Babies First Portrait
Yesterday we had our midway ultrasound (hopefully the last one we will need as everything seems to be fine). I think that the
technician preforming the ultrasound was a
prac student as she had two
supervisors with her who she was constantly seeking advice from and there was
alot of technical talk going on about image
quality and what settings to use etc. This resulted in the most painful baby ultrasound I have every had (and I have had at least 9 others as a comparision) and it was also long. As we were running late and did not have time to drop Chloe off
before the scan and it
meant that poor Eden who took time off work (he never does that) missed
alot of the scan :(
The scan seems to be fine and I haven't been sent back to my doctor urgently so we are happy. All the important parts are there and working well. Most importantly there is only one baby, not that I ever thought it could be two but it is just great knowing that in five to six months I am going to be getting a little bit of sleep and not no sleep
entirely.
The things that we have been filling our days with
This last couple of weeks we have all been filling our days in our own various ways. Eden is busy (as usual) with the house. He has built and put up most of the frames for the house. He got the trusses delivered today and hopes to have them all up by the end of next week. The other day I realised that the photos we have been taking of how our house is progressing are all facing the garage so I decided to start taking them from the front (I know everyone else would have thought of that at the beginning...is it too early to blame absentmindedness on the new baby?). So here is our first front shot with the frames already up as Eden worked to quickly (or I'm too slow) for me to get one before he started.
Chloe is loving living out in the country. She loves the space and the animals and loves to say hello to them all a few times a day. She is getting quite confident and this morning while I was on the mobile to my sister she took herself and Tracy the dog off for a walk around the chicken yard and orchid alone. The other day she followed Tracy halfway up the drive in a matter of seconds. She is so independent, something she gets off her Dad. On Wednesday we were lucky enough to have a visit from Becky and Kelsea. Chloe misses being around children and she was happy to have someone likeminded to play with her. Considering that Chloe had not had her nap and Kelsea had just returned from getting her chickenpox shot they played together. That is until Chloe tried to take Kelsea's special bear. Thanks to the Wiggles we managed to restore the peace as they snuggled up on the chair with a teddy each without even the hint of a shove or a bite (someone should really nominate that skive wearing foursome for a Noble Peace Prize :).
Chloe is beginning to understand the importance of sun safety especially living here in Tasmania...
but I'm not sure if her Great Uncle Kim is the person she should be getting fashion advice about hats from.
As for me I have been busying myself being a full time mum. I love it. Chloe and I have such a great time together. She has such a fun, easy going personality. She split her tongue quite badly (in my opinion) this week and she wasn't phased, even with blood pouring out her mouth for over an hour, she just kept smiling and wanting to play. On our adventures out in Dunorlan she is Batman (or Batgirl) and I am her Robin, we truly are besties. When I am not being Chloe's sidekick you will most likely find me in the kitchen though not the sneaking the ice-cream out of the tub in the middle of the night kind of way. I enjoy cooking but over the last few years with uni then work then Chloe I haven't had much of a chance to do mush more then what is essential. Now that Chloe is a bit older and I am not constantly trying to catch up on housework from being at work I have been able to do some cooking just for the sake of it. I have tried my hand at making homemade pasta sauce (as Nick had more tomatoes then we really knew what to do with), making jam (as Sister Scott from church gave me a big bag of plums), making apple sauce (again thank you Sister Scott and Mark from two doors up). So now the freezers are filling up fast and Nick is running out of space to put the forty kilos of lamb that is coming next week (I think we might have to plug out fridge in just for the extra freezer space). I also tried my hand at my first ever sponge today. I used Nan's famous recipe and this is (or at least it was when I first started typing) the second last piece left (and I think I heard Eden or Nick go and get the last piece a couple of minutes ago.
All in all staying busy in our own ways as we begin to adjust to the slower paced life (at least slower for Chloe and me) that we moved to Tassie for.
17 Weeks
Well we are now 17 weeks pregnant and I thought I might post some photos so that my family can see what I look like. When we were pregnant with Chloe we didn't start telling people until we were 17 weeks because that was when there were the first signs of change in my body. This time while I feel that I don't really look pregnant yet but I have looked pudgy for ages, especially late at night when everything just 'flops' (for lack of a better word) out. I can't wait until I actually look pregnant so I stop looking like I am in desperate need of an 'Ab King Pro'.
This is how big our baby is now, though it is not as chubby as this yet. I have this really good book for dads in waiting that compares the babies size every month to 'man objects' so that men can get a feel of how the baby is growing. I will have to try and track it down for the next tummy update. As for news of movement, I haven't felt anything yet, though I didn't fell Chloe until a bit later then everyone else because the placenta was on the front.
Sleep tight and grow well (not too well though) my baby!
Chicken or the Egg?
On Monday Nick went to gets some chickens so we can have our own farm fresh eggs. When we move into our own house we want chickens so he picked up a couple for us as well, they are Penny and Licken. When we went out on Tuesday morning to collect the eggs there were none but we were not disappointed as we didn't really expect them to lay straight away after being moved and the change in environment.
But on Tuesday afternoon when I took Chloe down to say hello to the chickens there were five eggs and then yesterday there were six. Well done chickens :)
Chloe thinks that the chickens need lots of shell grit and all she wants to do is scatter it for them over and over again. At first she was a bit hesitant near the chickens but after a few visits you literally have to drag her away screaming. Not even bribing her to play with the dog works and anyone who knows Chloe knows that dogs are one of the most important things in the 'world according to Chloe'.
As we already had two dozen eggs not including our fresh new ones I thought I better use some so we had roast tomato, spinach and salami quiche for dinner with lemon meringue pie for desert (+ two fried eggs for my dinner because I don't like quiche). I was very proud of myself for using so many eggs in one meal and now we were not being overtaken by eggs.
When I was cleaning up after tea and rotating the eggs I accidentally knocked over the basket that had the fresh eggs that our chickens had laid and all eleven of them smashed. Poor chickens, all their hard work wasted. I wonder how many eggs they will bring us today?
House update
Eden has been very busy with the house. In the last couple of weeks he has set it out, had the footings dug, helped the plumber with the rough in and chashed up tradies. On Friday the Woolly boys (thanks :) helped Eden get it ready for pouring the slab which happened yesterday.
Dunorlan must be a pretty boring place as there were a few people (
see here) who came to watch the slab being poured (Eden could not believe how long they stayed for).
Well now the slab is now done (thanks Jordan for being Eden's apprentice for the day) and now Eden is on to framing :)
Gardening with Grandad
This morning while I was vacuuming I spied this pair working together in the garden picking beans. Well Grandad was picking the beans and Chloe was eating them (she eats them better raw then cooked...funny little thing she is).
Hopefully Chloe is learning all the green thumb tips off Grandad so that she can help Mummy when we start our own garden because when it comes to keeping plants alive I am utterly hopeless (I was not suppose to have children until I could keep some herbs alive but if I waited until my thumb even developed the fainted ting of green I would have hit menopause first ;)
Chloe has taken to squisking her food between he fingers when she has decided that she is full so today we thought we would have some play dough fun. Chloe loved it and she is at an age where she understands what I mean when I say, "Don't eat it, it is yucky." (It didn't stop her having a taste though :)
All the cleaver Mummies out there proberly already know this one but a quick hint when making your own cooked play dough is to mix your flour, oil, etc with boiling water. It is alot quicker then doing it over the stove or in the microwave,
sooo much easier to clean up and you get the same play dough as if you had 'cooked' it.
Yesterday we had our midway ultrasound (hopefully the last one we will need as everything seems to be fine). I think that the technician preforming the ultrasound was a prac student as she had two supervisors with her who she was constantly seeking advice from and there was alot of technical talk going on about image quality and what settings to use etc. This resulted in the most painful baby ultrasound I have every had (and I have had at least 9 others as a comparision) and it was also long. As we were running late and did not have time to drop Chloe off before the scan and it meant that poor Eden who took time off work (he never does that) missed alot of the scan :(
