A New Bathmat

JourneyMan has a job that means he doesn’t get home until after the kids have had their dinner, bath and are tucked up in bed.   So, he gets up in the morning and does the morning routine and spends time with them then.  I find doing all of the night time routine on my own taxing sometimes.   Not so much physically but more so because I have the same conversations over and over again.  JBB, eat your dinner (and repeat 5-7 times), Boo2 sit down in the high chair (and repeat 5-7 times), JBB hop out of the bath, please (and repeat 5-7 times), Boo2, don’t take your nappy off (and repeat 5-7 times), JBB, put on your pj’s (and repeat 5-7 times).

I was with some girlfriends last week and we were discussing our routines.  One of them does the morning getting the kids ready and they employ a nanny in the afternoons a couple of times a week to pick the kids up from school / daycare, play with them, give them their dinner and get them ready for bed.  Another friend (who is an entrepreneur and has started up her own very successful business since her kids were born) was intrigued and thought that she could that most nights a week.  The group of girlfriends are all very successful women.  Most have careers, beautiful children, loving husbands and beautiful houses.  Every one of them has their own struggles though – whether big or small, they all struggle.

I was genuinely intrigued by the thought of having some help to get the kids ready for bed but then I thought of some other things.  Like when I taught JBB how to peel carrots (previous to this, he didn’t like to eat them) and he said to me at the dinner table ‘Thank you for teaching me to peeling the carrots, Mum, I really like it’. Or the time when I bought a new bathmat and the excitement that it brought to the bath time routine was crazy.  Boo2 felt it with his feet and started flashdancing on it like no tomorrow, laughing delightedly (while nude of course).  JBB immediately started running every part of his body over the bathmat and saying ‘I love it, Mum’.  For days afterwards, every person that came through the house was treated to being told about our new bath mat and how great it is (the best $10 ever spent!!).  I also thought about the time, I accidentally put Boo2 in the bath with his socks on – JBB laughed till he cried and Boo2 started to scream and clap because of all the laughing - the memory of their happy faces still brings a smile to my face.  Or when we read a book that ends with ‘I love you Mum’ and JBB puts his arms around me and says ‘I love YOU Mum’.  Or even last night when I was reading JBB his bedtime story, I dropped the book on to my face and he laughed and laughed (and then had to tell JourneyMan about it with the first opportunity that he had).

I don’t judge or begrudge any woman who is trying to make her life easier through getting help.  I have stacks of help and still struggle to take care of the kids, work, keep a nice house, cook nutritious meals, stay to a budget, exercise, eat right and do all of the millions of things that a woman is expected to do these days.  Life can be super exhausting and there is so much going on all the time that sometimes the drudgery of the night time routine seems to be something I would like to escape from.  Then we get a new bath mat and I remember the mantra that I loved in my IF days – ‘take the happiness where you can get it’.  And I wonder, what if I missed those laughing, touching moments?  There are plenty of moments when you are a parent that can be tough and even mind numbingly repetitive but to take away those, I might also also take away those times when you get a new bath mat and all hell breaks loose.

Cripes!

Over the past week I have realised that I don't have much longer of work left. This has left me excited, worried and a little non-plussed. How it came about was from the OB appointment last week. All was good and I asked when we would most likely be booking in for the ceasarean - which he responded would be the second or third week of August - and of course, being the counter that I am, I realised that is only 12-13 weeks away - holy moly!! I am hoping to have about a month off before the birth to relax and get ready which put me at 8-9 weeks of work left!! That threw me quite a bit. It also threw one of my bosses when I mentioned it today as I have a second tier project that he was saying he thought we should get done by end of July - I said to him that if he wanted me to manage it, it would need to be a go live date of mid-July because I was likely going to be finishing around then. He had a bit of a small heart attack then I think - though I did say it was negotiable. They have been really good about me working from home so much during the pregnancy and being very flexible that I may help them out with some work from home in the 4 weeks if they really need it. Plus if JourneyMan doesn't get a job soon, we will most likely need the money.

I haven't had the heart to tell my other manager as yet - the project I am working on for him will most likely happen whilst I am not available so he is going to be in a bit of trouble. I did show him a lot of the planning that I have been doing for him that will hopefully help him out enormously whilst I am away.

The hard thing is that I don't know if they are going to want me back and I don't know how long I want to take off or anything like that. I am going to have to think of a proposal for them to see if there are ways for me to help them out and in turn they can save some work for me for when I am ready to get back. I really like working for them all (I do work for 3 people and they are all fabulous to work for) and they are really flexible and in turn, I try to make their lives as easy as possible. Anyway, I am going to trust that it is all going to work out. JourneyMan has some prospects that I am hoping are pretty solid and if he can get in to a good role, we will be in a really good position.

JourneyBabyBoy update: Well, this little man is kicking like crazy lately and I am just loving it!! He is measuring well and his heartbeat was perfect last week - big yay!! The scan on Friday was lovely. My MIL came with me to the scan and we had breakfast together and a good chat, it was really lovely - she was very excited to see little JBB. She is very happy right now because she has her first two grandchildren on the way and she is offering all sorts of help and support - she is absolutely wonderful - I am very lucky to have such a wonderful MIL. The scan also went well with my cervix only reducing a small amount however, I asked the OB about it last week and also the ultrasonographer and they both said that it is well within normal limits - a huge relief!!

Belly update: The past couple of weeks has seen a huge amount of growth in the belly stakes. I am absolutely loving it and am checking myself out in the mirror lots. I have got a few pairs of good maternity pants (I prefer the over the belly style) and went and bought some large size long sleeve t-shirts that I wear with thick cardigans which is my main uniform. The weather has been cool but sunny this past week which I am still loving and an update on the central heating - it is divine!!

Symptoms update: I had a really busy day on Friday without my normal afternoon sleep and had a pretty late night so Saturday and Sunday the cramps came back with a vengeance - I have to remember not to push things too far. So, symptoms wise, I am still having the cramps and am really tired - that's about it so that's pretty good. Oh - I forgot, I have had a couple of dizzy spells as well - one on Friday and one at work today. Pretty good overall though.

Well that's about it from me - I have some serious catching up of reading to do - My reader runneth over. Have a great week everybody!!

Work blues and good news....

Okay, so you know that I had hell week at work last week with half of the websites that I am project managing going live - it was hell right up until the day that we went live and then it was a big anticlimax (which was fabulous because it meant that we had done everything right!) . We were due to have another couple go live tomorrow but it has been further delayed at the last minute - the last two days I have been tearing around like a mad thing trying to get everything fixed in time - unfortunately we ran out of time. A bit disappointing because I was hoping to have them done tomorrow then have Thursday and Friday off - 3 days a week is my ideal at the moment but I am having trouble getting my time down to that with these projects at the pointy end.

Anyway, you know that I have been a bit worried about my contract ending at the end of Feb - well, one of the guys that I work for gave me a call today asking how long I can work for because he has a project for me - yay! I am hoping it will all work out fine!

I realised that I have been a bit of a bloody whinger lately so I have decided to write a list about all of the things that I am enjoying about being pregnant (and well, it's been a while since I made a list!).

Good things that I have found about pregnancy:

• Actually being pregnant - I mean, how excellent is that - sometimes I still am pinching myself at how lucky I am
• I really didn't need to cut my fringe (bangs) to hide the smiley wrinkles in the corners of my eyes - the fluid has puffed them out so that they aren't visible any more - whoo hoo!
• My skin is really nice at the moment - hopefully it will stay that way!
• JourneyMan is forgiving of my hormonal mood swings - a constant refrain in the house is 'hormones, raging around my body!'
• I have become a master at hiding the grey in my hair because I haven't dyed it since before we went to Thailand
• Thinking about about the wonderful baby growing inside me and wondering what he / she is going to look like and be like personality-wise!

On another note - I had been too scared post in case I jinxed it but the all day sickness had eased off over the weekend - unfortunately it came back with a vengeance today but I am hopeful that maybe it is passing - big yay!

Thank you to the lovely Chelle for nominating me for the beautiful blogger award - I will get on to my responsibilities asap!