What a week, and its only Wednesday!

I have intended to be more diligent with blogging. I really have meant to keep it more up-to-date. Yet life has a habit of getting in the way. Like it has this week.

Monday was Martin Luther King Jr Day, so the school was closed. The boys still had baseball practice in the morning, at 8am to be precise. They weren't too happy to be up that early, so dragged their feet, and we finally got there only 15 minutes late. I then came home to try and get some laundry and chores done before picking them up. Two hours later and I'm back in the car to go and pick them up. On the way back home the transmission went on the car.

Now our car was 17 years old. We bought it only because we had the boys. It did run well, and had a great engine. Yet in October, less than 2 months after purchasing it we had to replace the radiator. It is part of the price for buying such an old car. However I was also a new driver. I only sat my driving test in September, and having such an old car helped me to get used to driving without getting stressed. That first car for me was just like getting a car for a 16 year old.

Then on Monday the transmission went on the car. We managed to get it to a mechanic we trust, but Rob lost several hours of work to come and help me. We kind of already knew it wasn't going to be a cheap repair, but we hoped and prayed. Then we spent Monday evening researching for the possibility of replacing our car. We both agreed that there would be no more old car purchases. We wanted a car that would have good gas mileage, and not be too expensive to purchase. Because we wanted high gas mileage we knew it would be a smaller car, and after some comparisons, we decided we liked the stats on the Nissan Versa the best. It comes as a sedan or a hatchback. The hatchback looked like a better fit for us, with a little more space in the trunk.

Then yesterday we got the call from the mechanic to say that the whole transmission would need to be replaced. This would cost us more than we originally paid for the car back in September. We knew that we also needed to put new tires on soon, and the car had so many electrical problems that could never be fixed. So we decided to not fix the car, and just walk away from the potential money pit. However this still left us needing another car to replace it.

Then yesterday afternoon, as I was finishing our ironing I got a surprise. My darling husband had come home from work early. He has a very detail oriented job, and was finding it difficult to concentrate with the car issue on his mind. We talked it over and had a look online for a new or nearly new car. Just a few minutes into our search we saw our car. It was a 2009 Nissan Versa Hatchback, at a dealer only 40 miles away. It had 21,000 miles on the clock, so is still under manufacturers warranty. Rob called to see if it was still available, and then we got in the truck to drive down and have a look. Rob took it for a test drive and really liked how it handled.

Three hours later we left the dealership with a new car. I got to drive it home, in the dark, in rush hour, in South Florida. It was the furthest away I've ever driven, and it was in a new car I was unfamiliar with. By the time I got home in one piece I was quite proud of myself. Airport runs to Orlando won't seem so bad now.

We've got a Tiger in there.

Yesterday was my scheduled prenatal appointment with our midwife. At 20 weeks and 4 days it was time to try and listen to the baby's heart beat with the fetoscope. Just before we checked on the heart beat I was asked if I had been feeling any movement. Our midwife was surprised when I said that not only was I feeling lots of movement, but that Rob has been able to feel the baby several times too. Then she listened for the heart beat. It was a good strong heart beat that she found straight away. Then she gave the fetoscope to her assistant to listen with. The assistant made one vital mistake. She pressed down a bit too hard for the baby's liking. At the exact moment she put her ear down to listen the baby gave a big strong kick, right where the fetoscope was pressed down. The poor lady jumped at the unexpected loud noise that resulted from the kick. They both then joked that we have a bit of a tiger in there. I did then mention that the baby doesn't like being prodded. I can always be guaranteed a few kicks or punches if I prod my belly, or bend over a bit too much.

I have also discovered the delight of afternoon naps. I had naps Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I haven't napped in the afternoon since I was a toddler, but I am understanding why they are so universal. Having to get up multiple times during the night, and getting up for breakfast between 4am and 5am most mornings, I was beginning to get a little sleep deprived. Now adding in a nap is allowing me to make through until bed time without loosing my mind. It makes me glad that I have the wonderful privilege of staying at home. I don't know how I would cope if I was trying to work full-time outside the home while adjusting to this new sleep pattern.

It is wonderful to know that this is all part of God's wonderful design. At just over the half way point of this pregnancy my sleep routine is already being prepared for after the birth. I'll be used to sleeping in small increments and will be used to taking naps during the day to top up the amount of sleep I get. I am so in awe of the wonderful way that everything is designed to work perfectly and in an orderly way, so that it doesn't come as a sudden shock to my system when the baby is safely here.

Sleep, food and turning into my husband!

For a couple of weeks now my darling husband and I have been commenting on how this baby seems to be a clone of him. I jokingly refer to the baby as "His" child rather than "Our" child.

For the last four weeks I've been getting up at about 4am every morning. This morning I woke up at 2:14am and never managed to get back to sleep. After visiting the bathroom I become very hungry, too hungry to ignore. Thus I have to get up and eat. Then it is time for the baby to start their morning exercise routine. My beloved is enjoying the change to my morning routine. He has always been a morning person, and he gladly gets up with me and cooks me breakfast.

But breakfast is only the start of what has become an eating frenzy. No matter what I eat it never seems to be enough. Every hour or so I get so ravenous it feels like I haven't eaten in a week. All day long I go from one snack to the next. I have always been a three square meals a day kind of girl. While my darling is a grazer. He actually thinks it is amusing that I've started eating like he does every day.

And so this baby is turning me into my husband. I wake up in the middle of the night. I eat all day long. I am ready to go to bed as soon as the sun sets. So my beloved gets amused and I have a new routine I need to get used to.

Unplanned break is over.

I didn't plan to take a break from blogging, but it has done me some good. The last month of school before the Christmas break was a very busy time for our entire household. Rob was working crazy hours at work trying to meet all the pre-Christmas deadlines. The boys had a week of exams at the end of the semester. There seemed to be activities at Church almost every day. I had a few health issues that got me a little too stressed, and had a major shift in my sleep pattern.

Then the boys went home to the Bahamas for the Christmas break, and Rob had almost two weeks of vacation from work. We both spent the time resting, hanging out together, visiting family and friends and generally enjoying each others company. We wanted to enjoy our last Christmas as just the two of us. It was a refreshing break from the frantic pace of the last four months.

At almost the half way point in our pregnancy we finally started planning for the baby's arrival. We got some Target gift cards as Christmas presents, so we did our first baby shopping. We bought 4 dozen cloth prefold diapers and a couple of newborn sized gender neutral outfits. A couple of days later we made our first venture into BabiesRUs, where we looked for a crib and purchased some waterproof covers for the diapers. I'm feeling a lot more calm now that we have a few of the basics.

The pregnancy is going well. About three weeks ago I had some very light spotting. I did get a little scared, but it was just a few hours before my scheduled prenatal appointment. Rob came home from work to come to the appointment with me. Just having him there helped to calm me. Our wonderful midwife was very reassuring. She checked the heartbeat, which was good and strong. The spotting stopped the following day, and then a couple of days later the midwife called to say my labs had come back that I had a UTI. She gave me a choice of going to a doctor for antibiotics or trying cranberry pills. I discussed it with Rob and we agreed to try the cranberry first. I'll find out after my next prenatal appointment in a week if the infection has gone, meanwhile I'll keep taking the cranberries and lots of fluids.

I've been feeling the baby move since half way through the 16th week. At first it was just internal twitching, but after two weeks it became much more distinct movement. At that point Rob was able to occasionally feel the movements. The baby has also developed their father's sleep pattern. I am now waking up about 4am every morning with a very active baby and the strongest hunger pangs I've ever felt. Rob is enjoying having company again for breakfast. As a natural night-owl I didn't enjoy this change of routine much the first week. Three weeks later I'm finding that my day is much more productive when the chores are done immediately after Rob leaves for work. This morning the weekly laundry was already half done by the time I'd done the morning school run.

I've also been enjoying more stable emotions the last few weeks. The worst of the pregnancy hormone roller coaster seems to be behind me, and I'm back to my normal positive self. With this in mind I have made the decision that 2010 is going to be a less stressful, more positive year than 2009. The success of this is going to be entirely my choice in how I respond to what happens around me. I'll also be trying to blog more regularly. The plan for now will be three times a week, probably Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, as those are my at home days.

So that's the latest here and I look forward to sharing 2010 with you all.