Skippy - quite simply, The Bird.

Well it's definitely been a while since I have been able to update. Amazingly not because I cant be bothered but contrary to Mr Ste's belief generally, I've not had time to write anything of substance. Work work is hectic as the clients sort everything out before I go off. It's funny (she said with a wry smile) that I have a huge amount to do before I do go off but I won't be off for very long, a meagre 9 weeks before it all comes crashing in. This I'm finding quite hard but there's not much I can do so onwards we move. At least Al has a new job to keep the monies in the house which is cool.

Work is going full on, at the house so every waking moment is spent "doing" something from painting to filling, sanding and tiling. Sadly as the house is 112 years old one job usually creates about 27 more but we seem to be on top of it now and that's a good thing with 9 weeks cooking time left to go.

The bathroom should leap forward next weekend although I clearly have bad shower Karma after getting a new shower up and running nicely we only had chance to use it a handful of time before it decided it would trip the electricity every time we switched it on. I clearly was very cruel to a shower in a former life, so it's back to sitting in the bath (in a room with no radiator) and washing your hair over the bath. No mean feat considering I am a beach ball shape now.

Still we have got a new roof on the back and the jobs outside to help waterproof the guttering and generally the side of the house that was wet is done which means we can finally move into the inside parts and get stuck in to finishing off. To be honest it's madness to try and do 4 rooms plus some outside work at once but it'll be fab when it's done altho I think me, Al and my parents might be exhausted!

I did however get a huge amount of stuff from my old housemate from uni Emma who drove down from Lancaster with a whole bunch of stuff for me in her people carrier. I now pretty much don't need anything for the first 3 months ha ha! ON top of that, lovely Lexy gave me a fab bouncy chair, a travel system and 2 car seats plus stuff so I think aside from one or two things we need to get like a cot and a high chair I have everything I need.

Mum has been a star and has been washing donated baby clothes like mad. So many people get really prissy about using "second hand" baby things but I don't understand it. Without all the donated things Al and I simply wouldn't have been able to get anything for him and as most babies spend about 1 millisecond of their life in their clothes and toys how is it possible for it to be "bad" - my theory is Bean isn't gonna know so who cares!

31 weeks pregnant now which basically means Bean is fully developed and is now just a parasite feeding off me to lay down fat reserves (the midwifes words not mine). It means I'm much fatter, unable to bend without going "hnnnngh" or "oof" and means getting up and out of the sofa requires a 3 man team and some block and tackle. It also means taking about 3 years to get up the stairs, plenty of heartburn after every meal and walking around with a permanently quizzical expression on your face as Bean moves about inside your stomach giving it a life of it's own. Yes it's THAT noticable now if he decides to stretch out my whole stomach lurches to the left and then the right. Very disconcerting when you're talking to a client.

I'm still in work but once I get too fat and uncomfortable to make it in I'll be working at home. My boss has (jokingly) said I can have a lap top to take in to hosp with me so I can carry on. He's a funny guy }:o/