Jetting off to paradise

We leave in about 45 minutes for the airport, so this is goodbye for two weeks, unless I managed to sneak on. We fly at 11am and land in the Dominican at about 8pm. See you on the other side!

Bats in the belfry

We've always watched the bats in the garden at dusk. It's my favourite time of day anyway, especially at this time of year when the swifts are up there calling too, it's so relaxing, as long as you don't get bitten by gnats. Some neighbors had a tree cut down a few years ago, and the bat numbers seemed to have dropped. I noticed some out there a few weeks ago, so tonight as the sun set Taylor and I sat ourselves down. The little blighters are living in our roof, hundreds of them! We saw the first one come out, and pretty soon we'd lost count. It's not strictly my roof, as I'm a ground floor maisonette. Some poor bugger up there has hundreds of critters scratching around next to their bedroom window. We could hear their squeaking and clicking down on the ground, so they must be able to hear it. It was a marvellous sight. Anyone know what kind they are likely to be?

On a slightly weird note, for the last 3 or 4 days I've been able to smell my Nan around me. She had a really distinctive smell, a mixture of vintage perfume, dry skin and stale smoke. I never really noticed it when she was alive, but often over the two years since she's been gone we've dug out some of her stuff that we moved here, like photos, and we've all remarked how much the smell coming off her belongings reminds us of her. It's a dusty smell, but not unpleasant. Anyway, out in the garden twice this week I've been surrounded by the smell. I know a pregnant woman has a sensitive sense of smell, but this is so strong. I called Taylor out to see if he could find it, but he couldn't. Then today I smelt it walking up to the school. It must be her. It makes me feel very happy and protected.

10 more sleeps

So we only have ten more sleeps until we go to the Dominican Republic. I'm so excited now. Our new passports finally arrived this week, which meant I could start looking forward to it. I was so worried they wouldn't come. I've half packed, and we need to buy a few bits next weekend too.

It's been pretty busy here, we've been to the doctors for holiday vaccinations, which I was so sad I couldn't have, thanks to the ever-growing fraggle in my belly(note the sarcasm - I hate needles). We've also been to a fun-day at the school, I took a trip at work to see Joseph, Isobel had her first ever sports day today, and the boys have both recently had football presentations.
Ryan collecting his trophy;

Taylor showing off his trophy;


On a pregnancy note, no morning sickness yet, but I'm not complaining. You just know it's going to start the exact day we fly. Name negotiations have already started. This could take some time(thankfully we still have 34 weeks to argue about it).

On a not so cheerful note, we lost one of our close friends last week. We had a call at about 5pm to say he'd been rushed in with liver and pancreas failure and wouldn't make it through the night, and sadly he passed away later that night. We've since found out that he'd been to see his doctor with dizziness and blood sugar issues a few times recently and been ignored. Unfortunately the doctors made a huge mistake, because he had advanced Type II Diabetes, and his body went into ketoacidosis and shut down. Pete was only playing football with him on tour in Spain a few weeks ago.



Rest in peace Jamie. :(

*gulp*

I seem to have found myself knocked up, with child, bun in the oven etc. Of course we are mega excited, can't wait to do it all again, but four children? FOUR CHILDREN?

I feel fantastic at the moment, not being sick yet, of course that's bound to start the minute we set foot in Gatwick airport in 19 days time. I'm extremely tired, and keep dropping off like a narcoleptic at inopportune moments. Which will be fun at work. I daren't tell my boss yet, but I'll tell the girlies in the office. I'm sure they'll guess anyway.

I called my Dad last night to tell him and he was so chuffed. My Mum is dead impressed too as it's due around her birthday. The 13th March is my current due date.
All we need to do now is make sure we move house like we promised before the new year, otherwise we are going to be seriously squeezed.

Party in the middle of the sea

I’ve had such a busy week this week, it’s been mad. Every day has been appointments and birthday parties, and appointments to get the car MOT’d. I haven’t sat down and chilled out once this week.
We went to an amazing clubbing venue at the weekend, in Portsmouth. It was on Spitbank Fort, and some friends of ours were DJing. We travelled over on the boat to the fort, and being an architecture nut I was in my element wandering round the building. It was pretty cool.

Pete and his friend Rob, who he hasn't seen for 10 years. The joys of Facebook!

Me & Mike.




Louisa DJing.



Me & Fiona.









I finally got our passport renewals sent off this week, with only 27 days to go. I hope they come back in time. Can you believe my name change cost £72? Unbelievable! I’ve sorted out a pet sitter for the cat too, as the young girl next door who looks after her gets funny about cleaning out litter trays, and after two weeks it’ll be pretty disgusting. As it’s a very local pet sitter they’ve given me a discount and are only charging £30 for 14 days, instead of the normal £50. I suppose they are saving on petrol, and could probably walk here.

I’ve applied to do a BA/BSc (Honours) in Health and Social Care, sponsored through my work. I heard yesterday from the chief executives secretary and she said he’d signed it off with some very positive and supportive comments, saying that he supports my application and he agrees that it will be beneficial to the future of the Council for someone to gain this degree. I should hear from the training department in the next few weeks to give me the expenditure code to book and pay for it. Keep your fingers crossed for me; I hope that I get accepted. I’m so excited about it. My long term plan is to train in Social Work in ten years time, and this degree will not only get me promoted at work in the near future, but will mean I can do a shorter Social Work course in the future, once the kids have grown up.