Aussie Xmas

Xmas this year was great fun, and thanks to Paul's generous family, I simply sat back and enjoyed the festivities while everyone else bustled about planning and cooking. Thanks to you all!

Paul's dad and Liz came up Xmas Eve morning and spent the day playing with and getting attacked by Elliot (he loves to climb on his granddad like he's a jungle gym). Liz and Paul prepared a fantastic turkey dinner for me complete with turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, and cranberry sauce. Then David, Rebeka and Rhiannon came over for some Chrissie drinks and pavlova (an Aussie creation consisting of baked merengue covered in whipped cream and fruit). Elliot, Paul and I continued my family's Xmas tradition of opening the family presents on Xmas Eve, and we all got spoiled especially Elliot.

 

The next day Elliot spent the morning playing with his new xmas toys and cooking us all culinary treats in the new kitchen Santa brought him.

 

 

 

 

 

Then after his nap, we all went down to Yvonne and Keith's house for a big xmas feast with the whole family where Elliot played with his cousins and hung out with his favourite person in the world right now, Uncle David.

 

 

 

I may never get used to the heat of Xmas in Australia, and I'll always miss my friends and family back home heaps this time of year, but spending the holidays with Paul's family ain't half bad.

Thanks Santa!

Here's a little footage of Elliot running out of his bedroom and discovering what Santa brought him. I think he liked it!

30 weeks in!

I haven't blogged much about this pregnancy, but it certainly isn't because we're not excited to welcome little Oliver. See . . .

One of the things we've been real negligent of this time around is taking photos of my ever-growing belly. So here's another one with the rest of me too (the background is of our freshly plastered granny flat)!

And just in case you were interested, here's one of me and my ubersexy support garments. Together, the band and belt do a fanstastic job of pushing every little smidgen of extra skin and fat either up into a glorious muffin top or down into some tremendous hips. And no, the garments are not very comfy either. Do they look comfy?

The positive side of wearing them is that they help to alleviate a lot of the pain caused by the symphysys pubis dysfunction that I've been dealing with. This condition is one where the bits of cartilage that hold the pelvis together stretch and move more than they should and cause quite a bit of pelvic and lower back pain. It hasn't been much fun.

On top of this, the slight prolapse that I've been dealing with since Elliot's birth has intensified considerably with the weight of this baby and pregnancy. As long as I spend my days lazing around with my feet up all is fine, but as soon as I spend any amount of time upright or carrying anything of any weight at all (say, an Elliot) there is quite a lot of bulging and pressure between my legs. The prolapse has also made it quite difficult to use the toilet and has necessitated the use of a foot stool and some clever positioning to do number twos. As you might imagine, holding in number ones also has its challenges. Oh the sexiness of pregnancy and childbirth!

I've been seeing doctors quite a bit lately and after seeking quite a few different opinions, I think I've decided to opt out of a caesarian (I just don't know how I could manage with a newborn and a busy toddler during the healing process) and go for another vaginal birth (perhaps with a bit more pain relief this time around). There's a likelihood that this could aggravate the prolapse even further, but since it looks like I'll be requiring surgery after Oliver's birth anyway I figure I might as well keep any damage to where the damage has already been done.

But enough about that depressing stuff! How would you like to hear about little Oliver? He's been head down in perfect position for the last couple of ultrasounds. I hope he's not in too much of a hurry to get out of there since I'm pretty sure he could use several more weeks of baking. But then again, if Oliver decides he wants to come a few weeks early like his big brother did, I certainly wouldn't argue. In fact, one of the recent ultrasounds put his estimated due date according to head size in mid-February, and if this is the case, Oliver, I would like to put in a request for an early meet-and-greet please! (Your daddy would kill me if he read that because he's hoping for extra time to get everything done that he wants to with the house before your big day, but he doesn't have to push you out of his body so his say doesn't count as much.) And while I'm making requests, can I also ask for you to keep your hands to your sides and maybe even suck in your tummy a bit during the whole pushing phase.

Right . . . back to the update . . . Oliver is a real mover and shaker, wiggling and kicking and tickling my insides most of the day. I wonder when he sleeps since he seems to be in perpetual motion somedays. All of the usual tests, bloodwork, heartrate, everything have come back perfectly so I've been blessed with a lot less worrying this time around. Then again, this might have more to do with the fact that I've been through this once before.

After xmas, I only have a few more weeks of work and then I'm looking forward to a bit of time to myself. Elliot will continue in daycare two days a week (and I might have to call in some babysitting help from Nana too) which will give me some time to make it to the swimming pool and try to keep moving. Heck, maybe our pool will be swimmable by then (no pressure, Paul)!

But for now, I spend my spare moments imagining Oliver and wondering what he'll look like and what sort of little person he will be! Did I mention that we're really excited to meet the little guy?

P.S. We're still searching for the perfect fun middle name. . . .

Almost like a day at the beach!

 

Elliot's loving our sandy front yard these days. We spend lots of time playing chasey and digging with shovels and buckets and pushing trucks around. Last weekend we decided to have a tea party with Nana and Grandad out on the 'beach'. Too much fun!

Snip snip!

Last week, Mommy and Daddy decided that it was just too much hard work trying to get all the food out of my long hair every bathtime and took me to the shops to get a proper big boy haircut. I wasn't very sure about the whole process at first, but in the end I think I looked pretty smart. Mommy and Daddy were very impressed with how still I sat for the lady. And embarrassingly, Mommy got all choked up when she saw all my curls falling to the floor. She's one mushy lady these days! ~ Elliot

 

It's beginning to feel a lot like xmas!

Boy oh boy we've been getting busy with xmas stuff! I've been to a couple of xmas parties with my friends. First, we had the mum's group xmas party where Zach and Ben and Aine and Nicola and Cailey and I all got together and ran around the park and ate banana bread and exchanged pressies.

Then we went to the daycare xmas party where I rode on a train with Mommy and visited Santa. But mostly I just ran around and played with my bestest buddy Jack. Mommy got such a laugh because I was off with Daddy playing, and Jack came running up to her and asked "Where's Elliot?" When she pointed me out to Jack, he came running up and gave me a great big super Jack hug.
 

 

 

Daddy and Mommy and I also put up the xmas tree. To be honest, I wasn't too interested in it when Daddy was putting it up; the bubble wrap was way more fun to me. Now that it's all decorated with the pretty lights, I love to look at it and point out the ornaments, but I try really hard not to touch. I'm also trying really hard not to unwrap all the pretty packages underneath, but sometimes I just can't help myself from loosening up one of the corners and having a peep.

 

 

 

Gran and Mommy and I even made some xmas gingerbread cookies which was lots and lots of fun. I liked to roll out the dough and cut out the shapes just like I do with my Play-dohs! And they tasted nummy too!

 

 

I think I've decided that I quite like this xmas stuff and just think, I still have Santa to look forward to! ~ Elliot

Elliot and Nacho are CRAZY!

Well, after several weeks of messing around with cameras and computers and stuff, we're finally back in business with videos. I've posted half a dozen videos back as far as August where they belong chronologically, but here's one with Elliot and Nacho going nutso from just the other day.

Pillow forts!

Building pillow forts and towers is my new favourite thing! ~ Elliot

 

And the TV fascination has begun . . .

 

Fun at Gymbaroo!

Mommy started taking me to Gymbaroo a few months ago, and I sure love all the singing and dancing and climbing and playing there. Mommy says she's really really proud of me because I listen and follow the directions really well and hardly ever throw a tantrum. I've learned how to do all sorts of cool things like climb ladders and hang from monkey bars and walk across balance beams. I don't always like to share the toys with the other kids or wait my turn, but hey, I'm not even two! How much can you expect from one little guy!

 

 

 

 

Would you just look at the concentration on my face? ~ Elliot

Fun with Mom and Dad

Wrestle cuddles with Mommy . . .

. . . and Ned Kelly robot getups with Daddy!

 

Life is pretty good! ~ Elliot

Who is this handsome little guy?

Would you have a look at Elliot's first "school" photo? Definitely doesn't take after his mom when it comes to posing for the camera. He was the perfect little model sitting up tall and smiling for the photographer. I just can't believe how old he is starting to look already. Where's our little baby gone?

 

 

And here is the rest of the crew. The blondie to Elliot's right is his best friend Jack. They are inseparable at daycare and love to play and wrestle and chase each other. The trouble is that they have started to wind each other up so much that they've had to be separated for the staff to get a bit of a break. (I know, hard to imagine from our little angel.)

 

 

It's so sad to think that we have to move Elliot away from this terrific daycare in the next couple of weeks. But it's located at my work which is nearly an hour commute each way and with things not going so smoothly with me at the moment, we've had to make the very tough decision to move Elliot to a daycare closer to home. We'll all really miss it there.