Lots of updates

Well there seems to be so much going on at the moment, firstly Robert starting Nursery (pre-school), then Christopher's birthday, the garage conversion, and last but not least the new baby. This entry is likely to be long as I'm covering all four!

Starting with the first, Robert's been at nursery now for a week. He started last Friday, and has done SO well. He's settled in beautifully, and really enjoys going. After he's hung his coat and bag up, we go over to find his name badge, and then he goes off to play. He is right at home and doesn't even stop to say goodbye! When I asked his teacher a question, I then had to go and find him to say goodbye! He's been doing pictures and paintings, has told me he has a friend called Ewan who goes to nursery (somewhat confusing as that's also his cousin's name!). He has trouble remembering everything he's played with but does remember a few bits. Overall, I'm pleased he's settled in so well, and quickly, and I think that makes my decision not to send him to a private nursery beforehand a sound one.

Now my mornings are just with Christopher, it seems a bit odd! We've been keeping ourselves busy, mostly going out and about, to groups or whatnot. Things at the moment are a bit complicated because of the building work going on in our garage, but we work around it.

The builders have made fabulous progress. The garage door has gone, the front has been bricked up with just a hole where the window will go once it arrives. The wall framework was made, then they got the ceiling supported on both sides of the wall (complete with a clear plastic dust sheet so the remaining space in the kitchen was usable), and then the wall knocked through. There is now a supporting beam in the ceiling to hold the house up because the kitchen wall was load-bearing. Yesterday they worked on the floor, putting in wooden struts and filling the space with block insulation, then putting floor boards down. Finally, they put up the dividing wall framework. Today, they finished off the framework, and filled the walls with more block insulation, except for one panel in the adjoining wall to allow movement between the two separate rooms. The next bit of the job is the electricians and plumbers, who will sort out lighting, sockets and the water pipes. There's currently a pipe in the middle of the wall they knocked down, so that'll have to be re-routed. Then once all the electrics and water pipes are sorted, the builders will come back to put the plasterboard up on the walls, and any other jobs they need to carry on with. It still seems hard to visualise just how big the kitchen will be as there's a dustsheet and kitchen cabinets on the floor in there. Plus the table that will go in at some point! The study seems like a great size though, with plenty of room for storage as well as the computers. I'm glad all this is getting done in my early pregnancy, so hopefully it will all be COMPLETELY finished (including new kitchen installed and decorating done) by the time baby is here!

Onto Christopher. He had his second birthday on Tuesday. I can't believe he's two, TWO whole years old. He is my cheeky little ray of sunshine. I adore it when he grins at me with those dimpled cheeks, as if to say "oh yes, Mummy, I'm about to be cheeky, and I KNOW you love it!" He and his big brother are playing together more and more. They are beginning to play wrestle!! With Christopher usually the one who pushes his brother over and clambers on top! On Christopher's birthday, we opened presents first thing in the morning. Jonathan and I had blown up 20 balloons the night before (but one got a hole in the neck while it was being tied, and another went down overnight), so Robert was quite happy to play with the balloons and didn't seem to mind much that all the presents were for Christopher! I'm sure it'll be Christopher we have to console on Robert's birthday! We dropped Robert off at nursery, then the three of us went to Irchester Country Park and let Christopher play in the play area there for a while, before he wanted a drink. The cafe was open so we went and got tea for us, and a fruit shoot for Christopher (it was a special occasion after all - I can't stand those things! The kids usually have water when out and about, or squash if we take their cups). After we picked Robert up from nursery, we then went on to Northampton and went out for lunch with Jonathan's parents at the Harvester. Then back to their house where Christopher had yet more presents, then tea and birthday cake, followed by a trip to the park, during which we all got soaked as it suddenly downpoured! It was a good day though, and Christopher got lots and lots of dinosaur presents, and consequently, he now seems to have a new word "dah-dor" or dinosaur (although I can't be 100% sure, as I point to one, and he will say "RAAAAAR!" rather than saying dah-dor. I remember this stage in communication very frustrating, as they start saying words, but as they're not recognisable, it takes a while before you learn the words as they say them. It sounds very much at first like they're still babbling! But it's promising that he's moving forward slowly.

Finally, the new baby. :) This pregnancy, I don't know if it's because I've done it twice before so it's not as novel, or if it's because I'm just not SURE on dates, but I'm not keeping track on how many weeks and days pregnant I am. I am thinking to myself that my due date is 30th April, but I don't KNOW whether that is an accurate representation of when I conceived. The midwife put me as 27th April due date. I just have NO idea, and am waiting for my scan so I feel like I do have a proper date. And yes, I know this DATE means nothing!! But it means I can finally start to keep a track of my weeks, and know what's going on! By my April 30th estimate, I am 9 weeks 3 days. Which is 9 weeks 6 days on my record.

I received my scan appointment through the post this morning. It's a late morning appointment on October 18th which is a Thursday (and therefore the most awkward day possible, as that's the one day the in-laws can't babysit - so goodness knows what we're going to do! It's also awkward as Robert needs picking up from nursery 10 minutes after the scan appointment starts). I MIGHT have to be attending this scan alone :S Which I'm a little worried about, because I have this feeling that things might not be ok. I'm still getting days of morning sickness (strangely they seem to alternate - one day will be bad, the next day quite bearable, then bad again the next day), so I guess that should reassure me. Still no bleeding, although several days ago (might have even been before my booking appointment) I had a SLIGHT amount of red mixed in with CM (which is still plentiful) and then nothing more. Of course I have no real reason to be worried, everything probably is fine. But the thought of a missed miscarriage keeps popping into my head. Anyway. On the scan date, I should be between 11 weeks 6 days and 12 weeks 5 days. So I should be able to nub spot, assuming that all is ok and baby is still well. Still thinking it's a boy though! I know plenty of people that have had 3+ boys and no girls, but also quite a lot that have had two boys, followed by a girl. I think I'll be joining the 3+ boy group!

Well, that'll do for a very long update entry! x