Sunday, January 2, 2011

Happy New Year!

So there are three minutes left of the first day of the first month of 2011. John and I have been a couple for six years today. Three minutes until Alex's 2nd birthday.

We've had an intense few weeks. My Pop passed away last week. It was hardly a shock, being his recent hospitalisation, but so sad nonetheless, particularly for my beautiful Nanna. He has been quite sick for a while, probably a lot sicker than he let on, and after a fall at home, he was admitted to hospital with blood pressure of 85/80. Within a few days, it was pretty clear he wasn't going to be leaving the hospital. A few days before he passed away, Mum called and said he didn't have much time left. Dad called us even later that night to say they didn't expect him to last the night. He did, of course, and John and I went down the next afternoon to veritably say our goodbyes.

I think I was prepared for the worst more than others, considering the updates we had been receiving, so I wasn't too shocked to see his appearance, barely conscious. He could barely talk, but he seemed fairly lucid when we were there. He wasn't able to eat at the point, however, and wasn't attached to a drip, so it was a matter of time until he slowly fell into a coma and slipped away. Two days, two days before Christmas, he did.

To be honest, I didn't cry until the funeral. I think I was prepared for it to happen for a while, it was almost a relief that he was at peace finally. We spent Christmas day and Boxing day with our family, doing the best we could to support each other. Nanna is obviously devastated. My Mum, my aunts, my uncles, my cousins, aren't much better.

My Nan and Pop and their four kids...

This was my third funeral, and quite different to the others. My first was Baby Lucas, which was completely devastating on a different level. We had no real memories of interacting with Baby Lucas, but were grieving lost possibilities for our friends' darling little boy. We had a lifetime of memories of Pop, but his death after such a long illness and a full and happy life was sad in a different way.

We'll all miss him, and I'm so sad that Alex won't get to know his great-grandfather better, or that Pop never got to meet his next great-grandson.

Besides the above, I finally adjusted to being the Mummy of two little boys, and am quite looking forward to it all now. I still have the occasional pang, but as we get closer and my belly gets bigger, I am much more excited. One unfortunate thing is that the placenta is at the front of my belly, which means I rarely feel any kicks from bub. I enjoy the few that come through though. Still, I'm only 21 weeks now, so I imagine even with the placenta at the front, I'll start feeling more kicks soon.


We had Day One of Alex's 2nd birthday celebrations today. I really couldn't be bothered organising a birthday party for Alex this year, and John and I decided his next big birthday party can be when he turns five. So instead, we somehow ended up with three different celebrations, which probably add up to the same amount of work one big one would have... We celebrated with my family today, at Mum and Dad's house, with a swim in the pool. Very appreciated in the 39 degree heat today. I just made a simple butter cake with ready-made icing, and an edible Thomas the Tank Engine thing on top. Lazy, but delicious and efficient.

Tomorrow we have afternoon tea in King Edward Park with our friends, and all associated children. I haven't organised a thing for that yet, but luckily, we have a few things left over from today that can be taken. The next day, we're celebrating with John's family, probably at their house. John's hoping to organise some sashimi, which is great for the pregnant lady. I expect a big plate of sashimi to be included in the hamper I expect to be prepared for me post-birth of this baby.

We had a nice quiet New Years Eve last night. We had been invited to two different gatherings, but due to Alex, decided to stay home. My sister Kel is up this week, so she ended up joining us, and we played Scrabble until midnight, and ate chocolate. Not very exciting, but enjoyable, regardless. 

I'm looking forward to catching up with our friends tomorrow, especially my dear Nikki, Alex's godmummy. We seem to have a co-ordination issue when it comes to seeing each other, but we do seem to manage a catch-up at least every two months or so. Two of our friends are also expecting their first baby about three or four weeks before this little one is due, also a boy, which will be lovely. We have developed a lovely little "mothers group" of sorts now, and have a set time of catching up and letting our kids "play". Amber and Alex are the eldest, at two, then Luke, almost one, Tahlia, seven months, and Lily, at four months. It's easy to get caught up in your own life with little ones, and it's easy to go a long time without seeing good friends. Even though we've all known each other for yonks (Jill and I were housemates for two years, as well as each other's bridesmaids), unless we set a time, we can go weeks or even months without seeing each other. Plus, it's lovely to see our children grow up together, and talk about all of the delightful ups and downs of motherhood.

So I'm well and truly into Alex's birthday now, so I should go to bed so I can actually get up and organise and cook tomorrow morning. I just keep thinking, ooh, two years ago today, I was in labour, but didn't realise... Gosh I hope it's like that again this time.