still waiting

Today was a day we meant to spend organizing and packing stuff up, but instead we had other things that took up our time. One of those things was going to the hospital for some monitoring as suggested by the doctor. Nothing was wrong or concerning to us, it was just a check-up. Everything still looks perfect, his heart is beating normally, and he's moving well. I'm dialated only 1.5cm, so I'm definitely not in labor yet. During the monitoring, I had a small contraction, but didn't even feel it. Alex is supposed to start his new job by next Monday, so we are getting a little stressed that he will end up leaving before us. sigh.

Luc is mid-throw here.

This morning we had to go down to the seafront, which was alive with waves because of a cyclone passing through the day before. We barely got any rain from it, just some big gusts of wind, really. It is supposed to hit Madagascar really hard.

pregnancy update - are we there yet?

I still look like this...

we thought he might want to join us on the night of the full moon,

but instead he just played soccer in my belly

Hope he'll get here soon!

not finished, but looking so much better

Before

last week

After

as of 15 minutes ago

Before

when we first moved in

After 1

a much better entrance

After 2

Before

After

 Before

 After

pushing

I pushed myself too much yesterday. Luc woke up in the middle of the night because his diaper exploded (yuck!) and the bed had a big wet spot on it. This was around 4am. I tried for an hour to fall back to sleep, but it never happened. I got up, waited for it to be daylight, and then started to work in the garden. For 2 and half hours! I cleared out all the plants you see growing on the wall in front of the house and under the stairs here. Then, I weeded out the flower beds along the driveway.

Alex has almost finished painting the top trim of the house and the wall where I cleared out the plants. He's also attacking the walls on each side of the driveway. This house will look brand new!

The day before yesterday, we arranged with my neighbor for her to come help me with some hard-to-reach cleaning around the house. She is a saint! Really, her name is Reine, which in French means "queen". She's one of those rare people that doesn't mind cleaning and was more than happy to help me out since she herself didn't have cleaning help when she was 9 months pregnant. Reine has a son my age and a daughter in middle school, and she can really keep up a pace when it comes to scrubbing. She arrived and immediately attacked the bathtub; something I've been putting off for a while now. While it wasn't totally gross, there was still a stubborn ring around it. Her secret? Laundry detergent (powder). Next she moved to the kitchen and washed all the windows. Wow! We can see out of them again! She shared her secret for them too; prewash with vinegar and warm water, then use your window cleaning product. Meanwhile, I used the vaccum all around, washed a few bedroom windows, and occasionally stopped to make sure Luc was OK. It's amazing how much more cleaning can get done between two people. I was motivated by her incredible energy. She kept telling me, "it's OK, sit down, you need to guard your "force" for the labor you'll be in soon!" She stayed for 3 and a half hours and finished up by washing all the floors; again, vinegar was her secret ingredient.
I could hardly keep my eyes open at this point and my back felt completely broken. I knew it was too late for me, that I would spend the rest of the day regretting all the work I did. I took a 2 hour nap when Luc did, but still spent the evening with a significant amount of back pain. It is not until today that I can look around the house and enjoy how much cleaner it feels. I vow to do nothing today. It is hard to find that balance where I feel as though I'm being really productive, but not pushing myself too much. Yesterday I was at one extreme, and today I will recouperate.

changes

When I think about the mental effect this move is having on our family, I get a little concerned for Luc. He knows about Baby #2, we've read books, watched movies and talked about the topic a lot with him. Now we've started to tell him about how we're moving. And not taking Kitty with us. And Papa might be away after his brother arrives. Yikes. That's a lot for a 3 year old to handle. In the past month he's started to pee in the toilet, but we haven't tried to switch him over to underwear full time because we think that he's got enough on his plate for now.
But he's doing well, amazingly well. We take care to keep him on a routine, knowing that will help him feel secure to know what's coming next. His imagination these days has really impressed me. He makes tunnels out of blankets for his cars. He makes up stories for his wooden train set as his plays with it. He sees little berries on the bushes outside as "jumping beans". His legos become a spaceship. He looks for the moon outside and tries to jump up and reach it.
And today, as we were talking about moving to a new place and taking an airplane to get there, he told me the three things he was going to do on the airplane; eat food, watch a movie, and go dodo (sleep). Perfect! Our 2 hard suitcases became airplanes, and he put special chosen toys and his blanket in the third. When I asked him if he wanted to bring any clothes he said no. He got his sunglasses, flip flops, and Papa's backpack, and he was ready to fly.

this is my funny smile

the big move

Most people who read this blog know already that we are moving to New Caledonia. Like soon. It's the reason I haven't posted much in the past couple of weeks. When the plans became solid, we had to start right away with the planning for such a big move. And all I want to be doing in the meantime is nesting or resting. Nesting is out of the question, but Alex makes sure I don't try to do too much during this time. "I'll take care of it! Go rest, you're 9 months pregnant you know", he says to me. But if you know me, you'll know I can't just sit back and do nothing. I think it's in my genes.
There has been so much to think about, with the arrival of baby #2, obtaining a passport for the new little guy, renting out our house, what to do with the stuff we are leaving behind, how to ship other stuff, cleaning up inside the house, packing, the copious amounts of paperwork, saying goodbye to our cat (she'd have to stay in quarentine 6 months if we wanted to bring her with us, and we don't want to put her through that), and the numerous house projects to finish before people start to come look at the house. Alex can't do everything.
On top of that he is due to start work on Feb 20th. Will baby #2 be born in time for all of us to travel together? That is the big question. Also, if I travel alone with the 2 boys afterwards, how the hell am I going to cope with recouperating after a delivery on a 14 hour flight? (Hey Luc, you're 3 now, could you get all those heavy suitcases?) Let's not even think about if there are any complications. We debated for a better part of 2 weeks if we could find a way to get someone here to help and to travel with me. If money weren't an issue....tickets can't be bought until the baby is born. Last minute long distance flights aren't cheap.
Don't get me wrong, we're both pretty excited about this opportunity, but honestly, I find myself thinking, "why not just a few more weeks, please, let's delay!" Not an easy situation to be in, for sure, but it will work out, even if it's not exactly how I pictured the arrival of our second boy. He may not use cloth diapers like I had wanted, and I may find breastfeeding difficult during our move, but as long as we all remain healthy, I'll be happy.
I have been impressed though so far with how Alex and I have worked together in this, and not gotten all crazy-crazy stressed out. One step at a time. That's what we keep telling each other. He is working so hard on the house. Have a look-see:

repainted balcony

working on repainting the exterior

36 weeks...plus a few days

We're SOOOO close now folks.
I have been telling Alex that I feel like this baby is going to come early. I can just feel it. Just like how I could feel we were definitely going to have a girl. Yeah, so count on that.
I wouldn't mind if he showed up early though. I'm ready. I mean, I haven't set up the bed, or changing table, or washed out all the baby linens and other items we used 3 years ago, not to mention even packed a hospital bag, but you know, I'm ready.

That's a lot of baby right there

While this picture clearly shows the belly, it also looks like I forgot to put on underwear. I assure you, it's there

2 weeks ago, you could say I was in a full-blown nesting phase. While that desire still persists, we have other issues coming at us that put me in a 180° change of direction. I still cannot divluge details, but I assure you, when we know something is sure, you'll know.