Alien Spouse

Kinetic Art.

Having moved from a one-bedroomed shoe box to a palatial two-bedroom-and-a-dining-room bread box we find ourselves suddenly feeling that the space is a touch spartan.  I mean we want it to be fairly minimalist, and we certainly don't want clutter - but Eva's room echoes because there are only three small pieces of furniture in there right now!

We are going to by a sofa/bed to go in there at some point in the next month, because otherwise where will Moth sleep when she comes to visit? (squeeee!) Before then though we have to do something to make the space feel a touch more inviting and fun for Eva; I especially thought she needed somethinbg entertaining to look at whilst lying in her crib.

So we bought her a mobile.  Not one of those sugary sweet nursery mobiles though, oh no, we went with a design classic that also happens to depict one of my favourite birds.

It's a Flensted Swallow mobile, and the minute I saw it I was like "Oh,  of course!  That!"

The shop we bought it from was the rather lovely Mod Sprog, and they had all of their Flensted mobiles on sale - So we also got this one for the living room.

 

This is the Flowing Rhythym mobile in red, which was originally designed in 1955 so, of course, it goes nicely with our current mid-century modern look AND our love of red home furnishings.

I knew exactly where this one was going to hang, because there was an ugly hook screwed into the ceiling in th ecorner of the living room, so I knew I had to put something there to at least excuse the damn thing.  The trick was going to be how to hang up the one in Eva's room, but the mobile is extremely light so I thought that I'd take the advice of the manufacturers and use a drawing pin (US Translation: Thumb Tack).  I got out the step ladder, grabbed a drawing pin and unpacked my new avian friends.

When I looked at the ceiling above Eva's crib I was surprised to find that there was already a drawing pin there in almost exactly the right position.  Dude, that's just spooky.  I mean it's not like there are drawing pins all over the ceiling here; there is just that one precisely where I wanted it to be.  Asheville just provides everything... (or, and this is just a crazy theory, that room has been a baby's room before and the crib is in the most logical place for it).

Fake Grass Drying Rack.

This new drying rack is great!

We found it in the baby section, and bought it just for Eva's bottles and pumping stuff, because those things will fall over if you look at them too hard.  Now that we've got a dishwasher again (The LUXURY!), we're obviously not hand washing as many dishes and so we don't need to use the larger dish rack - Besides, when Mum stayed with us she described that rack as "lethal".  The larger plates wouldn't stand up in it, unless they were propped up with a small plate; and all of the cutlery would slide out; and if the mugs or glasses were a bit too short, they looked like they might fall out of the side.

So we've stopped using that one, and we're just using the fake grass now, which is much more efficient at holding things AND looks better.  Love it!

Likes/Dislikes

Things Eva wants to put in her mouth:

• Anything - No really, keep an eye on her.
• Your glasses.
• Cat fur - Freshly plucked from the cat for preference.
• That bit of paper.
• Grass.
• Her own foot.
• Any toy.
• Any clothing.
• Home-made puree of roast organic sweet potato. Oh yes!
• Whatever you are eating at the restaurant.  Things will get shouty if you refuse.

Things Eva Refuses a Third Spoonful of:

• Beef Baby Food from a Jar.  The horror.

 

Meet the Neighbour.

Doc C went out to the laundry this evening, as a matter of some urgency so that the Eva had a clean nighty and a swaddler to go to bed in.

When he got back he met our downstairs neighbour for the first time; we had already left a card in her mail-box to pre-apologise for any disturbance the baby might cause though.  It turns out that she hadn't heard anything over the past week (and Eva has really been giving it some wellie...), which was very reassuring.

She also mentioned that she is a nanny, and Doc got the distinct impression she'd be up for the odd spot of babysitting. Ooooh!

Comfortably Ensconced.

So, we moved this week! It was glorious! (note dripping sarcasm)

Actually it was mostly ok, just the usual pain of seemingly endless packing, which once that's finally over, is followed by apparently infinite amounts of unpacking.  Doc spent early Tuesday morning wandering around looking in boxes trying to find 1) the kettle (unsuccesful), and 2) his underpants (fortunately succesful).

Eva really doesn't seem to notice any difference in the apartments, she's just as happy here as anywhere else; I do think she's sleeping better in her own room though,  The cats, however, are noticeably happier.  There is distinctly kittenish gambolling about the place and they clearly love having free access to our bedroom at night again.  We thought they would miss the balcony (we do have one here too, but it faces east so it only gets the sun in the morning and it's enclosed by fly screens), but the additional space seems to make all the difference to them.

The best bit about this move is that we have much more room - I told Doc on the first morning we woke up here that this must be what toothpaste feels like once it gets out of the tube.  I loved the last place, and for a single person it would be amazing; for a couple it was a tight fit; for a nuclear family it was a squash; for two adults, a baby AND two cats it really was too small.  We really had to economise quite drastically when I left my job and we re-located here, but now I'm working again and Doc C has got tenure (Squee!  Jus this week!  I'm so proud of him!!!) we can afford to actually spread out a bit.

The other thing is that, whilst our old neighbours were all very sweet people, no one here has so far woken us up playing the mandolin.  Or the guitar.  Or exuberantly singing.  There are more than double the number of apartments here, and we've heard almost nothing of our new neighbours.  It's rather soothing.

Moving! Again!

We are moving next week to a new apartment, which is only at the corner of our current road - But it has two bedrooms (Squee!) and the unheard of luxury of a dining room (OMG!)

We actually had two months left on our contract here and were discussing maybe looking for something to buy after that, but having a baby and buying a house are supposed to be two of the most stressful things you can do in your lifetime - let's not do both within twelve months eh?  

Instead we noticed a for rent sign outside the apartments at the end of our street, and it's a really funky building so I was nosy about what it might look like.  Add to that it's actually managed by the letting agent we are currently renting from, so it seemed like a reasonable idea just to look, you know?

And... we liked it, and it turned out that not only is it managed by the same agents, but it's actually owned by the same person; so we could transfer our current lease to the new place and just move there at the end of the month.

Well.  How can you turn that down?  That seems far too much like something that's meant to happen doesn't it? If you believe such hippy illogical nonsense, which obviously we don't, but looking a gift horse in the mouth purely because it's logical is actually just daft don't you think?

So we are moving on Monday.  Squee!  Except packing. sigh. But mostly Squee!

Cribbed.

Saturday night was Eva's first night in her new crib, and she slept like a little tiny snoring log.  It was most satisfactory.

Of course on Sunday night she woke up a couple of times to be fed, but it really wasn't anything to do with the crib.  I'm fairly sure she just wanted to illustrate her awe inspiring baby powers of control over her subservient parents.

A Logical Place to Sleep.

Well, the crib was quite easy to put together (as far as I could see anyway - Doc C actually built the crib, because I had built the changing table/chest of drawers earlier in the afternoon).  Eva doesn't seem to hate it or anything, but we will see what she makes of sleeping in it.  Please keep your fingers crossed that our little science officer decides this is a good place to take her r-and-r of a night.

Eva's New Furniture.

This evening we bought Eva her own bed, well, it's a crib that will convert into a bed when she's old enough. Point being she won't be sleeping in our bed for very much longer - first, we have to build the thing, and, second, get her comfortable with sleeping in it.  I'll report back on which is the most difficult.

A Skirmish.

Today I was at work (on a photo shoot actually!), and I had brought my bottle of water with me as I always do.  I unscrewed the lid, took a sip and something bumped against my top lip.  I looked down at the open bottle and was horrified by what I saw.

There was a stink bug swimming around in my water bottle.

Shudder.

This is unacceptable. UNACCEPTABLE.  It could have been worse I suppose, I mean I could have swallowed it (sh-u-dd-er) but really how far will these damn insects try to push me?

It is my opinion that this is a clear escalation of hostilities on the part of the stink bugs. This, of course, now means that I will exterminate any stink bug I see in the apartment as soon as it is sighted.  I will not suffer any further indignities.

Second First Day! Wheeeee!

Squee! First day at the video production company was great, and my new job title is "Production Manager".

Of course there always has to be something doesn't there? Today we hopped in the car with plenty of time to get there... And discovered that a road crew had started to dig a trench right across our street... Which is a dead end, so we had to wait for them to use the digger to fill it in a bit with rubble (it was like watching an enormous mechanised cat scrabbling in a litter tray).

So I was about twenty minutes late on my first day - But I had a really good explanation and a mobile phone photo to prove it should that be necessary.  Because that has to be the worst excuse ever, doesn't it?

Bathroom - Twenty/Tenned!

I've been following feeds on Tumblr for a while now, and I did swipe the Alien Spouse Tumblr name but I haven't actually posted anything there.  I find it's tricky enough to keep up with my blog, Facebook and Twitter, let's not add another epic time suck to the game right?  Still there are a number of great Tumblrs that I enjoy reading, and I have come to particularly like "Unfuck Your Habitat".

It's a sort of support hub, with motivational swearing, rewards in the form of celebratory gifs (The acolytes of UfYH regularly post before-and-after photos on their own Tumblrs, which they tag for the UfYH guru to share with the group and award gifs as appropriate) and a database of cleaning techniques.  The really genius part of the whole thing is that it follows a very basic rule, which is not to try marathoning your way through all the cleaning in one go, instead cleaning sessions are broken up into 20/10s; that is, work for twenty minutes and then take a break for ten minutes, and repeat until you have finished or run out of time for that day.

There is an app for the iPod (but not yet for the Android - She's working on it though!), and I bought it the other day so that I could both support the Tumblr and use the tools it provides.  Rather hilariously Apple will not allow any app to have the word fuck in the title, so it's been renamed Unfilth Your Habitat; equally hilarious and annoying is the fact that ALL of the negative reviews are about the use of bad language, when that's clearly mentioned in the app description and signposted by the bloody logo.  Honestly people.

Anyway...

So Doc and I have a new agreement in place where in we intend to bring the flat up to code, and then each do a one or two 20/10s a day to keep the place in order.  Today Doc did the recycling, cleaned the litter trays and emptied the bins - He marathoned it, because that's what he was in the mood for.  Then I used the apps 20/10 timer (I picked a very fun techno ring tone as my transitional alarm - Love it!) to clean the bath & the toilet; and then thoroughly scrub the bathroom floor (on my hands and knees with a scrubbing brush and everything).  It took four sessions to get it all done properly, but that was a lot less intimidating to me than marathon cleaning and I think I did a better job than if I'd allowed myself to get tired and frustrated halfway through.

I think we'll overhaul the kitchen next, and then it's just maintenance all around.  It feels distinctly pleasant to have such an elegantly manageable plan in mind, let's just hope we can stick to it.

Klingon Opera and Unwelcome Insects.

There is a possibility that we've been watching far too many of the series in the Star Trek family of TV shows, because Eva has developed a taste for Klingon opera and she spent most of last night treating us to a impromptu performance.

It's really sweet and no doubt an important developmental stage, but my goodness it is LOUD.

Naturally Eva was as fresh as a daisy at six o'clock this morning, whereas Doc C and I were pretty shattered.  Fortunately this is a very rare occurrence, but we do have an agreement in place that covers just this type of contingency; one of us will get up with her for two hours whilst the other parent sleeps, then we swap for two hours.  By eleven thirty we were all up to speed, and able to get on with our day.

It was pretty exciting actually - Doc C did the laundry and I got my hair cut.  It's amazing to think that this time last year neither of these things would have warranted mention, but now I am proud to log those achievements.

Oh, also; I have declared war on the stink bugs in our apartment.  In the summer I didn't mind them, in the autumn I almost admired their tenacity but now it's winter and I have had enough.  They really brought this on their own insectoid heads because a couple of them have climbed INTO my clothes, whilst I was wearing them no less, on two separate occasions.  And if they can do that to me, then they could do it to Eva and my protective mothering instincts have kicked in at the mere thought. I am not having that.

Sunday Evening.

Sofa. Ice cream. Deep Space Nine. Not being screeched at.

And...

Relax.

Under The Tree.

"A present?  Is for Edith?"

Big Box.

Doc C is the youngest of 9 children, and all of his siblings already have kids - So we've been getting a lot of stuff sent to us for Eva over the last few months.  One of Doc's sisters had a particularly posh pram slash pushchair that her own daughter had just grown out of, so my Mother-in-Law paid for it to be shipped it to us along with a big bundle of clothes.  We knew to expect it, but when the UPS guy knocked on the door with a box almost as big as he was, well, it was still a surprise!

This thing is ENORMOUS.  I mean I knew that Jamie had only just grown out of it, and she's now five, but this is really built like an upholstered tank.  We weren't sure if we would actually be able to fit it in the car (we can!), and it is totally impractical for this apartment unfortunately.  Fortunately our current pram will be fine for a while yet, and then we can switch to the super-fancy-hand-me-down when we really need to. By that point we may well have moved apartments, and I think we really do have to find something on the ground floor next time.

In the mean time we've been forced to put it in storage, because it was taking up so much floor space and because Edith had decided it was a mobile cat condo.  Having taken that away from her we haven't quite had the heart throw away the box yet, so Edith been throwing herself around in that this afternoon.

Christmas 2012.

Here is our Christmas!

Our (clearly fake!) tree is the tree from "A Charlie Brown Christmas", which we've had for a couple of years now.  It fits in nicely with the very simple decorations for this year, and I also like the juxtaposition of the sad little tree with the Queen's portrait in that corner.

One of the inspirations for the ornaments was our atomic clock, and I am pretty happy with how that wall looks as well.  I do sort of wish that first green ball in the photo was a touch more over to the right, but I'm not bothered enough by that to get the steps out again.

Bedecking on a Budget.

Today I decided to put up Christmas decorations, this necessitated a trip to the storage unit to collect our baubles and a visit to Target to buy a packet of ornament hooks.  

Every year I like to decorate differently to the year before, and this used to be much easier because I used to be able to just walk into Paperchase on Tottenham Court Road, get inspired and probably buy something fun (Actually I'd usually go nuts in the January sales and then hoard my new shinys for next year).  Doc C isn't against decorating for Christmas, but he is against spending "too much money", which I'm not 100% sure there is a specific figure for, but I am certain that this year I am well within it.  The total outlay for our festive flourishes this year was $1 for the ornament hooks.  Yes!  I win at frugal holiday trimming!

This year is additionally tricky because I decided against putting up fairy lights.  I love little white twinkly lights, so this was a tough choice, but we live in a small space with only a few electrical points in any of the rooms, and on top of that if you put some toast on all the ceiling lights in the flat dim slightly.  So no lights this year.

On the other hand we do have a really elegant picture rail around our living room, so I decided to just hang ornaments from that.  I wasn't sure if that was going to work to be honest, because I couldn't remember how many ornaments we had in storage; fortunately a couple of years ago we bought a pack of 48 baubles in four acid colours, and each colour has two different finishes (shiny, matt and glitter).  I hung them in colour sequence (pink, blue, green, silver), but put the finishes up in random order, if that makes sense.  (Clearly I will need to post photos, but by the time I put these up it was dark so I'll take pictures tomorrow)

It's starkly fun, and there is absolutely no chance of Edith knocking any of them down.  Although, now I've said that she will probably find a way.  Edith is resourceful.

Primary Parenting.

Today was the first day of Doc C's paternity leave!  Woot!

The cats and Eva decided to initiate him into it with a trial by fire; there were multiple pukings, peeings (in nappies, which is fine; and on the floor in front of the litter tray, which is not fine at all) and grumpy grizzling.

We'd already planned to celebrate today by going out for sushi, and also handing in my CV to anywhere we'd missed in our last sweep of down town.  After Doc C showered and dressed he put on his usual after shave (Bulgari for Men - It's a really nice smell), and Eva who had been sleeping in the bedroom woke up screaming apparently at the scent.  Once she had stopped crying she didn't seem bothered by the cologne, and we carried on getting ready to leave.  As I was getting my shoes on I heard Doc ushering Nancy hurriedly outside, because she'd been about to throw up on the sofa.  That disaster averted we left the house.

Lunch was delicious and I applied to a particularly nice jewellers that I've often admired as we went past it.  Eva was actually very well behaved whilst we were out and didn't start complaining until we were on our way home anyway.

When we got back someone, and, whilst  I have no way of knowing who I do have my suspicions, had vomitted on the sofa.  Doc C very calmly took the covers off the seat cushions and took them to the laundrette.  When he got back, Eva decided to demonstrate her exciting new super-sonic screams and it took both of us over an hour to calm her down for her usual evening nap,

I am very pleased to say that my husband did not run screaming after such a day.  Instead he had a shot of whiskey and then cooked dinner.  He's a keeper.

 

****Post Script**** After I wrote this Doc C discovered someone had peed in the bath (Edith is the prime suspect), and whilst we were discussing this Edith jumped up to the bookshelves and knocked off one of Eva's toys.  sigh.

Sleep and Clean.

Today we went serious stuff shopping at Target.  We had a list and everything.

Most important was a special type of bedding for the baby; we are still swaddling Eva at night, because otherwise her arms tend to get a bit flaily and she ends up waking herself up by accidentally hitting herself in the face.  The problem is that as she gets bigger she gets stronger, so just using swaddling blankets doesn't work at all any more because she can easily wiggle her arms free.  We were given a couple of special swaddler wraps that are sort of a cross between a sleeping bag and a straight jacket; and Eva cannot Houdini her way out of those, so we bought a couple more.

Eva's on the verge of out-growing those, so we went to buy a larger size today.  All of the ones hanging up on the display were small/medium, the size she's about to burst out of, and I couldn't find any larger ones at all.  Just as I was about to give up, I noticed one of the packages of swaddlers tucked behind a nightlight on a shelf next to the display - They were the last pair of large swaddlers!  Yes!  I have no idea why they were there, but I am very glad to have found them in what would have previously seemed to me to be the dullest easter egg hunt ever!

Actually the other thing I was particularly looking for was even more thrilling; a cleaning product I was keen to try - Barkeeper's Friend.  When we got home I was barely through the front door before I was testing it out on some stubborn tea stains on the work surface.  And I was delighted when those tea stains vanished! So satisfying! And it's derived from rhubarb? Ok then!

These are the things that I find exhilarating these days?  Post-pregnancy hormones are just bizarre, aren't they?

Sleeping and Waking.

As I've mentioned before, even though Eva is sleeping like a log at night (which, again, I am thrilled by and hope that I'm not jinxing), I am still woken up very easily by any noise in our apartment.  On Saturday night we went to bed as usual, and I was jolted awake by really loud music at quarter to four in the morning.  The music was coming from our living room.  Which was odd. Doc C was sound asleep and so was Eva, and I didn't want them to be woken up, so I got up to see what the hell was going on.

The stereo was blaring a Michael Jackson concert.  The cats were awake and were just kind of nervously milling around the room, so I thought that one of them must have sat on the remote and turned on the stereo.  I wanted to turn off the music, obviously, but I couldn't see the remote so I just pulled the power cable out and went back to bed.  When I got up the next day I plugged it back in, and found the remote; it was right in front of the stereo but there was a lot of other bits and bobs around it which made it seem very unlikely that the cats could have touched it.

So I have no idea what that was about, and it hasn't happened again.  Weird.

This week is pleasantly truncated by Thanksgiving, not that it makes any difference to my schedule really but it is lovely to have Doc C at home for a nice long weekend.  So there will be lots of sleep most likely.

To kick off the week, on Monday night we took an impromptu over-night trip to our friends Randy and Laura's house, which is where has been Doc C staying during the week this semester.  The reason we chose that evening for our first overnight experiment with Eva was because Randy and Laura would be away at a conference, so if, Eva's usually excellent sleep pattern was disrupted by the change of location, then the only people she would keep awake would be us.  As it happened she slept just as well in their house as she does in ours, so we will be able to visit them when they are actually at home!  Yay!  (Although their poor cats won't be happy about that, they were really not comfortable with there being a baby in the house and hid from her.)

Resuming Broadcast.

Doc C borrowed a lap top for me, so that I'm able to access the internet and blog, isn't that sweet of him?  He is the very best of husbands in my completely unbiased opinion!

To recap the last few days:

• On Friday we took Eva to get her first round of vaccinations - There was, of course, screaming but the nurse was very efficient and got the shots done really quickly.  Eva soon recovered her equilibrium and is her usual (mostly content) self now.
• We went to the storage unit and dropped off the Halloween decorations and picked up warmer clothes, boots and bedding.  I resisted bringing home the Christmas baubles for now.
• Doc C finished "Bioshock", and we found a second-hand copy of "Bioshock 2" for $8 so the adventure continues!
• I've been reading a lot on my Kindle,which is just an absolute necessity for bookworm mothers in my opinion. It is so easy to hold and "turn pages" with one hand whilst feeding Eva, or holding her, or whatever else she needs at that particular moment (although I haven't yet worked out how to read even the Kindle whilst changing her nappy though, that task requires complete attention).
• I considered buying new jeans on Friday, but as I can easily fit into my old jeans now (if you kindly gloss over the slight muffin top...) so I'll wait to buy more clothes when I have a found a job.
• Speaking of which, I updated my CV and Doc C printed off some copies so I can start handing them in to local businesses and applying for jobs.
• The weather is still quite pleasant but it is colder, so I don't like to have the door to the balcony open all day.  The cats have learned to miaow at the door when they want to go out, and then tap on the glass with their paw when they want to come back in.  They tend to want to go in or out every ten to fifteen minutes and are therefore driving me potty.

US Election 2012.

Election day!  Wooo!

I don't know about you, but we're so excited in the Alien Spouse household that Edith threw up a hairball so big that I thought it was a dead mouse when I first saw it this morning.

I suspect that Doc C will want to watch the election live, so we'll probably be hooking the laptop up to the TV and that means I won't be able to blog later.  I'm hoping that Obama wins again, in case you were wondering.

It snowed here last week, but tody has been quite pleasant so I was able to open the door to the balcony for a while.  

This good, indeed necessary, because the cats need to go outside occaisionally, or they go a bit nuts.  Edith in particular races from one end of the hall to the other, chasing Nancy or phantoms as the mood takes her.  Nancy is less frenetic, but instead she curls up on top of the cat condo looking put upon.

Today Nancy got to roll around outside and enjoy a bit of sunshine.  I hope she savoured every moment because there is a distinct chance we'll be getting snow again tomorrow.

 

The Capricious Nature of Babies.

Over the weekend Eva gave Doc C one of her delightful big gummy smiles for the first time, which is clearly another step in her campaign to wrap him around her little finger.  Not that she'll need to try very hard, Doc C is secretly a big softy. Do not tell his students though, he has an image to maintain.

Eva's intermittent crying yesterday was tough on both myself and Doc C, and it's moments like the big gummy smiles that really help carry you through the stormier moments to the next oasis of calm.  I think we've been very lucky with Evalyn, because of course she's a baby so she does cry, but she is usually relatively easy to console (knock on wood - If I'm jinxing this by blogging about it I will be furious with myself!) I cannot imagine what it must be like to have a baby incessantly crying for hours on end, or waking up every hour on the hour throughout the night wanting to be fed.  It must be very very difficult to cope with that, and my heart goes out to parents trying to cope with that reality day after day.

Today Doc C is teaching, so it's just me, Eva and the cats until tomorrow evening.  I was worried that the crying campaign would continue today, but apart from the usual moments of baby sadness over a full nappy or a pang of hunger, Eva has been her usual snuggly self all day.  It was such a relief, so I didn't mind that the price of calmness was Eva nestling on me for most of the afternoon; sometimes that's exactly what both of us need I think.

Eva's Cat Mother.

As you may know Edith has had kittens herself, and she also fostered two other litters, so she is an expert on mothering.

She likes to keep a close eye on Eva, and will come running if the baby cries to see what is going on with the human kitten.  This morning Edith was quite literally looking over my shoulder as I put Eva's socks on for her.

It's actually not as helpful as you might think.

Early Morning Black Cat Alarm.

As I mentioned on Wednesday Eva is being amazingly good about sleeping, but I've still been wired up with that incredibly sensitive Mother's night-time hearing; so if anything makes a noise that sounds even vaguely like Eva I am AWAKE instantly. Last night I woke up at five (Why is always five?), and Eva was also awake so I thought she woken me up because she was hungry and I fed her.  She seemed a bit surprised by this, but didn't complain, and promptly went back to sleep.  Then I realised that actually I'd been woken up by the sound of a cat desperately miaowing.

It didn't sound like either of our cats' voices, but it did sound sort of weird and echoey so I thought maybe one of them had got themselves shut in a cupboard or had stuffed themselves under the sofa or something (Edith has been chasing Nancy a lot recently, so I wouldn't blame poor Nance for looking for a decent hiding place right now). I got up to have a look, and Nancy was sat by the front door whilst Edith was lolling on her rocking chair.  The miaows continued, and were quite clearly coming from just outside the front door of our apartment.  When I opened the door a skinny young black cat came running in, tail up, and looked at me expectantly.

Damn it!

I quickly usherd the cat back outside, and, as it was really friendly, I gingerly picked it up and took it downstairs.  The black cat didn't mind that at all, so I put it down outside the house - I think I was hoping it would realise it had come to the wrong house and apologise politely for the mix-up before calling a taxi to take it home.  It did not.  Of course, when I got up to go back inside, the black cat followed me up to our apartment's door again.

Well now what do I do?  The black cat was very glossy and friendly, so it clearly was a pet cat, and it wasn't injured so it didn't need to be taken to a vet or anything.  On the other hand I was worried about a very friendly black cat wandering the streets this close to Halloween, but obviously I couldn't keep it even over-night without that causing major problems with our cats (When something like this happened at a previous house it triggered Edith's epic campaign of peeing in the hallway by the front door).

So I decided that the only thing I could do was take it back outside, and shut the door to the building, so it wouldn't keep running up the stairs.  I hoped that would make it realise it was at the wrong house, and force it to try looking for it's own home again.  I took a handful of food with me (Nancy did not approve and the black cat wasn't that interested actually), and took the cat downstairs again.  I hated closing the front door and leaving it out there, but I just had to trust it was close enough to home that it would find it's way back by itself.

I really hope that it did.

Primary Carer (For Four Days Anyway!)

Doc C is at a conference this week and he won't be back until Saturday night, so it's just me, the cats and my darling baby at the moment.  

Eva's been really good, but she's still not very chatty so I walked down to the bakery with her this afternoon partly to make sure I had at least one adult conversation today - Even if that conversation was purely "Could I have a multi-grain sandwich loaf please? Thanks!" Actually I also asked for a bear claw and a iced raspberry tea, so it was really quite the chat!

Queen Edith's Throne.

Edith has adopted the rocking chair as her special seat.

As you can see she finds it extremely comfortable.

Fused Lights and Horror Flicks.

Last weekend the light in our hallway blew, so, obviously, Doc C changed the bulb.  It still didn't work, so we reasoned that the light had fused, and it was at this point we realised we hadn't seen a fuse box in the apartment.

On Monday I rang the letting agents and explained the issue, they asked if we had tried changing the bulb and then if we had looked for the fuse box in all of the cupboards.  To be thorough I said I'd double check and then call back; which I did.  This time I spoke to the guy who takes care of maintenance, and he asked if I was sure the fuse box wasn't in the apartment.  I explained that as there are only 4 rooms in the apartment I was actually pretty damn certain we would have noticed it if it were there.  In that case, he said, it's probably in the basement.

Oh.  Oh Dear. There was no way I was going down there alone, the problem is that the basement in this building would be the perfect set for a horror movie, and I've watched too many scary films.  So I explained my husband was away, and that I'd just had a baby so I couldn't check straight away, but that once Doc C got back we would have a look.  When I talked to Doc about it I told him that I'd happily go down there with him, but not be myself.  He laughed.  When he got back and had a look in there himself, he came back up and asked me to come with him because it looked like Buffalo Bill's hide-out.  I disagree, I think it's Freddy Krueger's den.

However we are grown ups and we need the hallway light, so we got our torch (american translation : Flashlight), strapped Eva to Doc's chest and down we went. 

The garage part is where the recycling bins are kept, and that's  a bit smelly but fine; however at the back of that room is a doorway and it's once you go through that doorway that things get proper spooky.  There is only one light down there, and it's all the way to the right of the cellar.  In between you and the lit area is a u-shaped wall that creates a completely pitch black chamber, and when I shone a torch into it, there was an abandoned sofa in there.  Um hello, serial killer's heaven, I've seen enough police procedurals to know that.  Alone I would have stopped right there and just run; but with Doc there, I was brave enough to look for the fuse boxes.  Naturally they were right at the very back of the cellar, so we went to have a look, found the fuse box for our apartment and discovered that none of the fuses were blown.  sigh.

So basically there is still no light in our hallway and we are both scaredy cats as far as dank, dark cellars are concerned. Ok then.

My Coney Clogs.

Bunny slippers!

These are clearly fabulous, but they were chosen for practical reason honestly.  When none of the lamps are switched on our bedroom still has enough ambient light that I can see pale objects on the floor, so I picked these specifically so I can find them quickly at night without having to switch a light on.

I mean, ok, technically as long as the slippers were pale they didn't need to also be bunny slippers, but, given the choice between bunny or none bunny, why wouldn't you go with the rabit option?

Baking with a Baby in the House - Achievement Unlocked!

Today I have been SO productive, mostly it was boring stuff like sweeping the hallway, kitchen and bathroom floors and doing the washing up; but I also got out the mixer and made both butter cookies AND oatcakes from scratch (Nigella's recipe for both).

Yes!  Yes, I managed to bake something today!  That makes me unreasonably happy and somehow helps me to feel more on top of everything.

Of course I realise that this was only possible because Eva was happily relaxed today and mostly because she slept for a few hours in the afternoon.  Every day there is something new going on with her, and she is definitely getting more alert and lively; she's recently started cooing a lot, which is adorable, particularly when combined with a gummy smile.  

Eva is also very very close to laughing. Doc C and I may be feeling a little bit competitive about which of us gets that coveted first giggle out of her, and as I'm the one at home with her at the moment I currently have the edge on this one.  On the other hand, Doc C will be looking after her when she's a bit older, so probably get her to say her first word or take her first step, so I think that's pretty fair, don't you?

The Most Comfortable Thing in the Apartment.

This is a point of view shot of how I seem to be spending a lot of my time at the moment.  

What happens is that Eva falls asleep on me, usually after tiring herself out with a screaming fit, so I'm reluctant to wake her by moving; Edith then senses her opportunity and jams herself onto the available remaining lap space. Thus I am pinned down for hours at a time.

I have taken to arranging everything I could possibly want within reach of the sofa, but there is always something that I've left *just* slightly too far away.  This morning it was my water bottle, and that was really quite tantalising.

Oh, also I spoke too soon yesterday about my small victory.  Shortly after writing that Eva turned into a human milk fountain and covered me, herself and the floor in milk.  She managed to get both the front AND the back of my khakis, I have no idea how she did that.

This Small Victory is Mine!

The temperature has dropped noticably over the last couple of days; and Eva does not approve.  That's the only reason I can come up with for her being so inconsolably grumpy every time I try to put her down, I think she wants to be held so she can leach my body heat. Basically, what I'm saying is that my daughter is a cat or possibly a lizard.  I have been calling her Reptile Brain (Affectionately!  Her other nickname is Milk Breath), so I may have brought this on myself.

Yesterday I didn't ever manage to calm her down long enough for me to have a shower until it just seemed a bit pointless especially as I wasn't going to be leaving the house or seeing anyone anyway, and so I just changed into a warmer set of pajamas.  Today though has been a victory of baby wrangling and time management - I've eaten breakfast before noon, had a shower (AND I washed my hair and put some styling product in it!  I know!) and put on clean clothes that are not designed purely for sleeping in.  

I feel like I have accomplished so much.  It's funny how your goals and standards change isn't it?

Three Generations.

Today was a nice quiet day at home with my Mum and my daughter.  We had lunch, took Eva for a walk around the block in her buggy and then Mum cooked dinner for me - I am a very lucky woman!

Baby Bath.

I've given Eva sponge baths since we brought her home, but we had to wait until her umbilical stump fell off before we could give her a bath.  Once that happened and we were cleared to actually give her a proper bath, frankly I was nervous about actually putting her in the water because I expected there would be a lot of screaming.

Today we bit the bullet, and Doc C gave Eva a bath in the kitchen sink, whilst I hovered anxiously and took photos.  Because, hello, what else are we going to embarrass her with when she's 17 and brings friends home?

We were pretty delighted to discover that she seems to actually like the water.  There were no tears until the very end of the bath when it suddenly all got a bit overwhelming, and by then we already had a clean baby.  

A successfull mission! Well done Doc C!

 

Girl's Night In.

Doc C's teaching schedule means he has to stay with our friends Randy and Laura twice a week, and tonight is the first time he's been away over night since Eva was born.  I know it was really difficult for him to leave this morning, and I miss having him here, but at the same time that was the deal we accepted when we moved here and I'm certain it was the right choice for us.

Of course, when Doc's away that means that I'm the responsible adult in the house.  

Yikes,

Right now, I am responsibly typing with one hand whilst Edith and Eva are both sleeping on my lap (Eva is actually snuggled under the waistband of one of my maternity skirts, just like she was two weeks ago!) - Let's hope Nancy doesn't try to join them, because there is no more lap visible at this point.

House Bound.

It may not have been completely clear from my recent posts, but I haven't left our appartment since we brought Evalyn home.  I actually can't, because when I left the hospital I was given a list of things that I was not allowed to do over the next two weeks and that included walking up too many stairs because it would strain my stitches (urgh!).  How many is too many? Well, I asked that, thinking that it would be four or five flights of stairs surely, and the nurse giving me my orders said no more than 15 or 20 steps.  There are exactly 39 steps up to my front door.  Damn.

So, I've been in the house all of this week and the next time I intend to leave is Friday when Eva has a doctor's appointment - Technically I think I'm not supposed to leave the house until my own doctor's appointment with is the following Monday, but I'm just going to sneak out and hope no-one tells, ok?

Polka Dots and Bad Seeds.

Before Evalyn was born we put together little gift packages for our neighbours, and we tied those underneath the mailboxes in our hallway when we brought her home.  

It's just a mini take-out style box with a couple of pairs of hot pink ear-plugs wrapped up in tissue paper.  We attached postcards with a note saying that we had brought Eva home and that we hope Evalyn'll be a good neighbour, but she's a new-born... So, ear-plugs for all!

The cards were really hard to choose - but we went with postcards of a 50's cover of William March's The Bad Seed.  The book is about a murderous little girl and the havoc she wreaks; the book is ok, but the film based on that book is a camp classic and well worth watching for the central performance of Patty McCormack as evil little Rhoda.

Yeah, we don't really do "sentimental" about our daughter.

 

Sleep! Cats! Perfect!

Isn't sleep AMAZING?

I mean really, if you haven't thought about it, let me assure you that sleep is quite possibly one of the best things ever.  My plan to sleep on-and-off all day yesterday went to hell in a handbasket, because Eva has decided to cluster-feed in the mornings and I had a lot of phone calls to make in the afternoon - But we went to bed at about 9, and slept until 10 this morning.  Even allowing for feeding time, that has to be a good 7 or 8 hours there.  I am a new woman!

I also promised you a cute cat story, I believe.  Well, all during the pregnancy I was concerned about how the cats were going to react to a strange new living thing in their home, because there was just no way to warn them in advance and get them used to the idea.  The day after she was born Doc brought home a hat Eva had been wearing in the hospital to give the cats something to sniff, but they didn;t seem that interested apparently.

When we brought Evalyn home for the first time, we put the carrier down in the middle of the living room and waited to see what the cats would do,.. They ignored it and the baby, totally oblivious to anything unusual or new.  However it was just about time for Eva to eat, so she soon started to fuss, and began crying.  I picked her up to feed her, sat down in the rocking chair and was totally engrossed in getting her to latch until Doc suddenly said "Look behind you!"  Edith had jumped up onto the cat-condo, so that she could look over my shoulder and see the baby!  I very carefully swung myself round a bit so she could get a better view, and she started purring and climbed to the arm of the chair for a closer look.  Nancy meanwhile had put her ears down at the first sound of trouble, and legged it outside.

Edith has been as interested in the baby ever since, later that same afternoon Doc C was holding his daughter and offered her head to Edith so she could sniff it.  Edith did, and then affectionately head-bumped her.  It was just adorable.  Don't worry though that's as close as Edith is allowed to the baby, I don't want to get my baby covered in cat fur or accidentally scratched by an over-enthusiastic paw pat.

I don't like to anthropomorphise animals, but it's hard not to sometimes.  Edith genuinely seems to want to help, or at least she wants to express her affection for us by being affectionate towards the human-kitten we've brought home.  One of my favourite things so far has been to see Edith purposely sit somewhere where she can see the baby and just gaze at her.  It's a bit too adorable to feel real, if you know what I mean, but that's fine with me!

 

First Full Day at Home.

Success! She's still alive!

Doc C took Evalyn to the doctor's today, as per the hospital's request, to have her checked over, and she passed the M.O.T. with flying colours.  She's put on some weight (I did that! Me and my breasts!) and the doctor felt that her bellirubin levels didn't need to be tested again, because her colour was good.

It's been a pretty good day (with only two fits of weeping on my part! I'm cheering up!), but exhausting. Who knew that changing 6 pooey nappies, providing 8 meals from total scratch and carrying a 6 pound 5.5 ounces weight everywhere would be so tiring?

I have a new plan of attack for tomorrow. Eva and I are going to spend the whole day in bed, and I'm just going to feed her, eat something myself and then sleep for the whole day.  It's going to be fantastic.

Remind me to tell you a really cute story about the cats by the way - Tomorrow though, when I've slept.

Loud Day.

I woke up at about 5 this morning, fitfully napped, fretted and looked pregnancy stuff up on the internet until about 7:30 when I decided just to get up and eat something.  I could hear a couple of men talking outside, and that seemed a bit odd but whatever.  Then I heard large vehicles coming down our little dead-end street, and I became more confused because, as I say, it's a dead end street so we don't get a lot of traffic and bin day was yesterday.

It turned out to be a medium sized crane (which every time it moved sounded like giant nails down an enormous blackboard), and a second truck full of lumber jack equipment.  By 8am the team of guys that accompanied the trucks had started up every engine they had to hand, and a solid wall of petrol-powered noise was created.  They were cutting down what must have been a couple of enormous trees, using the crane to lift them to the chopping area, chainsawing them into chunks and then feeding the chunks through a woodchipper.  The cats were initially really freaked out and unhappy, but seemed to get over most of it except for the intermittent wood-chipping noise.  I can't say I blamed them on that.

And that noise went on for ten hours.  

At mid-day, so after four hours of this, I remembered we had ear-plugs in the flat and they really helped block out the noise, so I did get a bit more sleep.  The lumberjacks packed up for the day about an hour ago, and I really hope they got the whole job done in one day because if this carries on tomorrow I'll go a bit loopy. 

This has to have been one of the most exhausting days of my whole pregnancy.  Not least because I'm pretty sure Eva has dropped into position, and today I just felt very uncomfortable when standing or walking.  Without knowing what I'm talking about in the slightest I feel quite certain that I'm not going to need to be induced next week, because it really feels to me like Evalyn's getting herself ready to be born.  I've got an ultra-sound booked for tomorrow afternoon, so we'll see if I'm right about her having moved then - And in the mean time I'm just going to be lying down, because if she's going to be late then I would like Eva to hold on for just a day or two longer so that she's born in September.

Of course, Evalyn gets to decide that for herself but keep your fingers crossed for this weekend would you?  That way she gets sapphire as a birthstone (though August's stone is a peridot, which is pretty too!), she'll be definitively on the other side of the school cut-off date and she would get Labor Day birthday weekends fairly regularly.  That's not bad for just a little bit more patience is it?

Rolling in the Sunshine.

Since moving to Asheville with Doc C and I, Nancy has spent at least an hour or two outside on the balcony pretty much every day.  She's always been pretty vocal in the mornings, but where as she used to be demanding her breakfast, she's now demanding that the door be opened for her.

Nancy's favourite thing in the whole world is to lie on her back in the sunshine, maybe luxuriously washing a paw, and have either Doc C or myself tell her what a good cat she is.  All you have to do is say "Nancy! What a good girl!  Who's a good cat?  Nancy!", and she starts deliriously rolling around on her back.  Ridiculous creature!

In this photo Nancy looks like a ball of lard (Jason's nickname for her, Fat Nance, has never looked more appropriate), but I think that's to do with the angle I took it from, actually she's lost a bit of weight, plays a lot more and is generally looking a lot happier and healthier.

I know being a parent is going to be very different to being a cat owner, but adopting a mangy looking, skin-and-bones cat with some weird behavioural issues and having her blossom in your care into a healthy, affectionate and clearly very happy animal, well, it sort of gives one confidence that you really will be able to keep a child alive.

(Also - No, still no baby! Evalyn has been wriggling around a fair bit today though, so I know she's ok and that's really all I care about.)

Missions Accomplished.

Today I -

1. Read a couple of chapters of a YA novel and flipped through one of my Pilates books
2. Tidied the living room
3. Swept all of the wooden floors
4. Did a pre-natel Pilates routine
5. Watched an old season of "The Biggest Loser" (and was very disappointed when my two least favourite contestants won all of the money.  Damn it!)
6. Stopped Edith playing with a large bee
7. Started making Eva some sock/bootie things
8. Realised the yarn and crochet needle I have are entirely the wrong size for the sock/bootie project
9. Took all the plastic tags and stickers off some new baby clothes so that they can be washed
10. Had two cups of tea

Today I did not - 

1. Give birth

That's about it really, Doc C is home for the weekend now so we are at Evalyn's disposal should she decide to hit her due date.  Tomorrow morning I have a doctor's appointment, so we might get some idea of how likely that is.

Thirties Style.

I keep forgetting to say that we met one of our neighbours, Steven (and his very sweet dogs Twiggy and Coco), from the rather nice house next door, he told us that he had a friend who had lived in our house decades ago.  Apparently it was built in the Thirties and has always been appartments.  Fascinating!

There are several elements, like the living room's light fixture, that are clearly original features, and it also explains the layout and design of the flat itself.  All of the rooms, including the hallway and except for the bathroom, have a large cupboard built in; it makes so much difference, and I don't understand why more modern houses forego this type of functionality.  Well I suppose that it must be much cheaper to build that way, but why don't people insist that houses need proper storage? 

There is never anywhere to keep the ironing board or the vacuum cleaner anymore.  Actually, in this appartment we have an original murphy bed style ironing board in the kitchen which I would have tried using, but Doc C thought it would be a little bit impractical as it butts up against the gas stove in the kitchen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still, isn't that fab?

 

 

Homewares.

Whilst I'm not entirely sure whether or not I'm nesting at the moment, I am definitely invested in getting the flat thoroughly organised and so today we went out in search of those canvas storage crate things.  I specifically wanted two large ones (one for my bewilderingly large collection of belts and one for my entirely necessary assortment of bags) and a small ones (especially for headscarves), and it was but the work of moment in the home goods section of Target to find exactly what I wanted in a jaunty multi-coloured polka dot canvas.  Score.

This means that I've emptied the top drawer of the small chest of drawers and Evalyn's socks now have a designated home.  Eva's not even born yet and she's already got an entire (although small) chest of drawers to herself, whilst Doc C and I are sharing the large one.  I decided this was necessary when I was packing her hospital bag, because I couldn't find her red socks and the Wonder Woman onesy will look so much better with red socks!

We carried on with the home improvement shopping by purchasing some outdoor furniture in the form of two cheap-and-cheerful plastic (but entirely recyclable) adirondack chairs.  These are surprisingly comfortable, and I've spent a lovely late afternoon sitting in the shade of a tree, drinking lemon barley water (Thank you World Market!  You are magnificent!) and reading some essays by G.K. Chesterton on my Kindle.  The cats are very taken with this novel development and love having us outside with them, Edith in particular is ecstatic and has been perched on the railing right next to the chairs just gazing at us lovingly.

At one point Edith moved along the railing a bit to get a better view of something, and her profile was beautifully framed against the sky.  She looked like she was composing poetry, and I was irrestibly reminded of Jordan Catalano from the nineties teen drama "My So-Called Life" .  Edith, I feel sure, would lean beautifully if she were a human.

Cat in a Hole.

Edith keeps climbing into the top chamber of the cat condo - which to my mind must be incredibly warm and uncomfortable at the moment, something like The Hole that prisoners are put in as punishment in POW movies.

In this photo Edith looks particularly sad and put upon, but she really did choose to be there of her own free will.  Daft creature.

A Portrait of the Queen.

We've been meaning to get a portrait of the Queen for a while, and this week we actually got it organised. 

First of all we found a portrait of the Queen that we liked on-line (It's a Dorothy Wilding photo, that was hand-tinted in those gorgeous fifties colours), downloaded it to a zip drive and took it to Staples to be printed on shiny card stock.  That cost a dollar.

Today we went in search of a frame, and we very specifically wanted something a bit tacky.  In one of the local antique markets, after some thorough searching of the aisles, we found a faux mother-of-pearl frame of exactly the right size for $6.50.

It's so fabulous, it goes with our red mid-century modern living room beautifully and it cost us under ten dollars.

 

Cat on a Warm Wooden Railing.

The cats LOVE being able to go outside whenever they want (when the door is open, they don't have a cat flap or anything); even if the only "outside" they can access is a small fenced in balcony.

I think they just really enjoy being yelled at by the birds because it makes them feel dangerous.

Nappy Training Day.

Today Doc C and I had an induction with a local diaper service (they deliver fresh clean nappies and take away the dirty ones to be washed - So the part of the whole cloth nappy thing that was giving me pause is just taken care of?  Perfect!), which means that the very nice woman who runs the service, Erika, came to our flat with a big stack of cloth nappies and a baby doll to practice putting nappies on.

We now know three different ways of putting a nappy on a baby, and both of us now feel a little more confident about what we're doing, I think.  The nappies are held in place with nifty rubber grippy things instead of nappy pins and then you put a water-proof cover over the top of that to really secure everything in place.  It seems fairly straight forward, but the doll isn't as wriggly as an actual baby, so that might change everything.  We shall have to see.  The only thing that Erika said that really surprised me was that breast-fed baby poo doesn't smell nasty, she said it smells like bread! Really?!?!?  Is that a true thing?   Similarly, I was reading last night that to help with breastfeeding I should consider taking fenugreek, which apparently has the weird side-effect of making sweat smell like maple syrup: again, really?!?!?!  I want to try fenugreek now just to see if that actually happens, because then, once Evalyn is born, the flat could potentially smell like french toast and how great would that be?

One of the things I am surprised to find that I like about the new flat is that, precisely because it's so small, we are forced to assign an actual place for everything to be stored - It really has to be "A place for everything and everything in it's place" because otherwise we'd be tripping over stuff and/or losing everything the minute we put it down.  So Doc C immediately cleared a shelf in the hall cupboard for the nappies and wipes, and we have stacks of both of them ready to go right now.  The nappy bin is also going to go in there, so it should be nicely out of the way and, should the bread aroma thing be a lie, we'll have an additional smell buffer.

Now all we need is a baby to actually wear the things.