Erin:
has been helping with the nesting with helping me unpack boxes, mopping the floor, dusting, picking things up for me when I can't bend over to reach them and other various tasks (I don't force her to do this, really! She wants too) She has become very proud of her reading progress, volunteering to read to Nanny today (we had a quick day visit from Nanny and Poppy). Her ability to sleep through anything has won her great envy from me as she happily snoozed through 3 hours of Christopher's teething troubles last night while the rest of the house woke up to deal with it!
Billy:
is in big boy jox! I finally made the plunge last week after putting it off. All those people who told me that girls were MUCH easier than boys to toilet train had obviously not met my children. My experiences with Erin really made me think that changing nappies until they were 4 or 5 HAD to be easier! But Billy has taken to it like a duck to water. He still needs reminding, of course, and accidents do happen, but he uses the toilet for it's intended purpose when sent, has been known to take himself on occasion and often wakes up dry from his afternoon nap. I started him off now hoping that the habits would be well established by the time the new baby arrives and it looks like this may well be the case.
Christopher:
is teething. He has by far the most trouble with this of any of the children. I put him to bed last night without any nurofen and he awoke distressed at 3am. His distress continued on and off until 6am. He gets himself so overwrought that he can't get back to sleep. If he is taken into our bed, he sits on Daddy's head, climbs pillow mountains, parades around the bed, tosses and turns, complains, pats people (sometimes a little too hard, often in sensitive or inappropriate areas!) and generally makes sure everyone knows he is awake and unhappy. If he goes into his own bed, he hollers at the top of his lungs until Jon or I go in to settle him, only to start yelling again as soon as we start drifting off to sleep. Last night he had everyone (except Erin of course!) awake to share his discomfort. He got painkillers at bed time tonight and I am praying madly for an unbroken night - we all need it!
The New Baby:
is now, I am fairly sure, head down laying spine to spine with me. I can tell this because of the feet and hands that keep sticking out the front of my belly! It is so exciting! I can't wait to hold this little one in my arms, in spite of the long 'to do' list that I want to turn into a 'ta da' list before his or her arrival. People so often talk about the work that babies make but I find it hard to imagine a home without one now. As I was sitting down this evening watching my belly undulate with the foetal gymnastics, I remembered holding a newborn. Yes, I remembered the tiredness and the feeling of being spread a little too thin at times, but I also remembered the smell, the little noises, the warm weight against my chest, the complete relaxation radiating from a sleeping baby, the feeling that if I achieve nothing else in life, I have brought this child into the world and what greater legacy could I have? I remembered my other children gathering around the newest arrival with wide eyed awe and their enthrallment with each squeak and movement. I remembered watching the sleeping bundle tucked in the bassinet and seeing within that one, tiny form a million possibilities and unlimited potential. I remembered the pure, unadulterated love and acceptance that I have for each child spilling out of me for the first time as I meet them face to face. Amidst all that, the logistics of laundry, meals, ironing, cleaning etc. seem a whole lot more surmountable and the 'to do' list slides into perspective.
The home:
is getting rearranged. I wouldn't call it "organised" yet, but we are a step or two closer with more and more boxes getting unpacked or moved into a more convenient spot. There are TILES up for the shower now. Not all of them yet, but well over half. My kitchen benches have been organised, even if the cupboards are still an absolute shambles. There are NO boxes on the west side of my kitchen bench and those stacked against the north side are more organised and consolidated. There is a large "to sort" pile by my lounge room chair and I can't actually get to my front door at the moment, but I am getting there, little by little!
The Garden:
is still not being worked on due to a lack of tool access and a need to get stuff done in other arenas, but it continues to grow and bloom without me! The front garden is filled with Iris which takes me back to my wedding day (I had an arm load of Iris as my bouquet), my peony is days from flowering as is a rose out the front and other tiny, self seeded flowers are popping up all over. A walk in the yard is a voyage of discovery. The finches I have been watching in the back yard have been identified as European Goldfinches. I have up to five or six of these pretty little birds hopping about in my backyard at a time.
Exercise:
I have gotten a little slack with 'proper' outdoor exercise and I am feeling it. I think I burned a few calories moving boxes etc this week though because I unpacked the scales and I wasn't QUITE as scared as I expected to be. My goal post pregnancy is to get down to at least 80kg before bub number 5. I need to get some maternity bathers in preparation for summer but the $$ is what is stopping me. Paying over $50 for an outfit that I will wear one season only and then only when I am pregnant during that season makes me cringe!
Jess
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