Finally, a nest to nest in!

So we've found a house, and signed for it for 18 months. Scary stuff (err, not in comparison to having a baby, true, but just one scary step on the increasingly scary journey!), but pretty damn good really. I like it at Mark's, I get on with his housemates and it has meant me not paying rent for a couple of months, but damn I'm starting to need a space of my own. And it's not incredibly conducive to pregnant-ness here, cos it always stinks of weed and everything in the kitchen feels greasy and there's stuff growing in the fridge and there is always loud dubstep coming from some room or other, which is nice but not when I need to sleep(wow, these things would never have bothered me about 8 months ago, whudda thunk it?).
We went to see a few houses, some nice but too expensive, some nice but in the wrong place, some just unbelievably shite and over priced, and thankfully the last one we saw, just when it was getting desperate, was pretty much everything we were after. It's big, 2 bedrooms, a cellar, not in pristine condition but definitely not too shabby either (I don't like the wallpaper in the living room, or the fireplace, but that's not exactly the top priority!). And they knocked the rent down to £50 a week until June, then £55 afterwards, because it's been empty for a while. Hopefully it will be good for us. The amount of space will definitely be a bonus, as we can be out of each other's hair easily, and I have lots and lots of crap (I don't think Mark realises this yet as I haven't actually had a permanent place to live in this country since we met, and have been living out of a rucksack for a long fucking time now...). I can't wait to get in there and make it pretty and cosy and full of my crap, and ready for baby. I will be wearing denim dungarees and a headscarf and brandishing a paintbrush for the next few months, thereby fulfilling my pregnant nesting woman urges (and longer standing denim dungaree and headscarf urges).
We pick up the keys 1st Feb, next Thursday. Thankfully we can have a nice slow move, as all of my crap is at my mum and dad's house and isn't going anywhere, and Mark's stuff is here (a 5 min walk away from the new place), and can also stay for a little bit. So hopefully it won't be too stressful.
If only we had a digital camera to do befores and afters (and pregnant tummy in dungaree pics haha). We'll see (cos I'm sure as hell gonna want to put bambina pics up on the old internets!).

Girly squeals all round...

Last Friday we went for our 20 week ultrasound (at 22 weeks, of course, effing NHS). It was by far the best ultrasound I've had so far-I've had 5, unfortunately, due to unexplained bleeding. Pretty shite really, when you read about the possible risks etc, but they did at least help put my mind at rest each time I ended up in hospital crazy with worry and confusion. Anyway, this one was my first scheduled, non emergency scan and it was really really good. Firstly because seeing the little bubba is always nice, especially since I hadn't been feeling much movement, and because Mark got to have a good look and get well mushy. Secondly, they had a very good look for abnormalities because I mentioned that the high level scan in Italy had found a soft marker for Downs on the heart. Everything was normal as far as they could see, and when they realised that the marker was just a calcium deposit they were very reassuringly dismissive-apparently they are so common they don't even mention them in England, so it was very unfair of the doctors in Italy to scare me shitless for so long. And thirdly, we got to find out the sex! A little girl! Eeeeeeeeeeeee! (imagine that in a tone so high only dogs can hear). I always thought I'd have a boy, and kind of wanted a boy, but in the last few weeks I had become more and more sure it was a girl, and whenever I pictured my baby it was female. Yay, perhaps I do have women's intuition after all (err, despite not knowing I was pregnant for about 8 weeks, but we'll gloss over that...). Mark had definitely wanted a boy at first, but swears he's not disappointed, and I think he's just happy that she's OK.
Seriously though-the reaction of my girly friends at finding out the sex has almost deafened me with high pitched squealing. Bless...

begin at the beginning

New year, new blog, new resolutions, great big fucking new stage in my life. 2007 is going to be a very interesting year...

2006 was amazing, without doubt the most interesting, eventful, intense, unexpected and formative year of my life. I did so much, had so much fun, changed so much, and ended the year in a completely different way than I ever could have expected. I travelled loads, made some brilliant new friends, got closer to old friends, ended a long term relationship in the most amicable way possible, had a wild and ridiculously enjoyable summer of unparalleled freedom, met someone special but tried not to fall in love again, moved to Italy, discovered I was pregnant, went through some intense decision making and self reflection, got hospitalised, put on bedrest and scared out of my mind, moved back to Leeds, realised I had fallen in love again, and ended the year 5 months pregnant, happy and excited and on the brink of a whole new adventure. It has been something of a whirlwind, but even the scary, horrible bits have made me far stronger, and I truly don't regret a thing.

New Years eve was pretty good, considering. I don't think I have been sober on NYE for many many many years, and it was the first occasion since I found out I was pregnant that sobriety has really felt like a challenge. For some reason I actively encouraged my fella and best friend to get wasted so that I could entertain myself by watching them, which worked for a while but then became somewhat annoying. We counted down to midnight in the Hyde Park social, then headed to a squat party for a while. Thought I could deal with big parties even being sober and pregnant, but it was harder than anticipated. Loud bass, shaking floors, thick clouds of weed smoke and getting repeatedly rammed into made it a bit difficult and I only lasted till about 3am. But it was nice to have a little bit of a dance (with Mark protecting me by dancing in front!), see people and get repeatedly congratulated by everybody and their dog. Yeah, I'm glad I went really, it was fun in parts. And being stone cold sober at a squat party confirmed my long ago suspicions that drugs are bad, kids. Haha. Yeah, I've really ruined my life by being with child and no longer able to go out and get fucked, it's just such an attractive prospect when you see people gurning their faces off, talking utter shit and looking like they're effing possessed...anyway, I'm glad I at least got to go out for a while, cos I'm sure next NYE will be even more sedate for us!

So, resolutions. I love resolutions, new starts, lists, blank pages. Maybe I put a little too much emphasis on them, but they put me in a good mindset for sorting things out. I'm going to try to be reasonable with this year's. I know that the year will be unlike any other, and I can't set unreasonable goals when the vast majority of 2007 will be spent heavily pregnant/caring for tiny baby. So here goes:
-Learn to spin
-Sell some handmade goodies
-Generally knit and sew like a maniac, get better at both
-Eat healthily, really healthily, for pregnancy and beyond. 2 packets of Thorntons butter tablet is not just giving into a craving, it's a full on sugar binge...
-Really, really get rid of excess stuff. This is the perfect opportunity to do so (moving into a new place soonish, all crap stored at parents house at the moment and they'll be moving soon too)
-Buy nothing new, as far as possible given the circumstances.
-Study as much as I can, especially with the free time I have at the moment.
-Get organized, be more frugal, be sickeningly responsible.
-Educate myself as much as I can so that I have a good chance of having a great birth and a fulfilling first few months of motherhood.
-Keep up the progress I made with my self esteem and strength of character during 2006.
-Take more photos.

Whew, think that's enough. It's gonna be a fun year...