Snazzy curtains

After 9 months of living in this house, we have finally got around to getting some curtains up in our bedroom. Jaqi very kindly taught Lee and I how to make curtains, and with Dunk and Colin's help we managed to get them up this weekend.

Quite a boring blog update for most probably, but I'm so pleased with them I just had to share! Check them out!

It's now a bit scary at night, because it's totally pitch black in the room. Perhaps this will make baby feel the room is more womb-like when he/she finally arrives.

And here's a close up - beautiful!

Practice baby

Our baby's new pram arrived in store this week, and has now been set up ready for the new arrival. We ended up going for a very beautiful pram from Mamas and Papas, called Cityscape combination switch.

It arrived in pieces, so Colin has managed to put (most of it) together - there are some bits that we're a little confused about where to put them! It comes with a car seat, car seat installation unit, nappy bag, parasol and foot muff. It's very exciting! I might need some practice with it, as the first time I tried to fold it up, I failed miserably and one of the wheels fell off.

After putting it together, then leaving it unsupervised for all of 2 minutes, the pram had it's first occupant make herself at home...

She was of course chased from her new cosy spot soon after the photo was taken, much to her dismay, as she was obviously VERY comfortable. So the pram will remain folded up in the corridor until we have a little human to make use of it... That's a scary thought!

New kitchen

Since moving into our house, we've been furiously saving our money in order to get a new kitchen. The old one wasn't TOTALLY offensive, it was a nice enough colour I suppose - but in reality it was so impractical. The layout of it was terribly designed, making it difficult to store all our kitchen accessories and food. The fridge which came with the house had a tiny freezer compartment and also the seal on the door was a little dodgy. Having been used to a dishwasher in our old house, we really resented having to wash up our dishes by hand in this one! And I won't even get started on how much we dislike electric hobs.

Just so you can remember the old one, here's a picture to remind you! Note the beautiful Venetian scene depicted in the tiles above the cooker...

Work started in the kitchen on the 8th, and the first day involved ripping out the old one, and putting up some of the cabinets around the walls. The age of the house made this slightly difficult apparently, as the room doesn't have straight walls, or a right angle at the corner. The plaster under the tiles was also pretty crumbly.

Luckily, we had some resident kitchen inspectors to make sure the work was up to standard...

A VERY thorough inspection...

So after only 5 days of building work in the house, here is the beautiful result! (Minus a couple of cupboard doors, which are still due to arrive from the supplier at some point this week).

We are totally delighted with it! Especially the sparkly granite work-tops...

It seems SO much bigger than the last kitchen, it just shows how good designing and efficient use of space makes all the difference. And it is LOVELY to have a dishwasher back again!!!

The "sizeable" baby

I had to go for a scan today as at my midwife appointment last week, the midwife felt that the baby was presenting with it's shoulder first. She wouldn't really answer any of my questions about what this meant, so of course I googled it when I got home - I learnt that you can't have a live birth with a shoulder presentation, as the baby just gets stuck. So I've spent most of the weekend feeling a bit nervous about what this might mean.

Anyway, we had the scan today and the baby has turned itself into the right position with it's head pointing down, (although it's still quite high up) but it's also turned over so that it's in a back-to-back position - this is apparently painful during labour! So it's my mission over the next couple of weeks to get it to flip back over.

It was amazing to see the baby at this stage, it's like a proper little formed person now, as opposed to the alien-like foetus at the last scan! And it was so active, it didn't stay still for the entire scan.

The midwife gave us an unexpected picture of his/her little face. It's quite a chubster! And I'm a bit worried that I can see teeth already?!?!

In this picture it actually has both arms up and it's hands at it's face, which I think gives the impression that it's cheeks are chubbier than they are...

When I asked the midwife if she could tell how big the baby is, she didn't really give us an estimation, but she did say it's "quite a sizeable baby!" Is this midwife code for "massive baby"?!

My girl

I think someone is going to miss my bump. Mia usually takes her position on my knee each night, but in recent weeks the space on my lap has become increasingly smaller. She has now decided her position of choice is directly on top of baby.

It must be very warm and snuggly because she repeatedly makes her way back there each night. Baby tries his/her best to kick her off, much like the cups of tea, but she is blissfully unaware - I assume she thinks it's some kind of tummy massage going on.

Cutie kittie

Big kicks

I have found my pregnant bump quite annoying in recent weeks, as I feel so immobile. It is a particular trial at night as I am unable to turn over without making noise similar to farmyard animals and movements similar to a flailing fish out of water. (Colin is enjoying this experience as much as I am!)

It has been quite useful at times too though, particularly as a support for resting my arms, or even better - a table for cups of tea/juice!

However, in the last week this joy is becoming increasingly more difficult, as baby's kicks are now strong enough to dislodge the cup of tea from it's resting place... as demonstrated in the following video.