Gems of the Week

Precious, Priceless, Pockets of Happiness during my week.

How vital it is to sit down at the end of the week and think, really think, about all the good stuff that has taken place in the past 7 days. Things that could quite easily be looked over, taken for granted. Things that are enjoyed at the time and yet are easily forgotten in the busy-ness.
I know it's good for me to focus on those pockets of happiness, to record them, to be able to share them, to be able to read back on them.
It once again brings to the foreground of my mind the fact that I am so very blessed.

:::

~ We had our scan for Bambino Numero Tre on Wednesday and I am pleased to report that all is well and good! It's little heart was happily and healthily pumping away, everything is formed as it should be. 

It is perfect.
Even though we have been through this all before with the other pregnancies it is still an absolutely incredible thing to see your little one for the first time on the screen. The reality and the emotions kick in. I am in love already.

~ This little guy is showing us his cheeky personality more every day. He is happy, content and loves his older brother with every fibre of his being.

~ During the week I watched the Cheryl Cole interview with Piers Morgan and absolutely bawled my face off. It felt good. I now highly rate her (SISTERS: before you mock me, you need to watch this and form your own opinion).

~ Although I have been suffering from bad morning sickness this week (why all of a sudden more intense?) it has made me have to stop, sit down, breathe. And so I have been getting lots of knitting done. This is a good thing because not only do I have LOTS of knitting projects to complete before Christmas, but it also makes me chill out because it is such a relaxing craft. If your stress-levels are high, take up knitting.

~ Luca has been into everything this week and, as a result, totally doing my head in. He has boundless energy - the type I have been so lacking in this week... But at night when he wants to come and snuggle in bed with me all is forgotten (except for my feelings of regret at having lost my temper with him 86 times that day...). 

And forgive me, but I still haven't been able to let go of my feelings of extreme fury at Luca for doing a MASSIVE poo in the bath last night. When you are suffering from morning sickness the very last thing you want to be doing is scooping turds out of the bath plughole. Take my word for it.

And yet, when he wanted to go to sleep in our bed last night because Papa was away, I couldn't help but be so very grateful for this little man. Thankful for each breathy little sigh. Thankful for his body warmth. Thankful that he is mine.

~ I just LOVE snuggling my little guys in bed (and the big guy of course!). In the mornings both the boys end up in our bed (if they're not there already) and then Austin and Luca get up to make breakfast, Luca brings Beni's bottle through to him, I snuggle up to the wee Beni-Boo while he skulls back his milk, his eyes half-closed and dreamy and then we have more cuddles and tickles. By then the coffee's ready and the day is ready for us.

I love love love this morning routine. It's totally the best way to start the day.

Today after we had dropped Luca off at school Beni and I came home and immediately went back to bed for more sleep. I don't normally do this but I let Beni sleep in bed with me during our nap and it was just DEVINE! I didn't sleep for a whole lot of our nap time, I spent a lot of it just staring at my wee Boo while my heart melted and I fell deeper in love with him. I didn't think that was possible.

Check out that one mean tooth he has on the bottom while he has FIVE teeth up top!

~ I recently came across this T-Mobile commercial which I thought you'd all enjoy. I bet you can't help but smile as you watch this.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Escape to Wisley

There are always some mornings that are better than others. Today was a very trying morning on our poor nerves.

Children. CHILdren. CHILDREN!

Why oh why must you wake up early and come into our bed for snuggles (which is fine, we like this part), but then you wriggle and squirm and poke each other in the eye and pull hair and it always ends in tears.
All your mamma and papa want to do is sleep because it's a SATURDAY!

And so our day started off grumpily.
Mamma was ill and tired because of the baby in her tummy.
Papa was tired because he had been doing the morning shifts all week (because Mamma has been ill and tired because of the baby in her tummy) before going to work each day.
"A foul, sleep-deprived mood" as Austin described it. Not a great way to start any Saturday morning...

The only good things to come out of this morning were:
1. Ciabatta and Boston Bun made by Amazing Husband Of Mine.

2. Our most precious friends came for coffee (and Boston Bun) and brought their calming influence to our household. I love the way that as soon as they turn up our boys drop what they are doing and immediately engage in running/playing/tickling/jumping with two of their favourite people in the world.

After coffee and two slices of Boston Bun {because it really is that good} we decided a drive to a country pub for lunch was in order. So we headed south to a little village called Wisley which Austin and I stumbled upon one rainy day when we were out for a family drive. Love it when that happens - discovering little jewels hidden away off the beaten track.

The pub we lunched at is situated right beside a canal - a lovely old brick building (of course, we are in England!) with thick wooden beams inside, very cosy. AND children friendly! We like that.

Beni had his first taste of hot chips. He liked them. A lot.

After a good hearty meal of fish and chips and burgers (oh, and my side of freshly steamed vegetables... just to help balance out the fat intake from my fish and chips...) we decided upon a stroll along the canal. The rain had gone and left clear blue skies and fresh air in it's wake.

 Of course Thomas Bike came along for the ride and got his wheels very dirty which probably did him good as he's been a bit of a 'city' bike all this time and has never experienced the joys of riding his tyres through muddy puddles. He smiled and played his annoying theme tune and tooted his whistle the whole way.

So what started out being a very sucky day ended up being filled to the brim with fresh air, laughter, good food and the best company.

I highly recommend Escaping To Wisley for lunch at the pub and a walk along the canal with good friends to soothe the soul and let your children blow out their cobwebs.

Wisley may just see us again next Saturday....

Focusing on the end product

I'm lying on the couch as the autumn sun streams through the window and I feel like I'm dying.
But oh no, I won't die, I've experienced this feeling twice before and it's called morning sickness... and I know, from experience, this happens all day, every day for at least another 5 weeks.

The thought of moving makes we want to hurl.
I'm hungry and thirsty but the thought of putting anything in my stomach makes me gag.

I need to remember that I am very lucky to not actually get to the point of vomming like millions of other women experience during the early stages of pregnancy. Some of them all day every day and for most of their pregnancy.
I just get wiped out by a constant nausea and exhaustion which is enough for me thank you!

But even though the days are currently spent feeling rather fragile, it is for such an exciting and quite unbelievable reason! Austin and I are still a little bit in shock that baby number 3 is already on it's way and it's all good!

Because of the rather dramatic and speedy arrival of Beni we have agreed on having a home birth for this one. This is exciting and also necessary as I doubt I would get to the hospital on time if the last delivery was anything to go by...!
I met a lady last night who is a midwife locally and she was excited to hear of my home birth plans and has said that the team of midwives she works with are very skilled in homebirths so I'll hopefully hook up with them for my antenatal care. In the UK you get two midwives who care for you during a homebirth. I like the sound of that! Especially when the midwife who was assigned to us for Beni's birth wasn't even in the room when he fell out.
I joke with you not.
I had to yell out "Where's the bloody midwife? My baby's coming!" So she scuttled in the door, saw what was happening, turned around to put gloves on and by the time she turned back Beni was on the floor and Austin and I were looking at each other in shock thinking "Did our baby just fall out?"... I would like to avoid a replay of that if at all possible. Having two midwives present ensures at least one of them will be in the room to say "Catch your baby!"...

Poor little guy. He was a bit upset about falling on his head when he was born. Which is understandable! (don't worry, I was standing on a mat so it was a 'cushioned' fall...)

Anyhoo, I have a massive pile of washing yelling at me to fold it and I should really try and put something in my tummy.

If only KFC was close by...

Life is full of surprises

I went to put my hands on my hips the other day and I was surprised to find I no longer have a waist.

I did one of 'those' tests the other day and was surprised to see the two blue lines form a cross immediately...

I am still surprised and a little shocked that  we are going to have baby number 3 sometime in May 2011!
I say "sometime in May" because, well, I wasn't keeping track of things and that's what happens when you have one night {that's right, just that one time is all it takes} of reckless abandon.

I am ecstatic to be pregnant! We welcome this surprise with arms wide open and count ourselves incredibly blessed for it to happen so easily. I'm sure The Creator Of Life was just waiting for the ONE opportunity we gave Him where we weren't in control of our family planning...!

But hey, I'm down with that. We are good at rolling with all the surprises life brings across our path.

As a result of this wonderful surprise we are now needing to make decisions - long term decisions - as to where we want to be while we raise 3 children. Is this the time for us to be heading back to NZ? Or the time for us to be looking for a bigger house in London? Or the time for us to move to Italy?

So many questions and everything is as clear as mud.

I count myself incredibly fortunate to not suffer from any form of major morning sickness. The worst it gets for me is extreme tiredness, nausea (but I just need to keep food in my tummy and it settles down), and the odd craving for cheese and KFC.
Austin and the children are having to put up with my cravings as they tend to dictate what I make us for dinner. Last night was macaroni cheese with bacon and tomato. Wow. It was awesome but Austin wasn't so impressed. And actually neither was Luca. Hmph. Italian food snobs.

I have just finished putting away my skinny summer clothes {sob} and my wardrobe is now full of winter clothes and those good ol' faithful maternity clothes which do not bring me much cheer when I look at them. But remember it's only for another 7 {or whatever} months. I can work with this. I'll somehow make those same old maternity clothes look different to what they did when I used them for both Luca and Beni's pregnancies. Oh yes I will.

Austin did a great call at the beginning of the week - and it's okay for me to share this because we talked about it later on and had a laugh so all you women who have been pregnant hold back your hate mail!
Monday is the day he works from home and as I mentioned in Monday's post I took the opportunity to sleep while there was an extra set of hands at home. I was lying on the couch beside Austin feeling incredibly jaded and ill and he says to me "I know you're pregnant but..." (Hand on my knee. Pat pat pat).
Woah.
Double Woah.
I don't know why but I didn't respond. Inside my head I was thinking "Get. Your. Hand. Off. My. Leg."
And then the day just carried on, I slept a little more and then that evening I brought this matter up with him in conversation. I said to him "You know how you said 'I know you're pregnant but... (Hand on knee. Pat pat pat)'?"
"Yes..." he replied hesitantly, a little bit scared of me I think.
"Well," I continued "it's just that you have NO IDEA what it's like to be pregnant, just like I have no idea what it's like to be kicked in the balls and when you said that to me it really made me want to kick you in the balls".

And there you have it. Nothing else needed to be said.
We both had a laugh, I didn't kick him in the balls and we are once again a Happy Husband and Wife Unit.

And I think we'll have macaroni cheese for dinner again tonight!