Spot the Difference

At the risk of boring you all to death with my obsession with Arthur, I just wanted to share this photo that I took yesterday evening of the two boys in my life. Makes me laugh every time I look at it - it's that 'me and mini-me' look.

Introducing Arthur John Thorley Wilkinson - At Long Last!

Am pretty much too pooped (but very very happy!) to write anything, but here are some photos of the not-so-little bundle of joy who finally made his arrival just 17 days late on Friday 20th March at 12.10pm, weighing in at a sturdy 8lbs 11oz.

The red line on his forehead is a battle scar (but not permanent) from the forceps delivery he needed due to having managed to wrap the umbilical cord round his waist whilst performing some sort of pirouette in the womb!

He looks the absolute spitting image of his daddy, minus the ginger hair, but that might change...

The Last Evening of Life As We Know It

To be spent with:

a glass of wine (Montana Sauvignon Blanc of course)

pie, chips and beans for tea (classy, or what?!); followed by New York cheesecake (yum)

two episodes of Coronation Street (can't beat it)

one episode of 24 (excellent)

all to be enjoyed from the comfort of the sofa.


What a perfect end to life as we know it.

Nappies

Ah, what an exciting blog title! That's my life for the foreseeable future. But don't they look lovely on the washing line?

Today poor Humphrey was subjected to the indignity of wearing a nappy but, as is his way, he didn't complain. Putting one of these re-usable nappies (extra green eco-karma to us; until such time as we decide it's too much like hard work) together isn't too difficult when you lay it flat on a table; when it comes to doing it in 3D, so to speak, it becomes a little trickier, so goodness only knows what it will be like when it comes to putting one on a real, squirming, crying, little person. The trouble mostly lies with the poppers which are quite hard to snap together, unless you have something firm to press against (ie a table); as hubby was practicising on Humphrey I did have to point put that he probably wouldn't be able to press against DC to close the poppers in quite the same way.

While we're on the subject of babies (and, let's face it, we might be on this subject for some time to come until I get my life back), last week when I got back from a visit to Liz's (for the Thai curry that didn't do the job) hubby was pleased to inform me that another one of our NCT group had had her baby. As is our way, we played 'guess the name' (well, I guessed as hubby already knew it). 'Is it a boy or girl?' I asked (this usually helps to narrow it down somewhat); 'Boy' hubby confidently replied. 'What does it begin with?' said I (again, there has to be a little clue or I could still be here guessing away). 'D' I was told. 'David, Donald, Damien, Dexter.' 'No, no, no, no.' 'Dilbert, Drew, Dylan, Derek, Desmond.' 'No, no, no, no, no.' 'Hmmm, can I have a clue?' 'It's sort of nineteenth century, you would like it more than me; it's from a book/film/period drama.' 'Darcey?' I said, tentatively. 'Yes!' said hubby, pleased that his clue had elicited the correct response. 'That's a girl's name.' 'Oh,' said hubby 'good job I didn't email them back and say congrats on the birth of your son.' Indeed.

Crafty

Remember the scarf I started back in November? Well, I finally finished about a week ago, just in time for the weather to start turning all lovely and warm and for winter accessories to be confined to the wardrobe. I did have a sneaking suspicion that perhaps DC was waiting for me to finish the scarf before making an appearance, having read of a similar occurence on another blog (www.yarnharlot.ca/blog) - whereby this lady (who really, really knows how to knit) gave birth to all three of her children just after she had finished knitting blankets for each of them. Clearly, it only works for experienced knitters, and perhaps it only works when the thing you are knitting is actually for the baby and not just for yourself. Anyway, so I have now finally finished the scarf just four short months after starting it. Admittedly there was a bit of an unforeseen hiatus in the middle that wasn't actually my fault - John Lewis didn't have the wool I needed to finish it off and it took them ages to order me some. And then I got distracted by knitting Aubrey, Bramble and Wol. So, now all I need to do is wash the scarf and 'block' it - I have no idea how to do that, so in some ways it's quite lucky that I won't need the scarf til next winter as it will no doubt take me that long to get round to the blocking stage. The photo of the finished scarf doesn't show the colours off as well as I would like - it all looks a bit too bluey-grey for my liking.

But the photo of the skein shows the colours much better - don't you just love them? It's called Rowan Colourscape Chunky by Kaffe Fassett in Shade 435 Ghost. This photo is of one of two skeins I managed to pick up from the reduced basket in John Lewis about a month ago - got to love a bargain! Maybe I can knit a matching hat and gloves set to go with the scarf?! Or perhaps a scarf for DC so we can be cool and trendy 'accessorised mother and baby'. For next winter, obviously.

And, in the meantime, I've been getting crafty in another way - with cross stitch. Back in August of last year I bought this tiny little Christmas-themed kitwhile hubby & I were on a day trip to lovely Dulverton in Devon. As I've never done cross stitching before, I thought something small like this (and cheap - costing only 1.95) was ideal as a way of finding out whether or not it would be something I would enjoy doing. Lo and behold, I then lost the darn thing and Christmas came and went. Then, just a couple of days ago while in the middle of an urge to nest (the joys of being pregnant) I started tidying up a wardrobe and I found it. So, last night while watching two episodes of 24 (love, love, love it) I started stitching away. And it was really enjoyable. Now, clearly I've not exactly got far (yes, all I've managed so far is the border) and no doubt when things get a little more tricky and it all starts going horribly wrong I will decide that cross stitch is the devil's work, but for now all is well.

Induction Date

Had an appointment at the hospital today, but even a meeting with a consultant couldn't persuade DC that coming out is a good idea. So, unless things happen before then of their own accord, I am booked in for an induction on Tuesday 17 March - St Patrick's Day. Pity neither hubby nor I have any Irish blood coursing through our veins or it would probably mean a lot more to us!

I do have an appointment with the midwife on Thursday, so she may be able to drag DC out of the cosy little nook, thus saving me from a whole selection of pessaries (sorry if that's too much information), drips, instruments like crochet hooks designed for breaking waters (again, apologies), etc, etc.

One of hubby's colleagues in Poland told him that apparently the longer a baby stays in the womb, the bigger its brain will be - this is based on the fact that Einstein was apparently three weeks overdue. So, it looks like I'm currently growing my very own future University Challenge contestant/Tefal head/super-nerd rocket scientist...

The only trouble with that is, if the brain is big then presumably the head will be big. Ouchie.

D-Day Plus Six

Well, I must say I really didn't expect to ever be writing that as a blog post title. I honestly assumed DC would be here by now, but clearly the little darling has other ideas. I have an appointment at the antenatal clinic tomorrow morning where they will give be giving DC a stern talking to about the importance of making an appearance in the very foreseeable future. And if that doesn't work, they'll give me a date to be induced. Not something I'm looking forward to, if truth be told, as I'd much rather things happened naturally, but it would seem that beggars can't be choosers.

Friday the 13th is getting ever closer, and so the chances of DC popping out on that fateful day increase. However, looking on the bright side, if I do go in to labour then, at least hubby and I will be spared the agony that is Comic Relief/Red Nose Day. If it happens, I'll let you know which is worse: giving birth or watching an entire evening of Comic Relief on the tv.

D-Day Plus 3

I'm still here, and still baby-less, in case you were wondering. I went to see the midwife yesterday but she wasn't able to encourage DC to make an appearance, so I'll just carry on making the most of the last few hours/days/weeks of my life as a childless person. I know that once the baby arrives I'll be craving for days like these when I can do what I want, when I want.

Off to my friend Liz's tonight - she's making Thai Green Chicken Curry which may help DC to make a grand arrival, but let's not hold our breath.

D-Day!

Today is the day when this (that's my bump, by the way)




is supposed to miraculously (and painlessly) transform itself in to one of these (hopefully one that sleeps a lot, as per photo.)


So that means baby is due today; although baby doesn't seem very aware of this fact...


I've eaten two curries in 48 hours (dhansak being the hottest I can manage) and am making my way slowly through a pineapple as the enzyme bromelain found in pineapples is meant to encourage labour; I even discovered some tablets in Boots that are the pure form of bromelain and so I'm also popping those, all to no avail. I've even tried performing star jumps, but apart from looking like an ungainly elephant doing circus tricks, that didn't work. It would seem that all the methods of allegedly inducing labour are simply old wives tales and baby will just come out when the time is right. Still quite a few hours left of actual due date, so who knows if this one might be one of the 5% of babies who arrive on time. Hubby seems to think that the baby will take after me and arrive late; it's true that I never seem to be able to get anywhere on time. But then again, hubby is a lot more of a stickler for time-keeping so perhaps DC will take after him. I'll keep you posted...