ho ho ho! & how about this heat?

Retrospective Merry christmas to y'all! Hope wherever you are, it isn't as hot and stinky as Sydney was last week. We need some places besides shops and cinemas that are air-conditioned so we can hang out there for the hottest parts of the day. I am developing a skill, however, for breeze mustering... I go outside, check the prevailing breeze direction, keep windows in the sun closed as much as possible, open the shaded windows, then if the breeze isn't blowing through our flat, I may use the pedestal fan to help things along. Unfortunately, there hasn't been enough breeze through the hottest parts of the day lately for me to be mustering much of a breeze.

Christmas at Chateau Meri went off well, and was a low key, relaxing affair. We were visited by C-chan's family... food, a little drinking (they don't drink much and me not at all at present), a walk around the inner western streets (eerily quiet, except for a few junkies slam dunking and chatting to ghosts as they wander down the street), and back for some lounging and reading. Once C-chan's parents had had a glass or 2 of champers, the interesting family stories came out, which I always appreciate hearing. Missed my folks, who were in 'delaide all on their own this year, but managed to chat to them and the Tokyo Meri's on the phone or over the internet.

and Happy New Year!

What a stinky new years day it was (>44 degree maximum in the city, and still 39 degrees at 8:30pm). Went to the cinema on New Years Day to get a fix of aircon, but it didn’t seem to be cooling that well. Then went home, sucked on ice cubes, sipped water and nibbled cold food, and did as little as possible with the windows and blinds closed and the fan on. Had some brief cold showers also. Finally at about 9:30pm, a gusty cooler breeze washed through, and we opened all the windows to ventilate. It’s been a long time since I’ve experienced such hot weather without air conditioning, but I survived.

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We had my 2nd ultrasound on Tuesday – they call it the “fetal anomaly” scan, at 18-20 weeks. Everything seems to be normal, which is fantastic to know. By now (19 wks), you can see its little vertebrae, leg bones, head (more proportionate now), fingers, lips, nose… And it was wiggling around, putting its feet up around its head (flexible!!) and moving its arms up and down. Very cute! For a while, the baby was facing my spine, and the nurse/radiologist couldn’t make it turn over. We thought it was funny that our child was disobeying us already!! Finally, after getting up and walking around and a bit more prodding from the nurse, we got the see the full profile that we needed to see. It’s nice that we have some technology that can alleviate our worry or prepare us for certain things.

I think I forgot to mention on my blog that I started to feel baby kicking just before Christmas. The kicking is gentle at the moment, but getting stronger. I’m sure there’ll be painful kicks in the bladder before too long…. Now that it lets me know it’s there, we have started talking to it. Seems like the normal thing to do.

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Quick summary of the past year and some aspirations/hopes for the next:

What I gave up in 2005:
Alcohol and other such things unhealthy to one’s body and/or future children… Soft cheeses, raw fish and meats, nuts, running, sleeping flat on my back, dangerous or risky behaviour (not that I engaged in much of this), staying up late. Our small, nippy Toyota Echo for a slightly larger Corolla, which is more family-friendly (yet still relatively fuel-efficient!).
The one thing I wish I’d done in 2005:
I wish I had: - cleaned out the spare room, and - been more creative, and- got more Christmas cards out.
What I need to in 2006:
Clean out the spare room. More Pelvic Floor exercises. (We have enough on our plate to do with baby coming, so that’s quite enough.)
What I’m looking forward to in 2006:
Stopping work, doing more creative things (such as making things to stick up around the baby’s cot etc), becoming a parent, meeting other new parents, C-chan being finished with studying, doing the basic swimming teachers' course.