Munch at home!

Well folks, he's here. Arrived on June 26th, 2pm Bangkok time. All of us are doing great, but it will take a week or so for us to find some sort of a rhythm as a new family of four.

More details later. Thank you all for your love and good wishes. It's all good! :-D

I leave you with a picture - he takes after his father, I think. Don't miss the enormous nose :-)

No, this is not THE post

Just a note to say I'm taking off Munch's arrival ticker because I don't know what it's going to say after June 21 when the 40 weeks are up and the baby hasn't arrived!

Apart from the fact that Munch seems way too comfortable to want to budge, everything else is going fine. Expectant grandparents have arrived and I'm grateful that Moppet is around to keep them occupied. Otherwise all of us would go batty just waiting for me to pop.

Thank you all for your good wishes through comments and emails. I hope I can get the husband to do a guest post when Munch finally arrives - at least a line to let you all know he's here. If not, there will probably be an update over at Poppins' place - in the sidebar section she refers to as Announcement Central.

Don't be in too much of a hurry to be checking though - Munch isn't in any rush, it seems :-)

Of fascists and fish

This morning, Moppet decided she wanted to wear two pony tails to school - one adorned with a green rubberband, the other with a yellow one. I tried to talk some sense into her - at least wear 2 yellows or 2 greens, never mind that neither colour goes with the dress you're wearing.

Brushing aside my conformist ideas regarding head decoration, she proceeded to give me specific instructions about the ponytails: "Yellow one on this side, green on this side, ok?"

Accepting defeat, I followed her instructions and she went off happily to admire herself in the mirror. I plonked myself down beside the husband and grumbled about his mismatched child. As always, he was quick to defend her. "What's wrong with yellow and green bands, huh? Stop being such a hairband fascist!"

Bah! This from the man who is so particular about the space between the stripes on his t-shirts that we have to take callipers along when we go shopping. Who's the fascist here, I ask you?

And talking of fascists, Moppet is turning out to be quite the little authoritarian herself. Last night, she tried to put her father in time-out because he was told her it was bedtime. "No bedtime Papa! You go time-out!" she said, complete with stern look and a little finger pointing to the time-out corner.

And her sparring buddy - Mr Fishy - one of those bouncy inflatable fellows, gets put in the corner regularly when he refuses to cooperate with her, which is most of the time, seeing that the poor fellow cannot help but bounce back when she tries to make him 'go to sleep'.

I must admit it gives me great satisfaction to hear her scream exasperatedly when he pops up for the nth time after she manages to wrestle him to the ground. "Noooo fishy, you lie down. Iss sleeping time! Ok, thassit, you go time-out!"

Ha, my darling little fascist, it's never too soon to learn, what goes around comes around! :-)

Week 39

The ticker says 14 days to go, and I have to admit to mixed feelings about Munch's impending arrival.

On the one hand, there is happy anticipation and nervous excitement about getting to finally meet the little one, to hold him, and to see Moppet's reaction. But there is also a sense of sadness, that this will probably be the last few days I ever get to feel that heartwarming sensation of a little person moving inside me. To lie down and cuddle with Moppet and hear her giggle as she feels Munch moving against her - "Ooh, baby's moving! Wansome more baby moving!"

I know, I tell her, I wansome more baby moving too. I have discovered, much to my own surprise, that I actually like being pregnant! Although certainly not as much as this lady, who's currently expecting her 18th (!!!) child.

No, I think I'm done after this one and that knowledge has helped me slow down and savour every moment of this pregnancy. With Moppet there was an underlying impatience all through the pregnancy and her babyhood. It was all about 'what next and when' and before I realised it, I had a 2 year old little girl in my life and only fuzzy memories of what it was like when she was a baby.

With Munch I'm not in such a rush... if anything it's the opposite. I want to slow everything down, let things happen when they will, how they will, and feel every moment of it.

So yes, there are only 14 days to go. But unlike with Moppet, if Munch decides he wants 20 days before he's ready to meet us, I'm not going to begrudge him that extra time. And if he decides 6 days is all he needs, well then, welcome little fella!