in between the beginning and the end is....The Middle!

The past three weeks have been notable in the wider perspective of my life. LOL. I went from a reasonably busy and active expectant mother of 2 toddlers to a restful, cautious at risk pregnant woman. The first few days back from the hospital were met with an overwhelming awareness of what needs to get done in the day, but little motivation for it as it was all WORK! I ducked my head and did our annual account prep for the accountant, updated the chart of accounts in my cashbook and prepared and filed our latest GST statements. I got to feel productive without a lot of physical effort. I've also been cooking, as usual, but with the change of season, been doing some more interesting food:

• Potato, bacon, leek Soup
• Sausage Rolls
• Lamb shanks in spiced curry gravy
• Pancakes
• Pork Roast
• Creamy Tomato Soup
• Apple Cinnamon Muffins
• Quiche
• Carrot Kumera Soup
• Baked Steak
• Nachos
• Roast Lamb
• Russian Bangers & Mash
• Greek Mince Pitas
• Beef Wraps
• Scones

Not to mention scrambled eggs with spaghetti on toast, fish fingers, toast, beans on toast, opened zillions of vanilla bean custard pouches, oatmeal, banana custard pouches, various pureed vegetable pouches, peeled or cut fruit, grated vegetables...Food is a huge part of my SAHM jobs! Working from home, we tend to eat all three meals from my kitchen so there's a lot of cooking going on. Some of this grub made its way to the freezer to be enjoyed again another day. 

I wasn't  much of a SAHM the first two weeks. By limiting my lifting, carrying, and twisting movements, I didn't have a lot of contact with the kids. Wyatt enrolled in his daycare full-time, temporarily and after 3 weeks, he'll go back to part-time Monday.  As hard as it is in the final trimester to plan for an inquisitive, smart, independent little boy's day, he does need to be home with us as much as possible to keep him in the Swan groove!


Now communicating in 2-3 word sentences and say "yeah" or "no" the tears of frustration don't last nearly as long. We've managed to put off potty training to keep it simple for the newborn's arrival. Wyatt whips over all the fences in our section and wanders around the paddocks or up the farm race to the old dairy shed. This hasn't posed any problems yet, apart from trying to figure out which direction he went. He is learning a lot of opposites at the moment: slow-fast; hot-cold; asleep-awake. Its so special watching this knowledge grow!


Ashley climbs on everything, but doesn't walk with holding on to furniture, walls, windows, or the like...resorting to crawling if there's nothing available to hold onto to. As I type, she's  standing on her box of blocks looking out the window. LOL. Up until a couple of days ago, I could put her outside on the deck with the understanding she wouldn't get off the deck. But she realized that its easy to do, she just have to turn around, slide down feet first over the two steps, crawl across the driveway and make her way up to the sandpit (where I found her two days ago in between changing over the laundry). Now we get to teach her about the "owies" you get from going "bumpp-bump" off the retaining wall! She says "row-row", "hiyee", "uh-oh", "meh-meh" (milk), not to mention various guttural throat noises in between her words. Ashley sits in drawers, baskets, bowls...anything she can fit her butt in. 

Wyatt has been teaching her how to use the battery operated motorbike, first giving her rides around the house and now she's getting on it by herself and understands that pushing that button makes her "go"! Now its a matter of steering so we don't have to keep repositioning her around furniture.

Well #3 has incubated a further 3 1/2 weeks and we are nearly 36 weeks. Not to mention, a lot more relaxed if it decided to arrive now. I've picked up my pace this last week and getting Wyatt to school and taking Ashley to Music and Playcentre. Getting lots of niggles, this is the niggliest baby I've carried! Its fine, it reminds me to sit down during the day and pace myself. I just tell myself one of these times will lead to the birth and that's exciting! I'm mentally prepared to do what my body is made to do. We are really looking forward to getting to this wee one soon!