Photos are up

Photos of the baby shower have now been uploaded as promised.

Have been off work for two weeks now. It didn't take long for me to switch off and I've hardly given work a second thought since I left. Thursday was the work Christmas party though so I went along and caught up with people which was nice.

Have been kept busy shopping for things for Nooboo as well as Christmas and birthday presents. There's also a vicious rumour going around that I've been keeping the house clean and cooking delicious meals and ensuring my husband has a beer in his hand the minute he walks in the door. Don't get any ideas - this rumour is over-exaggerated, and won't last long anyway ;-)

We have bought a cot, a changing table, a pram and a carry pack on TradeMe. We picked up the cot & table this afternoon from a lovely couple in a rural area way south of Auckland. Might have been a long drive but it was a nice day and it was worth it because we got a really good deal.

In terms of the wider family, Peter unfortunately didn't get that job in Wellington that he went down for the interview for. He was their second choice out of 12 people interviewed so that's pretty good. In a way it was a bit a relief because if he had got the job we would have been moving around the time Nooboo is due, or within a few weeks of him/her being born. Which wouldn't have worked at all. So it's definite that Nooboo is going to be born an Aucklander. Don't hold it against him/her, it's not their fault.

Also on the family news front, Peter's mum has announced that she and Patrick and the kids are finally going to be moving back to New Zealand, which is absolutely great news. Peggy and Mardie arrive in early January and we can't wait to see them again.

Finally, Happy Birthday to Peter who celebrated his birthday yesterday. We spent the day hanging out together, playing X-box, and had a great night out at the Comedy Club.

Last Day at Work

Friday was my last day of work. It feels really weird - it's Sunday night now and I ought to be getting up in the morning tomorrow to go to work. But I won't be. It still hasn't fully sunk in yet, I guess I kinda feel like I'm on holiday. Especially with it being summer and Christmas coming up, it's the sort of time one might normally take a holiday anyway. I guess reality will sink in later in the week.

Months ago when I started this Blog I thought this day was so far away. But time keeps marching on and here we are. Six weeks until Nooboo is due. When I handed in my notice at work three (or more?) months ago I really thought Peter would have found a job in Wellington by now. In fact I half expected him to move down there before I did. He had a formal interview in Wellington this week for a job that he was shortlisted for, but haven't heard anything yet. We'll see.

I had a good last day at work. Tess and Phil ensured that we had a great morning tea sendoff. And I got phone calls from friends all around the country, which was great. I worked really hard last week to get everything done in time, and felt good walking out for the last time knowing that Kathryn my replacement knows everything she needs to know, and that Phase II of the project I'd been working on is finished. Phase III has been scoped and signed off but not delivered, so that is a shame, but I'm sure Kathryn can handle it from here.

This coming week I've got heaps of things to do. I've got to start shopping for stuff for Nooboo (clothes, furniture, etc). Then there's Christmas shopping to do, and heaps of work around the house that needs doing. So I'd say I'm going to be kept pretty busy. I'm sure it'll take me a while to get into a routine and once Nooboo arrives everything will turn upside down anyway.

Attached is a photo of me taken today, 34 weeks pregnant. It's not actually a lot different from the last photo, at 28 weeks.

Baby Shower

Last weekend Phil and Jude, with help from Tess, threw me a baby shower at their house. We had an awesome time. My closest friends from work all came along and we sat around drinking bubbly (only a small glass for me) and playing baby-shower games. Highlights were:

* The "Guess what's in the nappy" game - 8 nappies with realistic looking goop in them that we were encouraged to smell and even taste to try and work out what it really was. It included various different brands of chocolate, peanut butter, mayonnaise and dressings. Apparently Ann's young daughter is still traumatised from seeing mummy smelling and tasting dirty nappies!

* The "Baby Food eating race" - See who can feed their "baby" a small tin of baby food the fastest. Lesson learned - never feed your kid anything you wouldn't eat yourself. The lambs fry (with vegetables?) was the most disgusting, and tasted like spew. Apparently the carrot wasn't much better, and Peter ended up with more on his face than in his mouth.

* The "Don't say the B-word" game - Congratulations to Chris on winning hands down. Everyone started the day with one nappy pin each but if you said the B-word you had to surrender your pin to whoever caught you saying it. We all started out pretty well but soon everytime someone accidentally said the B-word everyone would start laughing and shouting. Of course it got even funnier once you'd lost all your pins because you could say the word without fear and everyone would jump as soon as they heard it, but couldn't take any pins off you.

Thanks to everyone there for coming and also for the awesome presents you gave us. Up until the party we hadn't bought anything for baby. The main reason was we didn't want to rush into buying a whole lot of stuff and then end up moving to Wellington. We thought we'd buy it after we moved. Now we have a lovely rocker, heaps of clothes, and some really practical bits and pieces that are going to come in very handy.

Big thanks to Tess for organising the people, Phil and Jude for hosting the party, and Tricia for researching all the cool games on the internet.

Really Bad Stuff

The last couple of weeks have been really, really bad. It all began on Wednesday 9th in the evening when I got a phone call from Wellington Hospital saying that my dad had had a fall the day before and that he wanted to talk to me. But unfortunately when they put the phone through to his room he had gone to sleep. When they rang back half an hour later I thought he had woken up again but they were ringing to tell me the exact opposite, the kind of news that you never, ever want to hear. My dad had passed away in his sleep. He had had Non Hodgkins Lymphoma for quite some time but only started getting sick in the last six months. The last time I saw him he was looking a lot stronger and the diagnosis from his doctor was that the treatment was working. Unfortunately he apparently went downhill quite quickly in the last couple of weeks. Although if you had asked him he would have said he was doing ok. That’s the kind of person he was. And over the last two weeks I’ve discovered I’m a lot like him because that’s exactly what I would have done as well.

Naturally I was devastated. Peter and I flew down to Wellington first thing the next morning to try and make sense of it and to make the arrangements. Peter has been absolutely wonderful throughout. I can’t thank him enough. He’s been there helping me along every step of the way. Having lost my mum nearly 15 years ago and not having any brothers or sisters, it fell on me to organise everything. It was such a huge responsibility and not having ever done anything like this before I didn’t really know what to do. But everyone we met along the way was so helpful and kind and steered us in the right direction. I have now learnt the importance not just of having a will but of doing as much planning for your own funeral as you can, so that your loved ones don’t have to try and guess your wishes.

The funeral service was held on Tuesday 15th. So many people turned up for it – old friends, new friends, Mum’s siblings and nieces, and my friends and colleagues. I made a speech about my Dad’s life, something I was terrified of doing but which I feel very pleased about now. I’m afraid I probably spoke for a long time but I wanted to make sure I covered everything because I wanted everyone to know Dad the way I did.
Even still there were lots of things I left out – like the fact that Peter and I were planning on coming down to visit him at Christmas but that we knew better than to visit him on Christmas Day because he wouldn’t be home but would be out riding the buses and trains since they are free on Christmas Day. Or how he always got out and attended events in Wellington – he would have loved seeing the scuttling of the HMNZS Wellington off the coast of Island Bay two days before, and how this weekend was to be an Open Day at Government House which he always went along to. It’s the little things like that that I will miss.

So many other people also got up and said kind words about my dad. I’m pleased to know that he had a lot of friends. After the service I got to meet a lot of his friends at the Bowling Club where he was a member. Although it was a sad occasion I’m glad that I can look back on that day and feel positive – pleased that the service went well, glad to meet all my dad’s friends, and just knowing that Dad would have approved of everything.

I have so many people I need to thank for their help during this difficult time: First the lady at the hospital mortuary who looked after us when we arrived in town bewildered, and explained what we needed to do. Sheryl and the team at Harbour City Funeral Home in Kilbirnie for their help and kindness. Chris the vicar at St Hilda’s Anglican Church in Island Bay for conducting the service and his helping choosing hymns and a reading. Barbara and Glen at Island Bay Bowling Club for arranging the function afterwards. My godmother Lorraine for her support and for doing the reading. To everyone who got up and spoke at the service for their kind words and friendship. And to everyone who has sent messages of sympathy and support. It is all appreciated.

To top off the bad stuff, just before all this happened I got a phone call from my midwife saying my latest routine test results had come back with a high blood sugar reading and that I needed to go back for more tests. I have had a lot of problems with feeling faint, at first only occasionally but getting to be quite regular in the week or two before her call. So I was quite worried that the test was going to show diabetes or something. Luckily the second test results put my blood sugar back in an acceptable range but just to be sure I have given up eating sugar and haven’t felt faint since. Looks like Christmas this year is going to be a pretty sad time – no wine or champagne, no cold ham or cold chicken, no cake or pavlova, and no chocolate.

Looking forward I’m not sure what life holds in store for us now. Peter and I had been planning on moving back to Wellington and buying Dad’s house off him so that he could go live somewhere smaller. We probably will still move into the house but is still dependant on Peter finding a job in Wellington before we can move. For now we’re just taking it one day at a time.

October

The month of October has been a very busy one for me, especially at work. I've been involved in a project to bring in a new Incident Management System and this went live at the beginning of October. It has kept me very busy testing and training and integrating the new system. I've been to just about all of our North Island sites over the last month to train users. It's always great to get out of the office and to go where the real work is done, but there's always so much work to do when I get back. Although I'm glad to say things are finally starting to settle down now. I only have four weeks left at work and my replacement has been selected which is a great relief.

As well as all the travelling with work, Peter and I managed to fit in a weekend in Sydney as well at the beginning of October. Probably the last overseas trip we're going to have for a while. Not that it was a holiday or anything - we attended the final Australasian X-ball paintball tournament for the year. The less said about that the better I reckon. The timing was really bad what with everything going on at work, and it would have been better to finish off the paintball year with a win, but it was still nice to get away and go somewhere new (it wasn't actually in Sydney but near Gosford an hours drive north of the city centre).

Labour Weekend was the first time in probably five years that we haven't gone to Rotorua for a paintball tournament, as the regular tournament was cancelled this year. It was a shame as (from a spectator's perspective) it's been the best tournament event in the country. So instead we stayed home and enjoyed a long weekend relaxing and doing work around the house. Went to the Armageddon pulp culture expo at the Aotea Centre. Once known as a geeky sci-fi convention it seems to have gone really mainstream and was full of computer/console gaming as well as the more traditional gaming. I got to meet Lex and Big-Tom from Survivor Africa and Survivor All-Stars and learn a bit about what you *don't* see on tv. And Peter got to meet Dr Beverly Crusher from Star Trek (sorry can't remember her real name now or which show, Next Gen maybe?). And as an example of how mainstream it has become you could also meet the people behind current NZ shows Bro Town and Outrageous Fortune.

Nooboo continues to grow and grow. We have reached the 30 week mark so 3/4 of the way there now. Attached is a pic at 28 weeks. All is going well and things are happening as they should. We finished our ante natal class this week. It has been a very informative course and has allayed a few fears. The best bit in my opinion was the tour of North Shore Hospital maternity unit. It was good to see where it is and what it looks like and just what facilities are available.

We still want to be in Wellington by the end of the year and Peter has another job interview this week. However even if he gets the job it will be very close to Christmas by the time we move. And if he doesn't get it then it's not looking very likely that we will move this year at all. We are both happy to just go with the flow and see how things work out. Whatever happens I'm sure it will be for the best.

Pregnant

Well pretty much everyone should know by now that Peter and I are expecting a baby. It is due on or around 13 January 2006. I am currently 25 weeks pregnant, that's a bit over 5 1/2 months. The picture below was taken 2 weeks ago.

So far so good, everything has gone amazing well. I have had no morning sickness at all, although I have lost my appetite in a big way. Not from feeling ill, but just getting full really quickly. The worst thing about being pregnant has been all the restrictions - no drinking, no eating cold meats or soft cheese, cutting back on exercise, etc, and having to do certain things I'm not so keen on like eating lots of red meat and healthy bread. I like red meat, but just not every night of the week!

We had our first scan a few weeks ago, the 20-week anatomical scan. It was really amazing to see the detail and to see the baby moving around. The scan confirmed everything is completely normal and the correct size and the right bits. We specifically asked not to find out the gender as we want to be surprised.

We also began our ante-natal classes this week at North Shore Hospital. There were about 10 or 12 couples. Most due in December so with bumps a bit bigger than mine. Mostly women in their 30's with one or two who could be older. The first class was pretty general and covered a lot of topics briefly. I'm hoping they go back into more detail for some of it.

My bump is now poking out noticeably. Baby is quite active and kicks a lot, especially at work when I'm in meetings! In the last week I've noticed that you can actually see my tummy moving now when it kicks, it's quite neat to watch.

Apart from that life goes on pretty much as normal. My last day at work is Friday 2 December. Peter is currently looking for a job in Wellington and if all goes well we will move down there before the baby is born. Lou and Caliope left Auckland this week to move to Palmerston North, so there is really nothing keeping us in Auckland any more. But we will just have to wait and see what happens...

-Megz

Weekend in Taupo

At the beginning of September I spent an enjoyable weekend away in Taupo with my three best friends from High School and their families.

Tina and Wayne have just moved back to New Zealand after six years living overseas. They are now living in Palmerston North as is Zaneta and her daughters Sapphire and Brittany. Whereas both Lou & Caliope, and Peter & I, live in Auckland (well for now). So we all met up in Taupo which is pretty much halfway between the two cities. We stayed in one of the Railways staff flats which was pretty awesome, really modern and clean and comfortable.

We all arrived late Saturday afternoon and spent Saturday night catching up and playing a great game of Pictionary. Sunday morning Tina and Wayne cooked us all a huge English breakfast and then we went out and saw some of the sights of Taupo and topped it all off with a swim at the local pool.

Attached is a photo of all the girls at the Craters of the Moon DOC reserve just north of Taupo.

- Megz

Triathlon

WOW!!! I actually did it!! I completed a triathlon!! I am so proud of myself. I never would have thought I’d do something like this. If you’d told me five years ago that I’d be living in Auckland, going to the gym and entering runs and triathlons, I’d have laughed in your face. But it’s real and I really did it!!!!!

Today I successfully completed the 2005 Special K Women's Triathlon at Okahu Bay, Auckland, a women's only triathlon consisting of a 300m swim, a 10km cycle ride and a 3km run.

I competed along with my colleague Tess Hattingh - it was initially Tess's idea but I actually went and entered us into it, which she later said she didn't think she'd really do it but then had no choice once I'd entered us.

I completed the course in 1 hour, 2 minutes, 45 seconds, with the split being Swim 11:55, Cycle 24:58, Run 25:56. Tess followed close behind at 1:05:57.

I was so nervous to start with but once we actually got going it was good. We had to wait about an hour after the start before it was our turn - there were thousands of women there. Although I'm a good swimmer I'm not very fast so I immediately fell behind the group but easily caught up on the cycle leg and passed heaps of people (not bad considering I probably haven't ridden in 10 years and didn't do any cycle training beforehand apart from at the gym). By the time the run came I was pretty exhausted but managed to run most of it (albeit very slowly but at least I didn't get passed by any walkers!).

The feeling when crossing the finish line was incredible. This has got to be one of my top 5 achievements in my life. I just can't believe I actually did it!!!

Unfortunately Peter had paintball practice in Wellington this weekend so he was unable to be there to support us or to take any photos. Attached is a photo of Tess and I at a music concert last year.

-Megz