Update

Another week, another update. This Saturday, Beloved and I both felt the urge to do something DIFFERENT. So rather than go to our usual local church (which we do love by the way) we decided to drive through to the next major town to join in worship there. So we were out the door a little late, but not doing too bad. Then we had no less than THREE stops for "Muuuum, I need to go to the toilet and it's URGENT" and "My tummy feels sick" and "I feel REALLY sick now Mum" so we pulled in to Devonport about in time for the last hymn! We decided to just make it a family worship and stop for Brunch (I forgot to mention, it was pouring with rain) and of course CHRISTMAS SHOPPERS. After driving around looking for a park to no avail for 45 minutes, we drove to the NEXT town (smaller and not so busy) for lunch. Needless to say, by this time I was feeling less than worshipful and more than a little disappointed that Sabbath wasn't going exactly to plan. After lunch we rang a friend who we hadn't seen for over a year and asked if he was up for visitors. He was, which brightened me up no end, and we had a wonderful visit. The kids were thoroughly adored by his two daughters and we found out why the day's events had conspired to take us to see him. He got served divorce papers on the Thursday before. I shan't go into detail at all as it is another person's life, but suffice to say I am glad Beloved and I got a chance to see our friend, who we love so dearly that our youngest son is named after him. I hope we were able to bring him some comfort and encouragement at a very difficult time for him.

Erin:
was THRILLED to spend time with the two girls on Saturday and wanted to travel through to see them again the next day. She is such a social button. This completely baffles me as a "special treat" for me is a few days without having to talk to anyone else. No joke, I used to go a week or more at a time when I was a student having "hermit time" where I didn't seek out ANYONE else's company, just spent the time reading and writing and praying and sorting out my own mental junk. How do I relate to this little girl who positively GLOWS at the thought of going shopping in the Christmas crowds - so many new PEOPLE to meet - when I do most of my shopping online so I don't even have to deal with sales people? The Lord will certainly use this little one to stretch me in new ways.

Billy:
is currently a mass of bruises from various bumps and scrapes. He ISN'T the social button that his sister is. While he loved the idea of having the other kids to play with, the reality of it was that he went completely silly with over-excitement, culminating with running into a desk and giving himself a black eye. He was more than a little obnoxious to the girls actually, just because he was so worked up. He copes much better with the company of adults or very small groups in familiar settings. This, I understand! While he wanted DESPERATELY to have fun with the other kids, I could almost feel the relief in him when I brought him into the kitchen to sit with the adults and have a bit of quiet time.

Christopher:
may be on his way to being symmetrical. After having seven teeth for well over a month, he has decided to have another one to even things out. I didn't even know it was coming until there was a swelling in the gum and a little tooth poking through, definitely our easiest tooth of his so far. It may just be that I put his grumpiness down to the tail end of the cold the boys had. He is flirting with the idea of walking around things now, but still shows little inclination to venture out on his own two feet. Not one to rush things is my Christopher!

The New Bub:
is head down but not engaged yet, my midwife estimating that it will be at least four weeks yet. I had someone mention to me that her youngest was born 4 weeks early. When I got home I looked around and freaked out a little at the thought of some one coming to take care of the kids while the house is so messy! Hoping for at least another four weeks to get things in order! My abdominal muscles are getting a little thinner and I can almost make out the shape of the little foot poking out! I said to Beloved when I was sitting in the car on Saturday "I think I stretched something in my lower abdomen." He nearly drove the car off the road he was laughing so hard, apparently I look pretty stretched all 'round at the moment. Pppffftt!

Home:
ALMOST has a shower, as in we will have a shower next SUNDAY! Happy dance of joy people, happy dance of joy. We had a bit of a white Christmas theme going in the kitchen on Sunday as Beloved had to take out a hole in the kitchen wall so plaster dust went everywhere, but he has been able to connect up all the plumbing and erect the shower screen. All we are waiting for now is the silicone to dry and then we can have a SHOWER! I have been madly catching up with washing and washing baby stuff, unfortunately my folding has not kept pace and the Mount Washmore Ranges extend through three rooms in the house now. Beloved brought in a set of shelves for me to put in the bedroom so we no longer have towels and linen piled in plain view in the living area. The sheer luxury of not having to keep Christopher clear of the bathroom now that we have a bathroom door that works has granted me much freedom!

The garden:
is an overgrown mess. I reworked the routines to allow 15 minutes a day weeding last week but do you think we had even ONE day that stuck to the routine completely? Nope! Every single day my gardening time was sacrificed to one special circumstance or another. Here's hoping for next week!

Exercise:
Yes, exercise bike looks good. I look at it every day. I will get on exercise bike....soon. Just like I will stop eating the ingredients for the Christmas goodie boxes that I am making (dark chocolate, jaffas, white chocolate, like that was going to last in this house! What was I thinking!). I did have a ten minute go on the exercise bike this afternoon and I do feel much better for it, I am planning a little cooking tonight and I needed to make up for it before I started! I have started using moisturiser, eye cream, hand and foot cream and even (gasp) applying make up now that I have made order of the bedroom and my skin is looking a million times better. While I do NOT go in for all the 'girlie' stuff, I did feel that Beloved deserved to have a little more to look at than me in PJs with hair still unbrushed. After all, that Proverbs 31 chickie dressed herself nice for hubby! I knew he noticed the difference when he rubbed his feet on mine in bed and exclaimed "Ooooh, have you been moisturising your feet?" apparently it makes husbands more inclined to rub up against your feet when they don't feel like sandpaper! Who knew!

Jess