Mmmmmm an Idea

I believe my good friend and best man (who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent) has descovered a possible and fool proof solution to my imprending child rearing terror:

I'll say no more.........other than ask if anybody has a Brazil lonely planet I can borrow?

Christmas in July

Imogen and I had our first experience of a rather strange, but completely understandable, tradition of our antipadian hosts and that is the Christmas In July.  I kid you not, a lot of these people have a second christmas celebration in July!!  Now at first I thought this was a rather daft idea but I guess it makes sense.  In Australia it is hot and balmy on 25 December which is entirely un-christmasy.  However, in July it is cold, misrable and usually wet.........just like those fond memories we pommes have of old blighty.

And so it was that the co-pilot and I found ourselves heading to Eaglereach in the Hunter Valley with the Sydney Sub-aqua Club for a fantastic knees up.  We arrived on Friday night after taking 2.5 hours to make the 60minute journey from Newcastle (where I am currently working) due to a combination of:

1. A cat that bolted for the door as we were leaving (40 minutes to find and catch the little bugger)
2. Called in to work to get wallet only to find they have an alarm system......half hour to wait for security
3. GPS that was 10km out on the location of the place and being lead up a 3km farm drive
4. Thick fog meaning it took us another hour to finally find the place despite being only 5km

But eventually we got there and a great place to get it was.  The place is a wilderness retreat on the top of a hill, which basically means lots of nature trails, wildlife and sleeping in fancy (really VERY fancy in many case) portacabins.  And the copilot got her fix of her new favourate native wild life - the kangeoo.

Well, enough chatter, here are some pictures:

The kangeroo's were pretty tame

 So tame in fact this little fella came and joined us for a beer

 and stuck around for about an hour and was pretty darn nosy.

Although sometimes, nature can be a bit too.......erm.....natural

 There were also a few great little off roading trails

which presented a few challenges for Jules and myself with a bit of trail building and rock crawling

and back at the ranch it was a good long soak in the hot tub

and then Saturday evening we were off to the restaurant for a great turkey dinner and a damn good knees up.  I'm afraid I don't have too many pictures of the evening itself (a bit too much vino to make the camera work.

Although I do have to say, and if you are opposed to open shows of affection (and I know they are rare from me), you know you have a stunningly good lucking wife when she can look this good even when she is 30 weeks pregnant:

I reckon I'm a pretty darn lucky bloke.

Well, most of the time

Who's Yer Daddy!!

As Imogen has suddnely disciovered her writters prowess, and produced some quite amusing posts, I thought I better get a word in edge ways.  Now, being a bit of a day dreamer (yeah yeah OK, a lot of a day dreamer) I was doing a few random searches around the wide world of webs and came across what I have to say is the COOLEST baby outfit ever:

http://www.zoogstercostumes.com/products/ru11609.html

If anybody is looking for that must get gift for a Dad to be this would be right up there with them (hint hint HINT!!)

Other greats include:                                           Chewy:

and R2D2 

Or for the baddies out there - a storm trooper

It is just a shame they don't do a Luke Skywaker in x-wing fighter pilot suit.  As mum will know, along with the double inner curve, this was the much longed for toy to complete my collection.  I eventually got the curve, but to this day have never been the proud owner of a Luke Skywalker.

I did originally search for "Where can I get Star Wars baby clothes?"  and got back the answer "Tatooine".  You have to be fan to know why that was so funny it made me laugh out loud!!


========================LATE BREAKING NEWS====================

Best of all worlds, they do a Luke Skywater in X-wing fighter pilots outfit for PEANUT!!

29 weeks and counting

Today Peanut is 29 weeks old.  We have been to the hospital again today to check blood pressure and to see how he is doing.  I also had to see the diabetes educator as I have been told I have gestational diabetes. 

First, I saw the diabetes educator to learn how to monitor my blood sugar and get information about what to eat and when to measure sugar levels.  Everything seems fairly straight forward and I now also have appointments with diabetes specialists, dietitians and nurses in order to monitor myself and Peanut.  Apparently Peanut could grow really large if sugar levels are not controlled and he may be more likely to be over weight as a child.  He won't get diabetes just because I have it but it does mean he will also be getting too much glucose meaning his body will need to make more and more insulin to cope.  Hopefully the diabetes will go away again after Peanut is born.  They will test me again when he is 6 weeks old just to check.

I have been given target sugar levels and given options of things to eat before I see the dietitian, who will design a diet especially for me.  They have also said that they may need to change items on the diet list as some people respond differently to each food.  I have to eat mainly carbohydrates, low fat and hardly any sweets and chocolate, which doesn't seem fair when your pregnant and should be able to eat what you like!  Looking at the items on the sample menus I would say the diet is very similar to what I have been eating already.  The diabetes lady did say that if eating the diet does not control glucose levels they will need to supplement my insulin to control the levels.

The diabetes educator will speak to me every other Thursday, between diabetes appointments, to check my sugar levels and make changes where necessary.  I do seem to get pretty good care from the Australian health system.  The doctor rang me this morning to say that I did have gestational diabetes and by 1:30pm I was at an appointment to find out how to sort the problem out.  They made all the appointments for me and gave me lots of information. 

Next, I was off to see the birthing unit to have my blood pressure and Peanut monitored.  He is going to be the best cared for baby in the world.  My blood pressure was good today, not too high.  After taking my blood pressure and checking urine again I was put on a monitor to see what Peanut was up to.  They strap on two monitors connected to a machine.  One of the monitors measures Peanut's heart rate and the other is to see if you are having any contractions.  The midwives were very pleased with Peanut as he did not move away from the monitor and had a good heart beat.  He wasn't moving as much today but generally is move active in the mornings and evenings. 

The obstetrician checked everything and then I was allowed to go home.  I now have lots of reading to do.  Hopefully everything will go well.  My next appointments are on Tuesday to see the blood pressure specialists and obstetricians.