Xmas in Australia

We thought you might enjoy some photos (and two videos) of our Xmas morning barbecue with Paul's mum, step-dad, brother and nieces at one of the parks near our house. Later in the day, we drove down to Paul's dad's house to enjoy a couple of relaxing days playing at the beach.

No More Work for Me!!!!

After months of ticking down the days, I'm finally done with working and get to look forward to having a whole year off to get to know Itty Bitty. The maternity leave agreement at my work is unbelievable. I get a full 48 weeks off at half-pay (and still accumulate sick and holiday time off during this time). That means that I won't have to go back to work again until January 2010. I think I could get used to a life of leisure.

And just to rub it in I should also probably mention that the Australian government picks up the tab for our hospital/doctor bills and even pays us $5000 for our baby-making efforts. What a generous country this is!

The Good News and the Even Better News . . .

Paul was offered a new job just before Xmas. He'll be working as the Workshop Technician for the Automotive Electric Workshop at TAFE (a government-run technical college). It's the first step for Paul to get off the tools and working toward being an automotive lecturer. Congratulations sweetie!!!

And now for the even better news . . . The very next day he was laid-off from his other job and gets to collect severance and hang out with me, (and work on the house) until he starts his new job in mid-January. I couldn't have asked for a better Xmas present!

Itty and me at 30 weeks

Itty Bitty Back on the Big Screen

So it's not the best video in the world and the ultrasound is a bit unclear, but I've finally managed to upload the video of our 28 week appointment and ultrasound which you can check out here.