April Sunset Out Our Back Window

I wasn't very successful with my storm / lighting photographing last night, but the sunset photo’s turned out OK.

Week 37+

Junior’s Log: Day 262 (approximately), Doctor’s Visit 957 (slightly over exaggerated).

The Doctor was happy with Marika’s and Junior’s growth. The Doctor seemed quite happy that the belly was hard and causing discomfort, (translation: Baby is nearly ready to venture into the outside world). Junior is kind of in a squat position with the back facing up and the head to Marika’s left side and baby bottom and feet poking at the right side. Leg length was indicating due date of early next week; so we guess Junior will have long legs at birth. All of the other measurements were giving us another two and half weeks or so. Due date is still around the 15th May.

Greek (Orthodox) Easter

We celebrated Greek (Orthodox) Easter today with one of Marika's University day's friends. Peter & family and a group of their Greek friends helped us enjoy Easter with good conversation and all the lovely food I'm now accustomed to. Desserts like baklava, galaktoboureko, koulourakia. Lamb on the spit and the usual onslaught of salads, rice's, roast potatoes (I can still hear Marika stomach going 'yum yum') and other sides. We missed out on the souvla being served at the family gathering in Australia, oh how we miss good souvla, thinking about it is make my full stomach hungry for it!. And of course there were the traditional red & green dyed eggs, which the kids made quick use out of leaving cracked and shattered eggs all around, not sure if any were actually eaten. I was reading the other day that the Chinese give out red dyed eggs one month after the birth of their child. I don't think we'll be doing that, mostly because Marika doesn't want me to eat that many eggs, something to do with the safely of the ozone layer.

Week 36 and a little bit

Another Doctor’s visit has come and gone, Junior is growing well, moving lots giving Marika some interesting feelings, some funny, some not so funny. Junior has been continuing with his/her growth spurt, saying goodbye to little ole 2kg baby and a big hello to 3kg baby, for those interested Junior’s weight is estimated at 3102g. We are now on weekly Doctor’s visits and playing the waiting game with more intensity.

Good Easter to You All

We hope you all have a happy and safe Easter. For the not so orthodox 'Orthodox', Happy Easter for next weekend.

2 Whole Centimetres in a Week

Two whole centimetres of belly growth in one week, Junior has pushed Marika’s belly to 112cm. There has been some discomfort this week due to Junior’s growth and new found interest in stretching and pushing out arms, feet, head and of course its little bottom, Marika’s belly takes on very odd shapes with these little body parts pushing out.

Pods & Tods

Well I’ve just finished making my morning coffee, again trying a different brand of milk, this one described as ‘Plain Flavoured Milk’ ‘Made from Fresh Milk’ and guess what, it was plain flavoured milk, in fact it’s the closest I’ve come to finding real fresh tasting milk, but it leaves a funny after taste, I guess you can’t win ‘em all!

I’ve been told by the powers that be, I didn’t mention Junior’s weight in the last blog, well then Junior is about 2.6kg now :-)

Strolling to work this morning, I like to stroll, I find it reduces the sweat factor in the hot and humid environment, mind you it was windy and cool this morning. Hang on a minute I'll just check the current temperature . . . OK by cool I mean 27 C. Anyhow back to the story at hand, I was watching this grounds person for the Hotel I was strolling by sweeping up the falling leaves with her little broom and dustpan, a few seconds after she cleaned a little area and moved on, the little area was again covered by falling leaves, vicious cycle, the poor woman will spend all morning cleaning the front courtyard only to still have it covered in leaves and her boss chewing her ear about slacking off all morning. The blog today and her morning remind me of the movie “Groundhog Day’. Did I mention I like to stroll . . .

Week 35

Well the countdown is really on now, a month or so to go and all through the house not a creature was stirring not even a mouse, oops got side tracked again. Our Doctor’s visit went well, Junior is still enjoying the breech position and slithering around making mum-to-be feel good. If the kid doesn’t move much Marika likes to give Junior a jab to wake him / her up, but Junior has the upper hand (or foot) of being able to whack her back from the inside.

Now 110 Centimetres

Well the belly has reached 110cm mark and the finishing line is in sight!

The Stool Has Arrived & Others

For those of you concerned, the stool has arrived so Marika can continue to make my dinner. Alas it’s not height adjustable or have wheels as I wanted, though it is sturdy, light weight and easy to move. Sturdy and light weight might be considered an oxymoron together. Anyway I was keen for the wheels so I could roll back and forth across the kitchen and out into the living room. I couldn’t find any with wheels, but now I’m thinking about it, maybe I should have ‘borrowed’ one from the local hairdressers; they sometimes have wheelie height adjustable scooting stools.

Along with the stool we had a sofa bed and reading couch delivered. The sofa bed flattens into a (double) bed as the name implies, quite a decent bed in the realm of sofa beds. I’ve slept (well tried to sleep) on a few in the past, so I was keen to find one that I felt I could actually sleep on. The reading couch also folds flat to be a single bed, comfortable as long as you don’t like to sleep on the left edge of the bed.

The final piece of furniture to be delivered today was Junior’s cot, part of the delivery was installation so they kindly put the cot together. I was looking at the cot when I arrived home wondering why it didn’t look like the one we ordered, then it dawned on me I'll be busy this weekend dismantling the cot and rebuilding it correctly. I should have realised as soon as I saw the leftover pieces that something was astray!

The good news in all of this is we have beds for our soon to be guests and Junior when s/he arrives, now we just have to get mentally prepared if that is possible for Junior’s arrival!

Taxis - Modern Nostalgia

Not having a car here we find ourselves quite often travelling in trains, buses, taxis & shanks’ pony. I know I’ve harped on about taxis before, however this time I’m playing nice. This is for people that remember 1970’s & 1980’s cars that are no longer available in Australia. The majority of taxis in Singapore are newish Toyota Crown Comfort’s; by newish I mean less than 10 years old (something to do with Singaporean law). The next most common would be the Nissan Cedric (the car not the band from Roy & HG’s show). Rounding out the taxi list would be prestige cars, mostly Mercedes. The prestige cars are of course very nice to travel in and you pay for it. The newer Crown’s are also comfy thus the name ‘Comfort’; however most of the Cedric’s I’ve been in are older and thus fall into last place on my comfy this. So where am I going with this story, well nowhere really its just a little ‘modern’ nostalgia. I think when Toyota started selling the Avalon in Australia they would have been off better selling the Crown instead. Thank You and Good Night, I’ll take my two cents worth and nick off.