Author: pete

Categories
Parenting

It Continues

She’s still being sick in the morning, and we are now past eight weeks, so the worst of the pressure has passed. Her latest purchase is a pair of acupressure wristabands which she says are quite uncomfortable, but they might be working. Let’s see what happens on Monday when they go up against the 7:30 start and a full day at work – that will be a battle and no mistake.

Myself, I’m settled down, I’d say. There isn’t really much for me to be doing at this stage – I guess that my biggest responsibilities come after the baby is born, and I take on half (or thereabouts) of looking after the little fella. At this early stage, there isn’t really a significant change to our normal daily life, but I expect that towards the later stages of the pregnancy I will be feeling a little left out. Ah well, c’est la vie.

She’s been very low on energy lately – she is going to bed even earlier than before, and the rest of the time she is generally lying down on either the sofa or the bed. She’s a little upset that I will find her unsexy and go hunting for a replacement. I’ve so far failed to come up with a real killer reply to that one, apart from “that won’t happen.” That’s all that I can think of.

I won’t deny that things are changing. But I’m really not in a position to forecast what will happen next – whether things will change back in time, or whether they will just change into something else entirely. It’s clearly a period of transition, so I’m just going to sit tight, hold her close, and we’ll take this ride together. Because I love her, and that’s what we do.

Categories
IAMOWIM Parenting

Morning sickness. Well, more like just “sickness”

Though Karen finds the morning sickness (which lasts for most of the day) to be incredibly uncomfortable, provoking her to tears and cries of “why am I putting myself through this?”, the bright side is “hey, at least the little guy is still in there.”

I’ve told her that if she can hold onto this one, then she will never have to endure this again.

I wish that there were more that I could do, but this isn’t a problem that can be fixed by throwing money or flowers at it – I just have to keep doing what I am doing, which is to just be a damn nice guy, and give her something to smile about.

Oh, and in case you were wondering how I’m getting on with the Bell’s Palsy, I seem to be recovering well. I’m coming off the steroids as we speak.

Categories
Food Photos

Ripening Chillis

Ripening Chillis

Categories
Top Photos

Lampshade

Lampshade

I have an interesting lampshade in my recording studio that’s made out of cellophane. It’s damn pretty. In my old flat, I had it on a dimmer switch, so I could produce highly subtle effects. Not at this place, sadly.

Categories
Music Original Music

Woodshedding

You may have noticed a phenomenal number of Shiny Tight Stuff songs slipping into my audioscrobbler playlist lately. This is because we have our next recording session coming up soon, and this time I am determined to do it right.

As our sessions have become more and more spread out, I have spent less time playing the bass. Until the session is a week away, I will generally forget to play, and so by the time we get round to the actual session, my hands are weak, relatively unco-ordinated, and my endurance is severely wanting.

This time, I’m making at least an hour available every evening for playing through the songs that we are in the process of recording or re-recording. This way, when it comes to the session, I hope to be tight and able to play through the songs without my hands getting tired. I’ve noticed a marked improvement in the quality of my bass playing over the course of the last few days – it’s much more relaxed, more groovy, there’s definite potential for it to slip really smoothly amongst the other instruments and provide a foundation that I can be proud of.

Karen, in the meantime, is neglected.

*Originally posted here*

Categories
IAMOWIM Parenting

Back On Course

Following a period of suspicious lateness of period, Karen pissed on a piece of paper yesterday and it all worked out beautifully. I, meanwhile, am unable to really enjoy the event to its fullest as half of my face is dying. I went to the doctor today and he has diagnosed me with Bell’s Palsy which is no fun, but it’s what I was expecting. I’m going to be on steroids for the next two weeks, which is a terrifying concept, as the list of possible side-effects is as long as my arm. I guess this kind of stuff just happens sometimes. As long as Karen and I stick together and remember that we’re on the same team, I think we should kick the ass of anything that comes at us.

We’ve already decided that should we suffer another miscarriage, we’d be able to handle it a lot better. But then, I’m not sure if that’s true. Though we’re confident that we can get a pretty quick turnaround on these pregnancies (three months after her periods began again), she’s not, and I apologise for speaking frankly, getting any younger. Really, we want this one to work out, and we want it very much.

Meanwhile, I suppose I keep taking the drugs. Meh.

Categories
Peril

Goo, literally (2)

The layer of green goo is now about an inch thick, forming a luxurious yet moist carpet. I had to park my car over in that corner yesterday morning. I opened the door and put my fut out, and noticed that the goo had sensed my presence and was collecting itself up into a claw shape. I withdrew my foot and quickly pulled the car door shut, to the slapping sound of the goo-claw impacting on the door. The goo barked in its foiledness.

I climbed over the gear stick to the passenger’s seat and got out on that side, where it was clear. The goo lurked and growled quietly.

Apparently the military have been notified of this threat, but it seems that they are just as terrified of it as we are. One of my co-workers went out at lunchtime and threw some bars of soap at it, but that just seemed to make it more angry.

*Originally posted here*

Categories
Gardening Photos

My new friend

This is a photo of my new friend. I call him Snappy. I hope that the reason behind this should be obvious.

Snappy

*Originally posted here*

Categories
Gardening Top Photos

Red and Yellow

Red and Yellow

Categories
Peril

Goo, literally

So it seems that over in the corner of the car park there is an event occurring. To my unprofessional eye, I’d guess that some sort of water pipe under the expansive flower bed has burst, as a steady trickle is coming over the kerb and forming an immense puddle on the tarmac.

And it also seems that no-one knows quite who this should be reported to, as it’s been there a while now. A green algae is forming on the surface of this puddle, and no-one dares park in that corner anymore.

I’m sure that eventually it will rise up and murder us all.

Meh.

*Originally posted here*