Looking forward to time off

After being on-call 24/7 since January (apart from a couple of days where I was at a friend’s wedding), it is so nice to have the prospect of a couple of weeks of being able to switch the phone off and just relax. I haven’t missed days off as much as I thought I would (perhaps losing the guilt of visit-free days has helped!) but I am looking forward to being able to completely relax. I’ve got a spa day planned, trips home to see my family and Spring Harvest coming up so should be a good couple of weeks.

Bump!

I definitely have a bump now! My waist seems to have disappeared (I’ve been told I may never get it back – oh well!) and has been replaced by a bit of a baby bump. I have to say I am loving my new shape, as is Michael who has commented that I’m more cuddly (the tone implied it was a compliment anyway!). Plus I think I’ve started to feel movement, which is also very exciting. At first, I wasn’t sure, but I’m getting more convinced that the occasional flutters that I am feeling are from baby Sprout having a wriggle.

New tap class

Our tap class has suddenly grown. Before the exam there were just three of us, and now seven ladies from the grade below have now joined our class so there are now ten of us in total which feels like a huge class compared with before. It is nice being part of a bigger group though – feels much more sociable. The new routines so far seem okay – I definitely feel more relaxed knowing that I’m not going to be doing an exam at the end of it all! Not sure how long I’ll keep going, but it’s good for now.

Irrational nervousness

The thought of having to chair a meeting always makes me quite nervous. Give me a pen and some paper and ask me to take minutes and I’m happy, but having to take control and lead the meeting is another matter. With church meetings, even being asked to lead opening devotions makes me nervous – I worry that I’ll say the wrong thing or something. I used to chair meetings of university societies without getting nervous. Everyone at church is lovely, tonight’s meeting (which it was my turn to chair) went ok, so why do I get so scared about it?

Census

Given that the census form is supposed to be a snapshot of the UK tonight, and the forms clearly indicate that it should be filled in today or shortly after, it seems strange that the website has allowed people to submit it online for the last few weeks. That said, I might have been tempted to fill my form in earlier too but it’s not that unusual for Michael to suddenly announce that a friend or colleague is staying overnight so thought it was best to wait! It’s a bit debatable whether the census is really all that accurate anyway.

Time check

It was a good job I called my mum for a chat. If I hadn’t, I’d have completely forgotten about the clocks going forward – which wouldn’t have been ideal when I’m down on the church rota for preparing communion and being vestry elder – turning up halfway through the service would have been a bit too late to be able to do either job! As it turned out, my clock radio did update automatically so I would have made it anyway, but just as well to have the reminder as well! I could have done without losing an hour’s sleep though!

Sunshine!

The last couple of days have been absolutely gorgeous – lovely warm sunshine, being able to put the washing out on the line and the feeling that Spring is definitely here! We even had the ice-cream van appearing outside the house this afternoon - that and the sunshine combined made it very difficult to sit and focus on doing paperwork this afternoon! If only the paperwork fairy had decided to pay me a visit, I could have gone and sat in the sun. Still at least my desk is next to the window and I did have a very productive afternoon.

Baby knits

My sister taught me how to knit when I was a little girl and I made a couple of knitted toys with her help, although my skills were pretty basic. I haven’t really done any knitting in years, but the baby has given me a good incentive to take it up again! It’s taken a little while to get to grips with it again but I’ve managed to make a pair of baby bootees (was quite relieved that they both ended up the same size!) and a pair of mitts – next step is to have a go at a hat.

Unexpected catch-up

One of the things that I miss about university days is having friends just pop in for a cuppa without having to arrange in days (or even weeks) in advance and knowing that you could usually do the same. Now we all lead such busy lives it is almost impossible to be so spontaneous so it was a lovely surprise this afternoon when one of my close friends called me just on the off-chance I would be home so she could pop in and say hello. We had a lovely afternoon catching up – all the better for being so unexpected!

Copy cat

I’ve generally found that allowing a cat to sleep on your bed means you end up with a tiny amount of space to sleep in and the cat stretches out across most of the bed. Since becoming pregnant, I seem to be developing a similar trait – Michael has started grumbling that I like to stretch out across most of the bed leaving him with very little space. He’s been quite tolerant of being left with only one pillow whilst I steal the rest to help me get comfy but my need for extra space is not going down so well!