im awful at coming up with titles...

While i could write non-stop bout things happening in australia today.. i thought.. maybe.. perhaps.. then i thought maybe i should write about what i've been up too... so i'll give it a shot ;)

Weve all had at least 2 rounds of the cold virus...

Hubby has been loosing weight, cutting back too much smaller portioned meals. I never knew a mans belt (as they gain weight) could hold such a time-line "i was here when we moved to melbourne, here when Alyssa was born" etc. Im happy for him, makes cuddling easier when its just 1 big belly in the way!

Tia has lost 1 front tooth and now the 2nd front middle tooth is loose.. so in 3-4 days she will be lookin' a bit weird with no front top middle teeth! She bought home a bean plant from school, its now in the garden! Wonder what kind of bean plant it is exactly...

Alyssa is up and walking (or "toddling" as we call it) She figured out how to open cupboard doors today! (argh!) She loves cups and tries to drink from them (doesn't matter if they are empty) She chases the cats (at baby speed) and squeals! (meanwhile the cats look scared) She finds them when the curl up in the sun on the floor and mwhahhaha goes in for the attack! She has waved once and is learning & saying "ta" (baby for "please can i have it?" and "thank you!")

My pregnancy is going well. The baby is still pretty active. almost 8 weeks to go. Have my 1st hospital/midwife appointment this month. LOL! Yes i finally rang them up.. TMI- i have 'roids from hell (should be a title of a horror movie!!)
My feet get fat and puffy quickly. My right foot I've hurt, so when i step a certain way or something i get instant pain and then hobble for a hour or two... but usually its fine. My feet will love the relief when this bub gets out! I seem to wake in the middle of the night, needing liquid to drink & needing to pee.

Ive been having alot of Branxton Hicks. I find it hard to believe that some study could come out and say that Sex does not trigger labor... As i get fake labor pains (branxton Hicks) after being intimate... not to mention it triggered off the other 2 births! (i have a laugh when i remember scenes from movies where they with the BH/fake labour pains. think its the real thing, pack up and go to the hospital to end up coming home!) I like how the baby is where it is, i dont need extra effort to feed it, no dirty nappies and it doesnt cry.. it just disturbs my sleep! :) But i am looking forward 2 getting my body and bladder back to myself, the 'roids to go, my feet to not get so puffy, fit into normal clothes, not waddle and loose the reflux & heartburn bleh!! :)

so thats bout it from me... i havent done anything interesting! Not even reading (listening to the kids read their books) at tia's class, as Alyssa has the cold.. and a 11month old can't cover her mouth when she coughs. (not to mention alot of the girls can't keep their hands off her, not kiss her cheeks etc..)

Alyssa will be 1 soon!!! (still blue eyes!)and um we still plan on having Tia's birthday party... even tho that was back in may??!! :)

Stay Swine flu safe ;)

oh and thank you 2 maria for the award!! I w

Progressing along...

Im now 28weeks pregnant. I need to get a wriggle-on with some things that NEED doing.
They are:
1) book in with the hospital midwives. Answers questions when i feel like they are just thinking "ok why did she leave it this late? whats wrong with her?" When in simple truth.. i feel fine re pregnancy! Everything is progressing well, im getting a big belly.. lots of kicks.. reflux, veins... and stuff thats TMI ;)

2) Looking at a double pram. Alyssa will be 13months old. She will be walking by then.. but have u ever walked at baby speed for anything longer than a few minutes? lol..

3) Figuring out Alyssa & Baby sleeping arrangements. Will Alyssa still be in our room + the newborn? How will Tia's room be changed to possibly even fit Alyssa's cot in there?!

4) Move or not to move... gah x.x i think this is up in the air, much like the sleeping and living of all the girls. If we find a place big enough & still be a fair price then i guess we would move. It would have to be somewhere between the shops and Tia's school. (not that i'd feel particularly safe living in those streets. I know alot of people in government housing or 1-2bd flats are NOT crims but our first place down here REALLY has me scarred!)

5)catch up with all the mail & stuff.. ive got prez, bills and cards that i need to send off. The post office moved & I'm silently protesting! x.x

Alyssa is slowly undoing the filing.. and eating it apparently. Better sign off here then! Hope everyone is having a great week and getting stuff done!

Updates

Lets start with the obvious.. no baby! ;) Due date is on tuesday (2 days to go!!), next appointment with the hospital is not till the 22nd of july, same day (but at night) as the information night for the primary school i want Tia to go too..

I think the baby is training for the olympics!??!! As it sure hasnt stopped kicking me or seem to have 'run out of room' at all..

Been getting alot of cramps, pains... same result as the past 2 sundays, just add saturday and this sunday and thru the week ive had days of pain... no show, no baby. Ive worked out that i will know its the 'real thing' when im in pain, puking and with the show.. until then we will just all be kept waiting!

*fingers crossed NOT A 1AM-6AM surprise*

Tia cannot wait to see her grandmas again! We hear all about how grandma will be visiting and come to see her :D

Nori has been farting really bad lately!!

the midwife booking appointment

Monday i had the midwife booking appointment. The appointment where they figure youre to lazy to read the pamphlets they give you to read while you wait in the waiting room to see the midwife... the appointment that you go to where they also point out and circle in pen the phone numbers you need in call, in case something happens, in case your in labour, in case you have a question...
the appointment where they ask you 40 questions, that no doubt get asked at every appointment..
It went well, she said something bout being a bit late.. i shrugged it off saying something bout can never be to late to which she said something bout those who never see midwives and come in and deliver bubs in a tsk tsk naughty mothers tone.
I took in my birth plan, i winced at how many bits of bold text i had used, perhaps i should have done the same and circled the 'assuming all goes well', 'id like the option too'.. as the midwife hmm-ed thru it.. and then said id have to sign a consent form about not getting the synotocin jab to deliver the placenta *groans* i didnt want to do that, i wanted the option to decline it if all is well and to have it if it wasnt going all well..
The next point was that with a IV the tube bit that goes in, i would be better mobile if it was in my hand.. as opposed to it being in my arm.. which i had heard makes you more able to walk around etc.. ive never had a IV drip, so i have no clue.. if they put one in me and tell me i wont be able to walk i'll be very tempted to take it out and walk.. (during labour)
the next point she bought up was "hmm they wont be too happy about that" oh? "during a emergency cesear at frankston hospital. they dont want the hubby/partner in the same room, its too traumatic", Hubby who was there said that he had seen worse.. Which had me thinking.. whats more traumatic being right next to me, holding my hand (whether im awake or not) or more traumatic watching behind glass.. i mean come on.. and what bout me? if im awake, all by myself with alien looking doctors how traumatic is that going to be to me!??!! "they" dont have to like it, they just have to make it happen the way i want it! :D

So i went home, took out some lines, changed others, reduced the amount of words in bold..
Birth Preferences
(using a template from www.bellybelly.com.au)

We’re hoping for a natural childbirth without unnecessary interventions or the use of drugs. We appreciate your support with our birth preferences.This plan represents our preferences; however we recognise that in the event of unforeseen difficulties it may need to be re-negotiated. Please discuss all options with us.
We would like the birth experience to be respectful and private as we know this is conductive to a successful birth, with minimal interruptions, quiet voices and dimmed lighting.

ACTIVE BIRTH

§ I’d like the freedom to choose positions and walk around in labour as desired.

§ I’m happy to have intermittent external fetal monitoring unless continuous monitoring is medically necessary.

§ Please don’t offer drugs; I am aware of the options for pain relief and will ask for it if needed.

§ As long the baby and I are fine, I would prefer to be free of time limits and not have my labour augmented.

§ I would like to deliver in any position that feels right to me at the time, including on the floor. I wish to avoid being on the bed in a back-lying position.

§ I’d only like an episiotomy if there is a genuine medical emergency. Please allow time for the perineum to stretch naturally. I prefer a small tear to an episiotomy.

BIRTH AND SOON AFTER

Presuming baby and I are well, we’d like:

§ The option for my Husband or myself to ‘catch’ our baby

§ To discover the sex of the baby ourselves.

§ The option for my husband to cut the cord

§ To hold our baby immediately after the birth. (We'll cover the baby with our own blanket that we'll bring from home.)

§ For all newborn procedures (weighing and measuring) to wait until I have had time to bond with and breastfeed our baby at least an hour

§ Assuming blood loss is acceptable. I’d like the option to have or not have the routine Syntocinon injection to help deliver the placenta & in the event of declining the Syntocinon, no controlled cord traction. Please let me have half an hour to a hour to deliver the placenta naturally if I decline.

· To wait until the umbilical cord stops pulsating before clamping (or at least 3-5mins), to allow my baby to receive the valuable blood and iron stores.

§ For baby to be given only breast milk – no water or formula.

§ That the baby has Vit k and Hep B shots shortly after bonding time.

§ I would like my husband to stay with me for as long as possible so that the baby has time to bond with him

INDUCTION / AUGMENTATION

If baby and I are well, I would like my baby to decide his/her own due date. Should labour induction become necessary at any time, I'd like to start with the least artificial means first - i.e. nipple stimulation, massage or a stretch and sweep before a medical induction. I would like time to allow the natural inductions work.

If this is unsuccessful and a medical induction or augmentation becomes medically necessary I’d like:

§ To only have my waters to be broken at first instance if my cervix is open. I would like to be given a generous amount of time for labour to establish upon rupture of membranes before other forms of medical induction / augmentation. I would like to go home if all is well, until labour is established.

§ If I require Syntocinon, I would like a very low dose, to be increased gradually and slowly. Once my labour is established I would like the option to choose to stop the dose being increased, lower the dose or stop the drip to allow my body to continue to labour without artificial oxytocin.

CAESAREAN

If a caesarean becomes medically necessary I’d like:

§ For my Husband to be given the option to be with me regardless. I believe he can make his own decision on if it would be traumatic for him to be there or more traumatic being out of the room watching.

§ For discussion to be respectful and minimal - only what is required medically and to inform me of what is happening

§ For the screen lowered so we can witness the birth of our baby

§ Unless prevented by medical emergency, I would like my baby to be placed on my chest while you complete the procedure

§ To be sure that a double layer suture is used and not a single layer in order to improve my chances for a future VBAC

§ For the cord to stop pulsating before clamping for reasons mentioned

§ I would like only my husband to hold our baby until I am fit and able.

Still here

Still waiting for bub to arrive.
*sigh* got crampy feelings down there, but doubt anything will happen today... bub is still so very active, kicking, moving.. my first appt with the midwives tomorrow (that is if they havent screwed me over again) Not much longer to go now! :)

i have been getting some more decent sleep, partially due to my cold getting better.. i still have it but loose my voice less often now. Better sleep being yes i first wake at 1-3am and then every hour or two after that.. but im falling asleep faster after waking that im not minding it too much.

Hubby made brekky this morning, scrambled eggs with fried up bacon and onion on muffins (had no bread) He was going to make a omelet, but im not a omelet person....

Tia has been playing in a big box for the past 2hrs, sounds as if she was tearing it apart from the inside and having lots of fun. LOL! (fine if she cleans up afterwards)

Friday i packed all the bags ready for hospital.. and realised i had no newborn socks (the new bonds wonder suits dont come with feet..) that i had 1 bib and 1 girly hat. So i found 4 pairs of white socks, 3 white bibs, 1 white hat and a marked down cute pooh bear singlet at target yesterday.

I also now have to unpack my hospital bag, as the plan is to stay overnight (if all is well) and come home asap.. (so i dont need 7 t-shirts now, lol.. etc etc) which i dont mind, altho i did keep hearing about how lovely the rooms were.. but knowing my luck id probably end up in some shared crappy room!

hope everyone is getting over colds or not getting sick! :)

Sick and pains

Just 16 more days to go... if the bub doesnt come early or late..
Ugh!!!!! Sunday was painful, exciting, yet sooo painful! It has me wondering if the bub will be coming earlier. If pregnancies and birth times could be predictable, following a pattern.. I would say the bub would be arriving next sunday! seeing as thats what happened with Tia, a week before she was born i had the same cramps coming and going that i took a panadol and it stopped. (panadol contains anti-prostagladins) I had the cramps again in a week followed with all the other signs that this time it was for real. (show, vomiting, the runs.. real pretty)

I had those nasty cramps, rotten back pain too.. and oh joy the memories come back.. I was pretty sure it was a 'false labour', all i had was the pain for 4hrs! The timing was all over the place and sure it started out ok then went "OMG this hurts" back to "meh, guess they are going now". It was somewhat of a 'training exercise', thinking how do i deal with this pain again? DH was busy working in another room... when i told him just before lunch, he was sooo excited! and asked how i knew it wasnt the real thing! LOL! I was told not to have the baby while he went and got some take-out for lunch... pfft!!!! and surprise! Still no baby when he came back!

Ive been gradually getting Tia's nasty sore throat, runny nose cold. Which she seems to get the most, i suppose i should be happy she doesnt get the barking cough ones. My lymph nodes are so swollen!! My throat is so sore and i feel like crap.

Sleeping these past couple of days has been AWFUL!!!! I wake up every hour, sometimes twice in the same hour after 1am until i get sick of it and get up at 7am or i finally get some sleep and get woken by DH alarm. Ive had that many dreams in a night, its crazy!!!
last night i dreamt;
1) i snuck in to some government intelligence building (to do with aliens) with friends and yet we were unsuccessful in escaping (i had the earth credit card that was on dr who last night. Voyage of the damned episode, with kylie minogue and Clive Swift (better known as Mr Richard bucket, from keeping up appearances).
2) i was chasing my pet monkey around a large mcdonalds in the girls toilets area. My mum was working there?! (i had a pet monkey?! what the?!)
3) i was taging along with a friend who won a prize of a makeover on a tv show, where they bought her a bunch of flowers that had some sort of electrical appliance in there too like a vaccuum cleaner?!4) i was at a huge kids play area (you know one of those ones in a building/wharehouse where u pay for your kids to play in) only it was massive and you wore these soft safety suits that if u hurt yourself and the impact lasted 3secs a saftey team would come out and see if your ok. They had random simpson characters (workers in costume) that would come out at random times and it was a stacks on, sort of thing.. i later discovered that the parents were being turned into hay. somehow???
5) i was on a mini-bus going somewhere with a group of people who sang annoying camp/bus songs.
and thats the ones i can remember..

Big Mummy tummy 37weeks pregnant

Updates....

Ok first off Nori is mellowing... as opposed to a extremely stressed *in heat* teenager (who eats kitten food) there is peace in the house... she showed signs of going back to normal on sunday(as in she could walk without her tail kinked to the side and quiet) Then she had a day of full on, I NEED CUDDLES! I WILL NOT LET U PUT ME DOWN, GIVE ME LOOOOVEEEEEE!!!!
*just great when im trying to get her not to jump up me, or up on me(the difference is in the claws) as with the bub coming, i cant have her jumping up on me if im holding or feeding the baby*

Onto the baby stuff.... The cot and change table from toys r us got delivered on monday at 9am! wow! It cost $20 per item for delivery, the delivery guy drove a ute?! Not only that but he carried a 31kg (says on the box) box that was the cot by himself! Not only that but he was 50+years old easy! WOW!! Finally done what ive wanted to do for ages now!!! Wash the baby clothes, blankets and sheets! Just 4 weeks to go (if it decides on appearing on the 'due date')
Only now ive realised the baby doesnt have its own furniture for clothes.. so they will have to stay in a basket somewhere out of the reach of Nori and Tia!!!

Onto Tia stuff, well..... she is loving it when i read her a book... i watched a bit of the new *hit* with the kids since teletubbies was taken over by boo-bah which is now replaced with 'in the night garden' the character names are as usual over the top, names that can only be repeated by kids.. altho the girl is called upsy daisy.. Tia also discovered where the band-aids were in the bathroom and quietly played with them, sticking them on toys and more recently today she put one on her forehead and one across her nose... a new fashion trend perhaps? err...

Ive been out in the garden attacking some weeds, especially the ones flowering! eep!!! So dont need any more weeds! I cleaned the place up alot today! Considering i attempted to put the change table together by myself and that just didnt work.. the change table came with packaging stuff including thin sheets of polystrene to which Tia turned into 'snow' in the lounge room.. Ive found the overnight bags and started to put together my bags for the hospital. I found my last stay in public hospital with the food interesting. The food was mostly good, i remember missing out on breakfast one morning as Tia bub and I had been up mostly thru the early morning.. that sucked! (it was delivered and not eaten by the time they came back) This time im taking along chuppa chups and museli bars for those times i feel like im starving!!! Not that im planning on staying for very long. When i say very long to people they say, 'yeah 3 days is good'... LMAO. To me 3 days is a very long time!!!

Chilli burn

i bought a bag of bell shaped chillis (dont know which kinda they were, but i do know that the bell shaped round ones are just as hot if not hotter than their skinny looking cousins) at woolies for $1, reduced. By the time i got around to opening the bag up and thinking about cutting them up to freeze.. they were a bit moudly up top near the stem so i decided that fo $1 it was still a bargain for.. what for it.... chilli seeds! (can u see my problem now?)
All along i was thinking, just wait till i tell the world i de-seeded 14 chillis and that i wont be able to pick my nose for a week!!!! ROFL... oh yeah funny... real funny (ok pretty lame)
and why would that be do u think?
was half my brain trying to tell myself, STOP RIGHT NOW!!!!??
anyways, i got the zillions of chilli seeds, scraping them off...
i washed my hands and didnt think more of it.. just 14 chillis, after all...
i put dinner on and within a hour my fingers were starting to prickle, feel really hot and it was pain!! I washed my hands with dish washing concentrate detergent, relief... then pain. I looked up chili burn on google and found this blog post on chili burn
it was somewhat amusing to read all the additions, other remedies.. etc..

So the testing began.. i bathed/soaked my hands in lemon juice which was fine until it got warm and my fingertips burned again.
I tried rubbing my hands with table salt, the exfoliation was great, the rubbing i daresay distracted me from the pain i was getting from the burn for awhile.. and rinsing off in cold water.. ahhhh.
I tried a first aid cream the one with added pain relief stuff.. but it did crap all.
I tried soaking my hands in vegetable oil but that did diddly squat and then hubby tells me the difference between fats and oil.. oh well, no doubt after the salt the oil would be nice for the skin..
i tried soaking my hands in vinegar at dinner time, that was interesting juggling soaking time with eating time. Relief with the vinegar until it warmed (seeing a pattern here?)
I then held the bag of frozen peas and corn in my hands which was heavenly until i couldnt figure what was better, sore hands from extreme cold or sore hands/fingers from chili burn.
I repeated the salt rubbing.

This has me big preggy woman up and down all afternoon, getting pretty tired of it all.. then i soaked my hands in chardonnay.... and then gave up... it had been 3hrs of on/off pain due to 14 chillis... the best thing that worked had been cold. anything cold.. never mind the dissolve acid in fat, remove acid with alcohol, remove acid with exfoliation, go acid for acid or try to neutralize the acid...

I gave up, hubby said it shouldnt have gone on for so long in the first place.. something about it burning itself out... said it could be all in my head... PFFT!!!!! So with the pain now much less intense i let it burn, didnt do anything to stop it.. my fingers felt sooo hot, a few places were bright red on my fingers.. and after about a hour. It just stopped!

My hands today show no signs of what happened...

Night sweats?!

The third chapter.. the third trimester.. the last leg in the race..
and im not sleeping that well.. For example. I noticed i was awake at 1am, 2am, 3am, 6am(thanks to tia getting up) and 7am (alarm goes off)
Im awake due to one or a few: Have to turn over, hot, need2pee...
I have been kicking the blankets off yet in the house during the night its like 10-14degrees cel... not warm, not hot.. (note we were 1 blanket less than usual last night and i still woke up with sweat?!!)

the weird thing is that its only in this one spot up high on my chest.. which has me thinking maybe im just leaking thru the night? but leaking alot! Oh the joys of breastfeeding! *sarcasm* its all coming back to me.. the weird feelings.. the pressure that builds up when; the bub is late for a feed or trying to get the bub to sleep thru the night(with no feed obviously) and yet the body takes a few good days to figure it out!

Im not looking forward to tonight.. I hope i sleep thru the night..

*edit* Its just sweat! Horray!!!!!!!!! Last night was pretty cold, all the blankets on the bed with small amount of sweat.. yuk below my neck. woke up once thru the night and then around 5.40am

is there a emergency exit?

(what a clever comic eh!)

Ugh, for awhile now it ive been feeling verrrrry uncomfortable in the preggy belly. Its as if the little one is trying to swim north or west, east.. as if it was looking for a emergency exit or something.. it can get like that.. a extreme tight feeling. I swear i felt like a foot once pushing out in one of thoose extreme stretching feelings...

Ive figured out what the hiccups feel like. When the bub has hiccups this far along at 31 weeks it feels like i have a extra heart beat down near my hips. It has the hiccups alot lately. I can feel the hiccups are quite south and then i get prodded up north of the belly, so im hoping that it is upside down.. ready to go already. im in and out of the looop this time around... trying to remember it all..

In other news;
Tia's lip is all healed up! She really needed the pain relief after it was split, it really did look painful. It got the swelling right down, calmed her somewhat... For some reason they only had 7 ages + kids panadol which the doseage is worked out in weight anyways which suited her and then we halved the doseage still.. and then she only had a few sips of it after that anyways.. she ended up with a bad cold, which has gone back to a snotty nose.. which i prefer over coughing..
She went on a walk with her daddy and he told her they were going to a rocket ship shop (jaycar) she (being space captain tia at the time) was pretty disapointed and asked him where the rocket ships were?! lol..

Nori had some 'playing' time out the back, altho we did loose track of her and then she was found still in our yard.. thank God! She was driving hubby nuts as i was outside prunning all the dead stuff and Nori was constantly crying, wanting to get out! (and a few times she did runners out the door when I, hubby or Tia tried to get outside!) So need to get her a collar.. seeing as she can climb the fence?! She is a killer cat.. that i wish was more fat and lazy... theres still hope that perhaps when she reaches adult age around christmas she will get over alot of stuff.. like tackling playfully the backs of legs, playing with beads on the floor boards at 3am.. I dont like the idea of her going out, not unless she is on a leash??.. keeping her inside away from other cats was a great saving on vaccinations, worming, de-fleaing (to a degree) she gets wormed all the time since im paranoid about worms!!!!! That and our council has rules on cats being inside 24hrs or something like that.. Also unless a tick got really big, it would be hard to see on a black cat... eeewwww ticks.. or is it too cold down in vic for ticks?

Hubby wants to have a bbq in 2 weeks time, inviting everyone from work over.. first off it was going to be held outside. (until i brought up how cold it is outside come 5pm and later!) Then i bought up chairs, tables... stuff we dont have like say... A BBQ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! rofl.. to which he said could all be supplied... but im still anxious, nervous bout the whole thing.. (tho ive been told i dont have to be.. and theres no reason) oh and the entertainment for the night is ddr????!!!! yes, im afraid every function we have had, video games is the entertainment.. one time it was the playstation eyetoy, which went well.. everyone had a laugh at everyone standing up and looking silly. For some reason im just worried about the house tour.. the general emptiness of the house.. the lack of decorating, furniture etc... which i will have to get over b4 i drive myself nuts!!!!!

theres no one living on either side of us at the moment. The one on the otherside of a bit of green park comes with a homeless man.. who sleeps under the pine trees on the back fence, with all his rubbish, wine bottles etc.. the otherside is a pretty nice place, bit more expensive than here, a extra room.. So its been extra quiet lately!!!

im still around-ish

We have moved into our new place. Had 2? freezing nights without electricity but did have hot water (gas). But now we have all settled in, the central heating is lovely!! (but at what price?) We had the fire going on those cold nights, which was lovely.. it was soft wood, so it did have to be constantly fed and wasnt great for lasting heat.. or heating much more than a metre from the fireplace. We had chinese takeaway for dinner those nights, it was great!!!
Glow sticks and candles were awesome in lighting the place up.
Our new place is big, lovely and comfy!

Been very busy running around getting forms, informing places of our new address. Took awhile to clean up the old place. Lots to do here (as nesting instinct is going crazy!) Have a great back and front yard, with the only grass being out on the nature strip! (great since we dont have a mower) I can feel happy watching gardening programs again, and get my pruning fix (when we get the tools) The kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms are great.. my laundry has purple walls and the toilet near it has bright orange walls.. the other walls in the house are ordinary house green, yellow, pink and white.

Tia is settling in. She loves all the mirrors, she loves the deep bath, she loves her pink walls in her bedroom, she loves that she can play outside!!!!!! She has had a few accidents, but that should go once she settles in and figures out where the toilet is each time.. and all that.

Nori is settling in. She has escaped outside a few times. (her bed and litter are in the laundry which is near the back door) she even escaped before we went out shopping on saturday and i didnt realise she was missing for about a 1 or 2 once we got home. so she spent 3-5hours out the backyard (under the deck no doubt) she came when i called her and ran inside (afraid she would get into trouble? or afraid of being outside?) And since that time, Nori has been wanting to go out again.. and protesting, crying so loudly for that to happen! to the point we started to think at 5-6months she might be in heat... It wont be happening, not as long as i can help it (the escaping outside bit.) Last night she spent the night in the laundry, cut off from the rest of the house, which is the first time here. She usually roams all the house (minus our room, in prep for the baby arrival) at night. But hubby didnt want nori waking Tia up last night..

Last night was pretty alright.. up until i was thinking of sending tia to bed. When i noticed she had her new bed socks on and she danced for a second on the wooden floorbeds and fell flat on her face! And started to cry. the fall looked heaps bad, both hubby and i were up in a instant. Hubby carried her to her room and sat her on the bed. I was terrified she had 1) smashed teeth 2)put her teeth thru her lip 3) broken her nose.

There was alot of blood in her mouth, she was crying. I then noticed a cut in her lip. When i stopped that cut bleeding, i saw that her teeth were all ok. Her lip however was swelling up. Hubby ran off to get some kids panadol from the shops. She was shaking, in a bit of a shock, tired and in pain. I rugged her up in her blankets. Her nose was bleeding a little bit, i wasnt sure if the nose had got a knocking or if the blood from her mouth had gone up into and out of her nose. (anything is possible when a kid is crying!) Tia fell asleep a few times, settled well and we waited for the panadol to arrive. The cut is on her bottom lip. It looked deep, but with the swelling now the envy of actors and those paying for botox injections it was hard to tell. Tia i noticed would look at the tissues i was using to clean her up/stop the bleeding and getting upset at that. So i made a effort to show her when it had really stopped bleeding (nose and lip) and kept the other tissues out of sight.
She had some childrens panadol and fell asleep as soon as i turned out the light. She woke up a few times thru the night. Hubby stayed up till 3-4am.

This morning, the swelling on her lip had gone down and its healing up nicely. And now there is swelling at the top of the bridge on her nose, with a faint pink mark. Im wondering if its bruised. Wont be able to tell if its broken or not 100% till the swelling goes down.. (and not worth taking her to the doctor till then) I can't say i noticed her nose swollen last night? or this pink line.. surely a broken nose would swell up instantly just like her lip did?

i'd think that 1) she would be in alot of pain with a broken nose? 2)i've seen more mysterious nose bleeds, bleed more than her nose did last night.

Oh and tia turned 5 on mothers day. She got a few nice presents (mainly lollies and clothes) money is a bit tight.. so her bike and helmet will have to wait for a bit.. just like any big present for mothers day for me. (i got bedsocks ^^ )

Still waiting for broadband. Decided to go with TPG. Never heard of them before.. but apparently our new speed will be 3 times as fast as our previous broadband connection. It was a offpeak and onpeak download limit (but both beyond our usual limits we would reach) But until that gets switched on we are on dial-up.. rofl. Im looking forward to this new speed!!! And wont complain about dial-up... just that they charge by the hour.. ugh x.x so stone age!

Hope everyone had a great weekend and all the mums had a great mothers day!

27 weeks..

i had no idea of how many stripes i had.. isn't it a lovely picture, pasty white skin & what can happen to ur skin via pregnancies. After having tia those stripes turned into unlovely (shrinked) bits of crinkly wrinkly skin.. heaps weird. now they have stretched all the way out again.. so none of these stripes are new. New stripes come up as bright red on my pasty white belly...
I now have to wake up thru the night to roll over! And can't sleep on my back, as im not meant too and it feels uncomfortable anyways.. 13 weeks to go..

Im also starting to feel a bit unbalanced.. which will get worse as the weeks go on. I can still put on my socks and shoes.. however that wont be for long.. the bright side is, not much longer to go.. oh and ive been shopping. ^^ More wraps, blankets, towels, suits.

Also noticed that, Tia's birthday falls on mothers day this year! So that will be interesting being just like the day she was born without all the pain etc.. sharing the same day again!

p.s do u think schools could use my belly picture in sex education. "Now if u get pregnant.. and your genetically unlucky, your belly will look like this!!!!!!"

Cravings

This week ive had cravings for apple pie (mainly the pastry)
and last night i had a craving for a passionfruit flavoured soft drink, a sip of fanta and pineapple lollies. James was just happy it wasnt like last time, wanting a sausage mcmuffin at 9pm at night. ROFL that time might come again..

Baby Names For A Baby Boy

Cartoon from here

The Sex of our bub is still NOT confirmed. 50/50 chance yeah?! ROFL! I liked the cartoon tho!

Im just going with what the main majority of people are thinking it is including hubby & the old poll.

Heres the one ive liked for a few weeks:

Atlas \a-tlas, at-las\ is of Greek origin, and its meaning is "to carry". Atlas was a mythical Titan who bore the weight of the world on his shoulders, so the name bears connotations of great strength.
*I am ignoring the fact of the name used in the game Bioshock*

and a few days:

Magnus \mag-nus\ is pronounced MAG-ness. It is of Latin origin, and its meaning is "great". A royal name in Norway and Denmark; also a saint's name. The name was introduced from Scandinavia to Scotland.

Hubby insisting on:

Leo \leo\ is pronounced LEE-oh. It is of Latin origin, and its meaning is "lion".

Leonard \le(o)-na-rd\ is pronounced LEN-ard. It is of Old German origin, and its meaning is "lion strength".

Interesting and may grow on me (from video games):
Auron \a(u)-ron\ is a variant of Aaron. Aaron is of Hebrew origin, and its meaning is "mountain of strength" (i like it pronounced OR-ren.)

Altair \a-ltair, al-tair\ is pronounced al-TARE. It is of Arabic origin, and its meaning is "bird". Also possibly of Latin origin. The name of the brighteststar in the constellation Aquila.

Vincent \v(i)-nce-nt, vin-cent is pronounced VIN-sent. It is of Latin origin, and its meaning is "prevailing". From Vincentius. The name ultimately derives from the Latin verb "vincere", meaning "to conquer".

Cid \cid\ is of Spanish and Arabic origin, and its meaning is "lord". El Cid was a heroic Spanish knight of the 11th century whose story is told in numerous medieval epics.

Cloud

(he would be the guy u first see in the clip)
well i searched, clouds name meaning.. ROFL.. and didnt get far as u can imagine. All i found was that the japanese name Jun means cloud. I still have not finished Final Fantasy VII released in 1997 and im praying my old ps1 save thats 7yrs old hasnt been corrupted in that time.. (im not far off finshing it ) Amazing how a few more pixels can make someone much more sexier.. altho with the storyline of the game it didnt need to be amazing. I have heard that it is being re-done?!

Link is a short form of Lincoln which means Lake colony. Link is the hero from All the Zelda games 1st released in 1987. Recent titles are Zelda, The legend of Zelda: the twilight princess on the wii and Zelda: The phantom hourglass on DS. (which hubby plays)

....
Combos i like are: Leo Magnus Atlas. Atlas leonard Cloud, leonard auron vincent. leo Atlas link

Tia our girl was going to be named Theophania Isabella Anstacia by her crazy parents... however many people were concerned that it might take her much longer to be able to write her name, lol.. I had a email pen-pal in finland when i was in my teens her name was Tia, and i remember how much i luved her name.. thinking it was exotic.... ROFL! So it was decided almost 5 years ago now (come may) that we named her Tia Theophania ;)
With the above combos i doubt we would call our possible son LAM, ALC, LAL or LAV.. lol

WTH & attacked by a bird

Ugh! yesterday was a ugly ugly day!!!!!!!!!!
The pet shop did not call us. We expressed our interest in a kitten, were told we could not even put a deposit it on the kitten until the vet saw it on tuesday. But our name and number were recorded into the shops daily journal to call us straight after the vet had come/gone.. THAT THE KITTEN WOULD BE OFFERED TO US FIRST.
However i went out on wednesday to see a sign saying our kitten had been sold. I thought perhaps it was gone, somehow... or perhaps it was coz our name was down for it.. never recieved that call for the kitten.. not even for the others. that's right they had all been sold come thursday! Hubby argued with the pet shop staff that night. I was coping that ok my kitten has gone, but theres still the other 2.. but then being told
THEY HAD ALL BEEN SOLD. I burst into tears. (which the pet shop lady was pretty upset about.. upsetting a pregnant woman.. pfft)
So friday morning when the manager was in, hubby called to speak with the manager. Legally the kittens have gone we were told, but they are offering us a discount on any other kittens, with a few new ones added today. Quite rightly i think the staff are in for A TON OF CRAP from the manager. Our kitten was sold right after the vet left, right from under us.. with the staff person not following their policy... and with the rest of them not following the policy.

SO PISSED OFF!!!!!!!!!!! and so is Hubby...

but anyways *i'm at the point were i just dont want to think about it anymore, i just feel so sick*

However, i still do want a kitten!!!!

on the way to the shops, walking..(earlier to kitten incident) i was attacked by a bird. walking under a tree, when i heard a bird noise in my ear and felt something touch the top of my head. I wont be walking under that tree again.. i dont know what kind of bird it was.. i think seagulls could possibly be nesting right now, i've noticed alot more of them more inland than usual.. it happens about this time each year. I remember hearing alot of gun shots when we first moved into the area, and i thought.. gosh this really is a B-A-D suburb.. but after a few shots and listening.. it was used to scare huge flocks of seagulls away.. err.... until they returned a few minutes later..
I'm glad it didnt draw any blood... when i was a kid. I was attacked/swooped on by a magpie and it scratched my forehead. i remember running home shit scared with blood dripping onto my school uniform, and being driven to school the same way.. looking out for *that* magpie. I was late to class, with something for show and tell!!!! For the rest of the week i was driven to school perhaps, and a lady who lived on that street would walk me past that area waving a newspaper in the air.

i cant sleep

picture courtesy of baby-gaga.com Im up to week 19 *linkie*

im off instant coffee, i have been for ages now.. and im proud of that and saddened too. I love my coffee!!! However i havent ruled out the occasional iced coffee. But today, doing the groceries i decided to bring home a 2lt bottle of iced coffee flav milk. And i've had hmm 3-4 cups.
Today has been a busy day had about 2hrs in the afternoon to sit around till i had to make dinner and all that. Alot of walking, in the blissfull cool rainy weather.. not that my feet agree, no my feet want new shoes ;) i agree with my feet, however i did agree more with my bump! My bump requested i get more tshirts to wear as err being lazy, busy and i guess both.. i will wear my normal clothes around home that bug me as they dont fit my bump, the maternity tops i wear when i go out.. and well not wanting to pay at the laundrymat to get 2 t-shirts washed 3 times a week they get well..

stinky.

ew.

there i said it. not grubby, no stains.. just that sweat smell, various perfumes smells and not so nice smells... so yes i now have 5 tops to fit my bump. 1 is a winter-ish one with long sleeves the others short sleeves/t-shirts. That will help ease my uncomfortableness and laziness..

where was i?

ah yes. coffee and awake.. even after a tiring day, no naps, no lay downs, past my bedtime its 12:33am. Late. Late for someone who counts down the minutes some nights bored waiting for the magical 10pm! (going to sleep earlier is a problem) Ive got a constant weird frequency buzzing in my head, i cant stop thinking, and for some weird reason its like theres a loop as if a ghost was in our house typing away on the computer, but i dont believe in ghosts so i instantly think someone has snuck in and hid themselves in a cupboard somehow just so when we go to bed they can use our computer. WTF?! crazy huh! And ive got to pee again, why? i have a sore throat (coming down with a slight cold Tia had for a day or two, mainly runny nose but most colds start with a sore throat ive found) so im drinking alot water to ease it...

for a few seconds anyways.

and my lip has got that windburn, dry, split in the middle.. i get that sometimes. However lipgloss makes it pretty bearable until i smile.. x.x

Oh and im not finished!

Im trying to get to sleep, hubby has already fallen asleep he must have been really tired. He is so cute, talking dungeons and dragons (the pen n paper, role playing game) in his sleep. Which is great, much more interesting than if he talked about work. Its a nice change. Very cute. and guess who wakes up and decides to kick me, roll around and get into tight places or like give my belly button a hug? The baby as usual knows im trying to go to sleep (everything is all of a sudden very very quiet) and decides its time to play! >< One other thing annoying me and keeping me up is the xbox 360. Its on, its loud.. sure its not a bother during the day like most noises. But when everything is quiet... its LOUD! You know how some laptops can have that constant whir noise, the fan going and all.. well the xbox 360 has a few fans i think and one happens to be a big fan. i think.. its still on coz hubby is downloading games, trials, add ons to games we already have and stuff.. over a gig or so.

So i guess im waiting until i have to fight to stay awake until i go to bed. theres no point in staying in bed getting frustrated it will only take longer to get to sleep.

On the note of pregnant people getting advice from total strangers. When Tia and I were at the beach on monday, a old lady, english the obvious 2nd language. Told me that being out in the sun for a long time was not very good for pregnancy "Not long time for you here, yes". *rolls eyes* my instant thought was, WTH.. and then agreed that i was over being out in the sun, over the fact that sun exposure will bring out the zillions of freckles on my face that kindly disappear in the winter. or i just fail to see them unless they get really dark.

Pregnancy has been good, i mean.. at our shopping mall/centre currently is a group selling membership to paint balling! Of all things they ask me as i'm approaching if i'd like to play.. i have that uncontrolled reaction to reach for my bump. yes he got the idea.. realises that he was pretty stupid. LOL! and comes back with "does your husband play?" ARGH! lol..

Its now 1am, and i can hear what i think is bass (or someone head butting a wall).. meaning the new neighbors are playing music. ARGH! I met the new neighbor recently.
Within a day of them moving in, i wasnt happy. The teenager decided to have a big fight with some male, (brother? lover? friend? who knows) he was so sure she had stolen something.... she was telling him where to go and whatever else i have no idea/dont want to know.. all i know is that when she wouldnt let him in the front door he would go around to the back and to her window which is right next to our kitchen window. The mum recognized me as i was on my way home the other day, introduced herself as my neighbor, said she had a teen who runs away alot.. yadda yadda.. apologized for any disturbance or noise..

hopefully i can go to sleep soon..

The new bub ultrasound

Taken on 14th february 9am. 18th weeks into pregnancy! Didnt find out if it was boy/girl. The position the baby was in didnt make it easy. It also decided to move and do like a somersault, one minute it was there the next the minute it wasn't! It had its hands into tight fists, the womb was jiggled and it was odd to see the baby react to that like woahhh what the ???!!! the result was a good shot of the hand which i dont think i have. We were given a selection of the pictures on cd tomorrow i will get to pick up all the ultrasound pictures on that kind of x-ray film stuff from the doctors.
So either we wait till the end for boy/girl which i dont personally think i can handle! Me be patient? Ive been told by a few people now that such and such was told it was a boy and it was a girl.. yadda yadda.. but they cant possibly get it wrong later on can they? isn't it obvious? don't they re-check? lol
they also did my kidneys for some reason? for the record i have a great blood pressure even with my tummy fat.. it wasnt what the doctor asked for.. thought it was weird.

cant stop itching

argh! i thought when my feet where healing and pealing from extreme sunburn that the itching was bad then. But Lately my stretch marks thanks to pregnancy are itchy, for some reason my thighs are itchy and now my calf/shins are soo darn itchy.

I dont know how often ive forgotten to get that milky calamine lotion stuff usually used on chicken pox. I dont mind looking like ive had a fight with some wet chalk! If it would take the itch away. Yes i get shaving rash often on my legs and usually a trip to the beach will actually make it happen, weird enough. Maybe now ive been biten by mites or something on my legs.

ive got that itch reliever in aerosol can so i might give that a shot.

Excited!

You know you have a list of things to do in your head or maybe written down. And theres always something that you keep putting off, altho you know it needs to be done and you just end up struggling to do and not do it or remembering and then happily forgetting that it needs to be done. It might be weeding the garden, asking to borrow something, the dishes, dusting, clearing out the gutters or checking that email address thats so old its on every spam list and thats all that it gets..
My thing however, isnt any of those. Mine is talking on the phone, to strangers.. but my family and friends would probably add i dont often call them either.

yesterday i called up to book Tia back into childcare for fridays (i'd walk to the office, but then Tia would insist on going to 'little school' even tho its shut and locked up and there would be tears) I am dreading picking her up on friday.. as she wont want to leave! (and yet i on the walk up to the gate, the clinging ones are all waiting around to be taken home asap, awwww.. tia is the one who doesnt want to help pack up the sand pit, no she wants to keep playing and she runs when she sees me! hahaha!!!)

and i also called up the doctor im seeing to make an appointment for this week, which turned out to be for the next day (today) while calling the doctors is pretty darn easy, i've only just today found out how to say my doctors last name properly since ive heard it a few times over the past 2 days!

and i also called in advance to book my 18 week baby ultrasound. Today i had to book it elsewhere as the doctor said he was more confident in these machines and not the place i had booked, fair enough! he should know, as i havent used or been to any of the places i will just trust his judgement. So that means a call to the new ultrasound place and a call to the old ultrasound place to cancel my previous appointment. ugh!!!

Altho its a silly kind of thing to hate doing, it felt good knowing i no longer had to dread doing it.. it was done. All done.

Fast forward to today

Im excited about the 18 week ultrasound. While i think ive felt the baby move, im a tad umm reluctant to say yes it definately was the baby.. ive had kicking feelings ever since i felt them with tia.. its weird.. perhaps thats just digestion? and so thats what i put them mostly down too.. Its still quite little at this stage 15cms long, the size of a pen! Theres still plently of time to get kicked alot.. however it feels quite often that my bladder is turned into a trampoline or punch bag! lol! Oh i got carried away.. So thats the answer the doctor got from me today, my blood pressure is perfect-o and i got poked in a uterus finding way.. i know i still had extra skin from previous pregnancy and the tummy fat but the uterus poking i have never missed.. do they have to do it so hard? However i had no idea it was up that high.. erm coz of the tummy fat i guess. x.x

The date i made for the 18week ultrasound is thursday the 14th of feb... Nothing like doubling down on a reason for hubby to take the morning off work! hahaha! Valentines day!