Monday, February 16, 2009
2.5........ OR HALF WAY TO 3...............
Been getting slack with the postings lately and suffering some sort of interweb guilt trip.
I know the whole point of blogging is to keep it regular, but I've been finding it harder and harder lately, for no apparent reason.
It's not like there's been a lack of things to write about, it's just that I seem to be preoccupied with general life stuff.
Anyway, I digress.
The morning sickness has abated pretty much since we came back from the Claytons honeymoon on rockin' Norfolk Island.
I think at a later time we will organise another honeymoon, preferably at a more reliable location, but that won't be some time.
"Wow. Look at my belly! It's only half done. Just how much bigger am I going to get!?" - Snorkmaiden looking at maternity clothes.
This pregnancy caper is an interesting thing eh?
We've just reached the half way mark and the further we get into it the more decisions there are to make.
What style of pram? Cot? Name? etc
There is the inevitable array of volunteered advice and luckily for us it has mostly been helpful.
If we thought the amount of advice was overwhelming and plentiful then we weren't ready for the simply stupefying plethora of choices when it came to prams!
They range form the extremely cheap and dubiously constructed to the ridiculously overpriced for something that doesn't even fold down. And if you can afford the $4000+ price tag then you can probably afford a nanny, the wet nurse, and the therapy sessions for your child when they get an unloved complex in their teenage years and turn into an emo, spending the most productive of their hours writing atrociously bad and depressing ( to read ) poetry, listening to equally atrocious music, practicing their sullen expression in the mirror ( let's face it there is only one ), in between making pathetic incisions into their forearms and thighs because they don't have the balls to actually cut their wrists.
We found ourselves asking total strangers about the prams they were wheeling and pretty much always got the same result. "Yeah, it's great."
I guess no new parent is going to admit in public that they bought a dud because they let their partner do the choosing, or bought on the basis of colour, or got sucked in by the sales person.
One memorable moment occurred when we went to a baby shop for our first real look at prams.
Outside in the car park was a couple. The pram appeared to be semi disassembled. The woman standing helplessly aside whilst the man became more and more confused as to why the thing wasn't folding down.
"Its been great for the last four months, but for some reason just will not fold down."
It was scary watching this normal looking man, squatting next to the recalcitrant pile of me metal and plastic, initially pushing with testing force, then disappearing to get a screwdriver, poking around with that for a while, applying more force with the screwdriver, levering, stabbing, progressively becoming further frustrated and finally just when I thought he was going to revert to his primordial state and begin hitting the pram with the screwdriver รก la the beating of the apes in Kubrick's 2001 Space Odyssey, he popped some little catch and the source of his frustration finally capitulated and relented to his demands.
Our criteria were relatively basic. Because we live in an apartment we had to have something that is failry compact, but because we ( read I ) plan to have a couple of littlies then we really need something that will carry a toddler and newborn. This is especially important when one parent is out and about by themselves, but not the side by side models due to the fact that these things are just plain bad manners in public, what with taking up the whole footpath and the like.
We really hoped for a 4 wheeler as we have heard many complaints about the lack of stability of 3 wheelers. After checking out a few and reading reviews I found one that I think will be just fine. Only problem is, the thing isn't expected to be released for about a month or two after the bub's supposed to be born.
We'll see in time I guess.
I did find a curious Italian model though which appealed to me with it's linked 4 wheel steering. Seemed like a really good prospect until I roadtested one and found that it will not reverse in a straight line but with the slightest of rearward movement wants to take off in every direction but straight back. The other problem was that I mistook the linked steering system for something that might actually aid maneuverability. By my reckoning, a fully laden road train would have a smaller turning circle.
Our first 10 week scan was probably the turning point for me as this was the first time I saw the baby actually moving around and it's little heart beating. ( good to see it has as sense of rhythm )
On the second, 20 week scan I was actually able to see some of the bub's face and and we also heard the heartbeat. This had an uncanny resemblance to Rolf Harris' wobble board. ( a bit disturbing really as it started a train of thoughts in my head as to the real identity of the baby's father )
But all the signs are good so far, which has been a bit of a relief for me as I was a little concerned that all those DVD's of digital and 6.3 kilos of film x-rays I received in hospital might have played havoc with my swimmers.
We have talked a little about names. Snorky seems to think we should get a short list of male and female names together and choose from them, where as I am more keen to see what the baby looks like and how it behaves and then make a decision based on that. I think we will strike some sort of happy middle ground where we make a short list and then given a few days, make a final choice.
So this interesting part in our lives rolls on and I can only imagine what the next four and half months are going to bring, let alone the post birth era.
Here are two images for my first assignment this semester. Works in progress / test shots, and taken with Snorky's old camera as mine is still in the repair shop.
.
I know the whole point of blogging is to keep it regular, but I've been finding it harder and harder lately, for no apparent reason.
It's not like there's been a lack of things to write about, it's just that I seem to be preoccupied with general life stuff.
Anyway, I digress.
The morning sickness has abated pretty much since we came back from the Claytons honeymoon on rockin' Norfolk Island.
I think at a later time we will organise another honeymoon, preferably at a more reliable location, but that won't be some time.
"Wow. Look at my belly! It's only half done. Just how much bigger am I going to get!?" - Snorkmaiden looking at maternity clothes.
This pregnancy caper is an interesting thing eh?
We've just reached the half way mark and the further we get into it the more decisions there are to make.
What style of pram? Cot? Name? etc
There is the inevitable array of volunteered advice and luckily for us it has mostly been helpful.
If we thought the amount of advice was overwhelming and plentiful then we weren't ready for the simply stupefying plethora of choices when it came to prams!
They range form the extremely cheap and dubiously constructed to the ridiculously overpriced for something that doesn't even fold down. And if you can afford the $4000+ price tag then you can probably afford a nanny, the wet nurse, and the therapy sessions for your child when they get an unloved complex in their teenage years and turn into an emo, spending the most productive of their hours writing atrociously bad and depressing ( to read ) poetry, listening to equally atrocious music, practicing their sullen expression in the mirror ( let's face it there is only one ), in between making pathetic incisions into their forearms and thighs because they don't have the balls to actually cut their wrists.
We found ourselves asking total strangers about the prams they were wheeling and pretty much always got the same result. "Yeah, it's great."
I guess no new parent is going to admit in public that they bought a dud because they let their partner do the choosing, or bought on the basis of colour, or got sucked in by the sales person.
One memorable moment occurred when we went to a baby shop for our first real look at prams.
Outside in the car park was a couple. The pram appeared to be semi disassembled. The woman standing helplessly aside whilst the man became more and more confused as to why the thing wasn't folding down.
"Its been great for the last four months, but for some reason just will not fold down."
It was scary watching this normal looking man, squatting next to the recalcitrant pile of me metal and plastic, initially pushing with testing force, then disappearing to get a screwdriver, poking around with that for a while, applying more force with the screwdriver, levering, stabbing, progressively becoming further frustrated and finally just when I thought he was going to revert to his primordial state and begin hitting the pram with the screwdriver รก la the beating of the apes in Kubrick's 2001 Space Odyssey, he popped some little catch and the source of his frustration finally capitulated and relented to his demands.
Our criteria were relatively basic. Because we live in an apartment we had to have something that is failry compact, but because we ( read I ) plan to have a couple of littlies then we really need something that will carry a toddler and newborn. This is especially important when one parent is out and about by themselves, but not the side by side models due to the fact that these things are just plain bad manners in public, what with taking up the whole footpath and the like.
We really hoped for a 4 wheeler as we have heard many complaints about the lack of stability of 3 wheelers. After checking out a few and reading reviews I found one that I think will be just fine. Only problem is, the thing isn't expected to be released for about a month or two after the bub's supposed to be born.
We'll see in time I guess.
I did find a curious Italian model though which appealed to me with it's linked 4 wheel steering. Seemed like a really good prospect until I roadtested one and found that it will not reverse in a straight line but with the slightest of rearward movement wants to take off in every direction but straight back. The other problem was that I mistook the linked steering system for something that might actually aid maneuverability. By my reckoning, a fully laden road train would have a smaller turning circle.
Our first 10 week scan was probably the turning point for me as this was the first time I saw the baby actually moving around and it's little heart beating. ( good to see it has as sense of rhythm )
On the second, 20 week scan I was actually able to see some of the bub's face and and we also heard the heartbeat. This had an uncanny resemblance to Rolf Harris' wobble board. ( a bit disturbing really as it started a train of thoughts in my head as to the real identity of the baby's father )
But all the signs are good so far, which has been a bit of a relief for me as I was a little concerned that all those DVD's of digital and 6.3 kilos of film x-rays I received in hospital might have played havoc with my swimmers.
We have talked a little about names. Snorky seems to think we should get a short list of male and female names together and choose from them, where as I am more keen to see what the baby looks like and how it behaves and then make a decision based on that. I think we will strike some sort of happy middle ground where we make a short list and then given a few days, make a final choice.
So this interesting part in our lives rolls on and I can only imagine what the next four and half months are going to bring, let alone the post birth era.
Here are two images for my first assignment this semester. Works in progress / test shots, and taken with Snorky's old camera as mine is still in the repair shop.
.
