Congratulations : Boston

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Little Sadie Elaine Janks finally made an appearance on Thurs afternoon, much to Greg & Sonia's relief. Isn't she just beautiful ! ? !

surrogate substitute take II

To answer Harley's questions : at the moment the doll has no name. We've just referred to him as 'baby brother' (I suppose the blue clothing and plastic anatomy is a give-away). I'm guessing that when his real baby brother makes an appearance, he'll supercede this doll. Altho' we have no intention of throwing it away, or hiding it. We'll see how Zack copes and what he decides to do with it. At the moment he is quite obsessed with 'ownership', telling me "Mummy, that's not yours" (referring to anything in particular). So he might decide that the doll belongs to him, and I'll be informed that the doll baby brother is "not yours mommy!". I don't mind.
It's really a teaching and transition tool - so we're using it to show him how to hold baby properly, that we can't lie on top of it. Zack shares things with it without being asked - I caught him feeding it grapes a few days ago. It sits on the bed while he's bathing. He sleeps in the same room as Zack, in his own bed - not in Zack's bed. So I think he's getting the message.
The doll's robust enough to go in the bath, and can be fed liquids and solids (with nappy to boot), but I don't intend to go that route. It'll be enough that it goes in the water. We can pretend the rest - an opportunity for imagination time.

Congratulations : London & Mackay

Congratulations to Phong & Derek who had a baby boy, Daniel, last night.
And also to my cousin Christopher & his wife Sarah in Queensland, Aus, who had their scan and are expecting a baby boy early next year. Such wonderful news.

surrogate substitute

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following a good friend's example we have bought a doll to introduce the concept of the "baby brother" to Zack. So far - so good.

a light aside

I hope no-one takes this cartoon overly seriously, I found it amusing in the context of parenting.

single digits

And so the time slips away... it's only 9 weeks and 4 days to go now. We had a routine midwife check-up on Saturday morning. Nothing to report. Blood tests came back fine - iron slightly low, but that's to be expected. I'm full of the moans and groans of the heavily pregnant: swollen ankles, hip ache, heartburn, reflux, exhaustion, lack of sleep, blah blah blah. Thankfully these things are only for a time, and then it'll all be over.
We're making some headway on names. The spreadsheet was pulled out last night and we made a list of about 100 names that we both felt could contend. So now we have a top 10 of options. This means that we at least have a plan, even if we change our minds later on. Box ticked.
I need to start looking at my ante-natal notes from the last pregnancy, just to familiarise myself with the options, procedures, etc. I'll feel more prepared once I've done that.

Zack is thriving – seems taller each day and more articulate. He's still pushing every boundary, so there's extra effort going into discipline at the moment. On the upside though, he is incredibly observant and will often see things long before we notice them. He wants to sing songs over and over again so that he can learn the words – initially frustrating for me, but now I'm cottoning on. Yesterday he climbed the stairs and counted to 14 by himself ! He is a genius.

little squishy

We've had a week of glorious weather, and Zack's ball-skills continue to improve. He just loves going outside to kick the ball, as it's too easy to do alot of damage in the lounge/kitchen. We continue to hunt for a house with a garden - we spent Saturday down in Dulwich (south of us and east of Wimbledon). A desirable suburb with lots of good schools and heaps of green space. There were some lovely homes, but we didn't see "the one" I'm afraid.
We watched Finding Nemo with Zack late last week, and over the weekend he said something out of the blue : "my little squishy", which I laughed and laughed at. He tells me that all big fish are sharks – even poor old Jonah is getting eaten by a shark in his story book – understanding the differences will come with time.
Overall his behavior's been a bit out of sorts lately – he gets miserable and wingy and won't come out of it. I thought he might be coming down with chicken pox (doing the 'rounds), but nothing there. Maybe he's teething. He's probably aware that something's afoot with the baby coming – I'm not sure.

Pregnancy update (29 weeks now)
I'm an emotional wreck these days – I want to burst into tears over small things, and just the way someone speaks to me can make me start to snivel. I'm well and truly pregnant !
The lead weight of the enlarging belly is ever before me. Funnily enough, running around kicking a ball with Zack I find quite liberating, but walking somewhere in a hurry, and climbing stairs takes it out of me. I'm more and more tired, so sleep as much as I can, whenever the opportunity arises. Heartburn and reflux are close companions these days – sometimes I wish I could take Gaviscon intravenously ! Went for blood tests (too many) last week and check-up with GP – all is well. This is one busy baby... he kicks and hiccups his way through days and nights. The shape of my tummy is also different from Zack, which puts pay to any speculation on gender-related bump-shapes. It's a boy, whatever shape it is. Do we have a name yet ? (The most frequently asked question). No. Have started thinking about it, but nothing yet.