A Series of Firsts and My Virtual Tour

So I'm now at 25 weeks and a series of firsts has occurred:

1) Week 25 has been hit and is a milestone because, well, I'm at 25 weeks. But also according to work anyway, should I deliver now and the babies not make it (god forbid, I know) I would still be allowed maternity leave.  This may seem macabre, but in typical IVF veteran fashion I brace myself for the worst, just in case it happens.  If I lost the babies, I would need the leave because I would be curled up in a fetal position under the bed for the forseeable future, so not something that looks good on the CV.

2) But I've no reason to think that anything bad will happen, especially as for the first time ever, the Lemonheads woke me last night with their kicking.  Honestly.  Usually it's just the girl who's up to much activity, I have a feeling that when they're born the boy will be laid back and the girl will be climbing the walls.  But both of them were practicing their kung fu fighting at 3 am, to the point where I woke up actually wondering if they'd poked a hole out of my stomach yet and would be waving cheerfully.  The books say babies kick for only 20 minutes at a time.  The books would be lying.

3) I got on to a packed tube the other morning and a guy gave me his seat.  Seriously.  In London, where we're all too busy reading our Metros and dreading our days, a guy gave me his seat.  I thanked him a hundred times and took it.  And it happened again yesterday (so it's a first and a second, really).  A teenager (!) got up and gave me her seat.  I thanked her too and took it. 

4) I now weigh more than I ever have before.  I'm up 10 kilos now (22 pounds).  I'm hungry a lot but I can't eat very much, so I just graze a lot.  I try to make the grazing as healthy as possible, so let's pretend that double chocolate muffin I had yesterday was just a small slip-up.

5) Symptom-wise, I can't complain.  I am very tired in the evenings lately, and apart from the re-appearance of tiny bladder-dom I sleep through the night (and, of course, barring the little Rocky Balboas in there.)  Headaches are back and I find heartburn appears from time to time, but otherwise (surprisingly) I can't complain.  Next week marks the start of the 3rd trimester.  I never thought I'd get here, but here I am.

And now, the virtual tour courtesy of Patience, whom I love.

We live in Hampshire, about 45 minutes train ride outside of London.  We work from home most of the time (we both work for the same company) which is a huge plus, but we do commute into London a few times a week (Aidan's already gone and I'm off to London myself shortly.)  You can click on the below pics to embiggen.

This is our house.

The dirt patch in the front is because Aidan just constructed the fence, and we still need to plant grass seed on one side of the fence and trailing red roses on the other.  Our house has a name (which I've blurred out) not a number, and I love that about it.  You can see our bouncing idiot dog in the shot, too.

This is the back of our garden (yard).  It's massive and the place used to be owned by a professional gardener.  She would weep if she knew how badly we've fucked up her garden with our total incompetence.

This is the patch of woods by our house.  Once a year they get covered with bluebells, which are heavenly.

And when we commute (which we do) we go into London Waterloo.

We then walk into the office (which I won't show as then you'll know who I work for!)  But we have an incredible view while we walk, and both of us - even that hardened native that Aidan is - loves the view. That honestly is the view from the bridge we walk to get to the office.  Some of it should look familiar to you!  We have lots of nice views like that.

And when we have to go into London we always have to take an umbrella to prepare for the famous weather here.

I'd post more pics but Typepad is being a  whore and won't take the photos and put them in the right place. I hate Typepad.  I apologize that the formatting is all over the place with this, but it's whipping me and I have to go to work.  Welcome to my little world, though.  Hope you liked.

We're off to Scotland with Aidan's kids for a week.  See you next Thursday.

Comments

[Patience]

I love you too.... :P

Seeing these pics made me all nostalgic- I love love love London and it's been many years since I've been there. Some of my family are getting on a bit so I probably should make the effort sooner rather than later....

Your house is just divine, (so is your idiot dog!) - and of course, so are you! x

[Anita]

I love that your home has a name!

Damn, now I miss England. Even the crap weather.

[sharon]

Being born and raised in Ireland (now live in Canada) I am all too familiar with the rain! The photos are great, i love your home and you are looking fantastic!

[Lut C.]

Good to hear you're doing well, and chivarly is not as dead as presumed. :-)

Enjoy the holiday!

[Donna]

Thanks for the tour. We keep trying to come up with a name for our house but haven't conquered that hurdle yet. Love the garden! Looks like you haven't killed it off yet. Ah, Waterloo and the Thames - honeymoon memories.

[DD]

I'm wondering what happened to the little round window that was covered up?

Hey, I wanted to reply to your comment on my post but your email server bounced me. Waaaaaahh!

[Vanessa]

DD-so sorry, just checked and yes-you are correct. My ISP is down, and not in a fun "I like to boogie, I like the nightlife" kind of way. Keep trying!

[Drowned Girl]

Nice house :-)

I live not TOO dar from waterloo, but would like to be out of London!

[Bea]

Love your tour!

Bea

[beagle]

Love your photos and you look great btw!

[watson]

Congrats on reaching 25 weeks, that must feel truly awesome. And congrats on ONLY gaining a measely 22 lbs. so far.

Wench.

[Ooops! Did I write that aloud??]

(I'm feeling better, can you tell? Thank you for your nice comment, it really did help!)

XOXO,
Watson

[tuesday]

Give my love to Scotland! See if you can find my heart over there too; Scotland seems to have stolen it when I was there last.

[MsPrufrock]

I'm still recovering that you live in Hampshire, JUST LIKE ME. You have a far nicer home than I do though. We's like po' people and live in a cramped 2 bed flat with no garden. Or an idiot dog.

[wRitErsbLock]

I hope that the flooding I've been hearing about is not affecting your home. Especially while you're on vacation and can't be there to defend it.

[tuesday]

IS IT THURSDAY YET?!?