Oct 28, 2012

"Wolf"

Nicole started with the contractions yesterday, and we set about getting things in order. People were phoned, Eloise bundled off, photographs taken.

We went to bed wondering how things were going to progress.

And then, the contractions stopped in the night.

So it looks like we might be a little bit stop-start on this one.

Oct 14, 2012

Non-Baby Shower

Rightly or wrongly, and for my money rightly, Nicole didn't want a baby shower. And who would, with all that fluffy nonsense and giggling women having kittens over baby nonsense? Not Nicole.

And, correct me if she's wrong, but aren't baby showers just for the first-born?

Well apparently not according to Nicole's work friends, who would not take no for an answer. But, knowing that Nicole is hoping, when the baby is born, that it will be neither a boy nor a girl but a whippet, Bronwyn from work organised a little something at the greyhound races.

So we pitched up at the Albion Racecourse to see the dogs, eat rubbish food and mingle with the gambling classes whilst watching racing hounds hammering around the track.

A nice touch that the course offered was to let us pat a dog, and name some races so we were treated to the Blowing the Baby Bonus Stakes, the Tiny Memorial and the other one whose name I've forgotten already...

Anyway aside from Nicole's work friends and some attendant children we had Eloise's little chums Hannah, Mia and Jessica with parents and siblings and with a grassy area to frolic in, not to mention, um, gambling and dog petting, all were happy for the four hours we were there.

We didn't win anything, of course, but naturally the sharing of our impending joy with our friends was, um, success enough.

I shouldn't mention the horrendous joke we played on Bronwyn, who fell for it hook line and sinker as Nicole texted her claiming that labour had started and hid in the toilets when she arrived. And I won't. I suppose some small measure of revenge was had when she made us eat baby food and attempt to guess its provenance.

Oct 12, 2012

Emergency Belly Cast

I don't know what the definition of traditional is, but I'm going to apply it very loosely to the practice of Belly Casting. We did it for Eloise, and her cast is sitting somewhere in Sunny Blighty, collecting dust, and the other day we did it for Little Spud, soon to be with us, but not as soon as Nicole thought that fine day.

In what can only be described as the first in a set of false alarms ("Wolf") Nicole thought she had "that feeling" that doom was impending and that if we wanted to do the belly case - and we did - we'd better do it now or we might never get the chance.

And so we embarked upon the hilarious process of deploying splash-sheets, unpacking the plaster-impregnated bandages, and then trying to get a seven-year-old red-head to do something in a methodical manner.

Oct 6, 2012

Give it to me straight

Eloise Eloise was rather pleased with her hair cut, and it did last a few days.

Oct 5, 2012

The Developing Foetal Mass

NME So as you can see, give it a couple of months and it doth a-burgeon. It this particular point in time, the day of the Lunch, long-distance walking was off the agenda, much to Eloise's delight, and probably Matilda's too, and shortness of breath a regular feature as more and more internal space previously reserved for silly activities like, oh, breathing and digesting food were subject to a hostile takeover by whatever it is that's in there.

Observe, though, the wellington boots.

The End of the Work as She Knows It

New Farm Park in Bloom Nicole's working week has involved working like a dog since she decided to do this PhD thingy, but she's usually had Friday off.

Eventually it all had to come to an end, and as she has been expanding bit by bit, the weekend work on the ward has become increasingly difficult, and even on light duties she has struggled with the twelve hour shifts.

So it came as a considerable relief when her last weekend came up and we went down to New Farm Park for luncheon... well, chips, to celebrate.

Eloise had a haircut booked in, too. And she emerged as usual with it straightened. With the dryness around here at the moment, it might stay straight for a few days, too.

Anyway, lunch down at the Powerhouse and Eloise wouldn't sink to chips so had a medley of breads with exotic dips instead. Bless her.

The Jacaranda trees down at New Farm Park were in full swing; for some reason they are very vibrant this year, strange really since it's been as dry as a bone.