Update from us

Hey all.. Everyone seems to be using email to send out their updates, but I'm at work right now and don't have all the addresses here.. so it's a bandwagon post from me :)
Oscar's been a bit difficult these last few weeks, and we finally have a reason why - Cheryl took him to the Dr, who thinks he might be having silent reflux. Basically that explains everything - his tendency to feed only a little, and be hungry half an hour later, waking up after about an hour of being asleep unless you're holding on to him (and keeping him upright), general grumpiness and crying.
The solutions involve a drop of mylanta in his bottle, sitting him up to feed, keeping him sat up for half an hour afterwards, and using towels to angle his bed so his head is a bit higher.. of course in the meantime he's pretty high maintenance, which means when I'm at work Cheryl barely has time to eat, let alone time to rest or anything else.. and it also means of an evening neither of us get much sleep.
Hopefully the tricks can help lessen the effects, and hopefully it's something he grows out of.. although even then it could be months, at which point I suspect we'll both be needing a holiday! Ah, the joy of babies.

BellyWatch: Week 39

Hey all.. well, we're down to the last two weeks before the due date, which means it could be any day from a few weeks ago to about a month from now. This means we don't tend to make plans, and I jump whenever my phone rings at work :)

Cheryl is still feeling good, although occasionally the baby finds a spot to poke that makes her uncomfortable... and of course at that point he decides it's a great game to just keep on poking that spot. Still, she's managing a walk every day of around a kilometre, as well as keeping up the various stretches and other exercises that are recommended.

In an effort to improve my fitness I've also managed the occasional walk to the train station in the morning.. it's around 4 - 4.5 kilometres, which means to catch the train at 7:30 I have a fairly early morning. It's a good walk though, mostly uphill :)

Apart from that we're pretty uninteresting I'm afraid. Just generally kicking around at home, staying cool in this stupid weather and not making plans for any long trips.

What has everybody else been up to since Christmas?

Housey house stuff

Today (after a minor freak out with the car and a call to RAA, but that's another story) we picked up the keys to our new house! We took out some stuff, and we'll take out more as well before the removalists arrive (7am tomorrow)

Here's some photos we took while out there... there's not many inside the rooms because really, all the rooms look pretty similar :)









Also, they're not in the photos but Cheryl's friend Bron bought us a couple of garden gnomes! We put one in a clear place, and the other is hidden a bit further back. I think the house really has character, especially that back yard. Plus the second shed is huge! I'm already planning a gym/games room in there ;)

We look forward to all of you visiting, and we'll add some more photos when our rooms actually have furniture in them :)

Fitness

Dayna mentioned I was looking healthy, but I'm forced to disagree.. I've put on over 6 kilos over the last few months, I blame winter primarily :) I think my old technique for losing weight was pretty effective, so i'm going to start it up again - that's doing a bit of exercise at a set time each day, and recording everything you eat for their points values.

I think if you don't set a time to exercise it's too easy to ignore it, so i'm going to go for a walk each day straight after work. I tried going home, changing my shoes and going jogging, but once i got home there was too much else that needed to be done, so i think walking will work better.. and any jogging is a bonus.

As far as the food goes, i've been getting slack with that too, and I think by recording it all somewhere it'll help me get back to eating sensibly. No more delicious delicious muffins. And I'll record it in a semi-public place - on my blog, but hidden from the front page because it's not really relevant to the rest of the world. You can see it here, and i'm hoping because of the fact that you guys can see what i'm eating I'll be more careful.

So the offer is there to anyone else who is interested in knowing the points values of the food and exercise.. it's very educational, but you have to be honest (no sneaking in little snacks and thinking they don't matter). Anyone who wants to, post in the comments of each day what you've eaten or what exercise you've done and i'll calculate the points for you.

Sword arts and Illustration

I had my Shodan grading last night. I think I went ok - Shihan picked me up on a couple of small things, but some students got a half hour talking to after their grading, so i think anything less that that is a plus. He kind of threw me - I had trained for 8 kata, and after I did those he asked for another one which I hadn't been practicing. No idea how I did with that one :S
I've also started a new blog (shhh.. don't tell the family bandwagon blog).. it's on blogger as well, and it's somewhere for me to post illustrations that I've done. I'm hoping to get the occasional comment for stuff I put up. You can see it here. I'll keep posting my old work on there as well until I run out :)
In health news I've had a cold for the last four or five days, but it seems to be improving. Cheryl didn't catch it although I don't know how. Unfortunately last night my tooth started to hurt, and so I have slept very little.. I'm hoping to see a dentist today. As soon as possible.
So there you have it - the three pillars of a post from Damien. Achievement, Inspiration, and Tragedy.
;)