A Time for Rest and a New Lexicon

Moonrise over Telok Blangah Hill, taken from our living room.

Finally, a Sunday spent at home! We've been recovering from a steady stream of visitors, and all the associated eating, drinking and merry-making that goes with hosting friends and family. Was a fantastic few weeks, and I guess now we (and Zorgy) are ready for a bit of rest.

In between having visitors, we also managed to run a whole bunch of Zorg-related errands, and think we're now 85% ready for our new flatmate. Nobody ever tells you that preparing for baby requires absorbing a whole new lexicon - from wonderful words like layette, onesie, receiving blanket, to scarier sounding sci-fi terms like meconium, vernix and episiotomy. Oh and I'll never view the word "show" in the same light again.

I've also found it strange how I am finding it increasingly difficult to settle down to read a book. My bedtime ritual has now shifted to reading one page of the pregnancy bibles What to Expect when you're Expecting and What to Expect: The First Year, or to completing a quick puzzle in a magazine. The last book I managed to read in its entirety (over two months ago now) was Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. An immensely satisfying novel about the Nigerian civil war (and the quest for an independent Biafran state) of the 1960s. Attempted to read a few other books (I'm one or two chapters into Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, A Spot of Bother and A True History of the Kelly Gang) after that, but nothing seemed to compare and hence, it's been a weird time of non-fiction and bits and bobs.

Ah well, I'm now into my 30th week and counting! Weight gain so far: 11.8kg! Yikes. Stuff accumulated, one-cot size worth of necessary accessories. Still to come: baby bedding stuff and DVDs for mom to tide her through the first few months of breastfeeding. Am thinking all (however many) seasons of The Gilmore Girls, and the new Battlestar Galactica (sounds like the closest thing to The West Wing yet). Any suggestions and parenting tips welcome!