Archive for July, 2009

First midwife appointment and scan – 20 weeks


29 Jul

We had our first appointment with the midwife this morning and she seems very nice.  Her name is Bec, and she is the midwife that I have all my appointments with, ring when I go into labour, and she does the home visits after the birth.  If she is away for any reason, her off-sider is Tess whom we met when I was pregnant with Nathan and we really liked her.  So I’m feeling good about this new system of care.

We had the morphology scan for Bugalugs 2 last Friday, and although we were told on the day that everything was fine Bec couldn’t find the report on the computer yet.  I’m always impressed by what can be seen in these scans.  The baby wasn’t quite as active as it had been for the NT scan, but it did a bit of wriggling around and at one stage it was drinking the amniotic fluid and we could see his/her jaw going up and down.  We didn’t find out the sex of the baby, although Andrew thinks he can tell from one of the scan photos.  I, on the other hand, don’t think he really knows what he’s looking at.  😀

All in all everything is going well, and I don’t have another appointment with Bec for 6 weeks, which brings us to early September.

17 Months Old


18 Jul


Another month older!  And yes, I’m running quite late with this update.  Nathan continues to increase his vocabulary and now says animal words like (again, this isn’t the complete list) monkey, turtle, whale, fish, octopus, and he’s now saying ‘hello’ as well as “goodbye” instead of saying “bye bye”.  He says “too dark” when it’s too dark to read books in the morning (I’m sooo not looking forward to it being light at 5 am this coming summer), and his currently most frequently used word is “enough”.  He says ‘no’ a LOT, but he’s also saying “yes’ now instead of signing or nodding his head.  He’s also started saying “potty” and says “rain”, “hot” and “cold”.  His favourite food is cheese (though he still scoffs everything he can get his hands on), and he frequently answers “cheese” when I ask him what he wants to eat, and he will often open the fridge and get out the cheese…or the eggs as he loves them too.  I’ve been telling him to say “please” …sounds like “peeeeese” when he wants something, and he’s also started saying that without prompting, though sometimes he says it without telling me what it is that he wants.

Nathan can make the flat look like a hurricane has been through the place, and will climb anything he possibly can.  If we leave chairs out from the table a little he will climb up them and onto the table, and he is able to reach further and further onto benches and tables and frequently pulls things down.  I have a hard time remembering to move knives and food far enough onto benches that he can’t reach them.  He’s also really getting the hang of shapes and putting different shapes into the right holes in puzzles and shape sorters, and his colour recognition is definitely getting better.  😀

Hurricane Nathan surveying his work

Nathan still loves playing peek-a-boo, hiding things around the flat, kicking his ball around and going to the park (or anywhere outdoors really).  He does a lot more actions when we sing songs now and seems to really get enjoyment out of them, and loves clicking his tongue and doing a horsey-like trotting sort of walk.  He’s also starting to stack blocks on top of each other instead of always just knocking down towers that Andrew or I have built.  🙂

Boo!

40 Years Old


18 Jul

I turned 40 years old last week, and Andrew spoiled me by buying me a simply gorgeous bracelet.  I didn’t think I liked pearls, but the one in the bracelet is a really beautiful one.  In different lights it has tinges of orange and pink.

It’s hard to believe I’m now 40 years old.  I was trying to think of where the last 20 years have gone, thinking that they have just flown by, but on reflection quite a bit has happened in that time.  The most memorable (in a good way):

  • Getting a job in the water industry (aged 20) which I had for 11 years
  • Finishing my microbiology degree (aged 21)
  • Bicycle touring in Queensland (aged 22) and South West WA (aged 31)
  • Participating in three organised 9 day bicycle rides, the first being the Great Vic Bike Ride on the Great Ocean Road
  • Buying a second-hand car and becoming independently mobile
  • Buying a new car for its reliability!
  • Buying a house (aged 29)
  • Training and registering to be in the Anglicare “Friends” programme (I wanted to be a Foster Parent but decided that being a ‘Friend’ was better for me at that time)
  • Moving to Sydney (aged 32)
  • Working in The Netherlands for 6 weeks (aged ~33)
  • Travelling to Europe twice for my holidays
  • Travelling to Morocco and China for conferences and extended into holidays
  • Learning to play guitar (sort of)
  • Buying a flat with Andrew
  • Getting engaged and married (aged 37)
  • Completing a Masters Degree (aged 38)
  • The birth of my first child (aged 38)

Of course there were also memorable events that I don’t look back on so fondly, but they are an inevitable part of life and I won’t go into them in this post.

I guess I haven’t used my time too badly, though I have always thought that I don’t do enough community-related things and have been too work orientated.  I’ve found that having a family has decreased my work ‘drive’ and has found me just appreciating the time I spend with those I love.  And so I guess the next 10 years or so will just fly past with having two children to look after and enjoy watching them grow and develop into little people. 🙂

Bird in Nathan’s ear??


15 Jul

Oh, dear! Oh, dear!
I can not hear.
Will you please
Come over near?
Will you please look in my ear?
There must be something there, I fear.

Say look!
A bird was in your ear.
But he is out. So have no fear.
Again your ear can hear, my dear.

(from One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish)

The last few days Nathan has been pointing to his ear and saying “bird”.  I keep telling him that there isn’t a bird in his ear!  Dr. Seuss, I fear you have a lot to answer for!!

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