2013 is getting close

Time is whiling away...

Whilst we continue to wait, here's a Pleasing Photo for this week:

Messing about with balls on the Wick. It was extremely muddy! I had been thinking I might take the baby for walks on the Wick quite often, but I'd forgotten to account for how much mud there often is. I'm not sure it would be a fun experience with a pushchair! I'll have to get good at using the sling.

So, I didn't do a great job of keeping up my Pleasing Photos for the duration of 2012. But I'm starting again and my goal for 2013 is to keep it up beyond August, which is when I just kind of stopped this year. On the plus side, I'll have an interesting subject for my photographs! But it's just ever so slightly possible that caring for the interesting subject might somehow prevent me from photographing it as often as I'd like. We'll have to see.

Other goals for 2013 include praying with/for the baby every day, and taking the little one up a mountain before its first birthday. Ambitious? Maybe... but it should be possible (it doesn't have to be a big mountain!). Perhaps I should think of some non baby related goals too - but I'm finding a lot of my time taken up with thinking about baby related things these days :)

Waiting

Waiting for a baby is a bit like queueing for a rollercoaster*.

First, the excitement of finally being in the queue, knowing what's coming up: you know it's going to be both fun and scary but you're not there yet. Lots of joking and laughing as you get ready for what's coming.

Then, you kind of get used to being in the queue... you get on with it; it's not particularly interesting but you know it will be worth it in the end. You know roughly how long it's going to take, but not exactly. At times it seems like you have to wait for years!

At last you approach the end of the queue. You can see where people are getting on and suddenly the fear and the excitement are multiplied. It's about to happen! But still you have to wait... you're still not sure exactly when it will be your turn.

And then... you're sitting down. You're strapped in. The rollercoaster is going and there's nothing you can do to stop it!

I reckon at the moment I'm nearing the turnstiles at the end of the queue. I can see that I'll be getting on that ride any minute now. People have told me what it's like but I still don't know for myself. I'm extremely excited but also quite scared. I wish I could just rush forward and say "Now!" but I know I have to keep waiting for my turn.

Come on, baby. I want you to wait until you're ready, but... I really hope you're ready soon!


*No, I don't mean because both make you feel sick...

Baby Christmas Presents

To say it hasn't yet been born, the baby did pretty well for Christmas presents this year!

First up (in the stocking) was a rather hilarious moustache dummy. Someone always gets a comedy moustache.

I think it will look quite startling, especially when coupled with the buff baby rattle. The effect will be particularly striking if we have a girl.

Later in the day, baby was the (presumably) grateful recipient of a gyro-bowl. Allegedly unspillable (although my aunt did manage to demonstrate that this is not *always* the case), the bowl twists and turns as the unthinking toddler waves its arms about whilst holding said bowl by the handles. Ingenious!

I was most touched, however, by a gift that carries with it a dose of family history. This is Shetley (full name Shetley, Shetley, Off You Trot), the rocking horse bought as a Christmas present for my youngest brother Thom 20 years ago. Long since passed on to younger cousins, I had no idea that Shetley was even still in existence. But somehow or other Thom discovered that he (Shetley that is, not Thom himself) was in storage in the loft of a distant relative. With Mum's help Shetley was restored (a work in progress: the poor pony is still earless!) and presented to us on Christmas Day for the future use of our own child. Of course it'll be a while before the little one is old enough to ride it, but I look forward to passing on the story of how the baby's Uncle Thom used to ride the very same horse when he was two years old.

We still don't have the baby yet, but I have a feeling it won't be long. It's hard to explain how, but things have been feeling kind of different for the last couple of days (ever since I was Mary in the crib service on Christmas Eve and had to do an arm-waving, leg-kicking dance as part of the act!) - my assembled siblings would love the baby to be born before they leave, but as most of them are going home tomorrow we are running out of time for that. Although tomorrow is the 27th, which is when Noah says the baby will be born. Let's see if he's right!

Christmas Tree

I got so bored of waiting for the baby to arrive that I started taking photos of our Christmas tree. A pleasing photo for this week! (I'm disappointed though because in real life the star is sparkly but I'm not sure how to photograph that effectively).

On Maternity Leave

I've been on maternity leave for nearly three weeks now. So far there's still no sign of the baby (apart from some pretty vicious kicks of course) - but we are still ten days away from the due date. Noah is pretty disappointed that our offspring has missed not one but two cool birthdays (12/12/12 and 20/12/2012) and is now hoping it will be born on the 27th (not, I think, for any particular reason). Myself, I'm just hoping he or she doesn't go for Christmas Day: it must surely be a rubbish day to have a birthday.* Before or after would be just fine.

Anyway. The house is relatively tidy. I think my 'nesting instinct' has just about propelled me into doing about as much housework as the average person might do during an ordinary week! But the baby's room is (almost) ready, the tiny clothes have all been washed and the hospital bag is packed and ready. We even have a Christmas tree, and a paper chain, and all the presents are wrapped - surely the earliest I've ever achieved that particular goal.

As for the pleasing photos... it's been a while! I'm going to start again in January and see if I can keep it up for longer next year. I would not be remotely surprised if a certain baby were to feature in the majority of next year's photographic offerings - all the better for keeping distant grandparents in touch :)

More to follow when something interesting happens!

* Me being selfish really. I love Christmas too much... my traditional Christmas experience takes up the entire day and I can't work out how we'd squeeze in proper birthday time for the poor child!