2 months down, ?? to go!

I have been in hospital for 2 months today and very nearly had the baby this afternoon! As expected I have had on off bleeding episodes throughout my stay but last night's was the heaviest to date and since I have reached the magic number of 34 weeks, I thought they may operate but the bleeding stopped so I am back in the medihotel.
The time has actually passed quite quickly. The hospital staff have been lovely and my friends have been so supportive offering to visit and mind the children.
Life has been very hectic for Andy and although the nanny was great with the children she wasn't a very good housemate so things unfortunately came to a head last week and she left on Friday night. After the initial shock and panic we put it behind us and I spent the weekend online looking for a new nanny on the fantastic findababysitter.com website. Andy interviewed 2 girls this morning and Maria starts tomorrow (she is Mexican so Andy happy as he thinks the kids will be fluent in Spanish by the end of the month!)
Andy spent the weekend catching up with his good friend Roger who flew down from Sydney and judging by the photos it was just what the doctor order.

Well, hopefully in the next post we will be announcing the birth of our new baby and  confirming that I am well on the road to recovery - keeping everything crossed!  

And I thought things were hectic last month!

So on my last post I was complaining about how hectic life was with the impending house move etc little did I know that fate was about to show us just what hectic really means! A few days after that post I had more bleeding, went to hospital, expected to be in for 24 hours monitoring but cut a long story short after 2 days of mixed messages and hospital transfers, I was told I would not leave hospital until the baby was born - my due date being over 3 months away! I spent the first three days in shock - being on the maternity ward with no sleep didn't exactly help my psychological state! Then I got moved to a room of my own and the reality of why they were keeping  me here started to sink in (need to be within 10 minutes of the operating table as there is a risk I could hemorrhage at any time with no warning). So I am fine but feel so bad for the children and Andy of course who had a sharp learning curve as sole carer for the kids while simultaneously moving house.
Anyway, I have now been in for 3 weeks, we (they!) have moved house, an au pair started last week, we celebrated Celia's 4th birthday and Andy has gone back into the office so the worst, hopefully, is over (maybe I should delete that as I don't want to tempt Fate again!).......

On the move again.....

So we resigned ourselves to staying put in Bentleigh as trying to co-ordinate a house move that did not involve paying rent on 2 places for a period of time or being left to find a decent house in the space of 2 weeks, was impossible. However, just as the lease on the only house that we liked was about to be signed I got an e-mail from our agent saying someone wanted to rent our place - not bad going considering we only had one veiwing and one application submitted.
As luck would have it, the owner of the house we liked was a fellow UK playgroup mum so she instructed her agent to bump the other applicants and give us the house (not very popular with the new agent as you can imagine but you have got to use any connections you have!) So we move on 27th Aug, the same week we fly off on holiday and have Celia's 4th birthday party - I think it will be a slightly hectic week!
Nothing we haven't dealt with before of course, but when you add in the fact that I am supposed to be on bed rest, then hectic is an understatement.
 Unfortunately I have Placenta Previa and as the risks and implications were not spelt out to me at the time of diagnosis, I continued life as normal - 3 gym classes a week, carrying a 13kg Max, climbing Hanging Rock (all you need to know is that it is very steep and I did it hauling the kids up behind me) then surprise, surpirse, bleeding started and that is when the hospital told me I shouldn't have been doing any exercise, lifting, stretching etc.

Hanging Rock

 I am hoping the condition will correct itself later in the pregnacy but for now, I've had to freeze my gym membership, hire a cleaner and get some extra childcare (the savings we are making by moving to a cheaper house have been instantly wiped out). It is times like these you really miss family.

The good news is that Andy won a bet this morning on Rory McIlroy (about $900) so that will help pay for the extra help and of course the fact that the new house will actually be cleaned properly is a also a plus!......
   

Birthday season is upon us

It was Max's 2nd birthday yesterday and I thought I'd get away without doing anything for it (he's hardly going to remember is he??) but then my mum sent over Happy 2nd Birthday balloons and banners and made me feel very guilty so I threw him a last minute birthday tea. Max had a lovely time eating and dancing with his girlfriend Layla and even though my cake was as dry as a bone as per my usual baking efforts and I forgot to put the sausage rolls in the oven AGAIN, I think everyone else enjoyed it too.

We have 5 birthday parties over 4 consecutive weekends (2 down, 3 to go) and so far I am getting very worried as Celia’s preschool friends are setting the bar very high. The party last week must have cost an absolute fortune but it really was a little girl’s dream (all the staff were dressed as Disney princesses and the birthday tea was held in a room that looked like a set from Alice in Wonderland!). I’m not sure what the done thing is back home but nobody has parties in their house here, they all hire somewhere (or someone i.e. Tinkerbell the fairy entertainer) which suits me fine as catering is not my strong point but it is sooo expensive. I think we may coincidentally go on holiday the week of Celia’s 4^th birthday as it would nearly be the same price!

We had a bit of good news on the finance front yesterday as the government is giving us expats a 3 month reprieve on the LAFHA benefit cut. We tried getting out of our lease as I was convinced we were paying too much rent for the house we are in but having done some research this week I was shocked to see what was on offer. So looking on the bright side, I now don’t think we are being ripped off, but the downside is that as of October we are renting a house we can’t really afford!  Maybe I should hire myself out as Tinkerbell the fairy and make a bit of extra cash but at 18 weeks pregnant I would make an odd looking fairy!

Our first Aussie baby!

As the title suggests we are expecting our first Aussie baby (due in November) although it won't officially be an Aussie of course as we are not citizens.
Being pregnant over my 40th birthday was not exactly how I would have planned it but I still managed to have a wonderful time. 14 girls went down to Rye on the Mornington peninsula for the weekend and not a child in sight for almost 2 days (well, not ours at least!).
We visited the Hot Springs where I had a facial with accompanying smoke ceremony (a bit weird?!) as I wasn't allowed in the hot pools due to my 'condition'! Then is was on to a beautiful winery called T'Gallant for lunch al fresco with live jazz - God, how I craved a few glasses of wine! Then we had time for a walk along Rye pier before dinner at a local wine bar - not a bad way to spend a 40th birthday.

The week before my birthday was Easter so we headed to a cabin down in Apollo Bay along the Great Ocean Road.

It started off at 30 degrees but nosedived to a cool and wet 9 degrees by the end of the week but we still a fabulous time and the children loved the cabin/campsite experience (Andy not so much but he will have to get used to it as I think it may be the way forward now that the government is getting rid of all our LAFHA tax benefits in July!) Yes, the expat lifestyle bubble has well and truly burst and the reality of living in one of the world's most expensive cities has dawned......

It is far too easy to get lazy when it comes to writing blogs. The same can be said for my exercise regime. Not so for Lydia who two weeks ago completed her "tough bloke challenge" - very impressive and the pictures are pretty funny.

So, what about the last three months?

The quick summary goes as follows:

A promotion to Director at long last - 5 years in one company without a promotion is way too long in my book. Still, really enjoying it now and keen to see what can be achieved in the next couple of years.

A fantastic family hiliday at Castaway Island, Fiji. Google it. It is just beautiful and we'll be back one day.

Some fun at the races

A tough bloke challenge (for girls)

Celia started pre-school and looks great in her little uniform

Max grew up a lot - he is more than a match for Celia now!

Two months of great weather, lots of BBQs, full weekends and generally enjoying life - probably why we've been a bit lax on the blog. Ended up with a nice trip to Echuca last weekend, on the Murray river, 3 hours north of Melbourne. The landscape was a bit flat for our liking - mountains and sea are definitely preferred. Still, the children loved their weekend in a cabin.

oh yes, and Rangers went into administration. Crazy times. https://www.saverangers.com/