my-speck

i'm pregnant and it's going to be a rollercoaster

The what’s and where’s of things… (or what dads do at work) June 17, 2011

So little Poogie has recently discovered a few useful sentences:

“Where’s x?” or “Where are you x?” (when he knows x is in the vicinity). Mostly, “Where are you Daddy?” or “Where are you Mummy?”

Often when he already knows exactly where we are (or might if he engaged the brain) at full yell from wherever he happens to be standing (now which parent did he learn that trick from I wonder?? – that would be me!).

And the second one:

“What you doing?”, or “What x doing?”. Again, often when he can see you / knows what you are doing. But not always, sometimes when he can’t see the person.

Recently, we’ve made a few trips to Daddy’s office at around 5:30, to pick him up and take him home. Little Poogie loves going there, he runs right to the drawer where Daddy keeps snacks, and gets a cracker, then has a dance to the loud music Daddy inevitably has on at that time of the day.

So, cue this conversation yesterday morning, 10 minutes after standing on the verandah and watching his Dad cycle up the hill in the distance, round the corner and disappear off to work:

“Mummy, where Daddy? Where Daddy gone?”

“He’s gone to work, remember, you saw him cycle off.”

“Yes, Daddy gone up the hill to work. …. ” Pause while he thinks. “What Daddy doing work?”

“Mmm.. I’m not sure. He might be typing on his computer. Or he might be talking on the phone.”

Little Poogie ponders this answer for a minute. Then with a very definitive shake of his head:

“No. Daddy eating crackers. … Daddy listening music.”

I collapse on the ground in laughter, because that is such an apt description of what my lawyer husband does at work all day!

🙂

Love mum

P.S. Can’t wait until the “why’s” start…

 

I told work that you were on your way today… January 5, 2009

Hi Speck,

I had to go back to work today :(.  Your dad stayed at home playing house husband when I dragged myself out of bed in the morning and made the trek over the bridges (but yes, I cheated and drove) to the office.  But it wasn’t too bad!

And I told them all about you – and it seemed to go pretty well! yay! yay! yay!

I was a bit worried about telling them that you were coming (I figure that now is far enough along that you should be ok, and not just before I go on holidays which wasn’t perfect timing), but I did it.  And my boss was fantastic – he seemed more excited by the news you are coming than worried about anything related to work.   We chatted for about 15 minutes about you etc after which point he eventually said, “oh yeah, I guess that means a different plan for the work” that we were sitting down to discuss.  I take that as a good sign.  My work is pretty accomodating, but I was still slightly worried about the whole thing – it doesn’t go well for everyone, I’ve read a bunch of news reports recently about discrimination in the workplace against pregnant women which is apparently unfortunately still really common in Australia…  Not that I thought that my work would be like that – they are generally really progressive which is one of the main reasons I still work there! But, it does mean a bunch of changes to the way I work for them, including us deciding to move back to Brisbane to have you come along, which does affect my ability to go to the office in a rather large way.   All in all, not sure how it will turn out, but first indications are that my boss is happy for me and sounds like we can be pretty flexible, and try to make sure my workload cuts down a bit by April this year but keep on working after that.  I’m sure we’ll talk more about it as time goes on and we’ve both had time to think about it a little more, but first indications are that I’ll be able to keep working and we’ll try to work something out.  Which I’m pleased about!

The other exciting part of what seems like finally (though its really only been a matter of weeks since we found out about you it seems like much longer) telling my work is that I can now tell some of my friends from work-related circles.  And surprise, surprise, there are some other people I know who are having babies around the same time as you’re due to join us.  Its almost plague proportions actually!  So that is exciting too!!!

Going to run as its really hot today and I just feel like lying down.  I went for a walk to the shops with your dad when I got home but it was so hot I got really overheated and flustered and had to have a break at the shops for 10 minutes as I felt really awful, then had a cold shower when I got home.  I’ve started exercising on the bike set-up in the lounge room but it was too hot for that too.   I might have to postpone my daily cycle until later tonight when its a lot cooler.

Hope you’re well, and as your aunt & I are now saying, grow, grow, grow

love mum

 

woohoo! Holidays December 12, 2008

Hi Speccie,

guess what! we’re on holidays! Its official, work has finished for the year! Just those nasty exams tomorrow to knock over, then we’re free!

By the way, was that you giving me a sharp kick in the kidneys at around 12:45? It was such a sharp, unusual pain that went away really quickly, that I suspect you were trying to stretch the boundaries of your home. Please keep it down in there if it was you – it was very painful. Otherwise, sorry to accuse you of things which aren’t down to you – I guess you have no real way of refuting it. I guess you’re stuck with that until you’re able to talk. In fact, I can blame you for everything from now until then really.

I look foward to it. I can see the conversations now:
Your dad: “Where did all the lollies go?!! What’s mine is yours and I want some lollies!”.
Me: “Oh my goodness, you little monster. Speck, I can’t believe you got into the lollies again!”.
Your dad: “I thought Speck was still on milk”.
Me: “Well, I guess he/she has moved on quickly. Fast developer, just like his/her dad :)”.

Awesome. It sounds like it might just work out. There have to be some compensations for carrying you around for nine months!

Hope you’re as excited as I am.  Look forward to lots of swims and lazing on the beach.   I might read out-loud to you if you’re lucky.

Love you

mum

 

correction – I got it all wrong again – symptomatic of my condition November 21, 2008

Size:  So, you’re not going to grow to be as big as an orange this week.  I got it muddled-up.  My uterus will be as big as an orange by next week.  Which makes sense, if you are a bit bigger than a big grape, that you have enough room to float around in.

Foetus/Embryo: and you’re also apparently not a foetus yet, you’re still officially classed as an embryo.  So I’ve had that all wrong too.  I think by next week a bunch more of your organs have developed so that you will be a foetus.  Or maybe its that your hands and arms can reach more.  Who knows.  Obviously not me.  The gist of it is that you’re still getting bigger.  As expected.

General Confusion and Discombobulation: I have lost my marbles.  I am now addicted to frosty fruits (an icypole with a pineappley kinda flavour), which I am buying by the boxful from the supermarket, and are about the only thing I can focus on for more than 5 minutes at a time.  I put my inability to grasp and recall the simple facts of your development (as above) down to this diminished mental capacity.  I think its possibly a good thing that I work in a male-dominated industry with all male bosses etc – they couldn’t possibly imagine how much my brain has turned to mush in such a short period of time.  I’m going to have to come up with some better avoidance / hiding techniques in the short term though.  Today I just called in sick.  Couldn’t face another day and felt a bit off-colour.  Figured I was better off not there.  But seriously.  I can’t even remember a phone number when looking it up in my address book long enough to dial it.  Scary stuff.  Adds a new dimension to the difficulty of the exams I am soon to face.  Ce la vie.

Yours in muddle-headed-ness (do I sound like paddington bear?) see you in 216 days or so.

mum