getting things done

Yesterday I had another antenatal appointment with my doctor.

She listened for the heartbeat which took a bit longer to find today, but was much louder and seemed stronger and faster than last time.

Based on my belly size she says I am measuring at about 18 or 19 weeks, I am actually 17 weeks and 4 days.

My urine sample was fine and my blood pressure was 119 over 80. So still good.

She said my heart rate was a bit high ... but I am not surprised with everything I am juggling at the moment!

Apparently also I am putting strain on my belly when I get up and also get out of the car and this is why I am having some difficulties. She suggested alternate ways to move so I can avoid this. I have trouble remembering sometimes, but I agree it is a better way to do things. eg open the car door, swing both legs out to the side, push yourself up off the seat (Instead of sticking one leg out and putting your weight on it and clambering out of the car). For getting up she suggested to roll onto your side then push yourself up off the bed using your hands rather than relying on your abdominal muscles to lift you up).

I finished quickly at the doctor and only got charged $50 this time (perhaps because it was a quick visit) $34.40 of this will come back to me from medicare so all in all it cost me $15 for this visit.

When I got home I called Redcliffe smash repairs to arrange a time to fit my new taillight. They said they could do it the same day in a couple of hours so I dropped it off and walked to KRing shopping centre to browse for Xmas presents.

I liked the fact that I had to just look and couldn't buy anything because I had no car to store it in.

I also combed every inch of Kmart and slowly took in a few other stores.

I'm really not keen to travel all over the countryside looking for things. Not sure if that is because I am pregnant and I feel a bit more vulnerable or whether its just that there is so much to get done and I don't want to waste time driving here and there.

A lot of what I want is close by, I just don't always take the time to look locally, usually figuring that I am better off looking in the bigger shops, but when I go into the big shops I often miss a lot or forget some of the things I am supposed to be looking for ... or just get confused and kerfuzzled by the sheer amount of choice.

Decision making always leaves me worn out.

Anyway my tail light was fixed for $270 and looks great. Their paint touch up job wasn't all that brilliant so I will probably buy a small container of grace green mazda touch up paint to keep here at home and will touch up my own scratches, stone chips etc ... I think my efforts will equal what they did.

I have been looking to make a photo calendar for Arthur and all the places that do it want you to do it online.

Finally yesterday while I was voluntarily stranded at the shops I discovered that you can do it instore at Rabbit photo ... I will go there later today and try and get that done.

Yesterday afternoon we also took our pup to the vet for her vaccinations. And got some antibiotics for the cat who injured herself sometime during last week and is not healing very quickly. $115 down for that!

Uni's mower and whipper snipper are ready to be collected from the repair shop ... more $$$$. He went to mow our lush vegetative lawn this last 5 day break and the mower would not even start for him. The lawn has not been mown for about 3 months. Should be done in time for Xmas though!!!

the ups and the downs

Yesterday I did some shopping!

I have really been trying to stay away from the shops as much as possible ... there is plenty for me to do here and I don't need any more distractions but there have been some things I have been wanting to get and things I needed to investigate.

So armed with my list and my catalogues I headed off for a very successful and satisfying shopping trip.

First I got a new Xmas tablecloth from aldi!

Then I went to Kmart to look for some swimsuits for Kt and some maternity wear for me.

Kt's current swimsuits are a touch too small and the elastic on them is just about gone ... not a good combination!

After searching for quite a while for the right section I found two absolutely lovely swimsuits in size 5.

One was a one piece pink with a picture of a fish on it and the other was a two piece rainbow coloured set with a little tankini top and the bottoms are a little skirt attached to the normal bikini bottom.

I fully expected to have to return one or the other for size or style issues but when I brought them home they fitted perfectly and Kt loved them!!!!

I also had a search around for some maternity gear for me. I don't want to go overboard with it, but I particularly needed something cool, comfortable and pretty to wear on Xmas day. I will also need larger clothing for the whole pregnancy and also for the time I am breastfeeding .... last time I went up to a size 14 in tops ... they call me busty these days!!!

I tried on heaps of different things, maternity clothing and normal clothes in larger sizes. Something like 3 trips to the change rooms with 5 things at a time.

I finally settled very happily on two dresses both in a similar style. One was a white maternity dress with blue patterns and with shirring elastic around the bust. I got size 12 because size 10 fits OK (snug) now but in a month who knows. There is plenty of "give" in the top because of the elastic.

The other dress was black with purple and green patterns ... also with shirring elastic at the bust. This one was not a maternity one, but a summery dress which can be either worn as a dress (with straps over the shoulders) or the straps can be detached and the whole dress shifted down to be a longer skirt.

My kind of clothing ... multipurpose and the shirring stretches nicely around a pregnant belly with plenty of additional stretch. This one was a size 14 (normal clothes).

I considered getting it in a size 16 (still fits but has a bit more room) but decided against it because it really is only a summer dress and should fit me fine until about march when the weather starts to turn cold. Then I can wear it again next summer while my breasts are still big and my belly is figuring out what it is doing.

The tag on the black dress read $45 (which is a lot for me to spend on one item of clothing) but Kmart had 25% off clothes this week, so I figured it would come to a more reasonable $30. The other dress was $39 and would come to just under $30 too.

At the checkout the total was much less than I expected (how often does that happen!) and when I got home I was surprised to find that the $45 dress scanned at $30 and then they took a further 25% off to make it actually cost me $22.50!!!!

Wooooo hoooo!!!! what luck.

Even kt's swimwear was 25%off! $27 for two fabulous swimsuits!!!

Very happy!!!

This morning though uni drove my car home from work and because it was dirty decided to stop and give it a wash at the service station.

While he was manoeuvring he backed my tail light into a guard rail (which he could not see) and broke the outer plastic. The lights still work, but the coloured plastic is broken and jagged and there is a small dent in my body work. He thinks he might just be able to get the outer plastic replaced at a smash repairer ... but I suspect the whole tail light assembly might need replacing. OUCH! Don't think that will be cheap.

Hmmmpffff ....

He was very sorry and it was an accident and he was trying to do something nice for me at the time ......

grumble mumble .... husbands :-P ... what more can I say.