I love being organised and planning my meals in advance, buying the correct ingredients, getting the best prices, preparing the ingredients, timing the cooking right for whoever is going to eat.

Tonight I ordered pizza online and am going to stuff my face with my family.

Whoop whoop!

Feeling really pregnant

I have 6 weeks to go until the baby arrives and I have only now started to really feel the strain of pregnancy.  I had two relatively easy pregnancies.  On my first one I had SPD from 26 weeks to the end and it was hard but manageable.  On my second I had it from 20 weeks and had a toddler to chase and carry around and the SPD carried on, on and off until my second was about 3.  It was more off than on but it still cut me in half if I pushed it a bit when exercising.  This time around I was expecting an even harder trip but to be honest, it has been a piece of cake.  No SPD really apart from feeling like I wanted to tighten up the screws in my pelvis but really nothing that bad.

Now, in the home straight, I can feel how standing for an hour puts a strain on my back and these last couple of days the restless legs have 'kicked off'.  Itchiness is annoying but reserved for my lower legs and is manageable with short nails and cream.  I had to ask a friend to take my eldest to football tonight as I could not stand the thought of standing in the rain and the dark with my youngest after rushing to feed them and get to the pitch for 6pm.  I guess I need to step back a bit and accept help and favours from all the people who have been offering.

Now can somebody just offer to do my ironing tonight please?

I have spent this evening watching 3 episodes of One Born Every Minute whilst my sweet little girl squirmed and kicked and wiggled about.  It was delicious!  I can'r believe I am, what, 6.5 weeks off having a baby!  I have lots to do on her room, lots to bring down from the loft and sort, wash and organise, I have not packed or thought about a hospital bag or really thought much about that time when I will be in hospital.  I just think about having her lying asleep on my (enormous) chest and snuffling gently.  I can't wait for her to complete our family of five.

I have just ordered my supermarket shopping to be delivered tomorrow night and I am pleased with myself.  I have not done a meal plan as normal for the week as I just did not have the brainpower to do it tonight but I do need bread before Wednesday morning or my children will go sandwichless in school.  I am so tired I will probably be astounded at what I purchased tomorrow when the delivery arrives!  I normally get a surprise or two in a supermarket shop which is lovely.  Last time it was sponge cake flour.  What on earth is that?  I am so glad that somebody else ordered it and it was delivered to me in error!  I shall make sponges that are lighter than air now (but could never justify ordering it myself)!

My actual Christmas week shop is already waiting in its delivery slot to come just before Christmas and I am heartily pleased with my organisational powers and foresight to book a good slot nearly 3 weeks in advance!  Get me!  Goodness knows what we shall be eating for Christmas dinner but I do know that my 8 tins of chopped tomatoes will be delivered here in good time to make some tomato soup if I never get around to deciding on the meat for lunch.

Any ideas?

Simple Pleasures

Call me a fool but I spent an hour this morning unwrapping and wrapping up bobbins of embroider thread.  I was in my element!  I bought a box of threads from ebay that someone was clearing out and it go here in a it of a mess so I passed an hour undoing and re-wrapping the beautiful colours onto their bobbins and putting the bobbins in colour order.  I was in heaven!  This project will take a good few more hours until it is all tidy and my own threads have joined their new neighbours in the box, but sometimes you have t take pleasure in life's mundane little idiosyncrasies and see a rainbow in the middle of a mess!

Christmas shopping for three?

I went Christmas shopping for the kids today and was very pleased with my purchases as I got some good bargains all round.  The hardest thing, I found was not buying any presents for Baby Gherks!  She is not due until February and certainly does not need any Christmas presents for another 14 months but I have this "3 children" idea in my mind now and it felt almost unfair to only buy for 2 of them!  I didn't buy her anything anyway as it would be ridiculous.  But a soft soft rabbit nearly made his way home with me!

Pink in the House of Trouser!

Well I have had a couple of days to get used to the news but I have to say that it is still blowing my head off - we are expecting a little girl!

I was so 100% sure it was a boy and Mr G was sure we were having a girl but I pooh-poohed his idea (I mean a mother knows her body doesn't she?).  I could not believe it when the sonographer said it was a girl!  I actually said I don't believe her!  We told the rest of the family who are all so pleased for us and surprised too as my 2 boys are the only grandchildren and nephews on both sides.  Mr G and I are in shock (me especially - "I was  ... Wrong?") and are finding it strange to use words like "daughter" and "she" and "her" as they have not really been in our daily vocabulary until now!

I am so thrilled.  I have always wanted three children and now, knowing that I am having a girl, I am reflecting on the other option of three boys.  I love having two boys now and I was looking forward to having three boys and just thought that that was the way it was going to be for me.  A girl has really made me think about how the dynamic in our house is going to change.  I love the idea of having another female in the house (even our cat is male) and I cannot wait to meet her!

I have to say, I am concerned with the amount of pink that everyone is telling me is going to hit my house.  I am not a pink girl and after scaring myself to nausea in the baby clothes aisle of my local supermarket.  Does it really have to explode all over the house when a girl arrives?  There has been a girl living in my house for as long as I can remember and there is no pink anywhere - not even in the wardrobe!  What will our new arrival bring with her?  Will the House of Trouser go pink?

Whatever she brings she will be loved for it by us all.