Belinda’s Blog

Never got around to putting my ticker in here. I’d forget where I was up to without it

Only just, but I got there 

So glad that this week is over it’s been a really hard one on so many levels and now I look forward to a weekend of doing a little work and a LOT of nothing.

I was sick to the core today. Awful vomiting episodes before work and I really did not think I could get through the day, but I trudged along and survived it. I had lots of helpers in my room this afternoon, so while a few kids played, they all helped me re-organise my classroom furniture. A change is as good as a holiday!

At the end of the day, my supervisor came in and gave me a present! A cot sheet set with embroidered giraffes and hippos on it. It’s so adorable and was a lovely thing to do! Totally unexpected. I haven’t received many gifts yet (and the whole thing still seems so far away anyway!) and being that I have very few local friends I probably won’t get a lot of gifts, but I was really touched at her gesture today. I am so lucky to have such a great supervisor who has really been there for me in so many ways and moments (esp since December and the m/c).

Tonight, early night planned I think. I’ve already had a hot shower & am in PJs.

Tomorrow we have to go and pick up the new light/fan for the toilet. Hard to believe that this time next week we could be about to have the 1st shower in our brand new bathroom! SO excited! Not sure what else we’ll get up to, other than clearing out the old bathroom ready for demolition on Monday. I just want 2 great days with hubby

Sleep, here I come………..

It has been a tough week. I’ve been emotional as hell, Steven was away, the kids at school have been pushing my buttons BIG time and usually they don’t even know I have buttons! Grrr. After working on program and reports I’m tired to boot & the headaches are still around too. I really can’t wait for a Saturday sleep-in!

Anyway, the really good bit is that Steven is home and we’re heading out to dinner tonight to the best Mexican EVER (never been anywhere else that compares and usually I am not into Mexican b/c it’s average) so we can properly catchup. By the time he got home last night he was so tired that we didn’t make it past half-time of the Origin match on TV before he went to bed.

I’m not sure if I ever mentioned it, but during his long NZ trip last Nov., he bought a Dimples sleepsack (NZ designer that hand-stitches her garments) for baby #1. We had it stored away for a while after the loss, but when he was in NZ this past week, he got the matching hat. We as Herods have quite a fondness for cute bee designs so this is just so appropriate OMG the hat is so cute and so darn small. I am usually not into hats but this little beanie is so so gorgeous.

I found a pic of the sleepsack and beanie in one of the Dimples website pics, so I can share…

Not sure if you can really tell but they have hand-appliqued bees on them

Speaking of all things baby – 15 weeks now. Wow this time is going by quite fast now. This week my abs have been sore, as if I’ve done a hard workout. So things are getting firmer and are stretching although it’s not really that visible…just what I feel.

I was supposed to have a parent interview tomorrow after work but I’ve re-scheduled it for Monday, simply because I am exhausted and need some rest tomorrow and not work back. Monday I will be much more refreshed.

And it’s only a matter of days til our bathroom is GONE! I cannot wait to see it finished after all this time of dreaming and planning for it.

So lots to be thankful for at the moment, just need to get some decent rest and home my kids settle down at work next week and it will all be good!

OK, program is up to date (phew) and no report work needed until the weekend (yay) and hubby due home in an hour (yay yay yay!), so I thought I would respond to Christine’s tag.

5 Musicians I am currently listening to:

Well in my car at the moment I have:

1. Anthony Callea (Quel surprise!)
2. Les Miserables Cast Recording

And on occasion:

3. Missy Higgins

4. Kelly Clarkson (when Steven takes over the CD player)

and that’s about it really! (not a heap of time for music lately).

DVD/Movies I have watched Lately:

1. Batman Returns
2. Human Body BBC Series
3. Anthony Callea: Live in concert
4. Bizarre French film (subtitled) on World Movies:  Fanfan de Tulipe
5. Rented another with Batman but do you think I can remember what it was?  (Preggo brain!!!)

5 TV shows I tend to watch:

1. All Saints
2. Big Brother
3. House

And that’s about it!
5 Restaurants that I have visited lately:

1. Chilis!:)
2. Little Italy
3. Jasmine Rice Thai
4. Peacock Palace Chinese

Fave snacks:

1. Honey & Dijon Mustard rice snacks – by Apero
2. Thai Yum Yum crackers – Asian groceries
3. Ritz crackers
4. Red Rock Deli chips

Not really into much else at the moment. Sweet is not my thing I feel better eating rice crackers/snacks. Savoury is the way to go when I’m still feeling queasy!

I’m contemplating making this blog partially private. I’ve had to leave certain things out of late due to the personal nature of them. I seem to have some anonymous readers/stalkers looking who are not friends.
I’m more than happy for those ppl I know to read and comment (I encourage it!).

So, if you wish to continue to be able to read all posts here, email me and let me know. I will start password protecting posts that need to be and that way you’ll have access to that p’word and can keep up to date with everything in Herod-land Only certain posts will ask for password, the rest will be clearly visible to all.

OMG what a rollercoaster I’ve been on the past 3 days. I’ve been SO tired, So emotional (preg hormones, I assume?). I dropped Steven at airport on Sunday and I bawled my eyes out. He usually goes away for much longer, but 3 days and I totally lost it. Maybe it’s because it’s me and baby and I just don’t like him being far from us anymore. But man, that was tough. I have had dinner with my parents 2 nights running and I’ve had killer headaches again this week (funnily enough, in the weekly preg update I get it mentioned headaches in the 14/15th week, so maybe it’s common for them to really kick butt around now?), so I’ve been going from work to parents’ place and then getting home around 7:30, showering and then hitting bed. Last night, I was in bed before 8:30 and didn’t wake until almost 7AM. Guess I have really needed the rest, huh? 

There have also been some stressful personal things we’ve been dealing with (nothing I can go into) which has added to it and with hubby being far away it’s been so so hard I miss him so much and tomorrow night cannot come fast enough til he’s back home again with us.

Tonight I didn’t go to my parents’ as I knew I needed the time to hit the work to-do list. Thankfully, I have almost got my program ready for supervisor (another hr shoulds do it so it will be done by Thurs for the Fri deadline) & most surprisingly, I attempted the new version of our school reports we are using this year (gotta love web-based apps!) and I’ve completed all but the Maths and English comments By the end of the weekend I hope to have those comments finished and given to my supervisor so that she can advise of any changes that I need to make. That gives me 3 weeks til they need to be finalised, so while i have the biggest bit of the reports still to do, I think I can stop stressing about the deadline.

OK, I’m totally exhausted, so I’m off to catch some Zzzzs.

OK, so the pain is still there, but from what I’ve known in the past as a regular receiver of massages, deep tissue massage is not recommended during pregnancy. So, with that knowledge, I had 2 hot showers & bought a BIG wheat pack and did several treatments.

The burning pain is still there and I still don’t have full movement of my head, but there is a marked improvement. I’ll have another few rounds with the wheat pack during today/this evening and hopefully by tomorrow it will be even better. Here’s hoping, anyway!

Given that Steven is going to NZ shortly (sob!), we decided to sleep in and then head out for a late breakfast. Definitely won’t need lunch. After eating, we browsed Myer. It’s quite sad the things we get excited over sometimes. eg drooling over frypans and other homewares. Sick to death of forraging through drawers to find utensils I want, so invested in some more untensils and a nice holder for them. In drawers, they seem to disappear (esp when someone *ahem* puts them back in the wrong drawers ). So that should make life much easier come dinner time.

Also browsed the baby section. There was 30% Sale happening and was tempted to buy a few more bits and pieces for the stash. But aside from pink or blue, there really only leaves white. You’d think some designers could be a bit more inventive than white huh? Makes me even more glad that we’re going to find out girl/boy, because at least then we can purchase things other than plain old WHITE! Ah well, only 4 more weeks til that mystery will be solved. Just a shame they won’t be on sale then. C’est la vie!

Off to the airport in a little while. Steven usually gets the airport limo company to take and bring him back, but they were booked out, so I’m driving him up and he shall get the limo back again on Wednesday night. The good thing is, at least I will be kept busy while he’s away. I have reports to work on and my program to hand in this week, so at least having the house to myself the next few nights I can focus on that. I will miss him though and wish he didn’t have to go (or wish I was going too! Dammit!).

That’s it for now!

Where is the time going???

I’ve had a bit of a weird week, really. I had a good 3 days at work, despite a shocking headace that set in on Tuesday. I was a bit nervous in taking too many Panadol as I wasn’t sure what dosage was considered OK and what wasn’t. So I mainly grin and beared it. It continued throughout Wed. Wed night I felt really awful, so I went to bed at 8 & woke up at 630 when Steven went to work, the head still pounding the moment I stood up. I phoned in sick (dammit!), then went back to bed. Woke up briefly at 845 so phoned for a Dr appt, then went back to bed and woke up around 12:30! Wow – I basically slept 16.5 hrs, give or take a few mins here and there. By then the headache had lessened, but I felt really groggy and tired.

I saw the Dr late in the afternoon. He checked my BP and my temp to make sure I did not have an infection causing the headaches. Probably hormonal. He reassured me that I could not do any harm taking daily Panadol when I needed it & wrote me a Dr cert. for 2 days.

By this morning, the headache had eased (still felt groggy though from days of pounding head!), but in its place was a god-awful pain in my neck! I can only guess that several days of pounding head caused the muscles in my neck to tense up. I can barely turn my head so I’m hoping that Steven can work his magic on it tonight (he’s usually pretty good at massage) and if that doesn’t do the trick, I’ll try and book in somewhere for a massage tomorrow. So, that’s that!

Yesterday, I phoned and booked my 18 week ultrasound. It’s scheduled for June 19th. We  definitely want to find out gender, so hopefully baby will co-operate. I refuse to leave until I know the answer 

On the homefront, 1 more week until the bathroom is ripped out. I can’t wait to see the finished result and the inconvenience of no bathroom for 5 days will be well worth it once the new one is in. Must remember to take progress photos each day after they have worked on it!

Steven is off to NZ on business on Sunday, for 3-4 days. Just a short trip this time, so I’m sure it will go by fast.

No plans made for Saturday or Sunday morning, before I drive hubby to airport. Just a quiet one at home sounds good right about now

Feeling really good, aside from the neck situation, so hopefully that will be gone soon. Still feeling queasy but it is more manageable now, so I’m in really good spirits and happy

For those who are intersted in the whole baby purchase stuff…

Pram we have chosen after MUCH research is the Hauck Infinity. Likes: stability of 4 wheels, with the steering of a 3 wheeler. Has a bassinet attachment and a regular pram and you can remove one so easily to put on the other. Nice and light. Euro design. Folds plenty small enough.

White sleigh cot. Have always wanted a sleigh & they can run up to about $1500 in the stores for some brands. We have seen some around the $750 mark, but have found a wholesaler that can ship one for $460. I like the style of the sleigh, plus the fact it’s used as a bed til they are around 4.

As I find more images of what we have planned, I will post it here.

Once the bathroom is done, we’re going to start ordering the things.

We had a very busy but fun weekend.

Saturday I went to the beautician, then we all headed to the baby store Steven’s parents knew of as being way cheaper than where they live. They bought their portable cot her & we chose the pram that we are going to buy. Shopped, had lunch, headed home for  a while, then caught up with my younger bro and his family so Steven’s parents could see Lachlan for the first time. Then went to Little Italy for dinner. Very late night but a really good night out.

Sunday, we headed to a lookout but the area was so busy b/c of Mother’s Day that we didn’t eat there, we just headed down near the beach for a while. We were out and about for a while and got home around 5. Just stayed home Sunday night.

Today, we had a busy day. We had an OB appointment in the morning, which was good. There are 2 OBs that share patients, so that way we get to have alternate visits with each and get to know both of them well. Dr C today was really lovely!  We basically went through a heap of history and over my results I’ve had to date, then a general chat, then he had a good feel of my abdomen and then did an u/sound just to have a peek My due date we are just going to go with my LMP of Nov 19, just to play it safe. However, some u/s I have favour Nov 16 and then the next dates it as 19th then today’s was the 16th. He said just stick with the 19th for the hospital etc cos it’s better to go with the latter date for the official stuff. Although really, 3 days makes next to no difference in the grand scheme of things! I go again on June 6th & have to book my next u/s for the week following that. gotta do that soon as they book up so far in advance.
Right afterwards, I had to drop Steven off and then I had to race off to work. I got there at end of lunch & so basically had a half-day. The Deputy covered my class. Since I’m now in my 2nd Tri & all the tests and u/s have been fine , I decided to tell my kids. Some of their reactions were cute- lots of questions & excitement. I figured if I just told the kids, then it will get around the grapevine and the teachers I’m not close to will find out through word of mouth

Crazy few work weeks ahead, so I have to get going and do some now before I settle in for the night.