Divorce Cometh, and 5 Signs You've Met Your Perfect Match

Catchy title eh?

Found this article about your perfect match on msn.com and read it. As I began reading it, I started grinning and grinning and then giggling. D and I are this to a T. And from the examples given, at least now I know we're not weird at all; we're just in love.

Also, I just read that Nick and Jessica split! Can't say I didn't see it coming, but now this leaves Ms. Simpson all out in the open (no pun intended). For those of you who remember all my freaky Jessica dreams, you can bet I'm seriously now considering tracking her down.

For... you know, conversation. Yeeeeees.

Pregnancy Myths

via iVillage.com

This information certainly alleviated some of the thoughts I had - particularly about sleeping on my back AND the whole deal with having an episiotomy. I wonder if I can actually request not having one of those on my birth plan?

28 Sleeps 'til Christmas!

Yesterday was an absolutley amazing day. It started out with a leisurely sleep-in time of about 7am after which we got up - D played WoW for 3 hours and I played Sims2 - before we headed out to begin our Christmas shopping. This was for both presents AND christmas decos.

Since this is our first year together, we put a great deal of effort into deciding what colours to use, how we were going to do it, what colour lights (if coloured at all) to string; all the usual questions one asks when one is about do a tree. And you know what? I'm excited this year, which I think has nothing to do with my impending mommyhood, but more of the fact that I'm totally enjoying myself this year. I'm at home, in my own country, surrounded by my own family and life IS GREAT. I'm finding that, unlike previous years, this Christmas is actually fun for me. I LOVED going out yesterday with my love, and buying presents and deciding what to buy for the tree and did we want to get table decorations too? (so much to consider!) Oh and did you know that you can't buy the little baubles that have hooks on them anymore? (At least up here) I knew; I just forgot so I didn't buy any hooks so we couldn't put the tree up last night. (It's probably just as well, it's abit early isn't it?)

Even Friday was an awesome day - my Mamala and my sister came up for the afternoon and we went out shopping; originally to go grocery shopping (which we did do) but we also ended up in Salvos where I picked up some more baby clothes and a baby bouncer-seat thing. (How descriptive was that!?) Mamala also brought up my changing table for me, and it actually looks really good as-is, only it doesn't go with anything so it's gotta be rubbed back and repainted white.

Today we're not quite done and still have some things to do, so we're heading down the coast to look at some rugs that are on sale, as well as look at some fitness equipment. We both want an oscillating machine (god knows I'll need one after the baby is born) and a bench with some weights.

It's pissing down rain at the moment which is just irritating me because when D did our laundry yesterday, he set the machine and we left the house; when we got home last night neither of us put it out so now it's reeking of dampness and mustiness so it needs to be rewashed (along with the second load of stuff waiting to be done) and because it's raining, I can't go hang it on the line. (No dryer)

Anyway, must get ready to head out and go wake up my sleeping Canadian.

A Sense of Loss

Happy BELATED Turkey Day everyone!

I can't tell you how much I really am missing this holiday this year. I don't know whether it's just the yummilicious food (and god there's always so much isn't there?!) or the company or the weather, or a combination of all three. Or maybe it's the fact that as soon as today is over with, everything Christmas comes out and soon it'll be snowing and beyond that, MORE festivities which will include so.much.food!

Anyway, I hope everyone celebrating has a wonderful day and evening, and go mad stuffing yourselves with all that incredibly, deliciously mouthwatering food. I'm wishing I was right there with you!

Australia Isn't THAT Rough.

D and I woke up late this morning; late as in almost 7am. He generally leaves the house to go to work between 7am-7:20am, so being that we woke up late, he left late and so will probably arrive at work a little late. I should probably care about that but I don't. I wanted him to stay home today.

Mamala gave me a call yesterday morning, saying something about being at the Salvos and did I want a cheap changing table? I grilled her about it: Is it in good nick? Are there any scratches or dents? What colour is it? Is it tall enough for me? How much is it? You sure there's nothing wrong with it? It's in good condition? Yes, I'm anal about these things. As it turns out, apparently it's in pretty decent condition, and is a light pine colour and has wheels. WHEELS! My baby will have her own set of wheels before I do; that's both depressing and sad.

At any rate, it's wooden so I'm assuming pretty sturdy and she did say D would be able to rub it back and we can repaint it. I also need to get a new changing mat for it, something a bit softer than what's currently on it, and then just to decide what colour scheme I'm going to do. Even though our ultrasound showed we're having a girl, I can't let myself run out and buy all pink sheets and pink frillies, just in case we end up with a little boy.

So I'm pretty sure we're going to strip back the table and paint it white, and then I'll decide what to do with it from there. Right now her bedroom is really rather stark, and definitely needs some colour to it. I think I'll stick with neutrals for now, with a splash of light colour probably in the form of pinks and blues and greens and yellows. I don't know. I could very well be out shopping this weekend and come across a single bed sheet set that I have to have and the decision will then be completely out of my hands.

And speaking of shopping, we're heading out this weekend to do a spot of Christmas shopping. D's been dropping hints of all kinds of things he wouldn't mind owning for the past few weeks, and like a good wife-to-be, I've taken notice and written mental notes. Of course, given the state I'm in, I probably should have written them down on paper, but it's abit late for that now. I pretty well know what I'm going to buy him, and I think he's going to dig it.

Of course I'd tell you internet, but since he visits the site every so often, it would defeat the purpose of wrapping the gifts for him in the first place.

OH OH OH... D's residency came through yesterday. He went down to Immigration and they stamped his passport which now makes him a LEGAL alien for the next FOUR years!! But then he has to get his hotty ass out of the country by the 17th November 2009 or the feds will bust down our door and verbally, physically and sexually assault him until he screams "Uncle" and runs screaming to the airport. I'm joking of course. Aussie Feds aren't that brutal. They at least lube you up before they start ramming you. Which is more courtesy than I can say for Steve Irwin and all of his shennanigans with animals.

Anyway. Not sure what I'm going to be up to today; I started writing again last night so I may go back to that today and see what I can get done. Ideally I'd like to hook up my other 2 harddrives and pull everything off them so they can be formatted. Besides, I have years of journal writing on those drives, I'd like to have abit of a reread and eventually put those back up online - when I get my own domain of course.

My child seems to have shifted position again: she's now hovering around the right side of my belly, and the sensation is similar to that of something clawing right beneath my ribs in an effort to get around to my kidneys. Why she'd want to get around there I have no idea, but I think it may have something to do with the fact that my bladder is no longer the sole source of amusement that it once was.

My French Name Is...

Your French name is Ciel which means 'sky'.

You are a day dreamer. You sit and stare at the clouds, wishing that you could be somewhere else. You love to imagine what life could be like if you were someone else, somewhere else. You are curious and sometimes inattentive.


What is your French name? via Quizilla


Yep, this is pretty well accurate.

Stolen from Chaos With Class.

Thoroughly Annoyed

Why is it whenever I find a really neat site to shop from, I find out they don't ship to Australia? Silver Jewellery Club is the newest site I've found that only ships within the US. It's not fair! QVC doesn't ship internationally, Sephora doesn't ship internationally and half the shit at amazon doesn't ship internationally either! It's not fair AT ALL and yes I'm aware I sound like a whining child about it.

PS: The dog across the back hasn't stopped howling since 7am this morning. I'm going mental.

What is a Letter if Not the Beginning of a Name?

I say this because I have just stumbled upon a blog whose writer has the SAME NAME as me. Wow. This has never happened to me before, so I got sheerly excited over it. Which brings me to my point, really: I know alot of you don't know my name. You only know it begins with an "e".

Some years ago, back when I had one (of like a thousand) domains, and my blog was MUCH better than this one in terms of content (because it was all angst ridden and I was writing about my relationship like it was constantly christmas and I was getting presents every day, but nowhere near as good as that) so therefore I had a lot of readers, I had decided to forgo using my real name incase certain people found my blog and reported it back to my ex. At that time, unbeknownst to me, he'd installed a nifty little program on my machine that tracked everything I did and everywhere I went, and well, basically everything. (He later got wise and put it on the server where I couldn't find it)

I am also intensely paranoid. I believe this also stems from my ex in part, because you tend to get that way after you've cheated on someone and don't want to be caught. Or, even before that point, when you think you're falling in love with someone else, even though that other person might be married with a family on the way... Or even in another state. But I digress.

So I stopped using my real name years and years ago, and chose to use a myriad of pseudonyms instead; changing them as often as I changed my layouts (which was damn near once a month). Eventually I got tired of that, and for awhile did not publish under any name at all. And then, after a few years of that, I thought bugger this, and began publishing under the first letter of my first name - "e". This suited me fine, and at the time, there weren't that many "e" people floating around the internet. At least, none that I knew of, and back then blogsurfing was as critical for me as breathing. In short, I read alot of blogs.

Some of you obviously know my name; some of you I talk to every single day, some of you I email weekly and some of you I haven't spoken to in years. Some of you I deeply love, even though we've never met but will someday.

At any rate, I know there are alot of you who have wanted to know what my name is for a little while now, so without further ado, I present to you swirlspice.

A Decision Has Been Made, I Think

My whole pram/stroller debacle is of course what I'm referring to. After speaking with Mamala this morning, we've decided (for the sake of my own sanity) to wait until after the little parasite is born, and go shopping WITHOUT aids of any kind, and THEN decide what to do. I must admit this is a really good idea. If I can do the grocery shopping with my small bundle of screams joy in the trolley seat, laying down and peacefully screaming sleeping, then I won't need to worry over getting a stroller until she's around 3-4 months old. I like that plan.

I can't believe she's going to be here soon. Pretty soon it's going to be December and she'll BE HERE IN FEBRUARY. That's like.. 8 weeks. OH MY GOD. Right now, it's down to 11 and a half weeks. Soon it'll be eight. And then six. And then four. And then ohmygod I'm having contractions and have to finish my post now or I'll birth right here in the computer room. (I know, not pretty)

In other news, the MiL called the other day, and rattled off her neverending list of baby stuff she's planning on sending over. Of course, she's sending it all via ship because it's the cheapest way to go, and if she sends everything tomorrow, there's a 40% chance it'll arrive before the baby is born. If she waits much longer, then we won't get anything until way after the birth, and all her newborn gear will go to waste. It takes between 6-8 weeks to travel via cargo ship from the US at the best of times, so I don't know how long it's going to take coming from Canada, and that does not take into account how long customs will keep it at the docks for inspection. Probably at least a month - maybe more being that it's christmas-time and there's going to be a shit load of things waiting for check-in. I'm actually wondering if I'll get to see any of it before we leave for Canada in May for a month. I suppose only time will tell.

I did tell her not to bother sending over the second hand car seat she bought, because Australian standards and Canadian standards (while both commonwealth countries) are alot different, and legally I couldn't use the Canadian carseat over here. She agreed to keep it, and we'll use it when we go back to visit; after that she can toss it or sell it or do whatever she wants with it. I'm not sure what she's going to do with the crib she bought (after she was told we weren't using one) and I've since found out she also has a bassinet which she'd had for awhile, apparently, but it is on loan to one of her friends. (Not sure why she would have both bassinet AND a crib though - oh well) She also mentioned a bunch of other things she has for us, clothes and clothes and more clothes and did I mention clothes? Plus spoons and forks - which I believe are also used, so I'm not at all sure I'll be using them. D and I have become very prim about this whole thing, I fear. I don't really want to start my child out with used silverware. At any rate, there are some things she's sending that I'm looking forward to seeing; mostly I'm just hoping it'll all arrive before the baby does.

The Husband To End All Husbands

Kevin Federline. No, seriously. I know you think he's just a piece of white trash who got lucky enough to marry the equally trashy Britster, but really, if you read this article, you'll just see what a great guy he really is. So articulate, so educated, so... well you'll just have to read it for yourself.

For real, yo.

It's One of Those Days

I'm so bored today. It's hot out, and even though there's a bit of a breeze, it's not blowing in the windows, it's blowing around the house in general so the house is warmer than I'd like it to be.

In an attempt to alleviate the boredom, I played WoW for a few hours, and then decided that it's still a really boring game and I probably shouldn't have hooked up the second account again.

Now I'm not sure what to do. I'd love to go swimming - or at the very least, find a large body of water and sit in it - or just go out and about. D's at work, my brother is playing a game and I can't even ring Mamala cause she's out with Nanna. I'm even too bored to take a nap, even though I slept horribly last night.

Joke of the Day

My brother sent me this joke, and I felt the need to share it.


What happened when Jesus went to Mount Olive?

Popeye kicked the shit out of him.

Oh, the Conundrums.

Went out yesterday with Mamala and my brother, out baby furniture shopping. The first place we stopped in at was Babies Galore and I immediately spotted an entire row of bassinets. This pleased me more than you could imagine since on Thursday night, Mamala and I spent hours on the phone going through various baby websites in the hopes of finding somewhere to buy a non-expensive (read: less than $300) bassinet and we were coming up woefully short.

At any rate, all of their bassinets were on sale, from $170 down to $150 so naturally I bought one. A lovely white one that I can dress up with varying colours of lace, AND make up my own bed sheets because I'll be bloody buggered paying $35 or more! The baby industry must do VERY well over here in Australia; there certainly isn't any worthwhile competition out there to bring prices down.

But it's going to be wonderful making up these things instead of buying them. I've already decided she's going to sleep on satin sheets in the summer and a wool rug in her bassinet for the winter. Of course, that's only provided she doesn't grow so fast she ends up in her single bed before winter.

From there we headed down into Nerang to Pram City because I wanted to have a look at some strollers and prams, and since Babies Galore is outrageously expensive, there was no way in hell I was going to pay their prices. (Anything above $400 for a PRAM is way too exorbitant in my opinion) I did find a lovely pram that converts into a stroller for $270, made by Steelcraft which the saleslady practically talked me out of buying it because I'd really have much better luck and overall karmic happiness if I bought the $500 or even the $600 pram. Of course I bought neither, but did end up leaving the store empty handed.

Basically now I'm just in a conundrum and am faced with these perplexing questions: How often am I really going to use this thing? The baby won't be able to keep her neck up on her own until 3+ months along, so wouldn't it just be better to wait until that point and buy a cheaper stroller? How am I supposed to go grocery shopping and push both a trolley AND a pram at the same time? And when we start taking her out places, to parks and zoos and such, I will have a stroller by that time and won't really need the luxury of a pram, will I? You see how vexed I am.

It seems that's the only part of this whole "new mommy" thing I'm having trouble with. I've already decided she's not getting her HepB shot at birth, nor for the first year of life. She's not getting the menigicoccal or the pneumenococcal shots either since I'm not unconvinced that those types of "innoculations" don't cause something else anyway.

I know what bottles I'm using, even though I'll be breastfeeding until she's teething. I know what breast pump and sterilization unit I'll be buying. I know that I'm not going to be buying a baby monitor - the house echoes enough without adding to it; I will hear when she's crying or fussing. I know what to use for cradle cap, nappy rash and thrush.

So why is the prospect of getting a pram vs a stroller absolutely kicking my ass?

I Passed

Called up my Dr. this morning and am happy to report I've passed my glucose test for gestational diabetes. Woot! This means I don't have it, and now won't have to do the 3hour test! Huzzah!!

A Little Bit of This... A Little Bit of That

So I went in for my glucose test today. I ended up eating 2 pieces of toast with jam and had a cuppa tea before I went in, because it really wouldn't have done me very well to show up on an empty stomache and be expected to keep down 50g of ULTRA SWEET sugary drink.

Up until this point, I'd always been led to believe that I was going to be drinking raw glucose. Yes I know - YUCK. But that's what I'd always believed. Today, however, that myth was just that: a myth. It wasn't pure glucose (thank god!) but instead a highly, excessively sugary slightly carbonated soda drink. I'd been told sometimes it tastes like orange soda, sometimes coke... I had the great misfortune of getting lemonade flavoured gunk. 50g worth. Bigger than the mini-cans of soda, but smaller than the 375ml cans. I was rather intimidated by it - I probably should have saved the bottle, taken a photo and uploaded it for you to see. Blech.

Anyway. My Doctor had told me I would have 10 mins to drink it in, and then would have to sit in the pathology office for an hour before they took 3 vials of my blood. I was cool with that. Turns out, he was wrong. I had to drink that shit in FIVE minutes (and they timed me.. "You need to up the pace on that.") and about half an hour later, Mamala and I were informed we could go for a walk. When we expressed our confusion about that, the lady looked at us as though we were quite insane and informed us that if I was having the FULL test which takes THREE hours, then yes I'd have to sit there, but not for the small test I was having today.

So we walked across the street, I bought a skirt and a dress, and then wandered across to Vinnies and I bought a few more baby things. I never thought I'd be buying used and secondhand baby clothes, but when some of the things I find are BRAND NEW, there's just no way I can leave them behind. And for 50c, $1, $2... Why would I?

Anyway, so we went back to the pathology building afterward, I got my blood drawn and they made sure I wasn't dizzy or close to vomiting (apparently the soda type drink can make you do that...in which case they can't administer the test and you have to do it again), sucked out my blood and sent me merrily on my way.

We ended up heading up to the Pines Shopping Center in Elanora (QLD) and into PillowTalk where I picked up 6 bamboo place mats for my brand new dining table. It looks so awesome now; I totally LOVE buying stuff for my house.

And on Friday I go shopping for my baby! I'm terribly excited about that as I haven't done any yet really, and I figure since I only have 12 weeks to go before she's here, I really ought to get a move on and at least buy her a bed. Or a chest of drawers that can double as a bed.

Oh and PS: Looks like D has the week off. OI!

It's Getting the Best of Me

I think it knows it too. I am, of course, referring to my pregnancy and all that I'm now enduring. I say enduring because while I love being pregnant, I don't love the forgetfulness so much. Or the swelling, and there's lots of that. Or the clumsiness - dear god the clumsiness!!

We're 27 weeks gestational this week, and I'm heading down to Mamala's today to stay overnight so we can head to the pathology unit tomorrow and do my glucose test. I didn't get it done the last time I thought I would because it turned out to be a little too early. So, tomorrow it is. I'm not dreading it AS much as I was, since learning that it's a sugary drink and not pure glucose (like I was lead to believe). So knowing that, I now know I can probably keep it down and not throw it up so I shouldn't be there for too much longer than an hour and a half. Evidently we drink the sugar and then wait an hour before a blood test is done. Hooray. I'm not allowed to walk around at all either because apparently that messes with the sugar digestion (or something) and can throw off the test. I don't want the test to be anything less than accurate.

And of course I believe I don't have gestational diabetes (but then to my own credit I thought for 5 months I was having a boy and it turns out I'm not) but you never do know, do you? Even though it would make sense to only get tested if you were showing symptoms of it... Anyway, so yes the test is finally tomorrow and I don't know when I'll end up getting the results back on that.

Also tomorrow the pest control people come in! FINALLY! I'm going insane with all the moths in the house. I honestly don't have a freaking clue where they're coming from, only that they seem to migrate into the pantry (somehow, the door is always shut) and stay there. We don't have any open bags of flour either, or rice so they're not nesting (do moths even nest?) in there. And any foodstuffs that are open, are sealed up nicely so they still can't get into it. I'm running out of thoughts about how these filthy creatures keep getting in my pantry.

Today our new lounge suite arrives! Huzzah!! Our nice long 3 seater and matching 2 single seaters. Too exciting.

In other exciting news, D applied for residency through his work last week and that the process takes about 2 weeks? I was wrong, sadly. It takes LESS than 2 weeks. In fact, it only took ONE week. While I am over the moon completely that he's gotten residency (we're just now waiting for the Visas to arrive) for 4 years, I'm a little annoyed that it came so soon because we were really hoping he'd have a week off from work. Believe me, he needs it. I keep telling him he should blog about his workplace, but so far he hasn't had the inclination. Anyway so my point here is they told him to go to work today, assuming that the Visa would be there. If it isn't, they'll send him home. I'm half hoping they'll send him home today; his contract expired last Friday and since he's only allowed to work at one establishment for 3 months ONLY (on his travelling work visa) then it's now illegal for him to keep working at the same place today, unless his permenant residency visa arrives. Fingers crossed that it comes this week, but not today so he can come home.

Wow I feel like there's so much to write about, even though I only have a few things left to say before I sign off and go have a shower and prepare to head out today.

My little parasite has been moving around ALOT the last few days. She actually got right under my left hip bone the other day and started tickling me somehow - my eyes bulged out wide and freaky-like as I realized what she was doing, and during a quick conversation with Garth (who was sitting beside me at the time) telling him what she was doing, I poked her rapidly a couple of times and she moved. Thank christ, is all I can say. It's bad enough to have some asshat tickle you mercilessly on the OUTSIDE and won't stop; it's something completely different to get tickled from the INSIDE and not know HOW to stop it. Or if you even can. I hope she doesn't try that again any time soon.

I can't believe we're going to be at 30 weeks gestational in just 3 weeks. Time has flown by SO quickly, it's really rather unbelievable. I was saying to Mamala the other day how much I'm loving being pregnant, but that I'm going to miss it big time too. Right now my little parasite is exclusively mine. If I don't want to be touched, nobody will touch me and therefore nobody can touch her. If I want to be selfish and not let anyone feel her kicking, I can be. But in just 12 short weeks once she's here, I will have no more of that kind of control. I don't want to keep it, of course, because I want everyone to share in her love and presence, but it was just interesting to note that while she exclusively mine right now, she won't be for much longer.

I guess that will be my first lesson in letting go.

To Say I'm A Domestic Goddess Might Be A Tad Far-Fetched

Though I'm really, really trying. When we moved into the house, I was so excited and so happy because not only do I get my own living space again, but now I can start doing wifey, and more importantly, MOMMY type things. Like cooking. Cooking is essential for every day living.

When I was with my ex, he cooked most of the time simply because he was better at it than me. And he probably still is. I've never known anyone who could cook so good. Of course back then I ate bugger all so I didn't truly appreciate it - not that way I appreciate food now, anyway. But, I digress.

I've always known how to cook. I just prefer not to, because I don't especially like to, and I've never made that a secret. My ex knew it before I moved in with him, and my current knows it as well. But, because things are rapidly changing in our household, I decided to get with the times and start cooking dinners.

You've no idea how excited I was to do this. My first time making an actual meal for my beloved, and I wanted it to turn out right. I didn't want any hassles, any problems; in short, I didn't want anything to go wrong and I EXPECTED everything to go right. I was wrong.

It turns out that having a fan-forced oven dramatically changes the way you cook. In the beginning, I thought this was neat because it's supposed to cut your cooking time down and supposed to cook everything better over all. I will heartily disagree with this. I've never in my LIFE had to deal with such a shit piece of equipment before! I absolutely HATE it. Nothing comes out right. The chicken is always overdone because even though the instructions say to bake at 180 for 35mins, the chicken IS NOT COOKED. So I throw it back for another half an hour, and by the time it's ready, it's dry and tasting thoroughly like cardboard. ALL THE FREAKING TIME.

Steak and porkchops are the same. I go by the instructions and they ALL come out dry and tasteless. And in the beginning I was wondering if it was me, if I just really didn't know how to cook anything. But then my brother, who is a fairly good cook in his own right, started using the oven and even HE found it difficult. So I don't take it so personally anymore; I know the oven isn't discriminating against ME per se, it just hates everybody equally. Meanwhile, I have to figure out a way to cook all my meats so they're COOKED properly, all while maintaining their flavour and juiciness.

I guess I won't hold my breath though.

WordPress

Thanks to the Complimenting Complimenter I now have a wordpress account. Yay! The only bad thing about it, is that in order for me to make my own templates or edit the existing ones, I need to have the application installed somewhere first. Doh. It's not as easy as blogger, what with the editing of templates right in the dashboard. It's a little bit inconvenient, actually, because now this means I am going to have to go get an account someplace so I can ftp in.

Unless, of course, I'm doing it wrong and I don't need an account someplace afterall. Apparently I do need to install it somewhere though, if I want to make any changes and edits. Hmm...

//edit 12:08pm: Okay, so I figured out that yes I need somewhere to upload all these wonderful files. From what I can understand, it's similar to Moveable Type but with some noteable differences. Also from what I understand, I'm going to have to register a domain in order to upload all my files, since my darling D's host isn't supporting PHP on his plan. Now I have to figure out a domain to register.

Sigh.

We Don't Have to Sit on the Floor Anymore!

Because now we have furniture!!! I've uploaded new pictures into FlickR, but you can just go quickly here instead and see them. We so love our new stuff, and now that our place is getting more to be looking like an abode rather than a shell that simply protects us from the rain, we've all decided we really feel rather rich right now. ;)

In other news, D ran his 5km marathon last night... Well, almost! He walked 1.5km but ran the rest of the distance. I'm SO proud of him, it's such an achievement. God knows even not being pregnant there is no way I could do something like that. And the amazing thing, he'd only been preparing for it for a week! But, he was aching last night; thighs, calves, ass, feet... Even his arms and shoulders were stiff. I gave him a nice massage after he got out of the shower, and he started feeling a little bit better. I'm not sure how he's doing today, since he left for work before I had a chance to really wake up and talk to him.

Mamala and Nanna headed up to Bundaberg yesterday morning and arrived in the early afternoon to visit with my Aunt and Uncle (Mamala's brother and sister in law). My Uncle is quite multi-talented: builder, boater and now pilot. His plane (that HE BUILT!!) goes up for it's inaugral flight today around 1pm which is what they wanted to see. I think eventually my Uncle is going to go for his commercial pilot license, but I'm not sure how far in the future that's going to be.

Baby was kicking around ALOT yesterday, so I'm wondering if she's going to do the same today. My belly was jumping all over the place as she moved and poked and punched and kicked. It was so incredible though, I can't even describe it. And as we were laying on the NEW COUCH last night watching House MD, D had his hand on my stomache and every so often would feel her move and ask, "Was that her?" "Her again?" My responses to him was, "She's talking back to you, hon." Of course that brought a HUGE grin to his face. He's going to be such a great daddy, and god knows our child is going to totally be Daddy's Little Princess. Maybe I should register that and set up a blog on it in prep for her 16th birthday.

More Good News

As if yesterday's news wasn't enough, there's more that I forgot to tell you about as well! I know I haven't mentioned our smallish infestation we've been having, mainly because it's just too gross to think about, but since that's soon to be done with, I will now mention it.

We have larvae things that look like maggots which climb their way up our pantry walls and slide into the corners of the ceiling and cocoon themselves. I think these things are moth larvae, but I honestly don't know for sure. We've been killing them as fast as we see them but we have absolutely no idea how to stop them coming back. Thankfully they're not climbing into the food in the pantry.

I got in touch with our realtor's assistant (who is absolutely amazing) yesterday about that; originally she had called me to find out about the phone bill (we get reimbursed for the line connection fee etc) and so I told her then about our problem. Within a few hours, she'd contacted the owner of the house and gotten approval for pest control to come in and do a full spray. Pest control called yesterday saying they'd be out on Tuesday around noon and we have to leave the house for 2 hours.

I'm all for this, obviously, except for one minor detail: Will this spray kill our gecko? I don't want him to die.

So now I have to call the pest control people today and find out about that, and to also find out if I have to cover all my furniture and what I should do about all the food in the pantry. I've never had my house sprayed before, both inside and out, so this is a whole new thing for me. But I'm excited!

Now if only the owner of the place would put in reverse cycle airconditioning and a normal, freestanding clothesline.

I Am Getting Furniture

Truly, I am. For those of you unaware of my entire furniture horror saga, a quick recap will be in order. For those of you aware of it, you can reread or skip down abit.

[Begin Recap...]
We went into the furniture store on October 1st and bought a beautiful lounge and dining suite. (Domayne for those of you in Australia) We were told we'd have the furniture in 4 weeks, which we were shocked at, but agreed to - after all, we did get financing through them and you can't really be that picky. So 4 weeks comes and goes, and I call them up and ask what the hell is going on with our furniture, and when can we expect it? I'm informed that the dining table has already arrived and for an additional $75 delivery fee, we can have the furniture delivered separately - the couch was due to go into transport from Sydney on the 1st November and would take approximately 2 weeks to arrive, depending on the carrier. (Because you all know how SLOW and STEADY truckers drive)

I'm not happy with this of course, but there isn't too much I can do, so I hang up. Yesterday I called back to see what the hell was going on, because nobody had called to let us know anything, and if the couch (by some miracle) had indeed arrived, then I would like to know when it was going to be delivered. The girl on the phone tells me it should have gone into transport on the 1st according to her computer, and arrive this week, but now she's going to have to track it down and call me back. Ok good, maybe we'll get to the bottom of this now. She calls me back, and lo and behold... it's going to take ANOTHER 2 weeks because the couch isn't even FINISHED yet!!!!!!!! It's still in the freaking warehouse in Sydney, waiting for the fabric to arrive (and arrive from where, I have NO idea). So now, our entire furniture set which was supposed to have only taken ONE month to arrive, will now take approximately TWO months. We're looking at around December for it to get here.

So, obviously that's not good enough, right? I mean, wouldn't YOU be pissed off if you're living in a house with no furniture since late September? So, my brother and I hash it out last night and decide we're going to cancel the order as long as it's okay with D, and we're going to go in and do it today. D says yes, cancel the order, we're not buying through them EVER again; they've dicked us around enough.
[End Recap...]

Okay! So, now, today we go in to the store and immediately request to speak with the franchise manager, Pete. Pete's a nice guy, and wonders how he can help us, and why. We give him the rundown, including about our sales guy and how unhappy we were with everything we've been put through, and that we're now in store to cancel the order.

He asks us if there's anything he can do to save the order from being cancelled. I told him no, that we're pretty well tired of dealing with people from your store. He nodded in sympathy and continued looking through our account trying in vain to get us to reconsider.

And then he said the magic words. Okay so I don't remember exactly what they were but the word "discount" was mentioned alot. Then he asked if he could show us some floor models of lounge suites that were available for purchase.

In short, we stayed with Domayne, got an upgraded lounge suite that would have ordinarily brought our order total up to $6.5k and we got it for $4.7k - not a bad deal at all! And, not only is that good... Since the lounge we want is a brand new model and was only released a few days ago, the stock has to come from Brisbane because they don't have any at the store, so in the interim while we're waiting for the new suite to come in, they're LENDING us the floor model 3 seater until Monday when the actual new suite arrives. So that's coming today, along with our dining suite.

Honestly, it's amazing what can happen when you talk to the franchise manager of a store!

Feeling Jipped

I had two false negative pregnancy tests so I was in denial for the first two months. I didn't get to take a photo of the test with the little markings that scream, "Yes, you're pregnant!!"

I didn't get to have a recording of any of my ultrasounds, because people are worried they'll get sued if an abnormality shows up, and they didn't catch it. (Somehow stills don't show that?!)

I have no 4-D scans of my baby. Other people get them. Other people get full DVDs of their baby moving and turning and stretching and sucking her/his thumb. Not me though. I wonder if that's just an Australian thing, or because I'm using the public health system.

Either way it sucks and I feel jipped.

Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction

I think I may have a mild case of this. For those of you who don't know, this can sometimes happen during pregnancy. Basically all this means is that the ligaments surrounding the pubic bone and the bones on either side of the bottom of your spine drift apart - as is the case anyway since ligaments and things are all shifting around as your body changes. What makes this a little bit different than normal, is that it happens too early in the pregnancy, and is rather painful, particularly at night. If you're interested, you can read more about it at the link below:

• Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction.

I don't know for sure that I even have this, but judging from the pains I experience whenever I lay down, I'm going to go with the fact that I probably am, albeit mildly.

The most common is pain and difficulty when walking. Some women describe the feeling of their pelvis coming apart. The pain is made worse when turning in bed or doing something that involves standing on one leg, such as climbing up stairs, getting dressed and getting in and out of a car.

The pain is generally felt in the pubis and/or the sacro-iliac joints, but can also be experienced in the groin, the inner side of the thighs, the hips and in one or both buttocks.

I'll admit that it sometimes hurts to get dressed standing up, especially when I have to lean forward to pull on a skirt or shorts or something. It hurts more when I'm getting out of the car, and hurts even MORE when I'm sleeping and have to roll over in the middle of the night. They say putting a pillow between your thighs helps alleviate this and other back pains, but I can't attest to that. In fact, in my case, it hasn't helped at all.

I can barely even explain the pain that I feel anyway. It doesn't shoot down the front of my thighs, the pain usually stays localized and feels like it's within the actual pelvic bone (the one that runs between your thighs, I have no idea what that's called) itself. It makes it very difficult to turn from side to side while sleeping, or even getting out of bed to go to the bathroom. Of course, when I do manage to wake up to go to the loo, I can barely walk anyway because the pain is so great. And SOMETIMES I'll get pain in my lower left hip bone, at the back. This was first thought to be sciatica, but after reading through the SPD information, I no longer believe that to be the case.

I have my Dr. appointment on Monday and I'm going to ask him if this is what I have so at least I know, though apparently nothing can be done about it during pregnancy so it's just something I'll have to live with. (Along with the numb hips and thighs, and the numb arms on ocassion...)

I slept badly last night though surprisingly I wasn't in any pain from the SPD, but I did have a back ache that has continued into my waking hours. I think it was because I fell asleep on our makeshift couch last night, which is nothing more than a single spring bed with four blankets ontop that serve as a mattress. It's very bouncy and sags deep in the middle but is surprisingly comfortable; my back now seems to be disagreeing with that.

Not sure what we're doing today, only that it's Saturday and seems to be rather nice out and I do know we're going to be leaving the house, I'm just not sure where we're going. We've been looking at upgrading my computer system for a few months now, so MAYBE we might go and do that... Not that we really have an extra $900 to spend, and I'd rather get the baby some furniture for that, or me some more clothes because god knows I'm fast running out of them! But on the other hand... I REALLY want a new system. I really really do.

Pregnancy Info

Finally getting around to putting all of this information in the one post, so I don't have to keep searching for it.

Conceived: Last week of May 2005

First Pregnancy Test: June 7th - Negative - Home Pregnancy Test

Second Pregnancy Test: July 1st - Negative - Home Pregnancy Test

Third Pregnancy Test: July 8th - Positive - Dr. Office

* * * * * *

First Ultrasound: July 20th
9 weeks old gestational, 3cm long, heartrate 167 beats per minute. Gender: Unknown.

Second Ultrasound: August 19th
14 weeks gestational, 9cm long, heartrate 146 beats per minute. Gender: Unknown.

Third Ultrasound: September 28th
19 weeks gestational, 15cm long, heartrate 143 beats per minute. Gender: Girl.

Estimated Due Date: Feb 11th - Feb 21st 2006

* * * * * *

General Information
August 19th: Nuchal Translucency Test done. Risk factor: 1 in 12000. Moving around on the sonogram screen, but couldn't feel anything. Looked like bub had hiccups.

August 23rd: Felt movement for the first time. Felt like soft fluttering butterfly wings or very, very light vibrations. A few minutes afterward, while sitting on the potty, receieved 2 very distinct pokes in the belly.

September 12th: Changed Doctors, met new Doctor today. Told me the itchy rash I'd been experiencing was dermatitis. Uterus is 18cm long, and we got to hear bubby's "heartbeat" (though it turns out that was just the placental swish, NOT the actual heartbeat).

September 14th: First antenatal book-in at the hospital today. Hospital does partial water-births.

September 28th: The Big Day. Found out bubby is a girl. Heartrate was 143 beats per minute, and roughly 15cm in length. Has all appendages. Head circumference is 4.7cm, feet are 4.3cm long.

October 12th: D felt bubby's kicking for the first time. Was over the moon.

October 18th: Physically saw bubby's kicks in my stomache. VERY active baby. Tumbling and kicking and prodding ALOT.

November 5th: Think I may have Symphisis Pubis Dysfunction. Pubic bone aches and aches and gets worse of a night, or when I'm dressing or getting out of the car. Comes and goes and isn't constant.

November 9th: LOTS of movement again today, I'm wondering what's going on in there. Perhaps Judo training.

November 12th: Again lots of movement, including getting under my left hipbone and tickling me mercilessly. Was not cool. Also feeling more and more clumsy and forgetful.

November 15th: Glucose Testing for Gestational Diabetes. Unpleasant sugary drink that tasted like almost flat lemonade which I had to suck back in a 5 minute period. Didn't gag or throw it up.

November 17th: Passed the Glucose Test with flying colours.

November 18th: Went furniture shopping for the first time. Bought the bassinet which I just love. All white, but can be dressed up in whatever colour accents I want. Found a pram I liked, but was unsure on whether to buy that or a stroller - saleslady tried getting me to buy a $600 pramette.

November 24th: Got my changing table from Mum who picked it up at Salvos really cheap. It's light pine so will need to be sanded back and repainted, but I got it anyway!

December 2nd: Been sick for a week now; sinus infection.

December 13th: Antenatal appointment at the hospital. Got to hear the heartbeat FOR REAL this time - sounds like a really fast paced tennis match. Heartrate was 148 beats per minute, weighs approximately 4lbs and is currently breech. Signed bubs up for her Vitamin K shot at birth, and declined the HepB vaccination.

December 18th: Arms have been itching for a while now, feels like something under my skin that I can't quite reach. It seems to come most frequently when it's really hot out, or if I'm sweating. It's not constant, but we're monitoring it to be sure it's not cholestasis. So far the itching has not been consistent to the point where that's ALL I'm doing - seems to get a bit worse of a night time, or during the day when it's super hot.

Am feeling more and more uncomfortable in the pregnancy now, finding it difficult to get up and down out of the couch, and misjudging my own personal space so I'm walking into opened doors and things more frequently. Thankfully there have been no belly burns from the stove top - even though it came close!

December 23rd: Doctor checkup today, uterus is about 33cm long now. Once again heard the placental swish; hopefully Doc can make out the heartbeat cause I can't. Brought my due date from the 21st Feb to the 11th Feb. Not coughing nearly as much now, and no nasal drain to speak of. I think the remnants of my earlier sinus infection is finally going.

December 29th: At mums for the night, heading to antenatal appointment tomorrow morning early. Bubby's moving around like a maniac, kicking and squirming and flopping and diving - mum got to see my belly jumping all over the place as she moved around in there. The right side of my belly was protruding grotesquely at one point as she shifted position and I'm of the firm belief she was mooning us!

December 30th: Antenatal appointment at the hospital. Baby is PERFECT. Uterus still around 33cm long with her heartrate up at 154 beats per minute. She was SO active, the midwife couldn't believe it. She kept stating how responsive the baby is, and how awesome that was. Bubby shifted out of the breech position and is head down, planted at the birth canal, ready to be born when the time comes. Going to keep an eye on it and make sure she doesn't shift again and stay breech - don't want a C-Section.

January 3rd: Decided I would go for the Cholestasis blood test, this coming Friday. Takes a week for the results to come back. Had a bath yesterday for the first time since being back in Australia (9mths). Think bubs could feel the submersion as she started wriggling around for the first 10 minutes I was in the water. Think she might have liked it.

January 6th: Went for my cholestasis testing. Won't know the results until next Friday. Ate a small mint beforehand, but had fasted the required 12 hours so hope that didn't really interfere.

January 13th: Went in for my antenatal appointment today. Everything looks awesome! Baby's heartrate was 120 beats per minute; a significant drop from last time, but still very strong and very healthy nonetheless. The midwife was very happy with the results, and bubs is still down in the correct non-breech position. Uterus is measuring 35cm long, and we are officially in our 36th week beginning tomorrow. I will now see the midwives every week until baby is born. No results yet on the cholestasis test; they will call me if it's not a good result. New appointment booked for next Friday, and next Sunday I have the tour of the maternity ward. Also had my last round of testing for antibodies and hemoglobin, plus had vaginal swabbing done for strepB. Had to do that myself; hope I did it right!

Did more shopping today; picked up 24 cloth nappies and pins, got the pram off layby and Mum and I put it together (works well!), picked up a gorgeous little skirt for her to be brought home in. Also picked up some mattress protectors for the bassinet and a tea tree pillow - was going to buy the tea tree mattress but they were out of stock and are having a hard time getting them in from the supplier. I'm hoping to get one from BigW in Logan tomorrow.

January 15th: Woke up last night scratching the top of my left arm. Woke up D from all the scratching, so I put on some DermaVeen - it took about 5 mins to sink in and stop itching. Shortly afterward, my right arm started itching though not nearly as badly and went away within a few minutes.

January 16th: Dr Palin called to give me the results of the cholestasis test. Bile salt count was 11, which is very high for having fasted before hand. He said he would recommend having me induced at 38wks as prevention for anything going wrong. (like sudden fetal death syndrome or stillbirth) I go back to the midwives on Friday and will talk more about it with them. Dr Palin also suggests that I have the cholestasis test redone, which I will discuss with the midwives on Friday.

Also woke up this morning with aching legs and pelvis - think I must have slept wrong. Legs were a little numb as well.

January 17th: Happy BDay Garth! Called Dr Palin back to see if he thought it was necessary to retest for Cholestasis. He said that once it's been diagnosed, it's pretty well accurate and by the time we'd get the new results back it would be too late and I'd mostly likely already be induced by then so there was little point. He did inform me he's referred me to the senior OB on duty for Friday instead of talking with the midwives, so that we can discuss everything that's going on. He thinks the senior OB might not think being induced is necessary, given my itchies aren't so constant. We'll see.

January 18th: Was laying on the couch and got up when Garth came home this afternoon. Half turned to face him in the kitchen and suddenly saw lots of little black spots in front of my eyes. Not sure what these are, going to check with the docs on Friday.

January 19th: Woke up this morning with an achy pelvis again, as well as achiness in the tops of my thighs. I'm wondering if she's laying on a nerve.

January 20th: See post

January 21st: Went out this morning and picked up baby's carseat and had it installed into our car. The good news is that D was able to take it out and put it back in again with no problem; the bad news is that because our car is so small, the passenger seat has to be pushed all the way forward so the carseat fits in the backseat. This makes for alot of uncomfortable squishing and cramping for me.

Also, with Mamaala's assistance (her car primarily) we brought the chest of drawers (that I won at the tender center) home to my place, and Garth and D hauled it out of the car and put it in bubbys room for me. Mum and I then set about cleaning up her room and putting things away: clothes, books etc to get the room ready.

January 22nd: Came back to Mamala's again for the Maternity Ward hospital tour which turned out to be a little boring. It was nice to see all the rooms, including the 4 birthing rooms - all complete with spa bath!!! - as well as the actual ward rooms: 4 private single rooms, 2 rooms with 2 beds and 2 rooms with 4 beds. I hope like hell there isn't an influx of deliveries on the day we go in! If there aren't many ladies around, and the rooms aren't all taken, we are allowed to ask for one of the private rooms, which are usually reserved for women who have had complications during their pregnancies, and/or deliveries; OR if they've had to have a cesarian. We didn't get to see the rooms though because they were all full, but I imagine they're probably pretty nice.

January 23rd: Going for my Cholestasis retesting today, as well as having my liver checked and some other test for the swelling of my feet. I didn't think they could do that, but apparently they can! This is all bloodwork which I had to fast for AGAIN but this time I won't be eating a mint beforehand, like I did the last time.

Woke up around 130-2am-ish this morning to go potty and ended up staying awake scratching my left arm like a freaking maniac. I had to put 2 loads of DemaVeen on it to stop the itching and it took it's sweet time about stopping, I'll tell you that. It's not looking so bad if I have to be induced now - I cannot stand the scratching!!

January 25th: Antenatal appointment at the hospital. New bile salt results not back yet - should be back by Feb 1st, next appt. Liver test came back normal, as did general blood work. Went back to using original due date of Feb 11th, which makes me 37wks 3days pregnant. Am now considered full term. Doctor doesn't think induction is necessary but won't know for sure until next week when bile salt results come in. Blood pressure is perfect. Did not have internal exam because Doc says it's too early this week - will most likely do that next week. Need to call hospital tomorrow and schedule fetal heartrate monitoring as the wait today was 3-5 hours since all birthing suites were full of labouring women. Uterus measures 38cm long (15inches). Overall, excellent review, and am very happy with results.

February 1st: See post

February 2nd: Think I lost my mucous plug this morning. Had to get up around 2am (NSW) to go to the loo and found blood on the paper afterward. A long stringy thing was there as well as other blood and a little bit of mucousy stuff. It was quite bright, but nothing inside me jumped to the wrong conclusions... Only that this must be what I thought it was. (Doc did mention yesterday it would be normal to have some bleeding after she stretched out the membranes yesterday too)

I did get up once after that to go back to the bathroom and there was still blood, though not as much, and now brownish and not nearly so fresh looking, and I could still feel bubby kicking and moving around so again I wasn't terribly worried about it.

When I got up for real this morning, the blood was gone completely, being replaced only be the faintest brownish smear. Haven't yet decided if this warrants calling the hospital because she's moved around today so far.

...Update 4:30pm: Did lose the plug, but it was this afternoon, not this morning when I first thought. Turns out it's very dark brown and really very sticky. Kinda gross actually but at least now I know I've lost it for real. Been twingey and achey through the pelvis for most of the day on and off.

February 6th: Still pregnant. Still losing the mucous from the plug; evidently it regenerates somewhat. Pelvic region is very tight today, and very full feeling - lots of pressure. Had some twinges/aches around 4-5am-ish this morning but I think those may have just been braxton hicks. Woke up around 1am this morning scratching furiously at my arms - found out that I cannot lay on my left side now because my left arm gets too hot and thus causes the itching. Had to put three lots of DermaVeen on it to get it to stop.

Kira's foot is still wedged up into my rib but does move out on ocassion. I'm at the point where I'm convinced my ribs are bruised now.

Water broke around 11:45pm.

February 7th: Contractions began shortly before midnight, coming 3.5mins to 4mins apart. Called the hospital, headed in. Checked in and was examined - 2cm dilated. Contractions were inconsistently coming at 3mins apart for awhile, then 4-5mins for awhile, then 10mins for awhile and back down again. I was still contracting around 4-5am, midwife Janeen checked me and saw that I was still only 2cm dilated but fully effaced. She suggested a shot of morphine to relax my body since it was under some stress (bubs was fine) which would allow my body to start having regular and consistent contractions. A few hours later, I was at 5cm dilated and allowed in the tub. Around 12:45pm or so, I was 10cm dilated (FINALLY!) and got back on the bed to begin the final hour and a half of hard labour (14 hours of labour total). At 2:11pm, Kira Rose was born, weighing 3.490kg/7lbs 11oz. D delivered her and cut the cord under the careful supervision of midwife Janeen.

February 8th: Tani's 18th birthday. Was shown how to breastfeed somewhat properly, Kira was feeding every 2-3 hours and sleeping very well through the day. Discussed the option of going home early on the dismissal program, and having the midwives come out to Mums house.

February 9th: First Bath. She woke around midnight, and I could not settle her. Was feeding her every 10-15mins and she was still screaming as though she was hungry. Finally had a midwife come in around 3am, to see what all the racket was about, as Kira was screaming and crying uncontrollably and I thought she could not POSSIBLY be hungry. Midwife Anne bathed her to help relax her (we both thought she had wind and hadn't had a bowel movement since the 7th nor many wet nappies) and then asked me if I'd slept with her before. I said no, so she plonked her down next to me, put her on the boob and we both fell asleep.

Fed her on and off upon waking around 6am, every 20-30mins, becoming distressed she was having to feed so often. Asked the midwife on duty if I could go home that day. She said she didn't think it would be a problem, so she spoke to the head matron who okay'd it. (Apparently they needed the beds because of so many pregnant ladies coming in to give birth)

February 10th: First visit from the travelling midwife (Susie) who was very nice. Weighed Kira and found out she'd lost 10% of her birthweight. Said this was normal, but needed to keep an eye on it, so continue to feed her as often as possible. No problem there, seemed like she was forever screaming for food - I didn't think I was producing enough to keep her satisfied. Dropped down to 3.1kg from her 3.49kg at birth.

February 11: Decided to start her on formula as I was absolutely positive she was not getting enough milk from me. Deliberated with D and Mum and we all decided formula was the best option; also purchased a breast pump so we could find out exactly how much milk I was producing. Turns out I had very little - after almost an hour of pumping I had only expressed 20mls of milk. Fed Kira her first bottle of formula (50mls) and she noodled out completely afterward - her tiny body relaxed into a state of almost comatose-ness and she slept for four hours, sated and extremely happy. I then realized I had been starving my child for not having nearly enough breastmilk to keep her from being so hungry. (You can't imagine the guilt that flooded through me)

Did research on the breastmilk supply issue, and found out that indeed I did NOT have enough coming in: not enough wet nappies from just the breastmilk, not nearly enough soiled nappies and obviously the non-weight-gain issue. Continuing to breastfeed and suppliment with the formula.

February 12: Lost umbilicus today. Bellybutton looks like it might be an outie.

February 13: Midwife Susie came back today and weighed Kira again - she shot up 90grams, making her 3.19kg!! Absolutely stoked and over the moon with that. Told Susie we are supping with formula and the reasons why. She didn't seem pleased but she didn't seem displeased either. We're having alot more wet nappies now, though the bowel movements are still coming sporadically; once every other day or so. Susie suggested I eat lots of pears to help aid her digestive system, and/or give her little sips of cooled boiled water through the day. A half teaspoon of brown sugar in her milk was also suggested if no bowel movements were forthcoming.

February 14: Mum's birthday! Came home to Ormeau - the car ride home was a breeze even though I kept checking on her every few minutes. (Don't like the car seat, it's way too bulky) Noticed white on her tongue - possible thrush?

February 17: Possible first smile that wasn't wind. Huge, wide mouthed grins that came while I was playing with her chin and tickling under it, as well as her cheeks. First outing to the Logan Hyperdome (Mall) and she did excellently! Had some watery spit-up when we arrived, which I think was due in part to the heat and possibly the motion of the car driving, being that she's not used to it. No fussing whatsoever.

February 18: Took her down to the chemist to get her weighed (3.5kg with nappy on) and asked chemist about the white on her tongue. Chemist suggested thrush, but speak with doctor to be sure. Went next door to local doctor, made appointment. Doctor confirmed thrush and starting her on Nilstat, 1ml 3x day. Decided to cut the dosage down to a 1/2ml 3x day so she wouldn't vomit it back up on the pretense that that's what happened with me when I was a baby.

Second outing today, this time to Robina town center. Excellently behaved again - SOO proud of her! No fussing, no screaming, no crying (save for feeding time). SUCH a good baby.

February 19: Thrush is starting to show signs of clearing up. Downside to the medication is that she's waking up halfway through her sleeps; Nilstat is keeping her awake and alert. Usually doesn't take very long for her to go back to sleep, however. She is becoming much more alert and aware of her surroundings. Not showing any recognition of faces yet but knows voices.

February 20: First real smile!!(?) I leaned in close to her face so she could see me, said something to her (no idea what) and she gave me a big smile/grin. Couldn't get another one out of her no matter how hard I tried. Doh! Thrush is clearing very well, though she hates the medication. Thinking of increasing it to the full 1ml 3x day.

Woke up very early 3am-ish and D couldn't get her back to sleep. He wasn't in the room when I woke up to her cries, so I got out of bed to get her - turns out he was frustrated that he couldn't get her to sleep - and put her in bed with me. Think all she wanted was the body contact, and the fact that she was quite cold (hands were like little chunks of ice!!!) so I snuggled her into me, kissed and cuddled her and she was out like a light. Woke up once more before 5am fussing, gave her the dummy and cuddled her to me and she fell back asleep no problem.

Information About my Name...and Birthday

Birthday Info:
You entered: 2/1/1976

Your date of conception was on or about 11 May 1975.

You were born on a Sunday
under the astrological sign Aquarius.
Your Life path number is 8.

The Julian calendar date of your birth is 2442809.5.
The golden number for 1976 is 1.
The epact number for 1976 is -1.
The year 1976 was a leap year.

As of 11/2/2005 7:10:52 PM CST
You are 29 years old.
You are 357 months old.
You are 1,552 weeks old.
You are 10,867 days old.
You are 260,827 hours old.
You are 15,649,630 minutes old.
You are 938,977,852 seconds old.
You are 4.253228962818 dog years old. (You're still chasing cats!)

There are 91 days till your next birthday
on which your cake will have 30 candles

Those 30 candles produce 30 BTUs,
or 7,560 calories of heat (that's only 7.5600 food Calories!) .
You can boil 3.43 US ounces of water with that many candles.

In 1976 there were approximately 3.1 million births in the US.
In 1976 the US population was approximately 203,302,031 people, 57.4 persons per square mile.
In 1976 in the US there were approximately 2,152,662 marriages (10.1%) and 1,036,000 divorces (4.9%)
In 1976 in the US there were approximately 1,921,000 deaths (9.5 per 1000)


Your birthstone is Amethyst
The Mystical properties of Amethyst:

Amethyst is used to increase spiritually

Some lists consider these stones to be your birthstone. (Birthstone lists come from Jewelers, Tibet, Ayurvedic Indian medicine, and other sources)

Bloodstone, Onyx, Moonstone


Your birth tree is:

Cypress Tree

The Faithfulness - Strong, muscular, adaptable, takes what life has to give, happy content, optimistic, needs enough money and acknowledgment, hates loneliness, passionate lover which cannot be satisfied, faithful, quick-tempered, unruly, pedantic and careless.

The moon's phase on the day you were
born was new.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Name Info:
You entered: e (full name removed)

There are 16 letters in your name.
Those 16 letters total to 68.
There are 7 vowels and 9 consonants in your name.

Your number is: 5

The characteristics of #5 are: Expansiveness, visionary, adventure, the constructive use of freedom.

The expression or destiny for #5:
The number 5 Expression endows with the wonderful characteristic of multi-talents and versatility. You can do so many things well. The tone of the number 5 is constructive freedom, and in your drive to attain this freedom, you will likely be the master of adaptability and change. You are good at presenting ideas and knowing how to approach people to get what you want. Naturally, this gives you an edge in any sort of selling game and spells easy success when it comes to working with people in most jobs. Your popularity may lead you toward some form of entertainment or amusement. Whatever you do, you are clever, analytical, and a very quick thinker.

If there is too much of the 5 energy in your makeup, you may express some the negative attitudes of the number. Your restless and impatient attitude may keep you from staying with any project for too long. Sometimes you can be rather erratic and scatter yourself and your energies. You have a hard time keeping regular office hours and maintaining any sort of a routine. You tend to react strongly if you sense that your freedom of speech or action is being impaired or restricted in any way. As clever as you are, you may have a tendency to make the same mistakes over and over again because much of your response is glib reaction rather that thoughtful application. You are in a continuous state of flux brought by constantly changing interests.

Your Soul Urge number is: 5

A Soul Urge number of 5 means:
The 5 soul urge or motivation would like to follow a life of freedom, excitement, adventure and unexpected happening. The idea of travel and freedom to roam intrigues you. You are very much the adventurer at heart. Not particularly concerned about your future or about getting ahead, you can seem superficial and unmotivated.

In a positive sense, the energies of the number 5 make you very adaptable and versatile. You have a natural resourcefulness and enthusiasm that may mark you as a progressive with a good mind and active imagination. You seem to have a natural inclination to be a pace-setter. You are attracted to the unusual and the fast paced.

You may be overly restless and impatient at times. You may dislike the routine work that you are engaged in, and tend to jump from activity to activity, without ever finishing anything. You may have difficulty with responsibility. You don't want to be tied down to a relationship, and it may be hard to commit to one person.

Your Inner Dream number is: 1

An Inner Dream number of 1 means:
You dream of being a leader and one who is in charge. You want to be known for your courage, daring, and original ideas. You seek unconquered heights. People may get a first impression that you are very aggressive and sure of yourself.


You can go get your own information starting with your Birthday, here.

Ava Adore

It's you that I adore
You will always be my whore
You'll be a mother to my child
And a child to my heart
We must never be apart
We must never be apart

Lovely girl you're the beauty in my world
Without you there are no reasons left to find

And I'll pull your crooked teeth
You'll be perfect just like me
You'll be a lover in my bed
And a gun to my head

We must never be apart
We must never be apart

Lovely girl you're the murder in my world
Dressing coffins for the souls I've left to die

Drinking mercury to the mystery
Of all that you should ever leave behind
In time

In you I see dirty
In you I count stars
In you I feel so pretty
In you I taste god
In you I feel so hungry
In you I crash cars
We must never be apart

Drinking mercury to the mystery
Of all that you should ever seek to find

Lovely girl you're the murder in my world
Dressing coffins for the souls I've left behind
In time

We must never be apart

And you'll always be my whore
Cause you're the one that I adore
And I'll pull your crooked teeth
You'll be perfect just like me

In you I feel so dirty in you I crash cars
In you I feel so pretty in you I taste god
We must never be apart

- Smashing Pumpkins - One of my favourite songs by them.

I'm Cranky & Men Suck.

I miss having my own domain. My previous one expired earlier this week and as a result, goDaddy has been emailing me constantly: "Your domain's expiring." "Your domain is about to expire." "Did you know your domain is going to expire?" And so on. Makes me all nostalgic. While I really dig blogger (and I do), it badly needs the whole Categories thing. I like to categorize my posts but I can't currently because it's not yet implemented. Sigh.

In other (worse) news, I was going through some of my archives before I left the US, and to my shock, horror and unhappiness, I am missing January-March archives. Not all of March, mind you, but some of it. I cannot, for the life of me, think what happened to them or where they would even be. As far as I recalled, they were exported to one long ass file from Moveable Type when I used it, and now I don't know where those particular months are. I have all the other months, just not those ones, and I'm upset by that. That's a big chunk of my life missing now. That was my move from the US to Canada, my first meeting with D, my first everything (er, almost) with him, and all my feelings and thoughts regarding him and the breakup of my previous relationship. I WANT THAT BACK!

And I'm still not having a good day, which has carried over from yesterday. I hate my life; it seems no matter what I do or say, or TRY and do, it's not good enough and I can't please everyone, including myself. I try and help D be happier here, but he's remaining on this tightrope of negativity which is frustrating me to the point beyond tears; and, quite frankly, I am sick and bloody tired of cleaning up after TWO guys. But if I don't do it, then D will and he shouldn't have to after he comes home from work of an afternoon. I'm nobody's mother (yet) so I shouldn't HAVE to ask for things to get done - things should just automatically GET DONE. People have eyes! But no... the computer is just alot more interesting and FUN than doing actual housework. And I don't ask for much! I really don't... All I'd like is that the dishes be done by someone OTHER THAN ME after I've cooked; or I'd like someone else to cook once in awhile without being asked, or to take out the trash because I'm not doing that. Ugh. There's just too much to bitch about today. I'm going to stand in the rain.

A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That

I slept badly last night, unfortunately. It's something that seems to happen whenever D and I have a little bit of a ... tiff. So, I'm not really having an especially good day so far, even though it's really very early.

And it's Melbourne Cup Day, which means horse racing and fancy hats. And D informs me the other night that his whole company (except the I.T dept where he works) is going down to the pub today to watch the races, eat, drink and be merry. But no, not the I.T dept who have to stay at work because they're contracted. He's not happy about it. I'm not happy about it. I think it's utter codswallop, but what the hell do I know?

The past weekend we had a great time, D and I. We hit Brisbane on Sunday for the Riverside Markets (pictures on FlickR) and then wandered around the gardens, taking pictures, eating lunch and generally having a very relaxing and wonderful time. I was impressed my feet didn't swell to the size of clown feet.

We had another bug incident last night. (Honestly I'm wondering if I should make a new blog called Bug Incidents and just chronicle all of the issues I'm having) Yesterday afternoon, D and I were sitting out the back chatting, and my brother comes out to join us - suddenly he looks up at the shade cloth covering the patio and says, "What's that?" and pointing a rather odd looking flying bug. It kind of looked like a dragonfly crossed with a wasp - and because this is Australia, rural Australia at that, you just bloody well question every bug you see. As D pointed out the other evening: Even pigeons in Australia are deadly...by proxy. (It's probably true)

Anyway, so we went back inside to have dinner and watch Supernanny and a little bit of Millionaire, and then I decided I was going to go back outside for abit. Well I turned on the back patio light, and there was the flying waspy-dragon thing... but with lots more legs, and in a really weird position. I hollered for my brother, of course, and he came out...all the way outside to take a look at the bug in question. Turns out that the bug had been "gotten" by a baby huntsman and was in the process of being eaten. Observe:


Dinner Time

Fantastic picture, isn't it? We were fascinated by this thing, though last night we could not see it as clearly as in the photo. It probably helped that my brother had his high beamed flashlight/phone gadget aimed right on the spider...and that D and I took many shots with the flash going off constantly. Poor Charlotte - she's probably quite blind by now.

I checked periodically throughout the night to see if they were still there.. the last time I saw them before I went to bed, the waspy-dragon-thing was practically all gone and Charlotte was quite fat. But it was very interesting to see, and while I'm all for the food-chain, I'm now wondering when Charlotte's going to sign away her life by entering my home.