New Car

Wow - i really should post more often... sorry :)

Anyway, I think 'short and sweet' may be the route to prevent this blogging drought. If anyone is reading? Anyway, on with the blog!

Here's our new car: -

A pproper family car - how grown up we are...It's great like driving a bus. Well, a small bus. Certainly a step up for Susan, after her Metro...sorry, Rover 100. Though Susan's done great adapting, driving it more than me i think!

We decided early on in the pregnancy that a bigger car would be better, and buying the travel system confirmed the fact - small baby = loads of stuff! I had no real preference to be honest, but Susan had always liked the Citroen Xsara Picasso (and blimey, aren't they common? Now we're driving one, we've noticed about half the country seem to have one...). I saw an advert in the college staff newsletter, really good price, only 1 previous owner and came at right time...so, we got it.

Now to get rid of our old cars! The Metro should be easy, a queue of people for that, and i don't think should have too much trouble getting rid of my 206. Any one interested? £2000ish, though not looked at list prices yet. I even cleaned it (inside!!) the other day.

So we're going to be a one-car family - how very green of us. From September, i very likely won't have parking at work, as we move to a much nicer campus, but with less parking, so back to bus and bike, which i don't mind at all, so cheaper to just have one car, and Susan to use it mainly.

Bus is £3.70 return at the moment, which is scary. I'm cycling average of twice a week, so i put idea to Susan that i get to keep the £7.40 saved. Funnily enough, she didn't go for that idea!

Still, biking = great fun, getting fitness back and cheap, bus = able to read more which is always good - i used to get through so many books in the years of bus travel before i had my car. Also met my wife on the bus!! (Though not planning to do that again!!).

My what a beautiful baby!

Getting in some practice, though perhaps it should have been Tim, as Susan pretty much knows what she's doing!

And, yes, Tigger is a giant among cats. Though he's on a diet, so don't tease him.

30 weeks

Three-quarters of the way there!

Susan hasn't been very well in the last week or so, various little things, all part of the joys of pregnancy, but nothing serious and she's feeling much better - she may disagree, but she is blooming! Tired blooming, but blooming none-the-less!

Susan finishes work on Friday, which will be strange and full of mixed emotions for her but she is really looking forward to some quality rest time! Her maternity leave doesn't start till March, she's using up her holidays first. And thanks to the change in laws, she'll get 9 months maternity. We haven't decided 100% but we don't think she'll go back to work - just from a purely financial view, it just wouldn't be worth it.

Everything is starting to get VERY real, which seems like an odd thing to say, but it is. We've got quite a few things for the baby now and i can't wait to actually start using them! We've got the travel system (and a new car, but that's another post..!), playmat, loads of tiny clothes, a bouncy chair thing (i don't know the proper names!) and much more, but that's just the tip of the iceberg, still a lot more on the list to go!

Our ante-natal...sorry, 'Parentcraft' classes start in a few weeks, which will be very amusing / scary / informative / weird - i mean, my head is full of ideas of what it'll be like and you just know i'll end up making a fool of myself or embarrasing Susan!

Just to finish, a recent (last week?) pic of Susan in her finest maternity wear!

Nursery

Well, not only are we back on-line, at the perfectly fine speed of 512K, but we're wireless too! All working really well, after a bit of technical fiddling, as is always the case (though still can't get our DS to go through the firewall but never mind).

So, main point of this post - we've certainly had a few interesting moments in getting the spare room converted to being a nursery. Straight after Christmas, we thought we'd start to get the nursery started, wanting to have it all done in good time for the due date. Simple case of stripping the (nasty) wallpaper, bit of filler, slap on the paint, new carpet, job done.

Nope.

There has always been a slight 'bulge' - for want of a better description - in one corner of the ceiling, which was wallpapered. We decided to leave the wallpaper on the ceiling, as past experience told us it would be a very thankless task taking it off, and just paint over it. Tim's (heavy handed?) paint rolling caused said bulge to grow though, or rather sag just a little too much. On removing the wallpaper...

Expert advice sort - needed to remove ALL the plaster, patching just wasn't sensible, get some new plasterboard and skim of new plaster. Easy!

Well, apart from the stress at the start, it has gone very well so far. Removing all the plaster was very messy but oddly satisfying, though it caused Tim some premature ageing...

With some great and much-needed help from John & Adam (Susan's dad and brother) we got the plasterboard up in a morning and just last Saturday, a friend of the family did a brilliant job of plastering. Total cost, just over a hundred quid, which is nowhere near what we first feared.

The dust thrown up from all the plaster is pretty clear in this picture!

We've got the paint and borders, so now the fun bit of actually painting, only a month behind schedule. Then carpet, and curtains, and new light...oh yeah, baby furniture would help too!