Just In Case You Thought I was Exagerating...

On Sunday this is what my husband and son were caught doing...


And this morning Angus shouted for me to come up stairs. He had raided my supply of hair things (from when I actually needed them!) and told me that he had made mine and Daddy's bed all beautiful for when we go to sleep tonight. Cute... and creative! He had decorated both the nobs on the end and the entire end with clips and things and was very proud of himself.

Final Bit of Nesting...

Ken loved our log burning stove in Germany and hated (spot the past tense!) our fire place in Macclesfield. It was too dark and overpowering for our lounge and a suggestion was made that as the plastering of the dark bricks in the conservatory was so succesful, why not plaster over the bricks in the lounge too? Okay, but as the fire place is too big, why not take off the bricks? Then again, if we are taking off the bricks, why not take out the old gas fire and put in a log burner here too? But then we will have to do some painting as the chimney will need to be plastered.


So went Ken's train of thought.


Okay, I said. But as I am meant to be taking things easy, I will organise and get in the workmen but I AM NOT DOING ANY MORE D**M PAINTING!


So, I didn't. Actually, I did do a bit, but only an undercoat on the chimney to speed things up for the painter the following day and Ken did most of it.


End result - from this




via this.

to this.

Much better and Ken is very happy sawing wood and generally being Scouty. The only issue is that I now need to train him not to bring the huge felling axe into the lounge (seriously!) to chop kindling on the new stonework and encourage him not to leave wood mess all over the carpet.

That could be a long job.

We Made It!!!

Yes, despite all the annoying and somewhat uncomfortable issues surrounding this pregnancy, we have made it to the deadline - 36 weeks. That was the goal set by the Midwife and now, frankly, she doesn't care if I go into labour. As far as we are concerned, Baby is cooked and can come out whenever it so chooses (providing it's not too late!!!)

Personally I will be glad when it does arrive. I am looking forward to:
Being able to visit the toilet less frequently.
Sleep more comfortably (although I appreciate it won't be through the night for some time to come!)
Sit without having to change position every five minutes
Put on my socks easily
Being able to walk more than 200m on a good day
Getting out of the house and into the hills again
Divorcing myself from Rennie and her little friends
And many other things, most of which are too embarrassing to Blog about.

I am also looking forward more than I ever was with Pregnancy No1 to meeting this Baby. I never had that sense of anticipation when pregnant with Angus. I have said it before that when Angus was born I had in many ways only just accepted that I was actually pregnant and hadn't really grasped that I was going to be a Mum. This time I am totally aware that this is a baby, a person, and I am excited about meeting him/her.

So is Angus! He has already announced that he wants the baby to sleep in with him and when shopping a couple of weeks ago told us that he wanted to buy a present for the baby. He chose a Taggie - because he likes Brown Dog's labels and thought the baby would like labels too! Very thoughtful. He is really excited and loves it when the Midwife comes. He helps her make all the checks and take all the measurements. He talks about what he and the baby will do when the baby comes out and has asked how it will come out (!) and when. He does know, or at least says, that the baby will be too small to play at first, but will be happy when it can play, just not with his trains! He has started talking to the baby as well. I just hope and pray that when the baby arrives, he is just as excited and adjusts well.

Here's hoping and praying...

Crime Wave in Black Road

This email will not be accompanied by any interesting photos, although I do have some new ones to share with you all. This is a venting sessions!

I am not really aware of having been the victim of crime before, but recently we seem to have subconsciously placed an advert somewhere saying, "Come and rob us!"

In June Ken had an old bike in the garden. He rode it to work along the canal and although it was old, worn out, heavy and not really a good bike at all, it was functional (probably the only criteria that was important to Ken!). That was stolen from the garden the day before Ken's birthday when the new, smarter and faster model of bike was due to arrive. The irony of the theft is that on his birthday the old bike was due to be freecycled!

Then three weeks ago a radiator that we had removed and was in our garden was also stolen. This did, admitadly, save us a trip to the local recycling centre, but that's not quite the point. Someone in broad daylight walked up to our front door without permission and walked away with a radiator. Do they know we didn't have other plans for it?

Than two weeks ago our car was broken into whilst it was sitting on our driveway. They took a Satnav which I shouldn't have left in the car, an MP3 player which only the day before I had spent several hours loading a lot of books onto for Angus, and finally a new powerful search torch from the Rescue Team which I had been issued with the week before. Fortunately they didn't damage the car or take all those other annoying things which would have caused a lot of of inconvenience, like Ken's driving glasses.

And then last week Mum dropped a memory stick into the photographers for me so that they could develop over 200 photos for me to scrap with. The store managed was loading the pictures onto the machine when she was asked a question by a customer. Whilst dealing with her, someone stole my memory stick. Why? It was only a 1gb stick so not expensive. It had a lot of personal photos on it - do they know that these pictures were replaceable? Did they even care? Probably not. Idid have copies (having sorted all my pictures just the week before!) but it was the total lack of thought and the real inconvenience as I wasn't able to just "pop down with a replacement" as I currently can'a walk more that about 100m without cramping. The shop has subsequently replaced the memory stick (with a 4gb one!) and developed all the photos for free. But they shouldn't have had to, should they?

Things are meant to come in threes not fours. Let's hope that this is the last one.

The Excuse For Not Doing the Tiling in the Loo...

Okay, so we had a busy Scout camp, then a busy week in Mallaig, and then decorating conservatories, and I am currently 30 weeks pregnant. And my first child was premature. And I have been having strange Braxten Hix type contraction things since about 11 weeks and they shouldn't start until about 28 weeks. And, and, and... I ended up on compulsory bed rest. The kind of bed rest where the Midwife says, "If you don't stop, you will end up in hospital. You either sort out child care here and promise to behave or you will be having another even more premature baby on your hands. Actually, it won't be on your hands, it will be in an incubator for a long time."

To be truthful, Brother-in-Law Dr Alan, Ken, his sister, and the parents-in-law made me rest in Mallaig as I actually wasn't able to walk very far before I started to feel so uncomfortable that I couldn't go any further, and I did most of the painting for the conservatory sitting down and Ken did the standing up bits, and I didn't walk the dog very far at all when we came back from hols, and I have tried to be careful. But it still wasn't enough.

So the tiling didn't get done. Or the vacuuming. Or the cooking. Angus had a busy social life with friends and Mum and loved it. Friends from Church came over with evening meals so that Ken didn't have to do that as well when he came home from work (Thank you!) and I sat in bed.

What could I do? We still don't have a t.v. so daytime programmes were out. The old pc is plugged in down stairs and not really portable and there is only so much reading I can do in a day and I don't have a suitable table to take upstairs to scrapbook on (boohoo hoo)

Solution - play with new electronic toys! Ken's parents and Jo had decided that I needed a new laptop. Do some research, phone around, get one ordered, and have a friend collect it the next day. Then upload all the 6900 photos from the pc and spend 8 hours ordering, deleting, sorting, orientating, red-eye-removing, and generally being obsessive. Our photo folder is now 2gb and 2500 photos smaller than before! And I can find the pictures I want!

Then plug in the other wonderful toy I was given for my birthday. I am now the proud owner of an Ipod Touch. Sadly Jo and Alan were given one with their new Apple Laptop and I agreed to take it off their hands to avoid the politics of which one of their sons would have it. Very sacrificial of me I thought!!!! What a great way to spend several days. And all very restful.

Contraction type things have calmed down, photos sorted, I have come back down stairs again and Ken managed to keep the kitchen in a reasonable state of order. He even did some spontaneous vacuuming. Well done. Big bonus points earned.

Lets not do it again too soon though, heh? Stay calm. Sit down when needed. Most things aren't important and can wait. Only 6 more weeks to go and then all will be well.