Thursday 12 July 2018

Adventures in Moving - part 2

Sorry for the complete lack of anything for a while! Have not abandoned this blog, just busy with real life stuff and awaiting a replacement laptop. Has just arrived and I'm very excited - so shiny!

We're pretty much completely settled in now - Cat has several favourite spots to sit, and all except 2 rooms are unpacked. One of our friends is bringing by some extra bookshelves, which should mean we can finish off one of those rooms; the other is a mix of my clothes that won't fit in the wardrobe until we put up another rail (Husbit's working on it - he's learning DIY and everything!), and hobby stuff. My yarn is neatly tucked away, but the various Blood Bowl teams and old GW Fantasy/Gothic/Epic armies we own haven't yet found a satisfactory home. We want to turn that room into a decent guest room, so we need to get on it.

Games on shelves, and boxes of books

The garden looks amazing. Husbit's mum has a friend who's a gardener, so between the two of them they've transformed it! Decking and fencing have been treated, the barbecue pit cleaned and new grates purchased, a raised veg patch and compost heap built, and new turf laid.
Husbit strimming the old, lumpy lawn

Husbit and I need to clear the top layer of rubbish soil from the bed at the side of the lawn, and stick that in the veg box, then get some compost in there and finish with some top soil, which we'll also add to the bed. It's all new to both of us, so we're kinda enjoying it, but a little anxious that it's more work than we're going to want to do (I think it'll be fine - I keep hearing how addictive gardening can be, and I love Gardeners' Question Time on Radio 4). The bed is going to have a mix of herbs and shrubs such as ferns; the veg box will definitely have raspberries and then I'll see how I go; and I recently learnt that you can grow fruit trees in pots, so that's something we both want to try. 

Location-wise, it's really convenient for me for work, but my job ends in a year when the department closes, and it's a lot more awkward for Husbit. We're also further from a lot of our friends than we'd like - but closer to others. We're no longer a 10/15min walk from the beach - far enough we'd need to cycle or drive - but we're within walking distance of the heaths and woodlands I grew up in, and our nearest beach is stunning. Nearest shops are about the same distance, but close earlier and are up a steep hill. (Actually, there are nearer shops, but for value and choice you need to walk a little further.) The neighbourhood is really nice, though. It's the area near where I grew up that had a really rough reputation, that even then it didn't entirely deserve any more. We love how friendly most of the neighbours are, and how quiet the roads. There's a little play park within spitting distance (and the big park I spent a lot of time in isn't much further, though you have to cross a main road). The nearest Pokestop is a bit of a trek now, but that's ok.

The really exciting bit of moving news is that my plan to fall pregnant ASAP worked: baby is due a week or so before Christmas (and I've left this to the end so if you're not interested you can skip it, and there's a tag "parenting while geek" you can ignorein future). Their room is fairly well organised - the previous owners left some furniture, some of which will go in the attic for now, but will be useful again when the child is... well, a child rather than a baby, and we've been offered cots and cribs and a changing table so that feels good.


12 week scan photot - there are fingers!

I found the first trimester quite hard - to begin with, I enjoyed it anyway because I was so excited, but the constant aches and nausea and exhaustion wore me down. Fortunately, I stopped feeling quite so ill by about week 10 (though would still throw up if I drank cold water for a few weeks. Cold sugary drinks and tap water - which was verging tepid due to the rising temperature - were fine), and while I'm still tired and still have aches in weird places, I'm not nearly as tired as was. I'm at a point where I feel a lot of little wriggles and that's creepy and weird and exciting. Can't wait to meet the wriggle monster! Nicknamed "Ziggy" because it sounds a bit like zygote and is nicely gender neutral. It looks like we've decided on a girl's name, and the possible list for boys is now quite short.

I was really surprised and delighted how excited my midwife was about me doing aerial - I was expecting to be told "no no no no no!" because of the fall etc, although I've taken steps to protect there. She thought it sounded great, because it's important to exercise throughout pregnancy and I clearly enjoy it. She says also because it works on your abs, it should provide benefit when I'm in labour - and she could tell I have good abs, because of the shape of my bump. Kinda explains why all the other circus mums had the neatest bumps I'd seen! Mine arrived really quickly, especially considering this is my first.

The current UK heatwave is killing me. I've been signed off for 2 weeks (so the timing of the arrival of the shiny new laptop was fortuitous!) to help me cope. I'd be struggling anyway, because this weather is the most consistent trigger I know for my fibromyalgia symptoms (which seem to be reduced by the pregnancy, although baby brain and fibro fog are basically the same thing, so that's been interesting).

Anyway, I need to go get some sleep for a bit. Can feel my body crashing. I'll post now and try to remember to come back later and add some images. (Woo, I remembered!)

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