I'm back on my old user name as for some reason when they re-did this site my greekgoddess name wouldn't work. If any of you are confused, Ioavva is my Greek name, Joanna, and it's pronounced E YOU ANNA.
The site coordinators probably thought I was too fat and pregnant to be a Greek Goddess anymore, LOL.
Just to update, my ankle is still painful and I wasn't able to do anything for half of last week which was making me down and tearful. Andy and the kids came over today and he helped me set up my digital camera, then we took the kids to the park for the afternoon. I was finding it really hard to walk so he found a spot by a lake and asked me to watch the kids whilst he went the rest of the way alone, and then we met up afterwards. Of course, the swelling has come back really badly but I am glad I got out of the house.
When we got home the kids wanted to watch a film so while they were doing that, we decided to take photographs of my 'baby belly'. We've never done this before, with any of the others, so as this is definitely my last pregnancy, we wanted a lasting record of what I look like pregnant. So I posed for him, some wearing just wearing under the bump jeans and a bra and some wearing a black velvet dress which wasn't maternity so it clung quite a lot and showed it off more. We had fun, LOL. We plan on taking more when I get bigger.
After that I cooked pizza and chips and we went and watched TV with the kids. I had a great time. Got my pay a couple of days ago, too, and the Steiner school pulled me in for an interview last Tuesday as they want my writing skills, they basically need a publicity officer and I had no idea they were even interested but I got hauled out of toddler group on the spot to discuss it. If they do hire me, I'll start in September for 7 hours a week.
The kids are getting excited about me moving to Andy's place. They keep saying 'How many days before the birth are you coming?' I told them I'm not sure, since I don't know when the birth is, but we were thinking of about 10 days prior to due date. That should be enough. DD4 was 5 days early, DD3 was on her due date and the two eldest were both 11 days overdue so 10 days prior should be okay. It's sweet they are so looking forward to it.
So let him think you need the parenting classes and want him to go to show you how. What happens there will give him a look at himself. Sometimes we have to do things that rub us the wrong way but at least you would be getting him to the class for the sake of the children. They are the most important. Not our big egos. Good luck
"Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." Hopeful
It's spelt Ioavva. Yes, I've been busy and I've had work problems and computer problems and I'm stressed out because at this rate I will be fired - I have missed so many deadlines on various things all due to computer problems and the whole computer stopped working this last week and Andy had to re-format it at his place so I was late getting my articles out AGAIN. One of my clients for the charity has tried to contact me to amend info that they thought did not represent them and the webmaster has disappeared and not been contactable in weeks so I am totally stressing out as I feel this makes me look unprofessional both with my writing and with the charity.
My ankle that I injured a MONTH ago is still just as injured and not getting any better so I've been house-bound a lot and reliant on Andy. My friend has been away so she couldn't help and the dr wants me to go to the hospital for an X-ray but I am terrified of damaging my unborn son so I am refusing to go. They say they'll put a lead apron over my 'bump' but I still don't like the idea of him getting a dose of radiation. They reckon I might have torn a ligament or fractured something. So what with that and the work problems, I am feeling pretty down.
On the plus side, I have had a massive clear out of my house in preparation for the baby and my other friend brought round a triple bunk bed that we put in DD4's room so now my girls all have a proper place to sleep when they're with me! I also had DD3 for a while and she was a darling. She even made me lunch when my ankle was so swollen up I couldn't stand.
Things with Andy have been great. He took me out to the theatre to see a play and he's still showering me with presents (a cordless phone is the latest one). We spent Valentines Day together and I even got a happy valentine's msn message from him that evening (he doesn't ever do valentines, he normally says it's cheap and tacky and an excuse for shops to make money out of couples). I have started going over to stay at his house again like I did prior to the morning sickness and that is great (except I now go in a hired car instead of the bus because of my ankle).
He has been really sweet to me and when I ran out of bread and couldn't walk to the shop he actually spent the afternoon baking bread for me but then promptly forgot to bring it with him when he came round!
We've also been house viewing (with a view to buying a property, the first time we've ever bought one - all our previous houses were rental). We went to look round one in Nottingham but it was a wreck so the idea is to purchase it, renovate it and then sell it on and make perhaps £20,000 profit on it so we can afford a better place. He went to make an offer at the bank while I took the kids out for a milkshake. We haven't heard back yet whether we've got it. If we have, I hope to help him with the decorating but how practical that will be with a new baby, I don't know. I may end up just taking the kids to the park while he does it!
It was really exciting to be looking at houses together, anyway. I just need a few prayers in regards my work.
Good to hear you are alright. Sorry about the spelling, I don't know what I was thinking?
Are your computer problems internet related? My friend found some free software that has helped mine, one is called "crap cleaner" I think. Anyway if the internet is causing the problems I can get the sites for you.
Just pick the latest version and download it. We run the clean up and scan for issues almost daily. (When selecting to fix issues found we save the file before fixing, just incase)
We use Mozilla Firefox as a browser which has some built in protection. I will ask my S14 to let me know where he obtained the the other software.
It wasn't to do with internet. I've had the computer for 3 years now and it's never been re-formatted once and Andy reckons people are supposed to re-format sometimes so the computer doesn't stop working. It had stopped working altogether and my keyboard wouldn't even type as it was 'corrupted' but when he'd wiped the computer and re-loaded stuff onto it, it worked again.
We got the house in Nottingham. The bank accepted the cash offer (no mortgage! we paid for it outright) and it's just going through right now. We won't be living in it (it's a bit too small and in a not very great area) but we are going to spend £10,000 doing it up and then sell it for £25,000 or so more than we paid for it so we can make several thousand. The idea is to raise enough money to buy a bigger house and to rent out 3 properties to tenants so we can generate a better income.
I am really excited which is stupid since we won't even be living in it, but I can't wait to start helping him do it up!
just an update. Poor DD4 got mumps only about 2 or 3 months after getting chickenpox. She got it from her sisters, the 2 eldest of which had it first and then she and DD3 got it, so I have been stuck in for several days, tending to her and letting her sleep in my bed with me. She's been in pain with her neck and sore throat so I haven't had any sleep for days and have been quite down because of it, but I guess it's part and parcel of parenthood. Andy couldn't visit much either as he's had the same with the others at his place.
DD3 is better so he came over for a few hours on Sunday to see how DD4 and I are doing. DD2 was being awful again ('I hate this house', 'there's nothing to do here', 'DD4 just has stupid baby toys', 'She's a baby, I hate her' and 'You always let DD4 have whatever she wants'). I told her, your sister is ill so of course she can lie on the sofa and watch TV just like you did when you were ill. Her 'everyone else has it better than me' attitude is really starting to wear thin with me.
Andy says she's the same at his place and pretty much complains every day and hits people. At least he is acknowledging now that it's something she has an issue with and not my parenting.
He called today to find out how DD4 is. He's going to stop over on Friday night and then take DD4 for a few days as I'm going to a friend's for a girls only party and staying there for a while. It will be a relief after all the sickness-induced isolation. There will be around 8 of us women. My friend is also pregnant with her 5th child (7 weeks) so I guess there will be a lot of baby talk.
As for my own pregnancy, it's going well. I am huge (bigger than previous pregnancies) and it's hard to get to sleep at night because I can't find a comfortable position to sleep. Other than that, everything is great. It's only 2 weeks to go until the colour scan which we are all looking forward to.
I will be helping paint the house soon, although Andy is a bit worried about paint fumes and the baby, but I'm sure it'll be okay with ventilation.
