Our second any second...

D-day is tomorrow.  We're heading in first thing and then will begin waiting!  When we were booked in for the C-section, we were one of three couples booked in for this date, and that was a few weeks back.  I'm guessing there are now others, as well as the odd emergency!
Combination of a certain amount of trepidation (last time was grim - I can honestly say the day of Joshua's birth was one of the worst days of my life) and a bit of excitement - not just about having another, but finding out what model we've got this time!  We've got names for both options, though Anna's keen to have a girl this time.  (The expense worries me slightly... "Monsoon's got such lovely clothes for girls...")
:o)
Anyway, tonight is likely to be fairly sleepless, which is not a great start, but there we go.  When Anna asked Joshua if he and granny were going to come and visit the baby in hospital he said, very sincerely, "I don't think we'll have enough time".  I think he's got a lot of activities planned for his granny!  Hopefully they'll be able to find a window in their schedule!
News will be forthcoming in due course :)

And counting...

The funniest thing from yesterday, which I'm determined to mention on the blog, even it if doesn't get a 'full story' coverage, was me falling out of the hammock.  I was drinking a cup of tea at the time, which (you'll be glad to know) I managed to redistribute before it got to the critical combination of arm-above-head-and-hot-tea-succumbing-to-gravity moment.  Sadly, the mug died instantly when it hit one of the legs of the hammock.  Thankfully, in my graceful fall, I managed to avoid landing in the paddling pool, though the hammock did end up with one foot in it.  (It's on a stand, thus the legs and feet!)
Anna very nearly gave birth instantly she was laughing so hard.  The worst thing about it was that it wasn't caught on camera.  Would have been worth a pretty penny!

Joshua's currently veering between sweet and monster (though thankfully spends more time in the former mode)  Today, one of his amusing turns of phrase was declaring himself to be 'completely right' about something. 
Talking about the baby, he asked me today if he'd have to show the baby how to do everything.  I pointed out it might be a little early for such things (it's due out by controlled extraction on Friday).
Me:  Do you think baby will be able to talk?
J:  No
Me:  Do you think baby will be able to walk?
J:  No
Me:  Do you think baby will be able to swim?
J:  No
(I didn't bother to correct him on this)
Me:  Do you think baby will be able to cry?
J:  No [quick rethink with grin on face] YES.
Me:  Oh yes, definitely.
We're looking forward to it :)

Never blog with a headache.

I apologise in advance if this turns out to be a bit moany.  I didn't get to sleep particularly early last night, and I've now got a headache to remind me of that fact.
Anyway, today was a trip to Drayton Manor.  Our fourth visit (I think).  The queues have been getting longer every time, and today rather took the proverbial biscuit.  I think the highlight was queuing for 40 minutes for a ride (which took us about halfway up the queue) only for Joshua to decide that we shouldn't wait any longer.  (I have to admit, I was inclined to agree...)  The particularly frustrating thing from my perspective (is this really shocking?) was the 'queue skipping' bands that people seemed to have.  Many of them appeared to be sported by disabled people (and their carers).  I'm not sure why (and this isn't a moan, it's a genuine thought) it's better for a four-year-old to have to wait in a queue that (if we'd taken it to its conclusion) would have lasted nudging an hour and a half, than for disabled people and their carers to have to wait a little longer.  There seemed never to be a particularly long queue for them, and they always had priority (this is all queue-jumpers, not just disabled and carers) which meant that our queue moved even slower.
All-in-all, not quite the same as our first experience, where Joshua had a total of five goes on 'Troublesome Trucks' in a row, without even having to get off, because there was absolutely no queue.  Now THAT was awesome.
Anyway, we've come home tired (I was the only one who didn't fall asleep in the car, and I wasn't far off!)

Other than that, this week has been a sorting and gardening sort of week, which is ok.  The gardening makes up for the sorting.  We've been organising our room for the new arrival (9 days and counting) and therefore sorting Joshua's room as well. 
Last night we had tears because he wanted his old furniture back.  I talked with him about it being our furniture and that we shared it with each other in our family, because we love each other - like I share my cars with him.  (That, too, is under some duress!)
Anyway, he's got a new chest of drawers out of the deal, and he's now got pictures on the drawers of their contents, in the (vain?) hope that he'll help put his clothes away...

Speaking of clothes, we found some at Anna's parents, many of which had never fitted Joshua (10lb2 is bigger than 'newborn' it would appear).  We were collecting them up, and Joshua decided he'd try on his little brother/sister's new clothes:

Strangely, they still seem not to fit him...  Slightly scary that they don't even come up to his knees!

A million things to say.

But probably neither the time nor the inclination to say them all...
We had a million people in our garden at the weekend for end of term drinks.  Well, I think it was about a million; I lost count around the eight hundred thousand mark.  It was invitation only, but I'm sure someone must have put a sign on the gate saying, 'free food, all welcome', because we were inundated.  But hey, it was good, everyone was on top form (it being the start of the holidays helped!) and we've now recovered.  (Though the grass hasn't...)
I keep taking photos to blog about, and then not actually getting around to it.  So here's a random assortment of them, with captions/comments.  If any strike you as interesting (which, lets face it, is fairly unlikely) then comment and you might get a fuller blog post on them some day.  We are on holiday, after all.  (Did I mention that already).
Anyways, here they are:

I saw a mouse ...  I told Joshua that I'd learnt the song when I was about his age.  He replied that that was because he'd taught me.  Still not grasped some aspects of time yet...  But his year at school did dress up beautifully as mice for the performance!

Another great thing to wear.  A school bag.  On your head.

Don't you just love these?!  Big eggs that turn out to be:

double-yolked.  Sadly, in my excitement, I broke both yolks.  Oops.  Needless to say, this egg came from a farm, not a shop.

Barking mad.  This is the bark that went as the 'base' for Joshua's climbing frame.  There was a lot of it.  A lot of wheelbarrow action.  There's only a tiny pile left in the drive now.  The rest is under the climbing frame, in the pig sty, and on one of the paths in the garden.  Phew.

I'm concentrating so hard it almost hurts.  Mind you, the bird did look mighty fine at the end of it.

A gooseberry!  (Look closely - it is the only one!)  These were only planted this year, in my defence...

And some plums too.  These are a little more established, to say the least.  I now need an orchard ladder...

I like this.  There's a sort of 'distant' quality to it.

And this is the boy enjoying the cricket.  Oh no, hang on, he's looking the wrong way.  He enjoyed the inflatables, anyway.  That's something, I suppose.
These pics were all taken last month.  Shows I'm a little behind.  (Stop giggling - I said I am one, not I have one)
I'm now going to do another post ('oh no', I hear you cry) about last weekend's activities...

WINNER!

Somebody once said that it's only the losers who say, "it's not the winning, but the taking part that counts."  Obviously, I wouldn't encourage such thoughts, but suffice it to say that I was pleased that Joshua won his race today. 

There were 'traditional' races, such as the egg and spoon, though I distinctly recall having proper eggs and spoons when I were a lad.  Not some mini beanbag type thing on a plastic spoon.  Oh well, times change.


Then there are a couple of amusing ones - Joshua cheating...

... followed by Joshua having won.  Not exactly in the spirit of the competition, perhaps, but a victory nonetheless :)

I would write more, but my computer has slowed to a snail's pace (a dead snail, at that) so I'm going to call it a day on blogging