Well I do right at this moment, anyway. Junior has discovered that he can stretch all four limbs in different directions at once. The result is a decidedly square looking tummy.

Thankfully he doesn’t do it all the time; here is a pick of me in all my round glory:

Any time I spent small and petite in early pregnancy I am making up for now. People can’t stop commenting on how big my mid section is. That part isn’t so fun.

Pregnancy is such a visible affair and it brings out tactlessness in so many people. I’m feeling more and more defined by my bump these days. Not from my close friends and family, they still recognize that I’m Alex first and then pregnant, hmm I dunno, maybe third or fourth. But to strangers and acquaintances it seems I am just a pregnant belly with some limbs attached.

I think this has been the most frustrating thing about my pregnancy so far. Just this morning I was singled out four times in a ‘congratulations on your promotion and where to from here’ meeting as having to make big decisions about work, career and work-life balance. There were several other people in the room with children and time consuming social pursuits but they weren’t pregnant, so they weren’t Mr. Managers on the fly case study. It took a lot of restraint not to say to tell the man that I’m not asking for any favors so to leave my personal life to me and just judge me on my work please!

Later that morning when I was stopping in at my nearest woolies for some cake to offer my colleagues ( It’s my birthday today ) I was stopped in the isles by a stranger who whipped out a home pregnancy test from her bag, showed it to me, and asked me if I thought she was pregnant! No seriously folks, I’m not making this up, this actually happened! I was totally amazed. And she had a toddler in her trolley! Surely she would know how to read these things as well I? The test had a rather feint second line, so I mumbled something about yeah, it could be, but do another test in a couple of days time and then bolted for the check-out line.

In other alarming news, I got hacked. Well, my blog did, but it doesn’t seem like they were very good at it. Read Hunny’s post about it here. It would seem that this is what has been wrong with my RSS feed, and I apologize if anyone was subjected to Viagra advertising through my site, though it doesn’t seem like the hack attempt managed to do anything.

Well, that’s me for today. I spent most of my birthday working or at lectures or doing some more work from home. Poor me. I plan to do something more worthy of my last twenty-something birthday on the weekend. Like sleep in or something, because partying isn’t much fun when you keep bumping your stomach into people and you can’t have a drink.

We had our 4D scan on Wednesday, and I was hit with the startling realization that there is an actual kid in my belly. I know we’ve had 5 or 6 scans already, but the 4D one gave him flesh, and you can see it’s that soft squishy baby flesh. The stuff that looks like it’ll bruise if you touch it.

Here’s our little shy guy, hiding behind his arm and the umbilical cord.

I’m still struggling with stitching together the incessant wriggling under my skin with the concept of a real live kid that is mine (well, ours) to keep and look after, day in day out, whether I feel like it or not. I suppose that realization will only properly set in when the hospital sends him home with us.

I can picture me with a toddler or a young child, but I haven’t once been able to see myself with a baby. Like changing his nappy and stuff. I’m not worried about that yet though. I’m pretty sure the maternal instincts will kick in when Junior is born.

8 weeks and 5 days to go, and I’m pretty sure those are going to fly, given all the activities I have planned to pack in for a large part of that time. For 3.5 weeks at the end of August / beginning of September I have occupied my self for 4 of the 5 week nights. Mondays and Wednesdays are ante-natal classes, Tuesdays Hunny and I are involved in student ministry at the Midrand Graduate Institute, and Thursdays I have evening classes for the diploma I’m doing for work, wrapping up with an exam on the 5th of September and an assignment hand in on the 10th. At least after that there will be nothing much left to do until our C-Day on 1 October. Except of course work, which I’m planning on going on with until the 24th of September. So far I still feel fit and healthy, long may that last.

On another note, I’ve taking the long way around to get home this week, to avoid the intersection where 3 out of 10 drivers behave like law-ignoring A*holes. Usually I can handle it, I just do my best to prevent the road abusers from cutting in front of me and leave it at that. But the sterling (what sarcasm?) mood I have been in since my laptop started giving me a hard time on Monday has made me a prime candidate for a road rage charge. So I cleverly decided not to put myself in that situation. I also eventually decided to fix my own laptop, rather than have helpdesk spin me another line about what could be wrong with it, spend another half a day trying to fix it, and give it back to me only to have the problem recur. I’m no technical genius, but my gut feeling solution ended up fixing the problem. Alex 1 – Helpdesk 0.

But back to the traffic thing, why do people do that? Did they grow up with no respect for the laws of the land? This is South Africa; that could well be the case seeing as for quite a while 90% of the population was subjected to oppression via the law. Do they look at us folks sitting patiently in the queue, wondering why we don’t just run up the left lane and cut in to turn right at the top like they are doing? Bute we are 14 years into our democracy now and it just seems to be getting worse.

Or is it a superiority complex? Do these people think they are that much better or smarter or more in a hurry than the rest of us? I hate it, it makes me feel like a fool for obeying the rules of the road. Not to mention frustrated and some times red-angry.

Take a deep breath and let it out slowly … count to ten … okay now carry on.

Hunny got a new camera, an Olympus E-520, he is very chuffed with it. He has taken a ton of pictures; the good ones are available on his new photo blog.

This is one of my favourites. Hunny doesn’t like how busy the background is, but I think it captures the two boys‘ personalities well. Pickle all big and brave, and Dartmoor checking out the suspicious activity from behind his mate. I love my funny horse.

Ps. How dry and dusty is this winter? Can’t wait for spring.

I was secretly looking forward to having some weird pregnancy cravings. Something really arbitrary that I could send Hunny out for at 11 o’clock at night. Well I hadn’t noticed anything, but on Tuesday Hunny spotted it. My pregnancy craving is:

Shoes.

I never was much of a shoe shopper before, but the eight pairs in the photo above have all been purchased since I found out I was pregnant.

Pickles and ice cream would have been cheaper.

I had a dream last night that I was accepting a hay delivery for my mom while she was away. Two different farmers pitched up at the same time, and both were in a hurry to get on their way. There was only myself and Joe (the guy who looks after our horses) to offload, so there I was my pregnant self moving around large and heavy round and square bales of hay. It was tiring even in the dream. When my mom got home she complained that I hadn’t stacked them neatly enough.

The dream reminded me of this photo. Last year we got some great oat-hay for the horses. So great that the two horses in the paddock next to the hay shed would hardly let us offload it, they kept trying to take mouthfuls while we where reversing the trailer and offloading.

Here are my two boys, in the pouring rain, trying to grab the last few mouthfuls from the back of the truck

Well, they’re not both mine, the bay (brown) boy at the back is my funny horse, Dartmoor, he is about half the width of the other horse and about as brave as he is wide: not very. The chestnut (orange) big guy at the front is Pickle. He belongs to my mom but I love him to bits; he’s the one I’m still riding on occasion. He is built like a tank and is as bold as they come. Despite their differences these two are best mates. They call for each other if you separate them.

Fells like this pregnancy has hit a bit of a flat spot. Well, two actually. One I can rest a (decaf) coffee mug on if I slouch down a little, the other is more psychological. It may sound odd, but it seems that all the exciting bits about this pregnancy are done already. The major scans have happened and all looks good. Junior is moving pretty much non stop these days, and he’s a little past the stage where the kicks are cute, and a bit into the stage when they are uncomfortable. From here on, I have a sneaky suspicion that they’ll get unpleasant. So now we read parenting books and wait for C-day …

Junior’s growing like a champ though. Our week by the seaside obviously did him good because at his scan and weigh-in last Monday, he tipped the scales at an impressive 921 grams, a full 300 grams more than the average 24 week-old, and looks set to make 3.8 kilos. His dad is very proud. Hi mom is a little afraid. I have no idea where I am going to put the remaining 2.9 kilos of him. I feel like I am stretched to breaking point already. Every time I burp / hiccough I get a little taste of whatever I just ate because my stomach is presently halfway up my esophagus… There is nowhere else for it to go. I think it’s found a little space between my heart and my left lung, but even that seem to be under threat. Junior likes to brace his feet against my ribcage for a good stretch; or that is what it feels like anyway, but maybe he’s just pushing my kidneys up there.

As a parting shot here’s by little cutie giving a thumbs up to the camera / scanner… Would you look at that bicep already?

So much catching up to do, it’s been madness the last couple of weeks

I’m nearly 22 weeks along and up 6 kilos, with a pronounced Tum. It now hurts to sleep on my back, so I’m now forced to find an alternative. That’s not going so well. Two weeks back I slept funny and hurt my left shoulder/arm. It recovered okay, but two nights back I did a repeat on my right shoulder/arm. If I want to lift my right arm from the shoulder (ie, not just elbow) I actually have to use my left arm to do it. It makes getting ready for work in the morning interesting.

Still on the sleep topic, I’m dreaming up the weirdest bunch of rubbish. Two dreams about armed robbery, in both instances I was one of the robbers. I held up a canoe & kayak shop. I have always wanted to take up canoeing, but this is a bit extreme. In another dream I mistook a puppy for my baby. I was still pregnant at the time, but was convinced I’d had the baby, and this Jack Russell pup was my kid.

My blood sugar levels are now more volatile than ever. I nearly passed out today after 2 cupcakes. The low GI diet my doc recommended really helps, but what good is it being pregnant if you can’t over-indulge on all the good stuff?

I can now most definitely feel Junior move, and he’s quite an active boy! There are rarely more than 1.5 hours between his wriggles, and for now anyway, it never fails to make me smile. Of course, if he has a quiet day it makes me panic … We had a fetal anatomy scan last Friday. He is looking great. Everything measures up well, but he already has really long legs. His dad’s child

As for work and studies, one word defines: Chaos! In a wonderful synchronization of utter madness, I had to complete work on items for a major release for our client in the same week I need to finish and present an assignment for my part-time studies. I’m still trying to recover. Thankfully I have a week by the sea side soon to help me relax. I return to move into a new role at work, so nice clean slates there too.

In other news, I have been riding a little, but it’s getting a bit awkward. I have a belly support band and that does help, but I’m running out of ingenious new ways to make my riding clothes fit. My friends will breathe a collective sigh of relief when I let them know I have stopped riding.

I’ve also lost the spring in my step. Literally. I discovered this quite alarmingly when trying to leap across a stream. My leaps just aren’t what they used to be and I narrowly missed landing rump first in the stream. Taking stairs two at a time is also something I can no longer manage.

Signing off now with more promises to update more regularly, but to make up for my bad behavior, I’ll post some happy snaps from the life of Alex.

We took the dogs to a local cross-country venue to stretch their legs and play in some water.

waiting in the truck, can we go now?

what a handsome boy!

in the water is the only time Cilla can beat George fetching sticks

throw the stick! throw the stick! throw the stick!

So that’s my Tum at 18 weeks. Hunny says we can’t call it a tummy anymore, it’s too big. Junior is roughly the length of my hand now, and making his presence felt. Usually when I have been sitting still at my desk for a while; seems Junior doesn’t like me to keep still already. His movement makes it so very much more real though. Well that, and the fact that I can no longer see my toes when I look straight down …

Truck made a full recovery. We went to pick him up last Tuesday, and he’s been on his best behavior ever since. Maybe he’s learnt his lesson. Bonus point: the mechanics finished Truck a whole day earlier than they originally said they would. How cool is that?

Otherwise the life of Alex has been rather boring. Work has keep me up late at night, woken me up too early in the mornings, and kept me behind my PC all weekend. I haven’t pulled work hours like these in very many years and my body is complaining terribly. It should all die down this week though, if things go my way …

Last happy snap for the day: this is the reason why I think I’ll need a bigger bath mat this winter …

and, Mr. CEO, I booked my c-section for my boy for the 1st of October. Well, Doc is 95% sure it is a boy after my last scan (Tuesday). Who would have thought? Not me. I even warned my hubby that I wouldn’t go past 3 children in trying for a boy, so convinced was I that I’d be continuing the strong female lines in my family. For the record Mr. CEO, I am surprised. Nearly 15 weeks now, and I fit into less than half of my old wardrobe, but it’s all good.

I bought a thermometer yesterday, from my local veterinary supplies shop - they assured me it was manufactured for human use. We didn’t have one, and I thought I might like one to check if I really was dying from this ultra-persistent cold that’s been stalking me for the last while. I bought this one:

Nowhere on the box does it say “Made in China / Hong Kong / Japan”, but one classic piece of poor translation gives it away. Most of the package insert is translated in an understandable if still evident manner, with the exception of this classic point under the ‘notices’ heading:

Help user to be that square qualified technical staff repair, by but repair the parts that manufacturer appoint, can demand to offer to our company.

I think that means that only square people can repair this product, and they can demand to offer their services to the company if they wish to do so Take your own guess and put it in the comments section.

Oh, and it turns out I’m not dying. Or if I am, I’m doing so with a normal body temperature.

And now, because I don’t have much to say, I’ll give you some (poor quality taken with my phone) pictures.

My favorite girl dog, Cilla catching a nap while I got ready for work this morning. She manages to look so snuggly, despite being on a hard floor with one leg twisted out behind her at an awkward angle – she always lies like that.

George checking out the cat who ventured outside to check out the garden from the safety of the patio. She’s a really timid creature, but isn’t at all bothered by George who would really like to eat her and has been caught standing with his open mouth above her neck, drooling on her. She was totally oblivious, and he didn’t do anything, just held that pose. It’s a strange relationship they have.

The cat, her name is PussyCat because well, we couldn’t seem to come up with anything else, getting ready to pounce on the shadow created by me taking her picture of her in one of her favorite spots – behind the couch. Attacking shadows and light reflections (from your watch for example) are about as brave as she gets. Oh, and she sometimes attacks her own feet around a table leg.