What's happening round here

Rather than post on anything particular this morning, I thought I would post on nothing in particular and fill you in on what's happening round here at the moment ("round here" referring to the Holden household). So here goes, in no particular order...

* Anna Spiro provided another light bulb interior design moment for me last week. We have a side board in the living room and an empty wall above. I have been toying with the idea of making it into a picture/collage wall for a while, but have fallen in love with the pic above and the idea of having a mirror in the room. Think it will work wonders to open the space up and make it look bigger. Incidentally, was meant to go shopping on Saturday for said mirror, but ran out of steam... figure I will also have to buy some new lamps to go along with it. Such a chore:)

* heading to the doctors this morning for a scan. To say I am uber excited is an understatement. Haven't seen the doc since I was 12 weeks (which is a whole 7 weeks ago now) and it feels like a life-time. Truth be known I am really being a paranoid first timer, cause I have another appointment (for the big 20 week scan booked for next week), but I just couldn't hold out any longer. Have been playing a mental game with myself for the past 2 weeks to test out whether I truly am a paranoid first timer, and turns out I am - can't pretend any longer...

* have been having horrible pregnancy tension headache's since entering the second trimester - thought all my dreams had come true when the morning sickness stopped, but seem to have replaced said morning sickness with headaches. Don't get me wrong, I am much preferring the headaches, which aren't constant, but when they do come, they seem to last for 3-4 days:( Had my third come on yesterday, but managed to spend the day resting, so hopefully I have put that one to bed.

*other than the headaches, and the expanding waistline, no other real pregnancy symptoms at the moment. Oh, I have had a sniffy nose (which they say is par-for-the-pregnancy course), but other than that - thinking it is true what they say about it being the "golden" trimester. Hope it continues that way... sans headaches and sniffy nose if I want to be really picky (you can dream can't you...)

* haven't felt any baby movement yet - had a few little flinches which resemble gas (charming hey... especially considering they may well have been gas). The books say any day now, so hopefully I will feel something soon. I shouldn't admit that I do stop still sometimes and focus on my tummy so much, thinking, "can now be the moment I feel something"... please!

* had Indian takeout for dinner last night. Planned to make Cote de Boeuf (with the most amazing piece of beef), but after a day already spent in the kitchen - I {attempted} to make brioche (cinnamon scroll brioche to be precise) which didn't work, then homemade pasta for lunch (which incidentally, did work), I couldn't face the kitchen again. Truth be known, whilst I could not be bothered cooking dinner, I was also less than enthused facing the kitchen with the mountain of dishes I had created from the morning cooking session. Rather than clean it up (which would have been too sensible), I cursed the fact the Luisa (our maid) had to have a day off... nice of me hey! BTW - before you say anything about the maid comment, it is true, we have a full-time live-in maid, just to look after my husband, myself and the little CoCo dog. One of the many perks of living in Hong Kong I must say, although (and you will curse me for saying so), it is hard work having a maid:) More on that anon.

* soooo looking forward to Chinese New Year - we are heading to Phuket for 10 days and we both can.not.wait!!!! Having not gone away for Christmas, we are hanging out for our next holiday. Seriously, as in we laid on the couch yesterday just dreaming about all the things we were going to do (or not do as the case may be).

* having trouble working out the visiting schedule for when bub arrives. I can see that having a child is going to be one of the most difficult things about living away from family and friends (derrrr you might say). We are currently debating the whole - when to have the parents visit thing. On the one hand, you want your mumma to come to the hospital and meet your precious little one asap, but on the other hand, knowing that that means you will also have a house full of visitors when you come home from hospital, is a daunting prospect. Will and I have pretty much decided that we need at least a few days at home with the little one before we welcome the first lot of visitors, but having decided that, I'm not sure I can handle not having my mum come and visit at the hospital. Not to mention that I want to see her, I also feel a huge pang of guilt that she won't see her grandchild until he/she is a few days old, and will never see the little nursery crib, the hospital room, etc etc that her grandchild was born in. Ok, so I must admit that if I was referring the Nambour Hospital (where my husband and I were born), I could probably spare mum the experience, but we have decided to go to the Matilda, which is more akin to the Four Seasons than any kind of hospital. She should see that right?

*had loads of skype sessions recently. Our little nephew turned 5 on Saturday (can't believe how time flies!!) and we got to see him rafting away on his new Konnect (which for those of you who are not in the know, as I was a week ago, it is part of the Xbox which enables you to play video games with NO hand controls... can you believe it??). He was so cute, and even cuter was his precious daddy who had made him a chocolate cake for his Birthday. We also had skype sessions with Mum and Eb's and my FGM (fairy god mother) Roz. So good to see everyone!

* booked in for my first pregnancy massage tonight (I tell a small lie, I had a couple in Bali last September before I knew I was pregnant). I have chosen a place right beside our apartment for 2 reasons - they had a sign up advertising pregnancy massages (thought that implied they must know what they are doing...), and secondly, they are cheap. They invited Will and I to have a peak at the room when I made the booking and it didn't look at all inviting (in fact it didn't look like it had ever been used), and so Will has been trying to convince me to go somewhere more expensive (when does that ever happen...). I figure they are worth a try. If they are good, I can justify having a weekly massage. Alternatively, if I have to go to the Grand Hyatt or Mandarin Oriental (all top places in HK for pregnancy massages), I will only be able to justify going for one every month or so. Worth the risk? I'm still debating... wish me luck.

I'm sure there are loads more things going on but think I will spare you the rambling (plus I need to get ready for the Dr appointment!)

Have a good week:)

Image from here