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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
Eleanor Blair's LiveJournal:
- Tuesday: into town for a lovely cuppa with Gail and a haircut
- Wednesday: Joanna came round for tea and biscuits, and our pushchair was delivered (we've not unpacked it yet though.
- Thursday: presentation scan at Rosie, visit to garden centre
- Tuesday: went swimming, celebrated Same Sex Marriage Bill passing second reading, did some more crochet of baby blanket.
- Wednesday: helped man UCU stall at university induction event in the morning, UCU general meeting at lunchtime, SW class early evening, followed by NCT breastfeeding class. Long day!
- Thursday: a bit of gardening, and melted chocolate and cream together in preparation for making chocolate truffles, started trying to choose pushchair (big thanks to everyone who offered advice). Ordered useful boxes from ebay.
- Friday: Exciting Ocado delivery - quite a bit of shopping covered in fabric conditioner. Wandered into village to replace some of it from Co-op (some of it was rescued by washing). Finished making the chocolate truffles. Tried a couple of course :) Boxes arrived so sorted through two chests of drawers and managed to considerably declutter as a result. Found a taker for the chests of drawers too!
- Saturday: Another 10am to 4pm NCT ante-natal class. Then mum and dad came to visit. Made apple crumble. Sorted big pile of baby clothes and other goodies from Steph and Dave. Early night.
- Sunday: cooked breakfast, then into Peterborough with mum and dad to look at pushchairs. Home via Pizza Express in Huntingdon. Waved mum and dad off then actually ordered pushchair online. Still too full from lunch to have much more than cheese and crackers for tea - though I did also eat the last slice of Christmas cake. Finished baby blanket!
- Monday: lazy morning reading in the bath and then chilling out, then midwife appointment in the early afternoon (see below for more details). Gym in the evening for Pilates with Clare.
- Mike gets up and goes to work, I kiss him good bye and go back to sleep
- Wake only 5 minutes after my usual alarm would have gone off
- Spend some time geeking on my iPod - usual routine of posting an image to instagram, Facebook, LJ, Twitter
- Do a bit of crochet, and enjoy the view from the window, watching the jackdaws in the tree outside
- Briefly check work mail: one union related moved over to separate account, one automated mail relating to a machine I've told them they can switch off - later briefly log into work to switch it off myself
- Get up and shower, dress, bring the hoover upstairs and then have breakfast
- Sit down and make shopping lists of useful healthy quick easy meals on Ocado
- Say hello to the postman as he delivers a parcel
- Head out for an hour to potter round the local shops - cheese and fruit and yogurt from the Co-op, Rennies from Boots, veg from the Deli
- Eat lunch in front of computer - leftover fish pie, with couscous salad and a side salad, plus a huge fruit salad to follow
- Settle down to catch up with LJ etc for a bit (and start drafting this blog entry ready to post later)
- Look through cook books (Art of Baking from chap off GBBO, Nigella's Domestic Goddess, G&B chocolate book, my own ring binder of collected recipes), online and ask on Facebook for inspiration for something to bake later in the week - given double cream and chocolate as ingredients
- Hoover upstairs and the stairs, then empty hoover's dust bin and find the washable filter which is supposed to be washed every 6 months and actually rinse it thoroughly under the tap. Hoover is about 4 years old. Ahem. Leaving to dry for 24 hours (or possibly more, given time of year)
- More crochet and chilling out at the computer
- Cook dinner - chilli con carne, home made guacamole, put spud in oven to bake
- Wash up
- Greet Mike home from work before I have to head out and meet Clare for pilates class
| Tuesday, May 14th, 2013 | |
| 7:20 pm | Leather sofa free to a good home Have ordered a new sofa bed - anyone want our old sofa? It's a big comfy 3 seater in pale green leather. Fits through doorways if you take the feet off but probably needs a van to move it. Available in about 3 weeks time.
Measurements: 205 cm long by 95 cm deep by 85 cm tall - approx max dimensions
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| Thursday, May 9th, 2013 | |
| 7:01 pm | 7 weeks :) Not posting very often, but hope people will forgive the fact thry're al very baby-centric! Had a lovely lunch with my NCT group on Friday, then mum and dad arrived on Friday evening - we had curry for dinner, spent Saturdat at Audley End and went to the garden centre and out to lunch on Sunday and had a lovely time. Granny and grandad were both chuffed to get to spend some time with their newest baby grandson.
Basically it's nearly all good :) |
| Wednesday, May 1st, 2013 | |
| 6:38 pm | On feeding So if he latches better he'll get richer milk, be more full (so need feeding less often) have less runny poo, and my oversupply should reduce making it easier to feed him in the first place. I just have to get him latching better :/ Will keep trying for another week with the assorted tips from breast feeding sessions and the nice lactation consultant at the Shelford baby group today - if we're still struggling then I'll ask my GP at his 6-8 week check if they can refer to have his (minor) tongue tie snipped. Don't want to resort to even very inordinate surgery unless I have to though. |
| Tuesday, April 30th, 2013 | |
| 4:15 pm | Nearly 6 weeks! So tomorrow baby Matthew will be 6 weeks old. I've just booked our 6-8 week check ups for next Thursday - and 6-8 weeks is the point in time when we can hopefully begin to establish some routines - which means I should be starting to put him down in his crib or carrycot whenever he goes to sleep during the day - easier said than done when this always seems to wake him up! If we can manage it then it would certainly make life much much easier. At the moment he generally only sleeps on one of us, or in the pram if it's moving, which means i don't get much rest during t day. With that and the fact I'm still finding breast feeding to be a bit of a struggle at times I'm feeling rather worn out at the moment, but I'm sure it will all get easier with time. As it does I shall have to start getting out of the habit of relying on rather too much chocolate and cake to get me through the day :) Looking forward to mum and dad coming down to visit at the weekend, and to some other visitors too: one of my oldest friends, Cathie, is coming by on Thursday with her two boys which will be fab, and I'm also trying to sort out times to meet Lindsey from my SW class, Stephen, Barbara and Paul from work (after a lovely visit to the office last Friday) and the others from my NCT antenatal group (we're trying to make a habit of it). He's certainly a big strong boy anyway, starting to grow out of some of his sleep suits already, enjoying standing with his weight on his own two legs when held up, and beginning to hold his own head up too. Best of all he's beginning to smile - and when he does everything suddenly gets better :)
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| Tuesday, April 23rd, 2013 | |
| 2:59 pm | Baby progress 5 weeks tomorrow and we went to the baby clinic in Sawston today on the bus. Matthew now weighs in at 4.64 kg - or 10 lbs 4 oz, right on the 50th centile line, same as last time. Given how much he's fed in the last 24 hours though we're definitely having a bit of a growth spurt this week. need to remember to make us boh an apointment for our 6 week check ups for next week but at least that will be in Shelford. We stayed in Sawston and both had some lunch in Sweet Teas cafe, and then it was such a nice day we walked home. We've had several other nice outings recently including coffee and cake with Lucy last week and our NCT group reunion at the Cambridge Blue on Sunday - lovely to meet 6 of the other 7 babies! Hopefully we'll get to met the last one soon too (his mum was poorly sadly so couldn't join us). Sunday was also Mike's birthday and Mathew (with a little help) sent him a card. There was also improvised birthday cake.
Posted via LiveJournal app for iPad. |
| Saturday, April 20th, 2013 | |
| 6:42 pm | One month old! Just a quick post - while daddy is doing a nappy change. Life is pretty tiring at the moment but very rewarding. Matthew is growing like anything and still a handsome little chap. We're enjoying getting out an about a bit in the pram - walks with daddy at the weekend and into town during the week. Here he is showing off his latest present from my comrades Mary, David, Ann and Rachel in Cambridge UCU
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| Wednesday, March 27th, 2013 | |
| 9:46 pm | One week old! So, baby Matthew is one week old today. Time has definitely flown by! We called Mike's parents from the hospital for a brief chat, and invited Mum and Dad to come in at some point during the morning to meet baby Matthew and to bring in the post-labour bag with clothes for me and baby. (Rather complicated by one mobile running out of credit and the other being unable to get any signal). It was lovely to see them, but when it became clear it would be a while before we were released we sent them home again to wait for us, and let us get a bit of rest. It was late afternoon before Matthew and I had our post-natal checks - and there was one thing they wanted to check with the paediatrician before they sent us home. Having a bit of a busy day it meant we spent a long afternoon and evening mostly waiting around - and after a shift change they decided they *didn't* need to come and see him in person after all, and we finally made it home around 10:30pm. Since then Matthew is doing really well according to the midwives, and although I've had to pop to the GP for some antibiotics for a touch of mastitis I'm doing pretty well too - and it's definitely clearing up! Mum and dad stayed to look after us until the weekend, and we had a really nice relaxed few days. It's really strange getting used to trying not to overdo it though, and reminding myself to let other people do things instead of doing them myself! We all enjoyed getting to know our little boy though and there were lots of cuddles for everyone. It's definitely sad that we don't live closer, but having had Skype conversations using Dad's iPad with Em and with Steph/family we shall definitely have to make a point of setting ourselves up to be able to keep in touch that way so Matthew gets to know the rest of the family better. Mike and I had the house to ourselves on Monday which was novel, though perhaps appreciated less then it might otherwise have been if Matthew were a little more inclined to sleep during the night, rather than during the day. He has a tendency to feed non-stop overnight for a long while, which is a bit wearing, but we're pretty sure he'll start to adapt before long, and we'll just have to get better at taking naps during the day. Mike's parents have now come to visit for a few days, though they're staying in a B&B. Granny Gina in particular is utterly delighted with he new grandson - and so is Evan though in a rather calmer way. Joanna popped in today to drop off a card too, which was nice. We had a first little outing in the pram today - to the shops and back to buy a rather late lunch from the Deli. All bundled up in a rather-too-large sleep suit :) Tomorrow Mike and Evan are going to go and register the birth so he can be all official before Evan and Gina head home, and Emily's hoping to visit on Friday on her way North from Somerset (a bit of a detour!) - then I think we'll be ready for more local visitors to pop in during the day later in the weekend or next week. In the meantime we just need to get a bit more sleep :) |
| Wednesday, March 20th, 2013 | |
| 7:06 pm | Birth announcement Just to let you all know - baby Matthew David Snape was born this morning around 9:30am. 6 lbs 13 - and we're both doing well - just waiting to go home now!
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| Friday, March 15th, 2013 | |
| 4:20 pm | Farewell, Bike Over 26 years ago mum and dad bought me my first ever grown-up bike for my 11th birthday. For years I rode her and loved her - not just as a toy but later for commuting, and on many long rides. Despite being not really quite big enough for me once I was fully grown she's done the London to Cambridge more than once, been on adventures along the Norfolk Coast, and even off-road round Grafham Water.
These days however she's just been living in the shed as a spare, and getting less and less use, and feeling less and less safe each time. So today was finally the time to say goodbye. I've taken her out of the shed, brushed off the cobwebs to get a last few photos, and let a nice man from OWL Bikes in Sawston come and pick her up, to refurbish and sell for charity. It feels like the end of an era!
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| Thursday, March 14th, 2013 | |
| 7:00 pm | Still not mum! So, I'm now running 5 days late and counting. I saw the midwife on Monday and she reckons baby may well turn up of its own accord at the weekend - but all is well in the meantime and there's no need to try do anything to hurry it up just yet. Seeing them again next Monday. Quite happy to continue to potter about and enjoy all this unexpected leisure time - definitely not bored yet. So what I have I been up to? We bought a new bird table from the RSPB and built it. I've finished the last Wheel of Time book (review on librarything), read a book on coping with starting a family from Relate (review on librarything) and started the next in Tad Williams' Shadowmarch series. I finished my jigsaw. Clare came round for lunch at my house, I took cake round to visit Lucy and Edward, and I've had lunch in town with Cat from our NCT antenatal group (3 of whom now have baby boys - the rest of us are still waiting). The internet did a good impression of being fixed for 10 days, and then broke again, so I've got another engineer booked for Monday (if I'm around!). And today I've done some more baking - chocolate fudge cake (using this cake recipe and this icing recipe) and cornflake cakes (using up the icing, which turned out to be about twice as much as needed). It's all good.
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| Friday, March 8th, 2013 | |
| 1:35 pm | Happy International Women's Day! This is what a 9-months pregnant feminist looks like, in a somewhat drafty Fawcett Society Tshirt. Not only do they have excellent Tshirts but they do excellent work towards equality in the UK.
In addition to (briefly) dressing up to celebrate the day I've also made a loan to a woman in a less advantaged country, via Kiva. If you were to sign up using my link you can make a free loan of $25, thanks to a generous sponsor, and they'll give me $25 to donate too. |
| Sunday, March 3rd, 2013 | |
| 9:38 pm | No sign of baby yet Well, I'm now just over 39 weeks pregnant - which means about a week to go until my official Due Date. Apparently most babies are born within a week either side of that, but first babies are often late. All I can do is wait and see, but there's no sign of this one getting ready to emerge just yet. I can't believe it's now four whole weeks that I've been on "maternity" leave (technically I'm using up normal annual leave at the moment, and my maternity doesn't start until my due date). The time seems to have flown by and I'm still really enjoying it - and not in the least bored yet. I've been enjoying some crochet, and done a bit of a jigsaw, and found time for more reading than I've done in ages - not to mention some baking (flapjack again this week - less overdone this time) and plenty of time just chilling out at the computer. I've even been to the garden centre and bought some plants for the newish border in the back garden, and it's looking much nicer.
It's been a lovely weekend being able to share some of this time with Mike though. Yesterday we had a brief potter to the shops in the village and wandered over to have a look at the river, and found a map showing some permissive footpaths/bridleways we weren't really aware of before - so today we went out for an explore. A bit of a grey day but lovely and warm and it was a nice little walk of about 5 miles. Feeling good - if a bit tired. Here's a map: As for the intermittent BT broadband problem - well since the second engineer we've had a few dropouts still, but it's mostly been better than it was before that. It does still seem to go when we're on the phone though - that probably needs more testing - and I won't be convinced it's definitely completely OK for a while yet. I think next week I don't actually have *anything* in my diary in terms of meetings or appointments - so will have to try and make the effort to be a bit more sociable and go see a couple of people perhaps while I still have the chance! |
| Saturday, March 2nd, 2013 | |
| 5:07 pm | *giggle* - bump at 39 weeks Asked Mike to take a bump pic for me. Took us a couple of attempts to find the right angle. This resulted in the following bright idea: |
| Sunday, February 24th, 2013 | |
| 11:05 am | Of telephone companies and baby planning This week has been largely characterised by lots of time waiting for BT. Last week I finally got round to reporting that our broadband connection keeps dropping out intermittently. It's been doing it for a while really - at fairly random intervals it just drops out for between 30 seconds and a couple of minutes - sometimes just when we're on the phone, and at other times it's every half hour, and sometimes it's just random. Anyway having replaced the ADSL filters in January, and replaced an elderly handset on Wednesday the errors were still happening, so I spoke to them on Wednesday last week and they made me plug the router into the master socket for 24 hours to see if it fixed the problem. It didn't, so I spoke to them again on Thursday, and after a basic line check which was fine the second-line support team promised to call me back on Monday morning after their Exchange team had had a chance to investigate (they suggested Friday, but I said Monday since I knew we were going to be away Friday night). Since then there has been an inordinate amount of waiting! On Monday I waited an hour for them to call me, then tried 1471 and discovered they had in fact tried to call me on Saturday while we were out, so I called them up a bit cross, and they didn't exactly apologise but did agree to send me an engineer on Tuesday afternoon to come and see if they could find the problem. On Tuesday I waited in all afternoon and the engineer didn't turn up - I replied to their text message notification to complain, and got a courtesy call just after 9pm. It seemed there had been a "communication issue" between the booking team and the engineer. Anyway since the issue seemed to have gone away temporarily they promised to call back on Wednesday and check if it was still OK. Of course the connection started breaking again overnight, so on Wednesday morning I called them again rather than waiting for the call back, and after quite some time waiting on hold another engineer was booked - this time for Friday morning. On Friday I didn't actually have to wait long for the engineer! Amazing! He came, was polite and helpful, but couldn't actually find anything wrong though he admitted he couldn't stay and monitor indefinitely to wait for another problem.. He did move our master socket upstairs into the room we keep the computers in, and replaced it with a modern filtered one, which means the other sockets in the house now only act as phone lines, but no longer need ADSL microfilters attached to them. About an hour later the connection dropped again, and after a couple more outages I called BT again - and they've booked me yet another engineer. This time the earliest they can manage is Tuesday morning, so once again I wait. Since then the connection has actually been up a bit more reliably than before, but still drops out when we're using the phone. An improvement I guess - we'll see how it does over the next couple of days! It's just as well I've been at home though! It would be even more irritating if I were having to take time out of work for this, rather than time I was happy sitting around doing jigsaws, reading, geeking and crocheting :) There have been other bits of waiting this week too - waiting for baby - who is fine to stay put for another couple of weeks as far as I'm concerned - and waiting for assorted parcels in the post. I now have more maternity bras (you really needed to know that) and we also have a baby bath, changing mats, and a nice new chest of drawers in the nursery for baby clothes with a changing table on top. We've put the pushchair together too and packed the hospital bags, and been for a tour of the Rosie Birth Centre - which was lovely. All feeling much more ready than we were a week ago! So after a very chilled out day at home yesterday the plan for today is another relaxing morning, then to head into town this afternoon to see Wreck It Ralph at the cinema and go out for dinner. Since as several people have pointed out we might not get much chance for that sort of outing for a while :). |
| Saturday, February 16th, 2013 | |
| 8:22 pm | Rest of the week - and rotating babies Quick summary of the rest of last week: The most important bit being that the scan confirmed baby is actually head *down* after all (possibly because it has moved since Monday) - so I don't need an appointment to try and turn it round, and hopefully can have my nice maternity unit birth after all. Though of course there are still many reasons why that might still change. Very good news! Planning a lazy Sunday in tomorrow, then next week I have a whooping cough jab, a union meeting, an ikea delivery and a tour of the Rosie birth centre with Mike to look forward to. Still enjoying plenty of walking and gentle cycling and my weekly pilates class too - though might make Monday my last pilates session. |
| 8:17 pm | A lovely "valentines" "weekend" "away" Last year Mike and I went away for the weekend nearest Valentine's Day, and had a lovely time in Stamford. Valentine's Day happens to mark the anniversary of when we got engaged, which makes it a little extra nice to celebrate it - but generally if you go out you end up with over-priced set meals which can often be disappointing - so we're happy to time shift it a bit. This year we also decided that while it would be nice to go away it wouldn't be too wise to go very *far* away this close to my due date. So instead Mike took Friday off work and we had an early weekend in the far off city of Cambridge :) We actually had a nice quiet morning pottering round the house, and I did a bit of gardening too, then we headed into town on the bus and checked into our hotel - The Varsity Hotel and Spa on Thompson's Lane - which it turns out had upgraded our room, to a really rather enormous one with a lovely big bathroom and great views out on two sides across the roofs of Cambridge.
We decided to make the most of the nice evening, and headed out for a touristy walk around the backs and through town, taking in bits of Trinity and Kings, and the Corpus Clock. Then we filled the big bath with *all* the bubbles (a foot deep in bubbles alone!) before heading out to dinner in the restaurant which is associated with the spa/hotel. It calls itself the River Bar Steakhouse and Grill, and definitely specialises in steak - which Mike enjoyed. I went for a pretty decent venison and ale pie instead, which at least had good pastry even if it was still technically stew in a bowl with a lid. We didn't have room for pudding - but did have a box of chocs back in the room which made up for it :)
Saturday morning after a lie in we had a lovely big cooked breakfast, and then headed out for another nice walk. It was a really spring-like morning, and heading along the river was lovely - though crowded with other walkers, cyclists, rowing coaches and joggers - the river itself was busy too. All very photogenic. Then we had a bit of a potter round the shops before heading to the Fitzwilliam Museum to continue being tourists for a little longer. Despite having lived in/near Cambridge for just over 14 years it's the first time I've visited! We skipped through the Egypt/Rome/Greece exhibits fairly quickly as Mike had seen them before (with my dad, while mum and I shopped for wedding dresses), and were perhaps a bit underwhelmed by the room full of European/Japanese pottery and most of the galleries of paintings, but then there was a room full of pottery, sculpture and even some jewellry, including a couple of Barbara Hepworths and suddenly I was much more engaged. And the last room we visited with an exhibition of contemporary Chinese pottery just blew me away: China's White Gold. Our last stop before heading home was Brown's - for a rather lovely afternoon tea. Finger sandwiches, scones with jam and cream still warm from the oven, and a decent little selection of cakes too. Lovely. We've had a really nice time, and all well within 10 miles of home. Recommended! More photos from the weekend can be found over on Facebook (public link). |
| Monday, February 11th, 2013 | |
| 10:15 pm | Just another manic Monday So what did I do with the rest of my first week of maternity leave? As for the midwife appointment: Urine tests still fine, baby measurement still good, blood pressure good - all excellent. Less good> baby appears to have moved into a fairly breech position. Midwife called Addenbrookes and they should ring me back tomorrow to make an ultrasound appointment to check for sure - and if so then probably arrange to try and turn the baby some time next week. There's about a 50/50 chance that will work apparently. If not they'll probably want to book me for a C-section at 39 weeks because they don't like to attempt a breech birth especially in first time mums. Obviously it isn't really ideal when I've been hoping for a nice natural birth at the midwife-led unit - but hey, if it's unavoidable then there's no point fretting about it. In the meantime I should stay active, choose upright sitting positions where possible, and try doing some kneeling down with my chest lower than my hips - they suggested doing a jigsaw on the floor, which sounds like a plan :) I probably won't try moxibustion though the student in with the midwife suggested it as a possibility. At least in the meantime I have a haircut to look forward to tomorrow, and coffee with Gail - and then on Wednesday the pushchair should arrive and Joanna's going to come round for a cuppa too. And Friday we've booked ourselves a night away at a nice hotel to celebrate a slightly belated Valentines - in Cambridge :) Pushchair: Blanket: |
| Monday, February 4th, 2013 | |
| 5:37 pm | First day not at work
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| Sunday, February 3rd, 2013 | |
| 10:24 am | Last week at work! The most obvious thing this week is that it's been my last week at work. Very little actual work remained that still needed doing - though Caroline had me having a go at the written test and programming test they've devised for the interview candidates for my maternity cover, to get an idea as to whether they were aimed at around the right level and would take the right sort of time. It was surprisingly fun. She also found me another useful little bit of perl script to write for her too so I spent rather more time writing code than usual - nice easy stuff :) My maternity cover job has now finally been advertised too - closing date 18th February if anyone might be interested. The week finished on Friday with my lovely colleagues surprising me with a big tray of pink and blue cupcakes and a lovely card and box of chocs. Obviously not knowing which colour bun was the right one I had to have one of each :) I shall miss them over the next year definitely, it's going to be very strange not getting up for work tomorrow morning! Yesterday, despite it being the weekend, we were up fairly bright and early to pack up some lunch before heading into town (into a mildly fierce headwind) for the first session of our NCT ante-natal classes. It was quite a long day really 10 til 4 without only half an hour (by agreement) for lunch - but we packed a lot in. It was lovely to meet 7 other couples all of whom are also expecting their first babies in March. It looks like we're all hoping to give birth at the midwife led birthing centre at the Rosie hospital too. Lots of information to take in, but Sian, the class leader, has promised to email us all lots of info. We've got a breastfeeding session to come on Wednesday, and then another long day next Saturday too. With it being a class right in the middle of town there's quite a spread of locations around Cambridge for people to have come from - but it's nice to know that there'll be at least one mum in Shelford that I'll know in advance :) Have promised to let her know the details of the bumps and babies class that apparently runs in the village once I manage to get hold of them myself. After our class we had a bit of a wander over to the retail park not far from Mill Road to take a look at pushchairs/buggies. Steph and Dave did offer us their Silver Cross pram, but we've decided it's a little big to be practical for us, and Mike really quite fancies spoiling us with a new one anyway. We're a bit torn between going for a simple buggy, which works out the lightest and most compact option - not to mention the cheapest, or going for something which can do front and rear facing positions and has nice big wheels for off road use. The Quinny Buzz 3 is quite tempting. We also need to think about whether we need to get a car seat even though we don't have a car - possibly just so we can get baby home from the hospital in a taxi! Though one of the couples yesterday did very kindly offer us the long-term loan of one which their brother-in-law had given them, as it was spare. Sending me home in a taxi and letting Mike walk with a pushchair would be one solution, but a bit weird :) Does anyone know if there are local taxi firms who can provide car seats themselves? Though if so would we trust them? Bump is now 35 weeks old, and reportedly around 46cm long and 2.4kg in weight - about the same as a honeydew melon. Of course by this point the weights are all going to be very much averages - as all babies come out a bit different. I still seem to have a pretty compact bump for this stage of pregnancy really, but am measuring the right size for my stage, and everything else was well at my last midwife appointment on Monday too. They're coming thick and fast now with only just over a week until my next one - and I'm waiting to hear back from the GP practice nurse as to when I can have my whooping cough jab too. Not much more exciting has been happening this week. We saw very few birds in the garden for the birdwatch - probably because the weather had got so much nicer they didn't need our food supplies so desperately any more. The bedside tables have gone, leaving us with more space in the living room, and we enjoyed our haggis :) We bought a new shower curtain too - so exciting :) Mike and I have been mostly chilling out, watching DVDs and reading (him) and knitting (me). I finally finished my giant fuchsia pink mohair shawl which has been going since 2005! And I've just started crocheting a pram cover for baby Snape too. I expect I shall spend much of next week crocheting and reading and playing computer games - though I'm going to try and make it to the gym for a swim a couple of times too if I can. Got some union stuff on Wednesday too which I will still go to since for now I'm only on annual leave not maternity.
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| Saturday, January 26th, 2013 | |
| 10:30 am | Not quite snowed in So on Sunday night afternoon last week it started to snow quite heavily, and Mike and I went out for a fab walk in the snow - which cunningly lasted just long enough that our roast lamb had 2 minutes left to cook when we got in :) Having gone out after dark we didn't take the camera, but were amazed at how much light there was. Walking around nine wells nature reserve we even turned the head torches off, and it was like wandering round in a black and white photo. Beautiful. Monday morning the roads were well covered in snow - a good couple or three inches probably - and it was obvious that even the main roads wouldn't be very clear yet, so rather than push the bike to the end of the road and then cycle I decided to walk and get public transport. At least some trains were cancelled and others late, and the buses were reporting severe delays, so rather than the nearly a mile into the village for a one-every-20-minutes bus which is unreliable at the best of times I decided to take the longer walk to Addenbrookes, where there are *loads* of buses into town to choose from. It's about 2.5 miles, and even with 5 minutes stopping to take photos it took about an hour, which isn't bad! Took Mike's hiking walking stick, which has a nice spike on the bottom, but still had a rather scary moment crossing the road on Macaulay Avenue, where the cars had started to polish the snow into ice already. The photos have all been added to my snow album on Facebook, but here's a quick preview:
Tuesday I decided it would be too icy to be safe, and worked from home. By Wednesday morning it was starting to look a bit clearer outside, and the bin men turned up having failed to come on Monday, so I thought I'd make an attempt to get the bike as far as Hinton Way on foot - and ended up giving up in under 100 yards - it was just *too* slippery to be safe. The road on Macaulay Avenue was like glass, and the pavements were only slightly better in being lumpier! So another day working from home was called for - once I'd got over my fright :) It thawed a bit during the day though, and with the help of my trusty stick I did manage to make it out on Thursday and Friday - with quite a bit of walking on the road where the pavements were icy - and only 20 yards of really difficult stretch on Thursday and 10 on Friday. And despite the forecast there was no more snow overnight, and now the sky is blue, the sun is shining, it's well above zero and hopefully by the time the weekend is over it will all be gone and we can get back to normal :). It has been very beautiful at times - but just a bit too treacherous.
Bump is now 34 weeks old - 2.2kg which is about the weight of a cantaloupe melon, and 45cm long. Next midwife appointment is on Monday - must remember to ask about the whooping cough jab, since they haven't mentioned it to me yet! Our NCT antenatal classes are 10 til 4 next Saturday and the one after - which actually now turns out to be a bit of a nuisance, since we were hoping Evan and Gina could come and visit, and mum and dad wanted to pop down too - and do us a huge favour and bring some baby things from Steph and Dave. I'll be on leave by then though - since this week will be my last week at work - so perhaps we can work something out. Speaking of work it's been another pretty busy week - some useful scripts written, some more showing Julia of various bits of the postmaster job, some fixing of people's broken email programs (I've gone off Eudora even more than usual) and some success in finding good ways to make other ones work (getting Thunderbird to display more information from our LDAP email directory than previously thought possible). Lots of things ticked off my to-do list, and only a few items remaining - one of which is to have a go at some of the interview questions they're planning to ask my maternity cover! Could be fun, but mildly intimidating :) Apparently the advert should be out early next week. I've also been tidying out my desk and starting to fetch things home - bit of a panic as I thought I'd lost an important key but it turned up again in one of the things I'd brought home. I've been tidying my desktop computer too - and am now busy downloading all the odds and ends of personal stuff that has accumulated at work over the last nearly 11 years. Only about 40 minutes download time remaining :) Mike and I are still ticking along nicely enjoying the easy life - Les Mis was great last weekend, and we had a nice dinner out too - though it ended up being somewhere else and with a long wait. It turns out all the chain restaurants on the leisure park are insanely busy at around 7pm on a Saturday - who would have guessed! Planning on taking it pretty easy this weekend - some bird watching in the garden for the RSPB, and someone coming to pick up the two bedside tables that have been lurking in the living room for the last couple of weeks :) I bought haggis for Burns Night, but we ended up having something else and it will be our tea tonight instead - yum. All in all life's pretty good. |
