Clare is constantly surprising me.

Just after my last post, I went and check on her, and sure enough... she had pulled herself totally upright in her cot.

I just rang Tim to tell him that we'll have to lower the cot base tonight or she'll fall out!!!

My cats are weird and funny and cute.

I have bowls of water around for them but they don't seem to want to drink out of it! They insist on drinking out of MY glass of water or out of the sink (after I've run water into it).
They are funny!!

It's 43 degrees again.
Third day in a row and I'm so thankful that our power hasn't gone out.
There have been power outages all over because of the drain on the system (due to a/c).

Clare has managed well. We had an indoor pool party yesterday - so cute! I just put a little bit of water into her paddling pool and put it on a picnic rug in the living room!! She sat in it and had a ball. It was just too hot to go outside.

Her sleeping is going very very well. Today, I have put her down and walked out of the room. She hasn't gone to sleep immediately. She has grizzled and chatted and then fallen asleep. But no real crying. I'm so proud of her.
Last night she slept until 3am and then up at 7:30am. It's amazing!
Now, I just need to teach myself to sleep! (I couldn't fall asleep last night... annoying).

I'm off to Southland to get fish/japanese for dinner. We always have sashimi, hand rolls, seaweed salad and gyoza on a Friday. It's my favourite.

Empire Magazine has revealed its list of the 50 Greatest TV Shows ever:

1. Bold the shows you watch/used to watch.
2. Italic the shows you've seen at least one episode of.
3. Post your answers.

50. Quantum Leap
49. Prison Break
48. Veronica Mars
47. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
46. Sex & The City
45. Farscape
44. Cracker
43. Star Trek
42. Only Fools and Horses
41. Band of Brothers
40. Life on Mars
39. Monty Python's Flying Circus
38. Curb Your Enthusiasm
37. Star Trek: The Next Generation
36. Father Ted
35. Alias
34. Frasier
33. CSI: Las Vegas
32. Babylon 5
31. Deadwood
30. Dexter
29. ER
28. Fawlty Towers
27. Six Feet Under
26. Red Dwarf
25. Futurama
24. Twin Peaks
23. The Office
22. The Shield
21. Angel
20. Blackadder
19. Scrubs
18. Arrested Development
17. South Park
16. Doctor Who
15. Heroes
14. Firefly
13. Battlestar Galactica
12. Family Guy
11. Seinfeld
10. Spaced
09. The X-Files
08. The Wire
07. Friends
06. 24
05. Lost
04. The West Wing
03. The Sopranos
02. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
01. The Simpsons

Not too bad. I don't watch that much TV!

Last night got DOWN to 28 degrees!! That was the overnight low.
No wonder!!

Last night and again today Clare has refused my boob to go to sleep.
This is a first as she usually relies on me to get to sleep.
The bad news is that she still wouldn't go to sleep, so she got completely over tired. I just spent the last 40 minutes rocking her until she finally fell asleep in my arms and then I put her down.
Maybe it's the heat because it was 37 degrees yesterday and today is meant to hit 39. Yuk. The bedroom is HOT.
I'm not sure if this is good or bad, but perhaps it means that Tim can help at night times a bit more.
We'll see.
Clare is constantly changing all the time. You can never bet on anything!

God!
I just read over some of my old posts and I can't believe how upside down my life used to be!!
I feel so happy and lucky to have the life I have now. A beautiful daughter who lights up my days and my amazing, wonderful husband.
Gush gush.
I'm just so happy :-)

We have bought a new car and we pick it up on Friday!
Tim's new job at Clive Peeters requires a bit more travel than a scooter can cater for. So, we're getting a Hyundai i30 - voted best mid size car 2008.

Tim managed to get me to agree to blue tooth and climate control (and lots of other things that are not particularly needed). Hrm... I should have made him agree to some massages at the very least for that!!
It's a little bit annoying having to get a second car just to be used for commuting... but I'd rather that than worrying about Tim on the scooter all the time.
It's vivid blue. Exciting!

http://www.hyundai.com.au/i30/default.aspx

2009!

Time to lose weight.

Have more one on one time with Tim.

Perhaps start studying again!

Day 2 of diet today... it's going well. I went for a walk with Clare but it was so hot. Clare was sweating and so was I.

Mothers Group starts again tomorrow. I can't wait to see everyone (and how the babies will have changed over Christmas). Clare can now sit up, which she couldn't do at our last Mothers Group.

I can't believe I haven't posted on here since Clare was 8 weeks old. That is ridiculous!
She's now 5 months (tomorrow).
Time is going so quickly.

I keep thinking, I want to posy on here more often, to record my thoughts and also Clare's development. She changes so quickly and often it's hard to keep up. She certainly keeps me on my toes.

I also realise now that she is pretty much my whole world (apart from my lovely husband) and I have nothing else to talk about apart from her!!! Which is fine by me, but will probably bore others.

Here is a little video of Clare having a bath on Christmas Eve. Tim is squirting water onto her tummy which she finds hilarious!!

Clare has 2 teeth now (she got them very early - at 3 months, 3 weeks). I'm pretty sure she's almost about to get a top tooth to. It seems to be bothering her a lot.
I will never forget discovering her first tooth. I was walking to one of my mums from mothers group to have a catch up with all the lovely ladies and babies and Clare was blowing bubbles in the pram and making odd faces. I didn't think anything of it. Then, at Vanessa's place, she was blowing more bubbles and I rubbed my finger over her bottom gums and there was something sharp there!!! It was so exciting discovering it with all my mothers group with me. Clare is the youngest in the group and the second to get teeth.

She's also rolling from tummy yo back (but not the other way yet) and she can sit by herself!!! Also, one of the first to do these things too. I think she's a quick developer. Probably because she doesn't sleep much, so she's constantly learning!! hehe

Christmas was fun this year. Only 10 of us.. but as usual, mum got fairly stressed (despite Jay doing a lot of the cooking.. or trying to, without her interfering!) No matter what, mum just can't keep out.

We got our Christmas tree on December 1st and it started dying before we reached Christmas day! I'm not sure if we did something wrong, but next year, I think we'll wait a little longer before getting it. Tim loves to have a real Christmas tree and it always smells beautiful.

I'm jumping about all over the place here, but I really want to put as much down as I can, so I can TRY to update regularly.

I am hearing meeping from our bedroom which means the little one is awake.

So, more later.

Clare has put on 515 grams in 2 weeks!!
This is great!!

She now weighs 4.65kg's (or 10 lbs 2oz).
She is also now 56cm long.

I've got Mothers Group today which is always fun - I love my mums :-)

I can't believe Clare is 8 weeks old today!

		I will marry McDreamy.
		After a wild honeymoon, We will settle down in Iceland in our fabulous Mansion.
		We will have 1 kid(s) together.
		Our family will zoom around in a Red Porshe.
		I will spend my days as a Mum, and live happily ever after.

We went to Kylie and Marty's a couple of weekends ago and Mart took some lovely pics of Clare:









I'm so in love with her!!

Off to get her weighed today. I'm walking to the health centre with mum. It's about 2.5km... so 5km round trip.

Well, it's become increasingly difficult to do anything at all since Clare's arrival.

All the weight gain issues have sorted themselves out (thank goodness, as that has been the thing playing on my mind most). I am so glad I stuck to my instincts and didn't introduce formula and am exclusively breastfeeding the little cherub.
She weighed 7 lbs 8 oz at birth and is now 9 lbs 1 oz! She's growing!

She is so so so SO gorgeous.

I've started Mothers Group and have been going for 3 weeks now. It's really fun. There are 12/13 of us in the group (quite a lot I think!) and it's great to be around other people who just 'get it'. Clare has been pretty good. Nights have been difficult and she still won't sleep by herself. We'll start having to address this soon I think.

I'm becoming more and more confident as each days go by and enjoying going out with her. The first few weeks I found it hard to leave the house as she was just so unpredictable, but now I've learnt more about her (and her about me) it's easier.

She hates the car and the pram. She loves the baby bjorn sling.

We had her photo taken yesterday for her passport... interesting experience!! It was pretty impossible to get her to look at the camera, keep her mouth close and her eyes open!! We got one pic and I hope it will be accepted.

I'm pretty boring these days and totally baby obsessed! All I talk about is boobs and poo!

Well, after my last post... 'Bean' came the next day!

Bean is actually a Beanette... actually she is Clare!


Clare Rosina Ruth West
arrived 31/07/2008
at 12:27pm
weighing 7lb 8oz or 3.56kg
length was 50.5cm
head circumference was 35.5cm

I am going to post my birth story, but am going to make it private as it's quite full on (unless any of you want to read it.. happy to share, just let me know!)

The whole experience was totally natural (apart from 2 panadol) and quite incredible really! I can't quite believe we have a baby girl!

She is 3 weeks old tomorrow and the last 3 weeks have flown. She is already changing so much.. becoming more alert and like a little person every day. Tim and I are learning about her more and more as the days pass. It's VERY full on and I really don't get a moment to myself at this moment. She is asleep right now, but that is rare!! She likes to be with me/us ALL the time and as soon as we put her down she wakes and wants cuddling or feeding (she is feeding 24/7!!)

She has been a bit slow to put on weight. We had her weighed after birth and she had lost within the 10% that all babies lose, but then at her next weigh in she had lost a further 5 grams which is not good. She should have started to gain. Then, at the next weigh in, she'd only put on 25 grams which was a little worrying. I REALLY REALLY REALLY want to breast feed exclusively.. and am perservering at this. It seems to be going quite well, but it's really hard when you can't physically see what she's taking in. Anyway, we had her weighed again today and she'd put on 145 grams over 9 days. She's heading in the right direction which is great. They hoped she would have put on a bit more, but it's ok for now. I'll just keep feeding all the time and hopefully next week (when she's weighed again) she has gained again.

Anyway... I could write about her for pages and pages but I won't (because she'll wake up soon, and it's too hard to type one handed).

I'm totally in love with her. She is just gorgeous and amazing.

I actually don't really have friends on here that update much except for Rochelle.. and I just wanted to say how happy it makes me that you post all the time Rochelle.. so I can keep up to date on you and Merv and not lose touch. Even though I don't do personal emails etc to you guys, I still know what's going on and I love that!!!

I'm now 40 weeks and 4 days pregnant.
No sign of anything much.

Have OB appointment this afternoon so will find out more.
Am actually feeling quite good... just MASSIVE.

I'm obviously not doing much (because I can't really!!)

I've been getting lots of phone calls and messages. Some people don't get it that you can go over your due date! I don't mind though. Actually, I think it's nice that people are excited.

Our heating wasn't working this morning. Funnily it was the coldest morning so far (only 3 degrees!) Tim was in a rush so didn't get to sort it out properly, so I thought I'd have a look and I managed to figure it out. Just needed resetting.

Uhm... that's all. I'm making a beef casserole and crusty white bread for dinner. I've never made a casserole before.

I just found out that two of our very close friends (Luke and Gem) are pregnant!!! They are due on Feb 15th 2009. So very excited!

It reminded me of when we found out, and the amazing euphoria I felt.

The best and most exciting times of my life, that I will never EVER forget have been:
- When Tim proposed to me in the Blue Lagoon (Iceland).
- When we found out we were having a baby.

Both moments have been 'pinch me' moments. You know when something so good happens and you go to sleep and wake up the next day and it feels so unreal that you don't know if it's real or not?

There have been lots of awesome moments.. but those two are top.

It's a Leo!
Made it!
hehe

Had 'last' OB appointment and all is great again. My BP was normal and Bean has a good strong heart beat.
My doctor said he could book me in to be induced on 29th July, but I told him I'd prefer to wait and hope I go naturally. (This will only go on for so long, until I'm forced to be induced.. but I'm hoping this baby will know when it's time to leave).
So instead, I'm booked in for another check up next Tuesday afternoon where 'we will discuss my options'! hehe Sounds ominous!
Most doctors will let you go 2 weeks over... as long as everything is going ok. We'll see what's said next week.

In the mean time, I'm a little bit bored. I'm not able to do a lot without tiring.. so it's bits and pieces here and there.
Today has been GORGEOUS. The sun has been shining all day, so I went out and pottered in the garden, pruning back some roses again.
I did a bit of supermarket shopping, had a nap and that's about it!!
Having a life of leisure is great.. if you're actually able to do something with your time!!
I couldn't sleep last night because my hips were aching so much. So I was feeling very tired when I got up this morning.

I am so boring at the moment. I don't have anything to talk about because I do nothing except wait and clean and just... boring stuff!!
Can't wait til Bean arrives....
Cmon baby!

(oh, have to date dodge July 29th as it's my aunt's birthday.. I'm hoping for July 27th, August 1st or August 8th now. Any time early August would be good. I like the smaller numbers rather than the bigger numbers. But, I do like the number 27.. yes, I am weird).