Tuesday, February 17, 2009
songs and stories
This morning, Jack climbed into Mia's cot and sang to her to keep her entertained. He sang "Away in a Manger" which included the new verse "The baby Jesus hurt his head, and he had to go to the doctor's." Snappy! I like it!
I was invited to try out a new bit of software from Microsoft called Time for a Story. It requires Live Messenger, a microphone, speakers/headphones, and a web cam, and allows you to read stories to your kids (or anyone else you have on Live Messenger) online. It's great fun and interactive; kids just don't listen to the story or watch it on screen, they can click on images in the story to see what happens.
At the moment, there are only Noddy stories available which is fine for Jack - Noddy's one of his favourites. I haven't had a chance to try this out with him yet, but I know this is something both my parents and my in-laws would really enjoy using. Storytime is a huge hit in our house, and having a grandparent read to the kids is even better. They're both already on Live Messenger and have web cams, so it wouldn't take much effort to get them up and running. The interface is quite simple, so if you've got a parent/grandparent/other relative who isn't very computer-savvy, it shouldn't be too difficult for them to set up and use.
Granted, this is only a beta version, but I was a bit annoyed that it insisted that I use Internet Explorer to launch the story (I prefer Firefox or Chrome.) It also won't run on a Mac due to limitations in Live Messenger for Mac. Whether or not Microsoft will make this compatible with Macs and other browsers is yet to be seen, but I think they'd be foolish to alienate/piss off a vast number of potential users.
Overall, it's a fun concept and I would definitely use it. We have the advantage of having laptops, so my plan was to take the computer right up to bed with Jack and Mia, so they could get snuggled up while listening to a story.
Monday, February 16, 2009
big scan, big relief
I've been nervous and stressed for days now. I always get this way before the 20 week scan, because this is the point at which they'll be able to see if something's seriously wrong for the first time. Normally at this point we'd also be finding out the sex, but we're keeping it a surprise this time. And frankly, I simply didn't care - I just wanted to see a healthy baby in there.
The morning started off splendidly when Mia threw up in abundance all over herself and myself. Just as we were getting ready to drop the kids off and go to the hospital for the scan. Hurrah. With only minutes to figure out what on earth to do (and no spare time to call a friend and wait for them to come over), we decided that Paul would stay here while I went to have the scan on my own. It was very, very odd to go to a scan on my own and I didn't much like it. I had such a bad feeling about things, mostly because of how the morning was going. But then things looked up, starting with Good Parking Karma. A nice lady passed me her parking voucher which still had two hours left, saving me £2.60 in extortionate hospital parking fees. Paul always passes our tickets along if there's time left, so Good Parking Karma has finally returned to us. I was first in for a scan, so I had only a short wait with a cup of tea.
The scan went brilliantly and all parts are present and accounted for. My placenta is definitely posterior and high, which is a very good thing. I stressed that I didn't want to know the baby's sex, and I can definitely say that I'm more confused about this topic than I was going in. I keep wavering, and it's not being helped by a distinct lack of visible bits when she measured the femur and the fact that she once referred to the baby as a "he" then quickly reverted to "it". Then at my midwife appointment today, the heart rate was 130-140 (boy, according to the old wives.) So anyway, it's still a surprise and I'm still very happy with that. Incidentally, it probably would have been difficult to see the baby's bits because s/he had the legs tightly crossed the whole scan and had a hand in front of the bladder.
It was very odd to be at a scan without Paul. The sonographer asked if I had anyone with me, and it was weird to say no. We are planning on doing a 3D scan later on, so at least Paul will get to see Minty again then.
And now for some photos!
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
almost halfway there, and i better not double in size
On the left, my Mia belly at 19 weeks. On the right, my Junior Mint belly at 18 weeks.
Egad.
Monday, February 02, 2009
My little girl has the pox, so I've been at home taking care of her while she recovers. The best thing about getting chickenpox at this age is that it really doesn't seem to faze toddlers that much. She's been a bit grumpy, but otherwise pretty much herself. In fact, right now she's sitting on the floor playing with cars singing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" to herself. The worst part is being stuck indoors, but I have a couple of projects to keep me busy and pelvic pain that's kept me on the sofa anyway.
Mia's new words this weekend were Jasper and Mia. I absolutely love how sometimes she says "yay" instead of "yes". So when I ask her if she'd like a snack, a bath, or head up to bed, she'll shout out "YAAAAY!" We like enthusiasm around here.