Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not." And verses 14-15 too: "So I would have younger widows marry, bear children, manage their households, and give the adversary no occasion for slander. For some have already strayed after Satan." Yikes!

And to finish... my friend Danielle's thoughts on Facebook.

Look at my little cutie!

2011-11-14T11:09:00.004+11:00

Three posts in two days?!?!

2011-11-04T14:18:00.009+11:00

Just a few more photos I wanted to share...

These first two are from Meaghan... and thanks to the "fish face" setting on her new camera:

Like mother...

... like daughter!

And yesterday we had a bit of a photo shoot with Mr. Elephant:

Extra photos...

2011-11-04T14:06:00.004+11:00

Getting ready for Anthea's baptism, photos courtesy of Aunty Meaghan!

Update... finally!

2011-11-03T13:53:00.018+11:00

The mastitis has cleared up, the baptism is over, and I've basically had a week at home - so good. Thanks to a number of things (including an email from my dear friend Andrea), I realised (after one of my Mummy's Magnificent Meltdowns on Tuesday night), that I have been pushing myself and my baby too hard in my efforts to be Super-Mum... and that I had to take a step back and re-evaluate everything. So this week, the floors have stayed in their needing-to-be-vacuumed state... we've eaten more meals from the freezer... and basically all I've managed to accomplish each day has been the washing and dishes. But, I have felt more rested and I have a happier baby for it... I have a more peaceful (though dirty) home... and my husband has come home from work to a happy wife... and that's what counts. Darling Donna always reminds me that some people actually have a DIRT floor in their home... SOME dirt on mine isn't the end of the world. :)

Today I had planned to go up to Newcastle with one of the mums from church to be a support to another of the mums, at the funeral of her dad... but with my tiredness and Anthea's fussiness, I had to opt out. I really wanted to be there for Jill to show my love, but my prayers will have to suffice, and I'll catch up with her next week or something... maybe a cooked meal will show my love more...

And so begins my life as Not-Super-Mum... and my life learning to say 'no' more often. Problem is, in order to get better at it, I have to practise...

"Not-Super-Mum"... sounds like a good alias... :)

Anthea is asleep at the moment. :) She sleeps well at night (7-8 hours), but I'm struggling with her sleep routine during the day... in that she doesn't actually have a routine for sleep during the day! She feeds 2.5 - 3 hourly, then some awake time... but sometimes she stays awake for the whole time til her next feed, and I'm not sure that she's supposed to!!! Anyhow... trial and error.... :)

She's growing up so much. The nine and a half weeks since her birth have passed so quickly!

In mid-October, we did a Friday-to-Tuesday trip down to Melbourne for Alastair to do the "Around the Bay" 100km bike ride, stopping overnight each way with Alastair's Nan in Benalla. I think I might finish this post in pictures...

Daddy with his baby, at his favourite landmark:

Anthea having morning cuddles with her Great Nan:

Outside Nan's unit before we left:

Having a picnic:

Cuddles with Aunty Donna:

All snuggly and cute:

Last Sunday was Annie's baptism day - 30th October 2011:

And that will have to do for now... I have a few other photos I wanted to put up, but they're attached to various emails, and I need to find them, save them, etc, before I can put them up...

Again?!?! Noooo!!!

2011-10-27T03:21:00.002+11:00

I've been meaning to update and post new photos for a couple of weeks, but it just hasn't happened. Since I last wrote, we've been busy... a road trip to Melbourne... preparing for Anthea's baptism... amongst other things.

Maybe the busy-ness is why I have mastitis again. :(

Tonight I can't sleep, which is a shame, because I've had a big day and Anthea's been unsettled. Now it's 3.30am, so I'll go and try again...

I'll try to get back soon! :)

And...

2011-10-07T08:50:00.006+11:00

Mastitis going away is VERY cool! :)

Here's a picture of my little one, being nursed by Aunty Meaghan. :)

And by Aunty Katherine. :)

And being read to by Uncle Joel. :)

Wanted you to know...

2011-10-03T10:39:00.000+11:00

...mastitis is NOT cool. :(

A quick post... with photos!

2011-09-30T14:03:00.009+10:00

It's been nearly two weeks since I posted, and the time seems to have flown! Annie is now 4.5 weeks old, and growing every day... she's such a sweetie - I love her to bits! :)

Okay, so now I've got that out of my system... :)

Alastair went back to work this week, so that was interesting, but not as terrifying as I was imagining. I've had visitors, done the shopping, cleaned up, done dishes, and kept the washing happening. So a productive week, I think. We seem to have discovered a bit of a routine, and this week have managed 6-7 hours sleep each night, though I'm still quite tired. But as usual, I'm doing something else (blogging, this time!) while she's sleeping, instead of sleeping too. Actually, having typed that makes me realise that I should go and sleep now!

Birth and aftermath

2011-09-17T14:20:00.006+10:00

I'll try to keep it brief...

Monday 29th August, I stayed in bed... my legs and feet were swollen (well, more than they had been in the few weeks prior), I had a headache, and I just felt generally unwell. By 3pm I thought I should call my midwife to see what she thought, and she told me to come in for a check-up. I called Alastair and asked him to come home and get me, and we were at the hospital by 4pm. By the time the blood tests, monitoring, and an internal examination were done it was after 6pm, and I'd started having regular contractions (probably from the VE). We went home, and wondered if it was for real... prepared though for it not to be, as I'd had a few hours of contractions on the Friday and Saturday before...

By 11pm I really hoped it was the real thing, as it was getting uncomfortable and they weren't letting up. However it just felt like period pain, not the enormous "tightening" of the uterus and my stomach going as hard as a rock. I had a shower (since we don't have a bath), and knelt on my thongs to allow the warm water to run straight onto my back. At 2.30am we rang the midwife who was on call to let her know what was going on, she said we were doing well, and to call when we wanted to go in to the hospital. Alastair had snatched an hour of sleep between 1-2am, and then managed another hour between 3am and 4am. Then he had a shower, and I collected the last few things I wanted to take to hospital. We called the midwife again, who said I'd done very well, and that she'd call my primary midwife and get her to meet us at the hospital.

We arrived just before 5am and Linda (my midwife) arrived about 15 minutes later. When she saw me on my knees beside the bed in the assessment room, she decided to skip the assessment as she said she could see that I was in labour. :) Birthing Unit Room 2 was available (the biggest room, and the only one with a bath!) so we went in there, I hopped up on the bed, and Linda discovered that I was 6cm dilated. :) She asked if I'd like her to break my waters, and said that if she did, the contractions would become much more "efficient"... good word! They certainly did - but still basically just like period pain, not what I was expecting.

I was in the bath when Alastair remembered that we were parked in the ambulance zone... so he went to move the car and get himself some breakfast. :) While he was gone, I suddenly felt like I was overheating and had to get out of the bath. The cordless monitors I had on my kept losing their signal because I was moving around, (and I had to be monitored because of the meconium that had been present when my waters were broken), so Linda suggested I hop out of the bath, and she wanted to put a clip on the baby's head. I was a little scared at that, but had little energy to protest. When I was on the bed and Linda checked me out before putting the clip on, she said "Oh, I can see your baby's head! Let's not worry about the clip and just push this baby out!" at which moment Alastair walked in with hashbrowns and a chocolate shake for me. :) He's so sweet to think of me, and had no idea I'd be so far along (although I was never going to be able to eat McDonalds at any time during the labour!).

Apparently I pushed for about an hour and a half... it didn't feel that long. I guess I was just thinking about each one as it came. As the baby's head crowned, I felt my perineum pop, and knew I'd torn. :( But then our dear little girl was born, and the previous hours were forgotten about as we looked at her and cuddled her. We named her Anthea, for Alastair's stillborn sister who was born 28 years ago, and her middle name is Grace because we thought it sounded nice with Anthea... although it is my grandmother's middle name too. :)

While they were checking Anthea out and everything, the doctor came in and said I'd have to go in for a general anaesthetic to have the 3rd degree tear repaired. This, to the girl who has never had a filling in a tooth or anything!!! So that was a bit scary, but I was so tired, no tears came. I wanted to have a shower before the op, so Alastair helped me to the bathroom. Lucky he was there, as I hemorrhaged and went into a faint. He and the midwives got me back to the bed, and then I was wheeled away for surgery. It wasn't much fun... the anaesthetists weren't very friendly, and they tell my blood count was so low (after losing nearly 2 litres of blood) that I had to have a transfusion. I was supposed to be back on the ward in about 2 hours, but it ended up being nearly 5 hours... poor Alastair, he'd had Anthea all day, and hadn't been able to find out where I was or what was going on with me, and he was nearly beside himself. :( But then we were all back together (albeit in a lot of pain), and then our families arrived to meet our little daughter. I was so out of it, and I see photos taken from that night that just make me shudder. The first day was not cool.

When Alastair had to go home that night I cried... I was so sore... I couldn't move or adjust myself... I lost my buzzer... I couldn't pick up my baby when she cried... it was awful.

But each day got easier and was better than the one before it. I only had one horrible nurse, all the rest were just delightful. It was so so so wonderful to come home on the Friday afternoon (2nd Sept), and sleep in my own bed. The first couple of nights were a bit rough, but we're working on that - the last three nights Annie has slept for 6 hours in a row! :)

I've just typed and typed and typed... and cried and cried remembering that first day. I'm not going to proof this as we've got visitors coming soon and I just wanted to let you know what happened.

And I'll leave you with a photo of my cutie... she makes me so happy! :)

Just a quick one

2011-09-05T06:50:00.002+10:00

This is my very favourite photo so far of my daughter, Anthea Grace Wilson, during the hearing test at the hospital... doesn't she look like she's enjoying it! :)

I hope to post soon about the birth... there's so much to write though and it's going to take a while. For now though, we have lived through our third night at home - the first night was good, second was hard (feeds all through at 90 min intervals), and last night was good - she's on her second four-hour block now, due to wake any minute.

So then, until next time... :)

In his own words

2011-08-31T23:45:00.003+10:00

Hi, it's Alastair.

I have hacked Carla's blog (not hard when she clicks "keep me logged in" on my PC) to post a link to my own blog, a new post just done about our precious new daughter Anthea.

Carla will post here, I'm sure, with lots of photos and the story of the labour and aftermath when she and Anthea come home in the next few days, but for now, some of my thoughts are here.

No baby yet...

2011-08-28T16:25:00.005+10:00

Yesterday was the due date... and as yet, there is nothing happening. :P I'm so impatient, and so ready, but it's wonderful to know that God has it all sorted out. :) There isn't really much else to report. This week has felt long... I think it's the waking up each morning thinking "oh well, I didn't go into labour last night... but maybe sometime today!!!" and the going to bed each night thinking "oh well, I didn't go into labour today, but maybe I'll be woken up by contractions tonight!"

The weekend has been restful. Alastair sorted ALL my thousands of emails that were sitting in my inbox (and have been for years), and then did his. He's so good at that sort of thing. :) And my family visited yesterday for tea, which was lots of fun and we enjoyed lots of laughs. We played Scattergories... my Dad is hilarious - he kills me. :)

And to finish, just photos of the two cot quilts I managed to get the binding on last week:

Hopefully next time I post, I'll have NEWS and PHOTOS OF A BABY!!!!! :)

A few pics from a nice day

2011-08-13T20:07:00.004+10:00

Today is Lachlan's 22nd birthday - happy birthday little brother!

Anyhow, we couldn't really do anything with him since he's in New York, so Mum, Dad and Meaghan came down and we went to Kiama for lunch... here are a few photos of our day...

Side view:

Family photo:

And I realise that my last post sounded quite complaining... I am really excited about this baby, and so thankful to God for a safe and uneventful pregnancy which has really gone quite smoothly! The discomfort sometimes gets the better of me, that's all. :P

Still intact

2011-08-11T22:03:00.004+10:00

Just letting you know I'm still here, still in once piece. Normal life has become quite uncomfortable... I just potter around. :)

Last weekend we went to our friend Emily's 4th birthday party. :) At her 2nd and 3rd birthdays, I was able to participate in the jumping castle fun - but not this time. :P Came home and finished cleaning the house (which had been a work in progress all week - only had vacuuming and mopping downstairs to go) but that landed me with a bit of a sore back.

We also went to Sydney to see Alastair's Uncle Jonathan who just got back from a five week trip around Europe. He showered us with gifts, but that didn't make up for the long and uncomfortable car trip... no more trips to Sydney for now. The furthest I will go is to Mum and Dad's, because at least there I know I can sit, lie, rest, relax, find a heat pack, whatever I need.

So now we don't have any more plans for anything before bubby's due date (27th), and at almost 38 weeks, that's really quite a relief. :) AND, I have finally got my hospital bag packed! I've been meaning to do it for a few weeks now, but wanted to buy some new pjs for the hospital and stuff. Anyway, it's finally organised, and I'm sooo excited! Come on baby, any time now! Sooner rather than later if possible!!!

My feet are terribly swollen... like, really bad. And they down go down overnight. :( Actually, I'm retaining fluid from the knees down. Hang on... my thighs are enormous too, make that from the hips down. :P Oh, my stomach is bigger than normal too, I'm swollen from the chest down.... oh hang on.... the chest area is pretty swollen too..... swollen from the neck down. Face is pretty puffy too.... far out. My whole body is just fat and swollen!!!!!!

Learning curves (not talking about my tummy)

2011-07-27T09:43:00.009+10:00

I've managed to start taking it a bit easy these last couple of weeks... I've just been so tired! I realised that, since finishing work, I'd had so many things I wanted to do that I'd been putting off "til I finished work", that I was just wanting to plough through my To-Do List and cross everything off. However, in my quite-pregnant state, everything was taking me longer than I expected and I was getting more tired than I expected. Suffice to say, a couple of meltdowns later I worked that out, so now I just set myself one or two jobs a day. It's strange to have to adjust ones expectations of oneself. Also, my level of productivity is lower than usual, which is hard for me to handle...

Anyhow, so now I'm a much more peaceful human being, and I've come to realise that it's okay that my floor needs vacuumming and it's okay that I don't have the energy to do it today. :)

Mum and Meaghan planned me a beautiful baby shower on 16th July - it was such a fun day, and I felt very blessed by all my wonderful family and friends!

I made cupcakes:

Meaghan made fairy bread:

This is a game we played - a race to drink the water from the sipper cups:

A not-brilliant shot of some of the guests and Alastair's streamer-hanging-skills:

And Dad and I afterwards, comparing tummies:

* * * * *

We stayed with Mum and Dad that night, and the next day went to watch the Swans play Fremantle... which was dismal. We might have won, if not for some very dodgy umpiring. Anyhow, it was there that I decided that was my last game for this year... it was cold... the seats are hard... I ended up with a sore back... etc. So Alastair took Dad to the one on Saturday just gone (Bulldogs) and they had a great time together - and it's always much nicer when your team wins. :) We had yummy Thai for tea when they got home for Dad's birthday (which was on Monday). :)

I've had the opportunity to do some sewing since I last posted... I made two little patchwork cot quilts (which are off at the quilters' and I forgot to take a photo before they left so you'll have to wait til they come back!)... and a gift for Debbie (who gave us all the baby stuff, and whose birthday it was the day of my baby shower). I was really pleased with how all my projects turned out... it's so good to have time to be creative! :)

And that's about it really... a Mother's Group is being started up at church this Friday morning, so I'm going to go along to that and see how it goes.

I'm just shy of 36 weeks now... and getting to the bit-uncomfortable stage... the baby has been going crazy when I rest on the couch after tea each night, doing massive kicks/punches/rolls/whatever takes its fancy! I can't wait to meet this little personality! But it's still all so surreal................

Seven weeks to go...

2011-07-08T15:16:00.003+10:00

Time flies, as usual. Last Friday was my last day of work, the girls bought me flowers, one made cupcakes, and the boss bought us all Italian for lunch. :)

The next day, we drove down to Canberra for our friend Jessica's 21st birthday party. It was good to catch up with friends we hadn't seen for a while, and fun to do the bush dancing! I only managed five of the dances though... :P

We stayed overnight with Aunty Heather and Uncle Mike in Murrumbateman, and the next day the cousins came out with their kids (including cute 3-month-old Poppy!) for lunch. It was lovely to see them all - Alastair had fun kicking the footy with the boys, and I talked pregnancy with the girls. :)

So on Monday, it was my first day as a stay at home mummy. :) I did too much though and got tired more quickly than I expected. Tuesday and Wednesday I babysat Mairead and Hamish (Donna's kids - she's at a World Skills convention). They slept over on the Tuesday night... it was pretty full-on, and I am really really tired. Thursday I got to do the washing, change the sheets, and do some cooking.

It's been a week of seeing people... I had the opportunity to catch up with Meaghan, the Harrowsmith girls, and my friend Bek. Bek is about to become a nun, so it was our last opportunity to see her for a few years. Also, Joel and Katherine are down from Gilgandra, and they came for dinner last night.

Tomorrow, Debbie and Chris, (who gave us all their no-longer-needed baby stuff a few months ago), are coming to show us how to set up the cot and install the car seat, etc!!! It's so exciting that we are at this point now... only 7 weeks to go! When this part is all organised, I'll start the cot quilt I've got planned, and start washing the baby clothes. :)

By the way, the heartburn is terrible!!! :(

Three weeks just fly by

2011-06-14T17:59:00.004+10:00

My cough still hasn't gone away, but I've been told it could hang around for 8-12 weeks. Ah well... my Glucose Tolerance Test (for gestational diabetes) came back normal, so I shouldn't complain.

Mum and Dad have arrived home safely from their month in New York with Lachlan, and it was really good to see them. We stayed up there for the weekend after they came back and heard all about the trip... and were showered with gifts! Especially the baby... little suits and socks from the M & M's store in NY, amongst other things!

I had a bit of a car accident last Thursday on my way to work... no one was hurt (just my pride), and not much damage was done (none to our car!). I was stopped at a roundabout and bent down to get a tissue and my foot must have come off the brake... obviously in an automatic you're in drive, and drive it did - into the back of a lovely black car. :P But the lady was lovely to me. Now we just have to pay them $300 so they can have the scratch buffed out... :P

On Saturday night we went to Donna's for tea and a movie. Mairead and Hamish are getting really excited about the baby and started brainstorming names. Mermaids and fairies are pretty popular in that house, so the names that were coming out were things like "Emerald", "Sapphire", "Crystal Light", etc. Mairead thought that Daniel would be a good name for a boy. Hamish (just turned 4) then piped up "and if it is a baby girl, you could call her Compatimpy!" We all laughed - and he burst into tears, poor child. :) Mairead tried to make him feel better, "yeah Hamish, that's a good name! Compatimpy Wilson sounds nice!" :)

Then, cutest of all... later we were sitting on the couch ready for the movie, and the kids had been feeling the baby kick. Hamish said "can I tell the baby something?" "Of course!", I said. He put his face close to my tummy and said gently, "I love you baby." Awww!!! Isn't that just adorable?!?! :)

So I'm in my 3rd-last week of work now... it's cool. Two more days of teaching, 11 more days of pharmacy... my feet will be soooo happy!

Btw, in case you wanted to know, I cooked really really yummy veal schnitzel last night - crumbed it myself and everything. :)

Not whooping cough, and lots of purchases

2011-05-26T20:57:00.003+10:00

So I've had trouble shaking this cold... and was coughing so badly last week that Alastair made me take Friday off work and go to the doctor... who decided that I needed to be swabbed for whooping cough... which meant a whole lot of running around, anitbiotics to be safe, and Tuesday off work too... end of the story is that I don't have whooping cough, I just need to wait til this silly cough goes away.

We've bought a few things for the baby this week... it's sooooo exciting! A new pram... a cot mattress... hooray! We also bought a new vacuum cleaner - a Dyson! It's A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!! :) So our savings are a bit depleted now, but we're very happy with our bargains.

Also, my darling sister has bought us a beautiful glider (nursing chair) which is just amazing. I don't know how to thank her! Maybe lots of cuddles with her niece/nephew will suffice....? :)

Photos

2011-05-15T11:34:00.002+10:00

My 25 week baby bump. :)

Another ultrasound pic!

2011-05-08T20:21:00.001+10:00

23.5 weeks old!

Recently.

2011-05-01T16:37:00.002+10:00

Because the Easter weekend coincided with ANZAC Day this year - which meant that Good Friday through to the following Tuesday was a holiday - Alastair and I both took the next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off work in order to have an extra break.

I have been sick for the last two weeks, and so it was perfect timing to have a bit of a rest. It's just been a bad cold, but I've had problems shaking it, and at night still have a really croupy-sounding cough.

So on Good Friday, we went to church in the morning, had lunch with my parents, and then set off for Gilgandra to see Joel and Katherine. We had a lovely few days with them... relaxing, going for walks, kicking the footy, watching movies, playing board games, and lots of other things. :) We drove home on ANZAC Day, and again the normally 6-hour trip took 8 hours. Dinner with Mum and Dad again on our way back through, and Uncle Steve and family dropped in to pick up their beagle Mum and Dad were babysitting, so it was great to catch up with them.

This week has been one of late nights and just generally trying to catch up on house-cleaning. We are almost there... which is good, as tomorrow we're back to work! We also managed to attend an Sydney Youth Orchestra concert at the Town Hall which Meaghan was playing in, visit my grandparents in Manly, catch up with Alastair's Mum and Nan after their recent trip to Italy, and attend a Swans home game.

I have only 9 more weeks of work before I finish, which is SO EXCITING! And then there will only be 8 weeks til the baby is due!

Gotta love working in retail...

2011-04-18T11:45:00.002+10:00

I meant to post this last week, but forgot...

Last Wednesday a middle-aged lady came up to me at the pharmacy, to ask if her diabetic husband could take Panadol. I said yes. She asked me to check with the pharmacist, which confirmed my answer.

"Okay then, so he can take Panadol," she said, "but will it cause sleepishness?"

"SLEEPISHNESS???" I wanted to yell! But I retained my composure and said, "No, it won't make him drowsy at all."

To which she replied, "Okay, can I get some of the genetic brand Panadol then?"

:)

Our baby

2011-04-11T10:31:00.003+10:00

Here's a picture of our baby at 19 weeks - about 10 days ago:

Time for another post!

2011-04-04T20:41:00.004+10:00

It's been a while, so I'm going to update you all. :) Photos will have to come at a later date, as Alastair is out and I don't know how to do it. :P

Just after my last post (our anniversary), I made the best chicken noodle soup. Had to put that in there. It was awesome. :)

We've been busy with finishing off the loan... and applying for another. :P Alastair's car has been on its way out for a while, so we decided that we would take out another loan, with a view to working hard at it and paying it off in about a two-year time frame.

And that meant looking around at cars... researching... test driving... thinking... etc... and we decided to buy a Tarago. :) It came home with us last Wednesday night. It's a 2008 model and only has 90-something-thousand kms on the clock, which means that if we look after it, it should give us many years of safe travel. A lot of people have been laughing at us for buying such a big car when we don't even have one child yet, but we're standing firm. :) It's a pleasure to drive, and we are very happy with it.

On Friday I was 19 weeks. We had another scan - saw our baby for the second time, and heard its beautiful little heart beating for the first time! Yay! :) It was so lovely to see it, but it was being a little uncooperative and wouldn't let the lady look at its whole spine or its heart - amongst other things! We weren't planning to find out the sex, and she said that she couldn't have told us even if we'd wanted to! We tried going for a walk to see if that would get the little noggin moving, but half an hour later it was still lying on its tummy being obnoxious. :P This baby may be more like its daddy than we realise already! :)

After the ultrasound, we hopped in our new car and drove down to see the Axelbys, near Canberra. It was great to see them again, and even though it was only a 24 hour visit, we managed to cram in lots of chats, laughs, cups of tea, dancing, games, chips, cuddles and more in. :) They are such a beautiful family, and Alastair loves them as much as I do, so that makes our visits very easy. :) What made it extra special was that I felt the baby move for the first time that night in bed. Twice. :)

So we were sensible and left the Axelbys in the late afternoon to get home and do some washing and get into bed early (given that we'd been up til 1am the night before!)... but I got a call from Meaghan to say that Mr. and Mrs. Carey and Tain, as well as the Hornseys, were staying at their place, and to ask if we wanted to join the party. Of course we did want to very much, and called in just for an hour to catch up with them all. I laughed until I cried, which I haven't done for a while... it was good. :)

We didn't get home too late... 10pm it was. And then the clocks went back for the end of daylight saving, so it was actually 9pm. :)

Up early the next morning to go up to Sydney for Alastair's Nan's 80th birthday lunch. We picked Joel and Katherine up from the airport... drove to Jonathan's at Erskineville... caught the train with him, Esme and Nan to Circular Quay... hopped on a water taxi to Balmoral... then walked around to Bathers Pavillion - a VERY posh restaurant on the beach. Beautiful, but not really our scene. Since the menu was practically all in French, I played the "I'm pregnant and need plain food" card, and managed to get steak and vegies. :) There's got to be something wrong when you have to google on your iPhone the words of a dish on the menu, hasn't there? :P It was a very pleasant afternoon, then we went back the way we'd come... and came home. I fell asleep in the car, I was just so exhausted - and was in bed before 8pm!

Yesterday was my last day of teaching for Term 1 - yay! And given that there are two long-weekends in Term 2, I only have 8 more Mondays of teaching to go! Wow, that puts it into perspective...

Today I had to get up early to go back to the ultrasound place before work at the pharmacy, in the hopes that baby was going to be more cooperative... but it wasn't. Grr. I think it might be a boy, the way it's behaving! So she said I could come back tomorrow, but I can't keep doing that, not with work and everything. Decided to give up and go back at 24 weeks. :P I hope that the midwife at my antenatal visit tomorrow doesn't mind. :)

So Alastair is at trivia tonight, with his Dad. He still has tea with his Dad on Tuesdays and then they both go to trivia. I'm glad they have that time together. I just get some soup out of the freezer for dinner and do some pottering around. Speaking of which, I need to take up my new black maternity pants as they are too long and drag on the ground. So I should do that.... but I'm so tired!

Alright, that's it until next time! And I'll try to find some photos! :)

Happenings

2011-03-20T13:14:00.002+11:00

Today is our first wedding anniversary! It's so wonderful to have been married for a whole year, and we both feel very blessed. So much has happened this year, so it feels like the time has flown by.

We are now 17 weeks pregnant... can't wait to feel our little one move inside me! I thought I might have felt it the other night, but then it happened again and I realised that it was my tummy growling in hunger! :P They tell me that you usually feel it move sometime between 16 and 20 weeks. Two more weeks until the next ultrasound... yay! Yesterday I bought a lovely pair of maternity pants for work and two white blouses - I'm growing out of my uniform, so these will hopefully do me until I finish work, which is actually only 15 more weeks! :) Then I will officially be a stay-at-home-mummy! :)

And the other exciting thing that happened this week is that we paid out the personal loan we've been paying off this year. When we got married, Alastair had a $25,000 debt, and so we've spent the year working hard and not much else - and it was all worth it on Friday when we made that final payment. Sooooo exciting to be debt-free! Now we can start saving..... :)

That's all for now... we're going out to buy each other new slippers for our anniversary. :)

Beginning to feel better...

2011-03-03T22:32:00.003+11:00

Nearly 15 weeks now.

Time sometimes seems to go fast. When I look back at telling our families on Christmas Day that we were 5 weeks pregnant, now it doesn't feel like it's been 10 weeks since then. I don't know if that sentence made sense. But anyway... Other times, time seems to go slowly... like at the beginning of the week, it seems like it's such a long time til Friday.

Waffle on Carla, waffle on. :P

My nausea seems to have disappeared. Hooray. :) Except randomly, on Tuesday, 10 minutes before the end of work, I threw up. :( I had stomach cramps for about an hour before, but didn't feel nauseous or anything! And by about 8 o'clock that night, I felt perfectly fine again... except for my poor bile-burnt throat. :P

Anyhow, it's lovely to get home from work and be able to cook tea... or make my shopping list... or go shopping. All simple busy stuff which for the last three months has been rather difficult.

Tonight, after work, and after shopping, I made Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars... a delicious, no-bake recipe my friend Danielle posted on her blog. Oh so yummy...

My tummy is starting to grow. :) I am looking forward to when I look "pregnant" though rather than just "fat". :P Alastair has bought me a t-shirt which has a progress bar on the tummy and says "Loading... Please Wait". I haven't worn it yet, but am looking forward to.

First Ultrasound!

2011-02-17T20:09:00.003+11:00

This afternoon we had our first ultrasound AND WE ACTUALLY SAW OUR LITTLE BABY!!! Besides the fact that I was soooo busting I could hardly think straight, it was up there with one of the most exciting experiences ever. I knew I was pregnant, but to see a distinctly baby-shape, with little legs and arms wriggling around made it so much more real!!! The measurements the sonographer took put us at 12 weeks and 5 days - exactly what I'd originally calculated! So that's cool. We're due on the 26th August.

It was just an amazing experience.

So was the relief when I was able to go empty my bladder. :)

Update

2011-02-13T20:13:00.002+11:00

On Friday afternoon I went to the optometrist about whatever it was I'd had in my eye from Tuesday afternoon...

... turns out it was a little tiny weeny speck of glass, embedded in my eye! No wonder it was hurting! So the lovely optometrist got it out and the next day it felt much better.

Photos of my bad haircut (which happened yesterday morning) and us dressed up for the party (last night) still to come... :)

Three paragraphs

2011-02-10T20:22:00.002+11:00

So, we're going to a Gangster 40th Birthday on Saturday night... Alastair has bought his gangster hat, and I'm going as a flapper. Whoa. :P

On Tuesday I was dusting at work, and I got something in my eye. Probably just a little speck of dust. Problem is, it's still there. :( I've bought an eye-bath and tried to wash it out, got some Chlorsig eye-drops to see if they would help, and they haven't... far out. It's so annoying and painful.

In other news, I'm feeling hopelessly bloated. Nearly 12 weeks. I couldn't eat dinner last night, but then couldn't sleep cos I was so hungry... dear, beautiful Alastair got up at 11.30pm and made me a bowl of 2 minute noodles. It did the trick, and I went straight off to sleep.

Whinge over.

Ahh!

2011-02-06T17:32:00.003+11:00

The cool change has come through - what a relief!

The morning sickness has become more of a periodic thing throughout the day, instead of constant nausea, so that is wonderful... although the heat has been making me feel just as sick. It's just exhausting. We've had so many days of hot weather, and it has been unbearable to sleep upstairs, so we've been downstairs on the couch.

Anyhow, enough whinging - the southerly has come, and it is cool and beautiful. I may even need to put jeans on for church tonight. :) I've baked choc chip cookies today, and quiche for tea (the former - much to Alastair's delight; the latter, much to his disgust!), and got organised for the week ahead. Some friends dropped in for an hour, and that was very pleasant.

School started back last week, so Monday was my first day of teaching. I'm only teaching one day and pharmacy-ing four days. We've been trying to keep our activities to a minimum lately, because I've been so tired after a week of work. It's worth it though, our personal loan is coming down more quickly now, and should be gone in a couple of months!

I'm just over 11 weeks now, so only one more week until I'm "officially" pregnant! My first antenatal appointment was last week, and it seemed to go well. The midwife we met with (our "primary" midwife) was lovely. All being well, we'll have the care of the same few midwives right through the pregnancy, birth, and afterwards, so that sounds wonderful. I have my first ultrasound Thursday week... I guess that's where we find out if it's one or two... or three. :)

Seems to be a bit of a baby-boom this year - we are the last of 8 couples having babies between March and August! How exciting!

Well, I think my quiche is nearly ready. Oh wow, it's lovely to feel like I have even a small amount of energy in the cool......

Hurrah!

2011-01-25T17:26:00.003+11:00

I have found that a combination of ginger travel sickness tablets and the wearing of "Sea Bands" is occasionally reducing my nausea! Sea Bands look hideous to wear (but who cares, at the moment I'll try anything)... pale blue... sort of like 1980's aerobics wrist-bands - but they have a little stud on the inside which works on a particular pressure point known to relieve nausea! :)

Ho Hum...

2011-01-17T20:04:00.001+11:00

I've been at home today, given that teaching hasn't started up again yet. I'll only be teaching on Mondays this year, and working in the pharmacy Tue-Fri.... that's the plan, anyway. :P Thankfully I did have today off, as I was nauseous ALL day, just shocking. My worst bout of it yet. Still, I haven't thrown up at all, so I should be grateful. I'm eight-and-a-half weeks now...

So it took all my energy to go down and book into the hospital today. I'm blessed to have been accepted into the Midwives Group Program here in Wollongong, which means that all my care will be by the same midwives - during the whole pregnancy, birth, and they will even do two or three visits at home afterwards. My first antenatal appointment is on the 1st Feb, and my 12-week ultrasound is the 15th Feb. All way too much for me to think about at the moment. Though I have slept most of the day, I'm looking forward to bed!

They tell me it gets better around the 12-13 week mark.... can't wait!

Guess what!!

2010-12-31T21:56:00.001+11:00

We're expecting a baby! :)

Look over there!

2010-12-27T22:03:00.001+11:00

Hi, Alastair here crashing Carla's blog for a minute. There was a post here that offended some people and we're sorry about that. It's gone now. In its place is a post at my blog which probably* won't offend anybody but will clarify some things. Have a good night.

*it might, actually, but we hope not.

Life here is not forever

2010-11-21T20:51:00.002+11:00

And so yesterday Alastair's Grandad passed away.

We have an enormous week coming up, with the funeral in Benalla on Thursday. Neither of us can miss more than a day of work, so we'll be travelling down on Wednesday after work, and straight back after the funeral - a big 24 hours.

I also have my students' exams on in Sydney on Saturday, which is really stressing me out.

Prayers would be appreciated. :)

Babysitting and other escapades...

2010-11-16T22:37:00.004+11:00

I'm babysitting. Thankfully, I was forward-thinking enough to bring my laptop. :) I've already completed an online Natio makeup consultant course thingy, and now I'm updating my blog - how good am I? :)

Not much to report though really...

Last weekend was relatively quiet, which was great. Just what I needed. I bought a new pillow to try to assist in the ongoing saga of my sore neck/shoulder... but I don't know that it's helping. Tomorrow I'm off to the osteopath before work to try and get some relief.

So we're babysitting three cute girls, ages 9, 8 and 2. Their Mum and Dad (and Baby Bump due in 5 weeks) are at a concert tonight. They're all so different. Ellie, the eldest is very grown up, likes using big words such as anitdisestablishmentarianism, and assuring me that her Dad is actually bonkers, she doesn't really have to go to bed at 8:30. :P Anna, next in line, is much my sister Meaghan... basically quiet until you get her going, and usually can be found with her head in a book. :) I read numerous stories to Ingrid (2), who has just turned into a little lady instead of a baby... :) Alastair went to fix the computer of an older couple from church... so I got to do bedtime by myself. :P

Tomorrow night had better be an early night, because on Thursday night we have the Christmas shopping night at the pharmacy, which is apparently manic. I'm working 9am-9pm, so I'm going to be dead. Friday night we're going to Dale and Cass' for dinner, and we're looking forward to catching up with them, it should be good.

Life goes on

2010-11-10T21:21:00.003+11:00

Our rush trip to Victoria happened on the weekend. Alastair and I both finished work at 3pm on Friday, and we were on the road by 4pm. Almost seven hours later we let ourselves in at Nan's house in Benalla, and we fell into bed exhausted. On Saturday we went up to Wangaratta (a half hour trip) to see Grandad, and he didn't look too good at all. Back to Nan's for lunch, and in the afternoon, Alastair and his mum went back up to the hospital. He was a bit more himself, and they had a good visit. I kept Nan company at home... we looked at knitting patterns and I experimented with a couple, and then played a computer game! She's a cool Nan. :) We all went out for dinner, and then Alastair's mum went to see a few of her old friends. Alastair, Nan and I shared our specialty dessert (chopped up mint slice biscuits with mini m&m's on ice-cream) and had a good long chat. First thing the next morning we were up and off on our trip home, via the hospital again. We came home via Beechworth - which was beautiful, but added to our trip considerably, given that there was a Celtic Festival on, and the beautiful little shops were all open and beckoning us...

So that was a big weekend, and we were back into work and everything the next day. Alastair's Uncle Jonathan had bought himself and Esme, and Alastair and I tickets to the Amy Gillet Foundation Dinner ($250/head!) which was on the Monday night... in Sydney at The Menzies. Wow. Sooooo not our scene! Fancy food, fancy people... an interesting experience, but that is all really.

Another post-midnight bedtime, and there have been two days of dragging ourselves to work since. :)

Today we had news that Grandad has been moved to Melbourne for a procedure on his lungs... but his oxygen saturation levels were really low, and he was practically comatose, so they haven't done it yet. The doctors have summoned Nan and his children to Melbourne for a family conference, which doesn't sound too good.

That's all really...

Three months later...

2010-10-21T19:44:00.002+11:00

Here I am - what a busy little while it's been. I don't even know where to start, but Alastair has gone to a Church Council meeting and I'm determined to update my blog while he's gone. Oh... I guess I should do the dishes too. :P

Since I last posted we have mostly just been working hard. The pharmacy work has been such a blessing, and has enabled us to throw a lot more at Alastair's loan (which became "ours" when we married)... and we can actually see it coming down now. It looks like we might have it paid off earlier than we thought too - we were doing some projections last night, and we may actually be debt-free by our first anniversary if we're very strict with ourselves!

Our landlord, Jim, is such a blessing to us also. He's looking after us so well with this little place to live in so that we don't have to spend all we earn on rent. He had a knee replacement four and a half weeks ago, so since he's been home (two weeks), we've been keeping an eye on him and making sure he's got milk in the fridge, etc. :)

Yesterday, we went to the funeral of our dear friend Donna's mum - Caroline. Last year, when I stayed with Donna a couple of times a week, I got to know her mum quite well. She was a very faithful saint with a beautiful personality, and was diagnosed with CJD about five weeks ago, so the end was very quick. She was only 63... both her parents are still with us, so it was the first death in that family for quite a while. Donna spoke at the funeral and did a fantastic job of keeping it all together.

My brother turned 21. My little brother. All the way over in New Jersey. And that was that. It didn't feel like he turned 21...

We have had lots of visitors, and done a bit of babysitting; we've watched the last of the AFL games for the season, and I've got my wedding dress back from being cleaned, preserved and boxed up ($275 later!!); I had my student concert, and Alastair took me to see The Pirates of Penzance at the Opera House for my birthday; we ran a night of Youth Group at the church, and planned our U2 trip to Melbourne in December; I (for the first time ever) gave Alastair a haircut, and then took him to the barber to have it repaired; Meaghan took me to see "Wicked" as an early Christmas present, and I ruined my perfect driving record by getting my first ever speeding fine on the way :( (stupid variable speed limits!); Alastair has been doing lots of study and research on Christian doctrine and we've been doing lots of thinking and talking about what we believe and why; I've been having success with using my slow-cooker, and we've been to two baptisms of friends' children. So as you can see, it's all varied stuff.

Alastair called me just before. We were planning to head up to Sydney for his mum's housewarming on Saturday night, but she just rang to say that her Dad (Alastair's grandad) is very unwell down in Benalla hospital - fluid on the lungs and trouble breathing. So who knows... a rush trip to country Victoria may be happening on the weekend instead...

First post!

2010-07-20T20:45:00.001+10:00

Welcome to my blog.

I'll update shortly, promise!