Or putting ‘the diary’ back into personal blogging.
- Turning 36 – which was pleasantly celebrated over a number of days’ activities including a romantic dinner for the two of us and a nice long soak in the sea for the three of us.
- Admiring my birthday presents – and admiring my partner and family, you all have good taste.
- The getting of wisdom – no shit, I am feeling embarrassingly clever about myself lately, I have seriously sorted some stuff out.
- Growing – I’ve reached the third trimester of freakish proportions in pregnancy, which I love because pregnancy suits me quite well and I’m fascinated with my changing shape, and besides, given that I’m not an Olympic gymnast when else does my body get to perform something freakishly amazing?
- Reclaiming and redecorating our adult living space – I remember from last time that being at home with a baby is a lot of time spent between your four walls and I want those walls to be nice.
- Hunting for subversive cushions for our couch – I don’t know what that means either, but I’m lurking around etsy quite a bit hoping someone there will, and starting to think that whatever it is is going to cost a small fortune.
- Creating some baby space in the back room which has otherwise been our study (who are we kidding?), junk room.
- Finding all the old baby clothes and discovering that I bought into the ‘cute girly pink’ stuff a lot more than my feminism likes to recall.
- Visiting obstetricians, midwives, hospitals, birth educators etc.
- Buying music – oh, this and that.
- Reading for escapism, almost constantly – like this for instance.
- Sweating – could it be any fucking hotter?
- Getting some kind of budget vaguely worked out for the year of maternity leave ahead – god, so dismal.
- Seriously applying myself to my work – might as well go out on a high note there.
- Trying to get my camera fixed – so far I am the weak link in the chain.
- Having my father to stay – he visits Australia approximately once a year and we were once estranged for quite a while so we cram our entire father-daughter experience into a strange couple of days each time.
- Planning a 4th birthday party, which won’t happen until March but by then I will be seriously pregnant (or equally unmanageable, not).
- Socialising A LOT and then punctuating all that with grizzles to my partner about how tired I am – I am sooooo tired, honey, so so very tired – best kids’ birthday party ever was attended as part of this social flurry where frozen margaritas were served to the parents by the jug, alas, I didn’t partake, but I did manage to sit myself next to someone I initially mistook for a complete twit but who turned out to be a delightfully entertaining film critic – I knew I recognised that voice from somewhere!
- Getting myself elected to the kindergarten parents committee – why?
- Gorging on sleep.
- Whimpering and moaning in my sleep quite a bit, apparently – I’m having quite vivid nightmares at the moment and I would have thought your partner whimpering in her sleep would draw a more sympathetic response than complaints about one’s sleep being disturbed.
- During my pregnancy-related insomnia, composing blog post in my head, which are gone by dawn.
I should really have added to this list – Going to the toilet – because it seriously takes up that much of my time, but TMI I am usually blessed with a superior bladder/pelvic floor muscles and I do hate this sudden and constant need to go to the toilet, for pretty much nothing each time, that comes with pregnancy. Baby, get your foot off my bladder.
Congratulations on all counts, especially the birthday and life changes, but not so much on the sweating and moaning.
happy birthday – careful of those kindergarten committees – they are more work than you realise
Gorging on sleep. Love that phrase.
Also, I too am constantly composing blog entries at 3 am while I nurse in bed and they are BRILLIANT, I tell you. And gone in the morning.
These all sound like great things to be doing lately. God, I love sleep too and never seem to get enough of it – and especially when I was pregnant! Sorry it’s so hot but happy you got a soak in the sea (sounds wonderful).
Please don’t worry about the pink babygroes – I dress my son in them all the time and I think he looks great. (I think passers-by treat him more nicely as well). Anyway, good luck with the rest of the pregnancy.
Happy birthday! And happy third trimester… not a comfortable time, I recall, but if possible, a time to revel in the glory of being hugely, wonderfully, pregnant. I loved it.
Happy Birthday!
I look forward to seeing what subversive cushions you find.
Enjoyed reading your piece about kids and food.
Cannot imagine being pregnant in this heat wave!
Happy Birthday!
A friend who had twins, a boy and a girl, dressed her kids in whatever clean thing she could reach in the right size. The kids were (and are) quite different sizes, so the girl wore her brother’s hand-me-downs. And he wore the pink stuff before his sister grew into it. If anyone in the street said “what lovely boys you have” or “what adorable little girls” or whatever she just agreed. I think now that they’re past the newborn all-clothing-worn-was-a-present stage, and their mother buys their clothing, they wear a lot of orange.
Also important to recall that there is very little to buy into, baby clothing wise, that isn’t either blue or pink. With cars, or with flowers. So cut yourself some slack.
(((Happy Birthday Bluemilk!)))
Our project manager is about the same degree of pregnant-ness as you, and I look at her with some fond memories. On the other hand, with the heat and all (Exploding boy born in March), sometimes I’m relieved I’m past all the gestatin’ part!
I spent the last few weeks of my pregnancy wondering if today would be the day it would just be too hot to finish the walk to work. Or if I might walk all the way to my building, but then look at the stairs and elect to spend the day in the foyer. I’d start thinking “I could just sit down here til the baby comes”. My office was up three flights of stairs. The toilets were on the ground floor. Every trip to the loo I’d try to think of anything else I might need to do on the ground floor (like buy coffee, or lunch, or fill the water jug for all my colleagues). So for your third trimester, I wish you aircon and elevators.