I'm gonna be a swim teacher, baby!

I'm jumping the gun there a bit. Completed the cd-rom and weekend workshop component the weekend before last with the accredited national body. Now have to sit a written exam in a couple of weekends time (first one since 1995 - wish me luck), take a cpr course, and have some supervised practical hours some time in the next year. Then I could be teaching your child, your friend's child or your nephew or niece to swim!! I'm looking forward to it, but at the same time, not sure how good a teacher I'll turn out to be - this is my first real crack at teaching. Now I will have to balance contructive and imaginative suggestions with my ability to see how someone isn't swimming properly.

Grumpet :(

Had a serious case of the grumpets today... cumulative effect of not having enough sleep (never seem to be able to get enough - would help if it cooled down...) and having had 2 really busy weekends in a row, on top of everything else that's going on. Will seriously need to limit activities this weekend, as the following weekend we have 3 guests from Japan via Norway including 2 year old. There is always so much to do, and it seems to be birthday season, which I'm happy for, but means the calendar is full of things to do and people to see.

The thing that made me most grumpetty today was my computer problems at work. My hard drive decided it'd had enough last week, and since then, I have been stranded in the city office when I need to be out west, and changing computers every day or so depending on whose desk is free. Lots of opportunities to lose computer files, forget what you should be working on, have someone set you up with the wrong login password so that when you come back from lunch, you're locked out of your computer until you can guess what your password might be etc etc My patience was stretched. Not the end of the world, but difficult with everything else that seems to be going on.

Met someone at a bbq on Sat night who knew someone who had more big issues to deal with whilst being pregnant than we did. I thought having: one of us studying with the other pregnant, 2 household "careers" likely to change direction in the next year, a certain household income cut and 3rd non-earning mouth to feed, and following that a need to move house somewhere cheaper (but that can't happen yet because we're too busy this side of the baby being born... and we're not entirely sure where we should look to move to....) was enough on our plate to justify feeling a little stressed. This other person (whom I'm not likely to ever meet) is 38, has complications with her pregnancy and twins on the way, a mortgage, and a partner who has just emigrated here and isn't too confident with english.

I felt marginally better. I now think "at least I have my health" - the rest will sort itself out one way or another. We're not extravagent spenders and we'll cope on lower income. I chose to be with C-chan because I could see we would get through challenging times together. Well now is one of those times - mostly because of the number of key decisions that we see looming ahead. It's hard to separate the looming decisions from those you need to worry about immediately. Need some quiet time to allow all this to soak in.

I could use a beer, damnit!! That'll just have to wait a few months. Or more, depending on breastfeeding patterns. Damnit again!!

As you get closer to definitely leaving the place you work, your tolerance for it drops exponentially:

T(tol) = t-x + C

Where:
T(tol) is tolerance factor,
T is time,
x is the rate of change of tolerance, and,
C is the Contentedness Constant – the starting point of tolerance, which is influenced by a lot of factors, including competence of managers, pay, level of work overloaded, level of annoyingness of work colleagues/clientelle etc etc (covered by another equation all together).

I would draw and paste in a graph but I can't be ar**d. Not certain that I got my exponential factor right there (did I mean it to be 1/x???) and let's face it, I haven't used maths like that since 1995 or possibly earlier.

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Pregnant lady = public property???

I had some warning of this from some of the literature I’ve been reading, but at a party on Saturday night, I had my first instance of someone I just met (ie a complete stranger) putting their hand on my pregnant tummy without asking. As it turns out, I was a little bit surprised, but it wasn’t a big deal. Not enough of a big deal to me to say anything to them – and I wasn’t in the mood to deal with the awkward aftermath of someone feeling embarrassed. I just kind of put on a fake smile, coupled with crinkled forehead, that (hopefully) said “well this is an odd thing for you to be doing!”.

For the record – good friends are welcome to touch my belly; anyone else, I wouldn’t mind you just asking first and I’m likely to say yes unless I really took a big disliking to you. It really is just like any other part of the body, even though round and unusually located on my stomach. Kind of like going up and touching a mans’ beer gut but not as squishy. Some women get (rightfully) offended by being touched without being asked, and sometimes we just are tired or have indigestion, are bloated or have overstretched bellies and it’s not the time to be touchy feely.

Journal 16.2.2006

We started the whole clean-out thing on the weekend. Amazing what we have kept stashed in the past 3 years. I mean, which planet was I on when I kept that dress that I have never been comfortable in and worn a grand total of 3 times? And why do I still have the warranty and instruction manual for the camera that was stolen when our last place was broken into in 2002 (or was it 2001)? Clutter, clutter, clutter. We had 2 bursts of activity and achieved a lot – now just a few more things to rifle through and some decisions to make re whether to keep or buy a few key bits of furniture. I can't believe how much floor space is now visible!!

We now have a corner pegged out for the baby (that will have to do in this house), and now only have to get rid of our desk & perhaps we can start decorating around it. Having trouble concentrating at work, and given the amount of stuff there is to plan and do, it’s no wonder. I’d rather be out doing baby stuff! Budget department store catalogues with baby stuff on sale are catching my eye where they used to go straight to the recycling!!

Am hungry, hungry, hungry. It’s ridiculous how much I am eating. Baby must be having another growth spurt as am knackered a lot of the time also. I look down occasionally and think “Blimey! That belly is getting rounder and rounder!!”. Have had to get bigger computer screen at work so that I can sit further back from my desk. When I slop or spill things, it falls straight onto my belly (instead of lap), so have to be careful or may even have to invest in a bib!!

Prats who live downstairs, and keep entertaining late at night in their courtyard below our window haven’t been helping with the tiredness issue – they must not have to work 9-5 if at all (probably are students). When lying there unable to sleep I hatch plots for revenge (e.g. buying water balloons to hurl down at them, going down to intercom and buzzing them at 6:30am when I have to wake up), but not sure if that helps me sleep easier or would make them shut up.

Bub is becoming a champion kicker, and probably an elbower also. It’s a tad distracting, but not (yet) unwelcome. Can't wait to see what it looks like and how its personality develops and how fast it learns and it's first smile and words.

Keeping house

An older woman I used to know (of my parent’s generation) and looked up to quite a bit once said the following about housework:

In the morning when your brain is most productive, first do the things that are
important to you – read, work, plan, be creative – then make housework the thing
you do last.

This is coming from the perspective of someone who once perhaps was a stay-at-home mum with regular house cleaning schedule, moving back into working life. I have not been a stay-at-home mum yet, and have always been a bit of mess-pot. Regardless, over the past 7-8 years I embraced the attitude that “housework is unimportant compared to everything else” and now find my house in such a disordered state that it is stressing me out. Yes, I now realise that the intention of this quote is not “don’t bother with housework at all”, it is just saying “refocus your priorities so that housework is not at the fore”, which it really never has been for me.

For the record, the same woman also was strongly of the opinion that:

If your house is in disorder, what can you expect your guests to think of your
mental state?

Our house is so messy lately that a big clean up is in order. The mess is exacerbated due to the smallness of our house. This is both of our faults (although C-chan is naturally tidier than me), as we both have a habit of stashing things in piles and thinking “we’ll sort that out later”. Then a few weeks later, there are countless “deal with me later” piles appearing on coffee tables, dinner table, desk, kitchen bench, and on the floor that are suddenly saying “deal with me now” but you can’t because you are too busy right then…

To keep things in perspective, we’re not as bad as those people on "today tonight" who have rooms floor to ceiling full of junk overflowing into their back yard, attracting vermin and complaints from neighbours because of the visual eyesore!! But it is messier and less organised than we would like, which is the important matter here.

I’d rather my house was tidy with minimal maintenance required so I can be more preoccupied with important stuff – I don’t want clutter to interfere with my sense of mental order like it is currently. There are 2 options – firstly, get a cleaner between now and when the bub is born… a cleaner would keep the regular mess at bay, but is not really going to solve everything as we still need to get rid of a lot of stuff and rearrange our possessions to fit the changes a 3rd member of the household is going to require. My second – and more likely – option is to change my attitude to housework and make it a higher priority, and to do a little bit right away, and regularly.

This sounds like the most boring personal goal I could possibly ever conceive of! But there are other things to think about, like the additional chaos a baby is going to bring, and setting a good example for the little’un. We’ve decided to break down the big clean up into a series of small tasks, and hope to start on some of these this weekend.

TV gives you nightmares… don’t watch it!!

Am watching “Carnivale” on the national broadcaster and loving it… the freaky events of a carnival – with midget, bearded lady, fortune-telling tarot readers, and healers who can channel life forces from one living thing to another - travelling around America’s south during the Great Depression, and a parallel story of preacher’s rise to fame at the same time… Except the preacher is possessed and only a few people know, and anyone else who finds out tends to end up dead… Last night was a particularly freaky episode. It’s really the only thing on television that I am watching at the moment.

But last night, I had trouble getting to sleep, and while I slipped in and out of consciousness, images of Brother Justin’s black possessed eyes willing another’s wisdom teeth to fall out with a gush of blood, a man’s head getting chopped off, and snake charmer woman being possessed with the spirit of the bearded lady’s dead lover just worked their way into my dream state and caused me to be a little scared!! This has not happened to me in a long time. Full points to the show for the experience it provides!

lesson in good grace and patience....

"Oh! When are you due?"
"How far along are you?"
"Do you know if you're having a boy or girl yet?"
"When do you finish work?"
"Is it your first?"
"Have you had any cravings?"
"Is it the first grandchild in your family?"
"My wife/sister/niece/daughter/good friend is expecting in a few months!"
"Are you moving house or buying a new car? That's usually a sign that someone's expecting" (nodding knowingly)
"You must be decking your house out with baby stuff then?"
"One thing I can advise you is to not buy ____ (inevitably something you already have), because we had one and only used it once"
"You'll wish you never had them in a few month's time!!"
"Oh, you're big/small/popping out, aren't you?"
"How long are you taking off work?"
"How ARE you?" "fine" "no, I mean with your condition?" "still fine"

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Once it is out there that you are pregnant, you get questions from EVERYONE, including people I usually only have a professional relationship with. Obviously my willingless to discuss these things with people depends on my relationship with them and whether or not they ask one of the few questions I am a bit sensitive about. Purely social friends there isn't really an issue discussing these things. This is getting to be a lesson in tolerance for me - I hope I am beginning to score well in smiling graciously, giving answers as appropriate to my relationship without rippling the waters, and politely telling people when I'm not prepared to answer what they've asked for whatever reason. And sussing out when some people are really just wanting to learn what it's all like (e.g. younger females/other couples considering conceiving), rather than being nosey parkers (the office gossip).

The lovely thing about this is how it binds you to women everywhere who have had babies. Mother, Mother-in-law, grandmother, sister-in-law, friends, loose acquaintances, collegues... random women in the street looking at your belly and smiling. You get to hear their accounts of motherhood. Sometimes you hear a bit too much information (e.g. flesh tearing during childbirth... ugh! I know it happens but still have trouble taking that in). You get to hear about the whole spectrum of experiences, the things that go wrong or go better than expected. Bring it on!!

Men are a different, and vary in their sensitivity to and involvement with the whole issue of parenthood and how a pregnant woman may be feeling. I inwardly laugh at the young men at the gym who look a bit... not horrified... but kind of dumbfounded when I walk past them, like they just don't know what to think. Outside your immediate friends and relatives, it kind of depends how much babies have featured in their lives recently. Fatherly or Grandfatherly-minded men are generally very excited for you!

The nice thing is how many well-wishings you get from everyone. And the help you get with carrying, lifting, opening doors etc. Ever the independent chick, I'm suprised to find I do appreciate this assistance, as I'm not as strong/fit/streamlined/energetic as I used to be! (In fact, that is probably how what we consider old-fashioned behaviour evolved in society).

balloon belly and aliens in the stomach

My belly is like it has a balloon inside, and that every so often, someone is blowing it up a little making my belly feel rather uncomfortably stretched. Went to Hospital for check up last week, and Dr measured my belly, looked at the measurement, asked "how far along are you again?" and at my answer, raised his eyebrows. Seems I'm a little bigger than average, but given both of bub's parents are not necessarily large people, it's more likely that bub has been undergoing a growth spurt. Yes, even now, before it is born, it is having growth spurts.

Remember that scene in one of the Alien movies where Sigorney Weaver's character has an alien gestating in her stomach and you see it kicking and jutting out of her belly from the inside??? Well that's inspired from real life. Bub's kicking is getting stronger - C-chan can feel it properly from the outside now, and he can even see it and distinguish it from my normal movements. Cool!

AND 2 of my cousins have lent me stuff - one cousin has lent me 2 of her cloth nappies (newborn size) so that I can use them right away after the birth, and another cousin has lent me a baby sling. Yay-ness. Only 4 months to go... 3 more months of work...

anatomical and physiological update - 22 weeks

(wow that's just over 4 months to go)!!

At this stage my profile is becoming more like a capital B (but with the top part smaller than the bottom bump). Bust hasn’t increased much, and this was predictable as I never experienced a huge change in bust size when I took contraceptive hormones in past nor in my monthly cycles (there have been other changes in this area but don’t want to attract porn spam by telling you about them). I have lost all trace of a waist but at least have lost the cylinder “trunky” in-between look that was there before Christmas - am getting a proper sized belly! I am now most definitely pregnant if seen from side-on! Can easily see inside my belly button without craning neck, but doing up shoes is getting hard. Skin seems to be looking well, as I am getting frequent comments on it. Feeling healthy and happy – hard to get too upset about anything much when I have a snugly baby on the way in just over 4 months!!*

My walking pace has slowed – apparently due the extra vital supplies that are diverted to my uterus and surrounds. Feel really unfit when going up stairs - get quite breathless! Still getting tired most evenings quite early, and usually have to get up in the night to go to the toilet due to reduced bladder capacity etc.

I swim half as far as I used to at the pool, or I get really worn out (but thankfully, swimming doesn’t guarantee a day of nausea the next day like it did in the first trimester). Swimming with a bulge sticking out front makes me feel like I am swimming with a blunt keel, or dragging a ball and chain, but I am getting used to it. Backstroke is becoming a more attractive stroke, and breaststroke feels like I am getting nowhere. Getting out of the pool must be a spectacle: used to haul self out with a singular, swift motion using arms to hoist self out of pool, then bring leg up to step up onto the side of the pool. Now struggle to lift myself up high enough and need to quickly swivel to get bum on side of pool before my arms give out on me. Might just exit via the stairs (like normal people) from now on to maintain some dignity. Still going to the gym nearly once a week, but have stopped running, dropped my weights and repetitions, and avoid exercises that require my belly being squashed against anything. Going for walks is good also, especially if end point is breakfast at a café.

Bub is kicking away, and the position of the kicks changes regularly. Down, up, front, towards my back. I can see my belly move if I’m looking down when it kicks towards the front. Come to think of it, it may be elbowing as well. I am beginning to think of myself as a “we” rather than an “I”, but don’t feel and identity crisis coming on just yet. I like to think that sometimes the kicks are in time to music - I tapped my tummy to the rhythm last night, and got a few regular kicks in response and in time!! Genius musician in the making (or at least percussionist), in addition to soccer star, and swimmer. Fish Oil supplements that I am ingesting are with luck reducing our (mine and bub’s) reactions to allergens along with hopefully increasing bub’s intelligence. Well, you can always hope.


* won’t confirm or deny whether a main attraction to the idea of having a baby is so that I can get more cuddles…

yay - reusable nappies...

My cousin uses these hemp cloth reusable nappies (Bubble Bubs) for her baby. I saw first-hand how easy they are to change, how comfortable they are, and how cute they look. Haven't done the sums yet, but assume they are cheaper than disposable nappies, as she chose the nappies for financial reasons more so than environmental. They can be re-used for Jr #2 or a friends' baby.

Basically, cloth nappies have come a long way in the past 30 years, have a lot of the features of disposable types, and are definitely cheaper but obviously there is more work involved. But when you think about it, washing and drying needn't take long necessarily. In many Australian climates, you are able to air/line dry them without having to use an electric dryer. That only leaves the evils of landfill (disposables) vs the evils of detergent pollution, possibly extra water and power usage (but I don't know how much water or power or bleach is used to produce each disposable nappy).

Other sites include:
All about cloth nappies - tells you how to wash them, mother's accounts of their findings etc
Cleverpants - another brand made in Australia, but not necessarily hemp.

biennial family snap shot

Being part of the family offshoot that dared venture off the Isle of Tasman (ooooh! how daring!), it's interesting to come visit every couple of years and see how the ones in my life that I can't choose, have changed. The change is subtle each time, and my own point of view oscillates over the years.... ranging from "I have nothing in common whatsoever with these people - how am I related again?" to "oh, so that's where my/mum's/dad's trait comes from!!" and feeling slightly sentimental, followed by likely unkept promises to keep in touch with certain cousins a bit better in the future. My observations are usually quite shallow, given I see most of them at huge family gatherings, and observe as an outsider that noone quite knows how to start a conversation with until a few beers are down the gullett. Basically, these people had a very small role in my upbringing, given the geographic barrier involved. But then at times, my parents and I become confidantes - safe people who our relos can confide all manner of information before we flit back to the mainland.

One observation is that my grandfather, uncle and a few of my male cousins on one side of the family are all quiet types, who end up with domineering partners. Interesting how certain personality traits can seek each other out. And with these "forthright", "bossy", "controlling", or "abusive" women (depending on who's describing them), comes inevitable clashes with the mothers-in-laws (my aunties).

I visited my ever scatty, chatty and earthy Aunt, who is probably my favourite, and we went to pick organic blueberries at a farm not far from hers North of Launceston. She gave me her Womens Weekly original cookbooks - they would have come out in the 60's or 70's are quite handy for the basics, and are very hard to come by!

I also visited my "Guilt-trip Gran" - she makes note of who visits, when, and remembers (notes down??) who forgets to send birthday cards to her and Pop. I was subjected to countless hints that I had forgotten someone's birthday last year, but got no credit for being the only one of us that rings the other party or travels especially to visit them every couple of years.

My Uncle is the kind of guy who likes to hunt for a bargain, and then will remember forevermore how much everything cost and how discounted it was, and proceed to tell you whether you asked or not. One Saturday morning, I was sitting quietly on his loungechair reading while others pottered about doing Saturday things, and he came in to chat. He asked if I had seen my cousin's Skydiving video, and I said I had not. Without a 2nd glance to see if I was remotely interested, out came the video. I politely smiled and commented, as the almost amateur video made by the skydiving Co covered my cousing getting suited up, doing practice jumps and responding to the instructors questions about how nervous she was with a chipper "I'm pretty fine actually!". The most amusing part was a look of sheer dread on her face as she was about to tip out of the place on her tandem jump. Then it was all over in a couple of seconds. Interesting. But the video had a maverick, re-live the experience repeat of everything all over again to different music, which it was assumed I wanted to watch.

Next, and worse, was the Bungey Jumping video. This was basically a half hour commercial for the Bungey jumping Co, full of comments by Brittish backpackers (ie not anyone I or my cousin knew) raving about how great the jump was, and a little history lesson on bungey jumping including Papuan tribes using rubbery vines and a built platform to jump from. Then at the end was the 10 second experience of my cousin actually jumping. That same event was replayed in slo-mo a couple of times, then that was it. Wow. It was getting hard to resist letting some sarcastic comments slipping out by now.

Then to my horror out came another video - filmed by my uncle this time - of their trip to England. Random shots of London streets in winter. A visit to Lords Cricket oval ("nothing was playing there, but at least we can say we have been!!" said my Uncle cheerily). My eyes couldn't help slipping down to my open novel. Then, when I couldn't think of anything worse, the trip by Bullet train to EuroDisney. That's right, no cheese factories, no cosy wineries, no characteristic French villages - a theme park. This was getting too much to bear. I didn't need to know that the Indianna Jones ride is taken whilst sitting backwards, and other useless information. The only thing I could think to do was make an excuse about needing to go to the toilet and do some stuff (like pregnant women need to frequently!!). By the time I came back, the videos were away and Uncle found something else to do. Phew.

One of my Aunties (ie above Uncles' wife) has always been one of those women who sets ridiculously high standards for herself. A clean house from top to toe every week, do everything herself without asking for help, do everything my way kinda woman. Sometime over the past couple of years, certain events have pushed her to breaking point, and she has gradually realised that not everything has to be perfect, she doesn't have to be the lynch-pin holding everything together, and some of her relations are selfish wierdos who take advantage of her AND she has a lot of childhood issues to resolve. Good for her, I say. Anyhow, she's now on medication for depression, and opening right up in a strange upbeat kind of way. Her newfound lack of rigidity makes her much easier to talk to.

However, much of my trip was a delight, with cousins to catch up with (including a wedding), new partners to meet and babies to cuddle, and most importantly, information on how my relatives have experienced or are experiencing parenthood. I was given lovely hand-made rugs and knitted baby jumpers from my Aunties. I learned about how my allergy-prone cousins on my father's side have coped with food allergies and intolerances with their kids.

I also learned how I could go about upsetting my Parents-in-law if I wanted to by taking the kids around to my parents' to visit frequently, but not trusting my in-laws in the same way and never seeking their advice. Or by using either set of grandparents as a child dumping ground on a regular basis, but never inviting them around to tea in return. So much to think about in the coming years - we're gonna be busy, I know that, but it's so important to remember those who got us where we are now rather than take them for granted.

Apple Isle

I'm off to Tasmania for the week for a cousin's wedding and general family ho-downs. Gotta catch up with all the cousins who have had weddings or babies, and Aunts and Uncles who have developed arthritis or some other "my god I'm approaching 60" condition in the past few years.

Despite growing up in 'delaide, my entire extended family lives in Tasmania (no, my parents aren't related - they've checked back at least 7-8 generations). Mum and Dad were the only ones who left the island (bar a couple of my cousins who ventured onto the mainland for a few stints, but have moved back). It's funny, my mum couldn't wait to move to Melbourne then join Dad in Adelaide when young - she found the small town culture claustrophobic. Yet her entire family now live pretty much in the same postcode. My Dad loved Tasmania but left for a job opportunity - he (and his family) is a lot more outdoorsy, and I can see why they love living close to bushland in the peace and quiet.

Funny how one family can be strongly tied to a place, whereas my parents have set a new trend, and now it seems normal that my bro has moved to Tokyo and me to Sydney. My Mum's family can be traced back to arriving in Tas as free settlers with the first fleet, some as convicts, and others possibly even longer ago with it likely that one european male relative had "relations" with a Tasmanian aboriginal woman (possibly making me 1/64th decsendent of an aboriginal Tasmanian!). Dad's family made the journey more recently, with his own mother venturing out here on her own at AGE 12 to get a better chance at live without her evil stepmother (It seems evil stepmothers are more than just fairy tales!!).

This visit to Tasmania I will be mostly visiting relos and hanging out with my parents - C-chan isn't coming with me, due to having to be a study bunny :(

Have a good week, and will post when I get back!

by popular request...

.... from one person (thanks, Betty Sue!), here are some pictures of my offspring at 19 weeks! see knuckles on top picture floating to right of face!! The little blighter is kicking even more strongly and regularly now.

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.