Afternoon Walk

The children are very lucky to have friends living next door (whose mother, coincidentally, was friends with Rob when they were children). The neighbours are a little older than Harry and MJ but they all get on very well. We decided to walk to the park near our house after school today and stopped by to ask the children next door if they wanted to come. I took this photo of the four of them walking ahead of us- the boys holding hands and the girls holding hands, very cute. They were all very responsible checking both ways before crossing the roads and as soon as we reached the park they all exploded with energy and ran to the equipment.

This week hasn't been the best one for me as I slipped on some stairs at work after treading on a toy car that had been left there and landed on my back. It was pretty scary and quite painful. An immediate trip to the doctor reassured us that the baby was fine but I was told to have a few days of rest as my back was very sore. It was nice to get outside this afternoon after being cooped up inside all week. I've been reading a lot but feeling frustrated at not being able to do much. I'm so happy that the heat from last week has passed and it was lovely sitting in the gentle afternoon sun watching the children play.

Public Property

I was told by several people that 'once you become pregnant, you turn into public property'. I have to say that this is true. I love being pregnant but as I get further and further along, I get more and more tired of answering the same questions asked by well-meaning people (mainly colleagues, parents at my work, and shop assistants). It's gotten to the point this week (it may have something to do with the hot weather making me cranky) of me wanting to print up a T-shirt with the following on it to save time:

-Yes, I am feeling the heat. Thanks for the observation.
-Three weeks until I start leave.
-No, I don't plan on being bored once I start maternity leave.
-It's a boy.
-Yes, we know what his name is, and no, I'm not telling you. (Did you really think I would?)
-Yes, I know I need to enjoy sleep now while I can.

People seem especially gleeful in regards to the last one...parents seem to love pointing out to new mums-to-be that "once the baby comes along, you won't be getting much sleep! Enjoy it now while you can!" Hmm, I had figured that one out for myself, thanks. I know it will be hard, but having been a chronic insomniac for my entire life I feel I am in some way prepared. Anyway, I live with a five year old and a seven year old who do not yet understand the concept of sleeping in on Saturdays and happily bounce out of bed anywhere from 6am. So sleep deprivation isn't going to be an entirely new concept for me. I know it will probably be harder than I think, but I'll deal with it when the time comes.

I don't mean to sound whingy, snarky or bitter. As I said, I adore being pregnant and sharing the joy with others. I've just never been a fan of small talk, cliches or meaningless platitudes and I'm certainly copping my share of all three lately. I also have a little boy who is determined to stay lodged up under my ribs at the minute! I swear he nearly broke one of them last night during 'mad hour'. 'Mad hour' is my name for the time between 11pm and midnight, which seems to be the baby's most active period at the moment- somersaults, whole body contortions, kicks and headbutts all occur in that hour and while amusing, it is getting a little uncomfortable! (I'm also hoping 'mad hour' doesn't continue from 11pm once he is born...)

Anyway, I've had my grumble and I am feeling better now. I am especially thrilled that the hot weather seems to have passed. Bring on proper Autumn weather- I miss my dressing gown and slippers!

Hot and Uncomfortable

It's Autumn here in Tasmania and one would assume that the weather would begin to change. Wrong! We have had some of the hottest days of the year so far in this week past and I am not enjoying it. Being pregnant in hot weather is not much fun. Work has been a battle...my new office/teaching room is at the 'top' of the school (my school is set on a hill) and trudging up and down the hill and three sets of stairs, numerous times a day, is really taking it out of me and I'm feeling very hot and uncomfortable and full of aches. I am still in love with being pregnant, though, and love seeing my bump grow each week.

My bump this week, plus a photobombing cat.

My little family is away on the mainland for a special family wedding this weekend, so I'm home alone. It is so quiet without them! All I feel like doing is lying around on the couch with the air conditioner going and watching mindless television, while eating copious amounts of icypoles. Though I did have a lovely morning tea with friends this morning and some random K-Mart wandering time.

 

Little Miss Faye is finally settling into the new house and enjoyed having me- and the couch- all to herself last night.  

 

 Doesn't she look sweet and innocent? Well, if you look closely at the next picture you will notice some lovely claw marks in my hand. She decided that under no circumstances was I to stop rubbing her belly, and every time I tried to pull my hand away she hooked her claws in deeper- while purring louder. Thanks Faye.

In three weeks I start my maternity leave, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't counting down the days. Work this year has proven to be quite stressful and not as enjoyable as I would have hoped, and I feel very happy with my decision to start my leave a few weeks earlier than I originally had planned. I already have a list of things I want to get done in the first few weeks of my leave before I get too exhausted (and huge). 

Everyone in the house is getting more and more excited about our new family member, and Harry and Mikayla couldn't resist trying out the new cot.

 
Jasper is so excited he had no choice but to retreat to his bed and suck his rug. Oh, wait...that's just Jasper.

And Johnny is either excited, happy, or just hot...it's hard to tell.

I'll leave you now as I feel the urge to jump in my third cool shower for the day and eat another icypole (no, you don't need to know what number icypole it is). Bring on the actual autumn weather!

 

Love,

Bebb

 

Awaiting Occupancy

Our gorgeous Beatrix Potter-themed nursery is now complete, after spending an hour wrestling with the cot this evening. (Apologies for the dodgy photo quality- my phone doesn't take the best pictures.)

The wall stickers are from eBay, the hope chest was left to me in my Nanna's will and the rug on the recliner was made by my darling Mum, using fabric from her bridesmaid's dresses. The Bunnykins bits and pieces were mine as a baby.

I love that the room has a mix of new things and old things that have love and history behind them.

I am so excited about our little boy moving into this room! I'll take some better pictures, and some that show the rest of the room, on my proper camera later.

 

Bebb Breaks the Silence

It has been a long, long time since my last post...over a year in fact. My life went through some massive changes at this time last year and my little blog got pushed aside. Last night, however, I realised how much I missed blogging about books, movies, recipes and my life in general and therefore...Bebb is back! I feel very happy to have returned to my small corner of the internet. I have a new life and a new family now and am finally feeling happy and settled. The biggest news is...Bebb has a bump!

This photo was taken after returning from a Sacred Birth yoga class (I'm attending weekly classes until my baby is born) and if I look exhausted, it's because I had spent the day at the Longford Maker's Market with my little business, Fanciful Creations. I am looking forwards to sharing the rest of my pregnancy journey with you, and having somewhere to ramble again. I'll share some more news/happenings/my new family with you soon. Leave me a comment if you're around...I'd love to know who is still reading after my long silence.

Love,

Bebb

Clumsy Is as Clumsy Does

Maybe I should have titled this post 'Accident Prone Is as Accident Prone Does'...because not all of my unfortunate accidents are my fault. Things just tend to happen to me. Granted, some of it does come about through general clumsiness...but not all of it, y'know?

But in my defence, and as I stated above, things do tend to happen to me. As I type this I have a heavily bandaged right foot. Bandaged in three places, mind. But we'll get to that. We'll get to that. Here, for your entertainment, are some of my more bizarre/ridiculous accidents over the years...

• Aged seven, brushing my teeth with my sister. She threatened to tickle me and I ran from the bathroom to our bedroom, toothbrush still in my mouth, and jumped onto my bed. The toothbrush hit the pillow, jammed into my throat and when I pulled it out there was a literal explosion of blood, which jetted out of my mouth with such force that it hit the wall. Colourful. And very fun for my parents to discover when they rushed in to see what all the screaming was about.
• Still aged seven (a good year), being pulled along by my sister on Dad's golf buggy. The plastic handle cover pulled off in her hand, the buggy fell forwards with me on it and the exposed metal of the handle stabbed me in the chest and sunk in about a centimetre. Ouch.
• Broken toes...many, many, many.  The same one three times, as well. Varied causes...tripping, accidentally whacking it on a table, etc. Clumsy is as clumsy does. ("But you seem so graceful when you dance!" people say. Am yet to break a toe while performing or teaching bellydance, and am able to maintain the appearance of grace. I have, however, performed WITH a broken toe. And painkillers.)
• Okay, so the following was my fault. Aged 17...to amuse my flatmate I stood on two glossy magazines and 'skated' across the carpet. Lost control, fell, broke wrist. Yep, that was a bit silly.
• Last week...making soaps, accidentally splashed myself with boiling water. Leapt backwards, tripped over Johnny the dog, crashed into the cupboard and broke my long-suffering little toe on my right foot. One day I will wake up and this toe will have jumped ship in the night and left me. I can't blame it...since the age of 7 it's been broken at least 6 times, by my count.
• Also last week, a day later...I dropped a butter knife which, though blunt, hit my right ankle at enough speed and at the right angle to gouge it open. That was bandage no. 2 on that foot area. Are you keeping count? Let's get to the main event...

So it was Saturday night. I was home alone- apart from the dogs and my broken toe. At about 10 o'clock, I heard barking. The dogs were outside and I hobbled out to investigate with bare feet. I realised that it was actually the neighbour's dog making the noise, and turned to go back inside. Ouch! What the hell? Something stabbed into my right heel. Something sharp. It was very painful and I lifted my foot to see a piece of metal sticking out of my foot. Okay, not good, I thought. Where did that come from? And it's in my foot...Right, that has to come out. Sizzling the air with a few rather colourful words, I yanked it out and realised that a) my foot was now bleeding quite heavily, which was understandable given that there was a gaping hole in it, and b) I had been stabbed by a rusty nail. Given that I was home alone and didn't think I could drive, I had no option but to wrap up my foot, call a taxi and head to the emergency room. Five hours later I was home, after spending a lot of time waiting and reading tattered, year-old copies of Woman's Day, witnessing some horrendous drunken behaviour, crying quietly in a cubicle as I felt so alone, and having my wound cleaned and sealed with surgical glue. I also received a large and nasty tetanus booster and was told I was a 'brave girl' by the same nurse who had come bustling in with scratchy tissues when she saw that I was crying. Slightly condescending, yes, especially since that at a few years shy of 30 I wouldn't really call myself a girl, but by that point I was willing to take any sympathy I could get.

So, now I languish on the couch with a right foot that has suffered a broken bone, a gouging and a stabbing in the last week. I'm sorry, right foot. I'll do my best to take better care of you in the future, but I can't promise anything. Accidents just seem to have a way of finding me.

Goals, Revisited

Back in December I posted a list of things I hoped to achieve during the summer holidays. Now that I have one week to go until the new school year starts, I thought I would take a look back at my list and see if I achieved everything on it...

<> sleeping in Check! I have indeed done an awful lot of that these holidays. The dreaded insomnia has still been hanging around of course, but it's much less stressful being awake at 2am and knowing I can sleep in, as opposed to knowing I have to get up in 4 hours for work.

<> gardening Check...but not as much as I would have liked. I had a great harvest from my vegie garden, but a combination of the heat and being struck down by laziness meant I didn't do all the things I had planned. Ah well.

<> hopefully, a camping trip No, alas. Just didn't happen. I am hoping to go during the Easter holidays.

<> a roadtrip to Hobart with my best friend, Madam Mojito or MM as she shall henceforth be known, to see my favourite band, the Dresden Dolls, live Yep! We had a blast. I blogged about it here. Here's another photo from the concert, taken by Jude. I look very happy, which is understandable given our close proximity to the stage!

<> reading for hours I have definitely achieved this one! Many happy hours have been spent on scorching hot days, lying in front of the fan with a book. I'm currently reading the Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris, upon which the TV series True Blood (my current addiction) is based. They are proving to be just as addictive as the show and my record is devouring one in a single evening/night.

<> sewing my mini bears Done! I've also branched out and started making soaps and candles, and have my first market- the Longford Maker's Market- lined up for next Sunday. I'm very busy getting everything ready for it. Here are a few of my wares...

<> taking the dogs to the beach for the first time. Not yet-but it looks like  I will head out to Mum and Dad's for a night next week and cross that one off the list.

<> getting ready for a new class next year! Sort of...I don't feel as organised as I would like to. But I'm going into school with the other Kinder teachers on Monday to do some setting up and I'm sure I'll feel better after that. I keep reminding myself that I always feel slightly panicky and underprepared when a new school year looms, and that it always comes together in the end.

As well as all of that, I've also caught up with a few dear friends who have left Tassie and were home visiting family, spent lots of time walking ze dogs, accompanied by ze cat, and cleaned out cupboards (thrilling).

It's been a great holiday and I feel rested and recharged, which was my main goal.