Bows, bells, baubles and beads

I haven’t come back to let people know that we had our second scan last week. They checked for Downs soft markers, because of our increased risk, but nothing showed up. Interestingly, one of the more obscure soft markers is having the little fingers bend in towards the hands. The sonographer told us that it was a difficult one to check for, because babies are often clenching their fists. So I showed her my hands, with their bent in little fingers, and she decided not to bother checking that one.

Whilst we were there, we also checked what sex the baby is, and apparently (though it was a little difficult to see due to the position of the umbilical chord) we are having a baby girl.

Today, whilst most of England was watching football, we were having a much better time. We took Rohan to his first pop concert.

It’s science week in Cambridge this week (well, last week I guess, this was the end) and as part of it, They Might Be Giants did their Here Comes Science family concert. It was a pretty small venue, so we were right up close. Ro and mUrt listen to Here Comes Science, and Here Come the 1 2 3s all the time. Ro was so excited about the whole thing. He was singing and dancing and when the confetti cannons started going off he was beside himself.

If you’ve never seen any of their kids stuff, go look on YouTube for their Here Comes Science videos.

We went for our scan on Friday. I hadn’t realised just how nervous I was about the whole thing. When we were waiting I was shaking.

It turned out that I didn’t need to worry. Neither about lack of baby or too many babies. The result was one baby with a strong heartbeat, and all the relevant bits and bobs. The only part of their list which wasn’t checked was the bladder, but the sonographer wasn’t worried about it’s lack of appearance. The images we got this time were so clear. We could see individual fingers. With Ro we had some blurred images which were a baby just about.

I’ll just finish now with some pictures.

how much I love having a web host which has an automatic upgrade service for WordPress? I used to not bother upgrading, but now, I just hit a button and it’s done. So simple.

On pregnancy watch – I’ll be 5 weeks on Monday. I can’t drink orange juice any  more and I’m more sleepy than I believed possible. I have small bouts of nausea, but nothing major yet (for those not aware, we’re hoping for me to be really sick. I was with Ro, but not with the one I lost. Sick equals good).

I’m going to be all alone this weekend. Ro and mUrt are off to Stoke, but the animals are all moulting and I can’t take my antihisthamine. I’m not willing to risk things this early, so I’m staying home. I have lots of plans, but I suspect I may just sleep a lot.

So both my mum and my sister are nagging me to post, so here I go. I’ve been doing a lot of making recently. A couple of weeks ago, I made some marmalade. I loved doing it, it was so much fun. The result is a little sharp, and a little too much peel, not enough spread, but not bad for a first attempt. I think I know where I went wrong, and how to improve in future. When I’ve worked through this, my next plan is lime marmalade.

I’ve also made this cute spindle for a friend of mine. I’m quite pleased by how it turned out. It spins beautifully, I just hope it isn’t too light for her to handle (it’s about the weight I started with, but I could already spin on a wheel, which makes it easier).

It is also Ravelympics at the moment. We’re about half way through, and it is going to be tight. I’m knitting 2 projects. The first is a jumper for Ro, which currently has a body, but needs sleeves and a neckline. My other project is a shawl which is somewhat less than halfway there.

The pictures for the above bit will all appear at the bottom of the post, because I’m posting from my iPhone. When I get the computer back from Ro (he’s currently playing cbeebies games), I’ll try and get them in the right places.

In other news, no luck yet on the baby front. A few people were talking about the book Taking Charge of your Fertility. I haven’t actually read it, but I am aware of it. What I have read, are the lessons on Fertility Friend. They are great, as is the software. It saves me having to do the TCOYF calculations, because it does it’s own. It actually uses slightly more complex algarythms, which mostly work well. I definitely recommend trying it out, even if you’re just curious about what’s involved.

I’m not sure how many people actually read this these days, but seriously, if you’re at all squeamish, or don’t want to know the details of scientific baby making, stop reading now. Really.

OK, now there is maybe half a person left, I’m writing this out of superstition. I know, superstition and science don’t really mix, but hey, I didn’t claim to be logical, did I? A while back I said I’d write about this stuff (I don’t remember where or to whom, but I definitely intended to) part of me thinks that I need to make this post if I want to get pregnant. I’m aware this makes no sense.

Anyway. Pregnancy isn’t particularly easy for me. It took 5 months to conceive Ro, 5 months for the baby we lost and 6 months trying without success since the miscarriage. In an attempt to increase our chances, I’m being fairly scientific about things. I’m charting, which means taking my temperature (orally) every morning and tracking cervical fluid. I’m actually not going to go into detail here (though I’ll answer questions if asked), but it really is fascinating. It all makes sense. I can actually tell without taking a pregnancy test whether I’m pregnant or not. Not that it stops me taking them. I’m slightly obsessed.

This month will be particularly difficult, as I’m likely to be at 9DPO (days past ovulation) on what would have been the baby we lost’s due date. It’s a particularly difficult point to be at. Too early to test, point at which I’m usually going a bit mental anyway.

Hopefully I’ll be back here at the beginning of February, telling you that it worked this time.

One of these days I will post some actual knitting stuff.

I could argue that I didn’t need weekly updates for Charly, because she was here. I actually have half an entry in draft that I wrote whilst she and the girls were here. But didn’t finish it, and I’m not going to now.

Christmas went pretty well here. Ro is now old enough that he’s really in to it. He decorated part of the tree – he wanted to put all the decorations on the same branch.

He’s also matured in the way he plays with his new toys. It is adorable to watch.

Rohan apparently likes the tap, tap, tap of slowly dripping water. mUrt and I? Not so much. Probably because mUrt and I know it is the sound of water dripping through the ceiling where our shower is leaking. Thankfully not too much water, and it’s just leaking round the side of the shower curtain, but definitely a good reason for getting our other shower back in use (the other shower is boxed in, but has a loose tile we need to refix).

“I don’ wan’ nuffin’!” *Door slams*

You’d expect that to be a teenager, but it was Ro this morning. He has an alarming habit of throwing teenage style tantrums. I really was hoping that we’d have 10 more years before dealing with this.

Mostly though, today, I’m just glad that he’s woken up feeling well (if rather grumpy). His daddy is sick and currently barely able to move from his bed (asking Ro not to kick daddy in the head was what prompted the outburst above). Ro looked like he was heading the same way, which would have been bad, given my big work deadline on the 10th. I’m already having to take tomorrow off for a funeral (which I hope mUrt is feeling better for).

I did a deal with my sister. If she set up a blog, I’d update here at least once a week. Well, Charly set up a blog here, and now she’s bugging me to update. So I am. In the meantime, those of you who know my sister, or anyone who might like to read about a British family living in South Africa, head over for a visit, I know she’d like more readers than just me and mum.