It's crisis time in the L and S-D-W-B's household with Wombie laughing his ass off at his/her over-stressed paranoid parents. To make the time EVEN MORE FUN, L and I are moving house in only two sleeps time. So right now it's: pack pack pack, eat eat eat (and sleep sleep sleep, but only for me as L has taken to napping like a bat).
It feels like a crazy time to be doing all this: pregnancy, exams, end of year schedules, etc. but it also feels so right. L keeps saying that if someone had told her at the beginning of the year that she'd be pregnant and moving she'd would've laughed at them. Well, who's laughing now? Maybe all this is tapping into my childhood love of boxes and fortresses, maybe it's the nurturing, animalistic nature in us, maybe it's just plain stupidity, but I don't care - it's fun! We have most of the house packed into boxes, but it looks more like an overflowing bathtub than a packed house ready to be moved. Stuff just keeps spilling out of the strangest places, and try as we may the house will just not empty (dammit).
Then we have the beauty of TIFA (This is *&^%ing Africa) and all bureaucratic stupidity must make a grand entrance at some point or other. Electricity is not simply something that turns on a light. No, no my friend. It is a Cecilia that sits big and plump behind a desk with her Chicken lunch (not the salad type) in hand and says with her eyes, "What can you do for me?" And how L loves a challenge. This little experience nearly resulted in us quitting the move and becoming squatters in our current residence. But, I digress!
Last night was one of those beautiful, romantic moments that rarely happen in this life. L and I went to the new house to receive the keys (the "hand-over" they call it). With all the joy of a 5-year-old at Christmas, we walked through the empty house, hand in hand, and then set the alarm (TIFA) and then strolled round the garden. Unbeknown to us (until just before it happened), we had only two minutes to get out the yard before the alarm went off. And so before we knew it, sirens were blaring and I was struggling to get back into the house. And would you know it, I broke the key. Of course! All romanticised memories quickly vanished and this left L plonked down on the step of her beautiful new house. Oh well!
Come Monday, Wombie and L will have a home and it is a beautiful one. Come what may, we'll take it in our stride. L's soldiering through and convincing me daily that she must surely be English (stiff upper lip and all).
Now for my next trick, I just need to get her to sleep the night through. Once I've accomplished that, it's off to war torn Africa to begin bringing World Peace.
What I've learnt so far: Hair growing began this morning and a change in hairstyle isn't as good as a holiday!
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Boxes and varnish
L and I are working our backsides off getting ready for the move - seven days to go. Between the boxes and packing and marking (it's an exam cycle of course), I've tackled two tables to sand and varnish! What an experience.
The cool thing was that the whole time I was sanding (looking manly) and varnishing (looking dirty) I could only think of one thing: This is for L and Wombie. Cool little things like my finger print would land up on the varnish (by accident), or I'd leave a piece un-sanded that only I know of. Little hidden treasures of a project I wanted to do for them.
It's so strange but that is how I find myself thinking lately: what can I hide for them to find at a later stage. Very nostalgic, I know. But hey, this is my blog and I can nostalgia (???) if I so choose (and make up words too it seems).
But back to the tables - I had this constant sense of how these things create memories. Be they my own or memories we will one day make with the as-yet-unborn-one! But they're there and they're ours and no one can take that away!
L is starting to sleep like Wombie's already been born and it's so bizarre. Last night, Wombie and L seemed to be playing their own game at 1am and that was L for the night. Walked through this morning to find her passed out on the couch and all I could think was, "What did I miss and will it happen again?" But new tricks aside, L is growing and Wombie's sitting back and enjoying the ride.
As for the new house (seven days to go) there is still so much to do and Wombie's new room just has to be perfect, or close to it depending on how tired we are. It's bizarre but the thought of accumulating yet more stuff sends cold shivers down my spine and leaves me wondering if the bank is likely to continue handing out cash or will they soon lock me up. Still on the list to do:
1. paint the changing-table;
2. paint the nursery;
3. fetch the cot;
4. find a rocking-chair (of course)
5. buy 1 x pram;
6. buy 1 x camp-cot (like the little buggar's going to want to camp already);
7. buy a shit load of baby stuff (nappies, bottles, dummy, clothes, toys, etc);
8. oh and set up the new house - including unpacking the shit load that Wombie already owns.
And with L at 25 weeks this should be fun, but what the hell we've never done a normal thing before. Let the packing begin.
What I've learnt so far: (1) L finds me irresistible in my torn, dirty old jeans. Cool! (2) Wombie may be Ella-Rhys if he's a she! Could this be the name?
The cool thing was that the whole time I was sanding (looking manly) and varnishing (looking dirty) I could only think of one thing: This is for L and Wombie. Cool little things like my finger print would land up on the varnish (by accident), or I'd leave a piece un-sanded that only I know of. Little hidden treasures of a project I wanted to do for them.
It's so strange but that is how I find myself thinking lately: what can I hide for them to find at a later stage. Very nostalgic, I know. But hey, this is my blog and I can nostalgia (???) if I so choose (and make up words too it seems).
But back to the tables - I had this constant sense of how these things create memories. Be they my own or memories we will one day make with the as-yet-unborn-one! But they're there and they're ours and no one can take that away!
L is starting to sleep like Wombie's already been born and it's so bizarre. Last night, Wombie and L seemed to be playing their own game at 1am and that was L for the night. Walked through this morning to find her passed out on the couch and all I could think was, "What did I miss and will it happen again?" But new tricks aside, L is growing and Wombie's sitting back and enjoying the ride.
As for the new house (seven days to go) there is still so much to do and Wombie's new room just has to be perfect, or close to it depending on how tired we are. It's bizarre but the thought of accumulating yet more stuff sends cold shivers down my spine and leaves me wondering if the bank is likely to continue handing out cash or will they soon lock me up. Still on the list to do:
1. paint the changing-table;
2. paint the nursery;
3. fetch the cot;
4. find a rocking-chair (of course)
5. buy 1 x pram;
6. buy 1 x camp-cot (like the little buggar's going to want to camp already);
7. buy a shit load of baby stuff (nappies, bottles, dummy, clothes, toys, etc);
8. oh and set up the new house - including unpacking the shit load that Wombie already owns.
And with L at 25 weeks this should be fun, but what the hell we've never done a normal thing before. Let the packing begin.
What I've learnt so far: (1) L finds me irresistible in my torn, dirty old jeans. Cool! (2) Wombie may be Ella-Rhys if he's a she! Could this be the name?
Thursday, November 12, 2009
CONTACT!
Last night! It happened!
The night before Wombie turned 24 weeks!
As we lay in bed, me half asleep, L getting there slowly!
WOMBIE KICKED!!! And kicked some more! and kicked some more!
And even better - I felt it right in the palm of my hand. This small tap from the inside coming up and meeting my hand!
It was so amazing that I really don't have words to describe it.
My wife and baby amaze me!
What I've learnt so far: Wombie must like my songs or the national anthem.
The night before Wombie turned 24 weeks!
As we lay in bed, me half asleep, L getting there slowly!
WOMBIE KICKED!!! And kicked some more! and kicked some more!
And even better - I felt it right in the palm of my hand. This small tap from the inside coming up and meeting my hand!
It was so amazing that I really don't have words to describe it.
My wife and baby amaze me!
What I've learnt so far: Wombie must like my songs or the national anthem.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
The boyfriends guide to pregnancy
That's what needs to be written. Although with a title like that we could land up in a heap of trouble. But heck, it needs to be done. A guys guide of what to expect, but with only the essential details.
L finished reading The Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy and enthusiastically encouraged me to do the same; what was she thinking? Her reasoning: it would explain a lot.
What she failed to consider was that some things should just remain a mystery. Here is my list of what I don't think I should have found out (note I only read the first and last chapter): The girlfriends say:
1. Breastfeeding is like having an orgasm (not an association I needed to make).
2. Delivery is a scary &@%£ thing!
3. Your forgetfulness won't go away and may even get worse.
4. No sex for who knows how long after Wombie comes along - although we'll make a plan.
5. L's nipples are changing "pigmentation" (as the GF's call it).
I stopped reading for sanity's sake. It's not that I don't want to know about stuff. I just don't want to know stuff that applies to women in general. There is stuff L will experience that's fine and I wanna know about, but when it comes to associating it with all the GF's across the world, I tend to start to backstroke my way out!
For now I know all I can handle:
1. L's doing great -sore legs and back, tiredness, grumpiness, forgetfulness (and more tiredness) aside;
2. Wombies moving around and growing. I'm sure the little ones a little too comfy in there (legs up on the spleen, cushioned against other precious organs).
It's getting time for Wombie to just settle in for the next 17 or so weeks and, well grow, grow, grow. Weighing in at about 500 grams, he /she has about 3 kg's more to go and so I'm considering singing my own little lullaby (to the tune of Nkosi Sikelel' iafrica):
Sit back and relax my little one
Push against your mother's bla-a-da
Kick and kick and kick so we will know
You can play ru-u-ugby!
You can play ru-u-ugby!
Well, I'm no lyricist so that will just have to do for now.
What I've learnt so far: Way too much about women things!
L finished reading The Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy and enthusiastically encouraged me to do the same; what was she thinking? Her reasoning: it would explain a lot.
What she failed to consider was that some things should just remain a mystery. Here is my list of what I don't think I should have found out (note I only read the first and last chapter): The girlfriends say:
1. Breastfeeding is like having an orgasm (not an association I needed to make).
2. Delivery is a scary &@%£ thing!
3. Your forgetfulness won't go away and may even get worse.
4. No sex for who knows how long after Wombie comes along - although we'll make a plan.
5. L's nipples are changing "pigmentation" (as the GF's call it).
I stopped reading for sanity's sake. It's not that I don't want to know about stuff. I just don't want to know stuff that applies to women in general. There is stuff L will experience that's fine and I wanna know about, but when it comes to associating it with all the GF's across the world, I tend to start to backstroke my way out!
For now I know all I can handle:
1. L's doing great -sore legs and back, tiredness, grumpiness, forgetfulness (and more tiredness) aside;
2. Wombies moving around and growing. I'm sure the little ones a little too comfy in there (legs up on the spleen, cushioned against other precious organs).
It's getting time for Wombie to just settle in for the next 17 or so weeks and, well grow, grow, grow. Weighing in at about 500 grams, he /she has about 3 kg's more to go and so I'm considering singing my own little lullaby (to the tune of Nkosi Sikelel' iafrica):
Sit back and relax my little one
Push against your mother's bla-a-da
Kick and kick and kick so we will know
You can play ru-u-ugby!
You can play ru-u-ugby!
Well, I'm no lyricist so that will just have to do for now.
What I've learnt so far: Way too much about women things!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Seeing is ...
As would happen with all things in the L and S-D-W-B (super dad wanna be) household, we could see only glimpses in the last scan. A glimpse of the head, a glimpse of the torso, and a glimpse the most beautiful legs in the world - tucked one over the other. But it was all so worth it!
The scan was all hazy and fuzzy and not even the sparkly, friendly, cheerful (said tongue-in-cheek so note the sarcasm) Debbie-the-ultra-sound-lady-with-the-happy-wand could figure out what she was looking at. She hummed and wondered and mumbled along while L and I sat with our mouths wide open in wonder.
That's the amazing thing: I don't even have to know what I'm looking at to find the experience wonderful and amazing! At one point I was looking at the stomach and thought it was the head. We even came out with a picture that neither of us know what it is. But, oh my, it's still the most amazing picture ever.
So when it came down to the sex of little wombie, L and I were left with little more than a "well I can't see any testes!" Like that helped a lot. So for now we still don't know and that's just fine. Be it a penis totting boy or a gentle barbie playing girl I don't care. It's still amazing!
What I've learnt so far:I have to check L's sanity from time to time and so have started playing a little game of "did you know ..." It goes like this: "Did you know that in a helicopter the blades are used to cool down the pilot?" or "Did you know they've now invented an inflatable dartboard" or "Did you know you can now buy a solar powered torch". It just helps to keep a check on things!
The scan was all hazy and fuzzy and not even the sparkly, friendly, cheerful (said tongue-in-cheek so note the sarcasm) Debbie-the-ultra-sound-lady-with-the-happy-wand could figure out what she was looking at. She hummed and wondered and mumbled along while L and I sat with our mouths wide open in wonder.
That's the amazing thing: I don't even have to know what I'm looking at to find the experience wonderful and amazing! At one point I was looking at the stomach and thought it was the head. We even came out with a picture that neither of us know what it is. But, oh my, it's still the most amazing picture ever.
So when it came down to the sex of little wombie, L and I were left with little more than a "well I can't see any testes!" Like that helped a lot. So for now we still don't know and that's just fine. Be it a penis totting boy or a gentle barbie playing girl I don't care. It's still amazing!
What I've learnt so far:I have to check L's sanity from time to time and so have started playing a little game of "did you know ..." It goes like this: "Did you know that in a helicopter the blades are used to cool down the pilot?" or "Did you know they've now invented an inflatable dartboard" or "Did you know you can now buy a solar powered torch". It just helps to keep a check on things!
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