A dead short

I am currently sitting here in a unique situation....we have lost all lights and the powerpoints in the front room (aka Biddy's "new" room), but we have power (via outlets) to the rest of the house! So we can use lamps, computers, tv, kitchen implements, washer, dryer etc... but we are forced to do it all in the dark.

Usually, when our power goes off, everything goes. Mark was out feeding the dogs and cats with the boy when this happened....I was bathing Biddy who kept a remarkable sense of calm about her as she was plunged into darkness whilst probably underwater! The fuse board would not reset, and being a dairy farm with electricians on speed dial (how fortunate) Mark was able to speak to one of the sparky's straight away. However, the news is not great. Apparently, it is known as a "dead short" and it will require one of the electricians to get out here tomorrow morning and go over all the house wiring. I have never heard of this!

In the meantime, we have bought a floodlight inside and plugged it into a powerpoint in the bathroom to shine down the hallway for Tom in case he gets up in the middle of the night (plus, he's recently taken to needing a dimmer light left on....sigh...another story that one), but woe betide anyone that looks directly at it, because it is so damn bright it'll fry your eyeballs!

Lunch with my boy

Today I had lunch with Tom at kinder. They had some special lunch for mum/gran/aunt etc. It was a BYO or you could have vegie soup that the kids made. I have to admit to nearly forgetting about it though. Thank God I pick Biddy up from daycare at 12pm because there were a few cars about and it got me thinking why......and then it hit me about the lunch! Fortunately, lunch wasn't until 1pm, so I had enough time to grab Bid something at the bakery, cram it down her throat, make myself a sandwich and still get back into kinder in time. When I walked in, all the other mums that were attending were already there and here was little Tom's face scouring the room looking for me. Nearly made me cry. Especially when his face lit up when he saw me....

.......damn pregnancy hormones!

Happy Mothers Day!

Yes, I know I'm a day late with my wishes to fellow mums, but still, it's the thought that counts. I thought I might just load up a pic of me and the kidlets from last night. God, what a battle to get just ONE decent picture of the three of us. If it wasn't Tom looking like a stunned rabbit, then Biddy had her fingers in her gob, or I was scowling at one (or both!) of them and telling them to behave and JUST SMILE (imagine that being said through gritted teeth). To be fair, I had had a rotten night the previous night with Biddy having nightmares about spiders and being awake most of the night. I eventually went to bed at 3.45am, but I could hear her talking and singing and playing for the rest of the night /morning. For those mums that have kids that do not sleep through the night.....hats off to you. I do not know how you cope. Tom slept through from 5 weeks; Biddy from 2 weeks. I have never really suffered from a lack of sleep (save the odd night) that was not my own undoing.

So this is the best of a bad bunch! I have attempted to make it look a bit better by making it into a basic digi scrapbook layout!

For those that are interested, as of today, I have exactly 4 weeks (by the calendar) before baby #3 due date. Today I have started to really pull my finger out and get things organised. I have rang the painter to come and paint the ceiling in the room Biddy will move into, I have got the plastic storage bag for the mattress in the spare room, I have arranged Mark to shift the bed and desk out of the spare room, I have sorted out one drawer of Tom's and I have priced single beds for Biddy. Tomorrow, I have to go to Geelong, so I will call in at the Homemaker Centre at Waurn Ponds and check out more beds there. I'm a bit torn between getting a little girl's bed (ie white), or stick with a wood one like we got Tom.

This is me yesterday at 35 weeks 6 days. I have compared pictures of me at about the same stage when pregnant with both Tom and Biddy, and honestly, I can't tell much of a difference. Tom, I was much more taunt (let's face it...I'm much more stretched now!), but I seem to be about the same size and shape. God willing, this is a small baby like the other two.

Back to the subject of buying things, I had an unexpected purchase today. Yesterday - of all days - the washing machine shit itself! Great. Now we said that when it went again, that was it. We have already put 2 control panels in it, plus replaced the agitator, and the pump had to be repaired under warranty years ago. But we have spent nearly the equivalent of another new machine just getting repairs. So, off to Budget I trotted today and bought another one. It arrives Wednesday, which is 1 day longer than I would have liked, but at least I do have other options to wash clothes in the meantime. So that was $800 I could have spent elsewhere!!!! Sigh.....

We are right into calving at the minute and have 30 odd calves in the shed. things are picking up in workload around here and I can't help at all. My ankle is still giving me grief and it is all I can do to walk around the house without moderate pain. As for walking around muddy pugged up paddocks....forget it. We all know what my balance is like right now! I had to cancel our involvement in National Farm Day for this year. I was a bit sad about this, because I really believe in the concept and we have been involved since its inception, but given that it will be run the weekend before I am due, there is just no way I can do it. Mark is generally away at baseball for the Saturday, so it is left to me to "entertain" the city family for that day. Mark normally takes them out and about on the Sunday after they feed the calves. So if there are any other farmers out there reading this and you haven't been involved, have a think about it. It is a really good weekend and I think there are eyes opened on both sides! Contact Deb Bain via the national farm day website (just google "Farm Day").