Apr 30, 2012

Catching Up

Double Rainbow We went away on holidays with the Slimms, spending a week in purported opulence at extravagant expense justifiable only by the sheer numbers of bodies in attendance, which I will list as: three Gavins, two Slimms, one extra, naturalised Australian Slimm, and four Peacocks.

The numbers required considerable accommodation, and several of them being children, many bedrooms were required. Coffs Harbour was the venue of choice, the Peacocks travelling from Sydney necessetating (if that's even a word) a half-way house, which even if half-way between Brisbane and Sydney was more than half-way decent.

As the luggage was lifted into the cars for the departure, I unwisely helped the Senior Slimms with their baggage, or rather helped them unwisely, as my poor lifting technique strained my back in a painful and incapacitating elastic limitation of protesting muscle, necessetating (there's that word again) a new-found role as passenger on the epic six-hour drive south into NSW.

Somewhere around the Queensland border the "Are We Nearly There Yet" catchphrase made its way to the surface, with only four hours to go.

We stopped somewhere or other for a simple road-side repast and the wind blew chillingly across the motorway though the sun was warm. Matilda pulled me and my groaning back up and down.

When we arrived eventually, guided in by Josie's clever telephone, we found the Peacocks already in residence in the sprawling mansion by the sea, flapping around in the swimming pool. Before long little Jarrah was busily taking photographs of my behind with his Mum's i-Phone. Photographs he will doubtless treasure for many years to come.

I limped after Nicole and Josie as we followed the path across the headland to a nearby beach to give Matilda a walk after the trunk-bound ordeal of the day, and to get her used to her surroundings as she would be an outside dog for our stay, a prospect which we or she did not particularly welcome.

I limped back after Nicole and Josie as we returned from dusk-laden rock-hopping next to the shingle beach with the pounding of the surf in my ears and the grim agony of a distressed musculature haunting my lumbar region.

After chin-chinning and eating supper, I got no sleep in a strange bed in a strange room with a sore back.

When the heavens opened the next day we were down on the beach admiring the double-rainbow which bridged the bay, sort of recognising that this presaged rain but in denial up to the point where the big fat raindrops started to slap onto the beach.

This beach was a different beach, closer to the house and down a set of stairs from the coastal path down across some lawn with some houses abutting. Heaven help them when the sea levels rise! This beach, perhaps I'll call it Beach One, was altogether a more sandy affair than Beach Two (in order of closeness). There was even a big palm tree to shelter under as the clouds wandered over.

Eventually we decided enough was enough, and we ran or as necessity dictated, hobbled back to the house, receiving our soaking in good grace.

Apr 20, 2012

Ultrasound

Bump #1 Bump #2 11 week scan today. All good, fingers crossed, pending results of Nuchal Fold analysis, whatever that is.

Eloise and Anne came along to the ultrasound and got to see little Bump wiggling around.

Thank God it isn't twins, which certain people with so-called "women's intuition" were mooting.

QScan were excellent and furnished us with a bevy of pictures, and a CD-Rom! Cool!