The Final Countdown - 1 Month Left!

Not much has really happened since my last blog. I'm now at the stage when people ask me about my pregnancy I just say I'm about the same. I tend to need a nap daily, I get winded or exhausted easily, heartburn is still a constant problem, and some days I get bad aches and pains. Other than that things are moving rather smoothly.

34 weeks

36 weeks tomorrow

Matt and I finished the antenatal classes and it was kind of sad because we were learning so much! The last one was our tour of the birthing suites and the maternity ward and I found that I'm not really nervous about it at all. I've been very happy with the Redcliffe Hospital and the midwives and I feel confident that their biggest concern is helping me have the birth experience that I want. My goal is to just to have as natural a birth as I can handle, but I don't really have any specific expectations.

I've had a few comments that I'm small and after comparing with some of the ladies in the class I was surprised that some were larger than me and had their due date nearly 1-2 months after me (not including the lady with twins). I feel perhaps it is due to my baby preferring a posterior position - with the head in the pelvic area - more than anything else. She has been like that since my 2nd trimester and has only recently started shifting a little. Some days I'm lopsided half the day - I tried to take a picture to show Matt from my perspective.

Lopsided Belly

We have finally started acquiring baby stuff! A while ago we decided funds were tight and we didn't want to spend big since the baby wouldn't notice the difference anyway. Thanks to Facebook Marketplace we were able to get a used cot, capsule, diaper changing table, bath, ergo 360 carrier, and four garbage bags worth of clothes for less than $400 total. Additionally, we got a stroller and tall boy (dresser) from off the street for free. The stroller is in good condition, but needs a thorough clean which Matt promised. I didn't want it, but now that we tested our capsule with it and it fits perfectly I'm happy we didn't have to spend anything to get a stroller. In case you're wondering....yes all used stuff has or will be thoroughly cleaned and sanitised. It's taken a while to do all the laundry!

Shade has claimed the cot and the blanket I made for the baby

Anything else needed for the baby's arrival we got new at Ebay, Chemist Warehouse, or Costco. I feel better knowing that we now have the essentials sorted. A friend of mine asked about my baby shower and I realised I didn't have one planned. In my experience family or friends usually host one but that wasn't likely going to happen since I have no family and recently moved to the area. Eventually I swallowed my pride and asked some ladies in my ward to help and instead of obtaining gifts this is more an opportunity for me to get to know the other women in the ward better and celebrate together. I'm excited there's two other women that are having babies around the same time and at least two others that are pregnant! It was really hard for me when I moved to QLD and all my pregnant friends except one were in Sydney. I also think it will be good for me to celebrate that I have a baby coming as it has not been an easy transition for me. Additionally, my sister has organised a Skype party for me to be able to celebrate and talk to my extended family about the baby. I'm excited for that as well so that I can keep them involved in my experience. Lots of good things to come in October!

Since this whole process started I feel like I've grown a lot and had to really face my next stage of life. Here are just some snippets of things that I've read, learned, or decided about having kids:

• Having a baby is a privilege and a blessing
• Pregnancy is different for each individual and each baby
• Despite even the best intentions, you can't always control how your body reacts or responds to things, especially during pregnancy. 
• Ultimately, the Lord is control when a child is brought into this world
• Stress, worry, and anxiety during and after pregnancy can have serious long term effects on you and the child. 
• Comparing yourself to others limits your ability to find inner peace with yourself and your own unique situation
• "Birth is a sacred moment when mortality and heaven intersect" Dale G. Renlund
• Pregnancy and labour can be a positive experience when focused on love instead of fear
• Pregnancy is an opportunity to learn to trust your body and instincts
• In the end, patience and trust in the Lord are essential because things don't often work out the way we hope or plan
• The greatest impact we can have in this world is to bring children into this world and raise them to the best of our ability to live righteously and with good morals

Now as for some other events in the last month....

I attended Time Out For Women in the Gold Coast where multiple speakers and a music artist share inspired messages. This is not run by the church and is actually a paid event. I've never gone before so I was really excited to have the opportunity to go and also see some of my friends from Sydney at the same time. This year speakers included Elaine S. Dalton former YW General President, John Bytheway, Patrice Tipoki, and Emily Belle Freeman. Although I was glad I went, I was actually disappointed by the experience. The music group Mercy River presented songs throughout and I only actually liked a couple of songs. I liked their humour, but the music didn't fit the event for me and I would have preferred a variety of musicians than just the one group. The talks were great of course, but again I feel like I didn't need to pay for hearing inspiring messages that I can also get the same effect and feeling from attending Women's Conference or General Conference twice a year. In short, I'll probably attend if it's local, but I don't think I'll ever go out of my way to attend in future years. Here are my favourite quotes and comments made at the event:

• Don't be too hard on yourself, just keep moving forward - Elaine S. Dalton
• Marriage is like a five thousand piece puzzle, all sky - Cathy Ladman
• You are the result of the love of thousands - Linda Hogan
• The ability to qualify for, receive and act on personal revelation is the SINGLE most important skill that can be acquired in this life - Julie B. Beck
• Don't let all the things you know be eclipsed by the few things you don't know - John Bytheway
• Don't waste any time reading the wrong things - we don't have time for that - John Bytheway
• A fear can sometimes be our voice or from other voices - Patrice Tipoki
• What do you need God to BE (not do)? - Emily Freeman

Our business class is still going well. Matt and I have learned SO much! We've discovered we really need to revamp how we record all of our personal and business expenses. A guy in class lent us the book called The Barefoot Investor which is very similar to Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace system except this book was released this year and is specific to the Australia market. After finishing that book we will be making some serious changes to our bank accounts and other details to help us save more and have a better understanding of our finances. I won't go into details, but let's just say there are a lot of changes to be made and I'm excited that I think we will finally get on top of our finances! We also learned that Matt has been paying tithing incorrectly and essentially "stealing" from his business income. I highly recommend this self reliance business course because there are so many elements to having a small business that sometimes we just don't consider. The other people in the group have been awesome to also help get different opinions on how to run things. 

Business was really slow for a few weeks for Matt. He signed up for a required course to get his Queensland contractor license and we spent a week working on that together. I lost a lot of patience with him, but we got it done and are now waiting on the results from that. We then sat down and figured out how much tithing he owed (he hadn't paid tithing since May). The day that we paid tithing Matt got about three different job opportunities! One company was so happy with his last job they said he created a new standard and have enough work for him for months! What a blessing! He's so much happier working for himself and I'm glad that he hasn't had to subcontract or work as an employee. He may even have enough work to start expanding and get his own apprentice or employee!

Turkey dinner and a movie for our anniversary

We celebrated our six year anniversary on the 21st! Each year Matt and I are always just glad we made it another year. Remember the quote about the five thousand piece puzzle? Yeah, marriage is difficult and neither of us are easy people to live with and be married to. We recognise we are growing little by little each year and at least now I don't feel like we're on the edge of a cliff anymore. I used to constantly worry about having kids because I felt like our marriage was rocky and I didn't want to have a divorce with kids. I'm no longer worried about that - I married the man that can help me grow the most and help me to be the person I want to be. It's not easy, but most worthwhile things aren't. I still firmly believe in our potential and I hope we can learn to be good parents. 

Life has been pretty breezy for the most part for the last month. The weather here is fantastic, we have been busy attending activities for our calling with the young single adults, and spending many nights just relaxing and watching a movie or favourite TV shows. I'm so grateful that I've been blessed to not have to work aside what I do for Matt's business and that I can focus on me and the baby. I feel confident everything will work out. 

Team White Rice won White Bread and Sausages (YSA Activity)

If only I could be this photogenic...

The Third Trimester

I've officially reached the 3rd trimester! I've been keeping busy as well so a bit to catch up on.

TAKING CLASSES

This last month Matt and I started taking a couple of classes. Antenatal classes started last week and so we have been learning about what to expect with the birth and the labour process. So far I haven't really been scared or nervous by the things that I've learned, but I do hope I won't have to go through a C-section or have any other pregnancy complications. My current plan is to have as natural a birth as possible, but if I want the pain killer I'll get it. One woman in the class is having twins and she is a bit nervous about how everything is going to go. Needless to say I'm so glad I'm not having twins! Here's an interesting video about the biological changes going on during pregnancy...

The church offers various free Self Reliance courses which are really awesome. Matt and I wanted to take the Starting and Growing a Business one as well as the Personal Finance one, but we decided in the end it would be better to focus on just one for now since we already are doing the antenatal class for five weeks. We started the Business course a couple of weeks ago and it has been really great so far! Although I don't have a business, I focus on making goals to help Matt's business. Overall we work together to improve different aspects of his business. This last class was really helpful as we started listing different ways we can help market the business. His last job finished last Monday so until he finds more work we have no money coming in. While looking at marketing options we discovered that he needs to do extra things to get his contractor's license here in Queensland. Because QLD is a different state they have different requirements to get a painting and decorating contractor's license. Lots to do! Luckily with the course we can discuss things with other students and also get suggestions that we might not have come up with on our own. We'll see how things go.

CHURCH STUFF

Matt and I were recently called to be YSA parents! This means that we work with the young single adults (18-30 yrs old) in the ward. We basically assist as needed, are mentors, go to the activities and support where possible. We are really excited about this because we loved the YSA in our previous ward and it is a fun calling we can do together. Over a week ago we taught our first lesson on eternal marriage. I think Matt and I gained more from working on the lesson together and discussing how we wanted to address the topic than the students did. We have only had a couple activities so far. The first was a beach day at Caloundra and I'm sure my body loved the Vitamin D. The water was still a little too cold for me to want to dip in, but the weather was beautiful. It's hard to believe it's winter when it's 25C or warmer here (80F +).  The second activity was a fast breaker and Matt and I both commented about how welcoming and awesome the YSA in the stake were. Although we were the old married couple in the activities, we felt very included and were impressed by how well they all seemed to work together and get along. I look forward to getting to know all of them better!

Since I am home all day I have told the missionaries to call me whenever to assist with lessons. I have had the opportunity to help teach at two lessons now and both experiences were amazing! Sometimes after I've committed I am really unmotivated to go, but once we are there helping spread knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ I am always reminded of my own testimony and am grateful I have the time and ability to help. The last lesson I felt was really inspired as it was with a woman who had previously had five miscarriages and has recently given birth to her 2nd child. This gave me an opportunity to talk about the blessings of having a family and reminded me that all the pregnancy woes will be worth it in the end.

Another task I have taken on is to play the piano for the Relief Society class in my ward. I'm not a very good piano player and am definitely out of practice, but my poor playing is still better than listening to the CD for hymns. Additionally, this will help me better develop my skills. The truth is I mostly lack the ability to be confident and continue playing even when I make mistakes. I get so nervous that I often struggle even on easy parts that I would never do in practice. When in doubt I can usually play the right hand reliably. I practice once a week at a member's house so hopefully in time I will feel more confident and be able to play decently.

This last weekend we had a big church activity called the FSY Carnival. The youth had loads of games, activities, and food geared towards helping raise funds for the large For the Strength of Youth (FSY) activity that occurs each year. The ward asked if anyone would assist in baking goods for the bake sale and I volunteered. Not knowing what to expect I went a little crazy making Oreo truffles, cheesecake brownies, and muddy buddies. I had fun making them, but when we arrived it was quite clear that our ward had been AMAZING at contributing! There were so many baked goods there that I was certain they would have lots of leftovers. Some people had gone above and beyond with baking fresh bread and homemade jams. We had a good time and I hope the youth earned enough and that all the baked goods found homes in the end. I wondered later if perhaps I should have kept more goodies for home, but I'm sure my body is happier without the extra chocolate. Besides, I still have enough leftovers to make more. I was bummed nobody seemed interested in the muddy buddies, but I forgot that since they aren't common here people are more hesitant to buy them. Then again, there was a lot of variety!

THE 3RD TRIMESTER

30 weeks

I had hopes that my third trimester wouldn't be too bad since my first few days I seemed fine. Well my hopes died pretty quickly. I've had aches and pains on and off, but I soon noticed it was definitely getting harder to sleep comfortably no matter what I did. Not to mention just switching sides is getting difficult. The worst was the heartburn got REALLY bad. I was taking mild antacids as needed which was every few nights (if that) and usually just one of the chewable tablets was enough for me (the package says 1-4 as needed). Well it was so bad that I started feeling heartburn all day whether I ate or not and the antacids weren't helping! Apparently even just drinking water can cause heartburn for some women and I think I won that lottery ticket. On top of this I got a nasty cold. I researched some heavier duty antacids and after barely sleeping for 2 days Matt went out to get me something stronger. Unfortunately, that day was a public holiday so the chemists were all closed and the local grocery store wasn't open yet. Matt eventually came home with this giant bottle of Gaviscon double strength aniseed liquid (aniseed tastes like black licorice - YUCK!). He didn't want me to use the tablets because they have aspartame in them, which supposedly causes cancer, so he bought the liquid. I've learned I tend to vomit anything potentially nasty during pregnancy so I could only hope I would manage to get this stuff down. We used a syringe and I squirted it down my throat - no luck. It didn't slide down, but came all back into my mouth causing me to gag before swallowing, which naturally caused me to run to the toilet. So there I am crying, coughing, and vomiting into the toilet, while peeing my pants in the process feeling like I have truly reached the peak of what the worst of pregnancy could look like (apologies if you felt this was way too much information). Luckily with nothing in my stomach my heartburn went away for long enough for me to sleep after that, but my already inflamed throat from my cold did not appreciate the aggravation. Now that Matt has bought me the Gaviscon tablets I seem to have the heartburn under control again. I feel sorry for anyone that has EVER had heartburn and especially those that seem to have it on a regular basis. It's awful.


My cold has definitely persisted and no doubt due to a lack of good sleep and not enough vitamins. I ran out of my prenatal vitamins which I order from the US (it has to have folate due to my MTHFR gene mutation). So to compensate I was taking a couple monster multivitamin pills as well as a separate folate supplement, and lots of vitamin C to help with my cold. I can now safely say I have a risk of vomiting if  a. the pill is too large to swallow easily  b. the pill has a nasty taste  c. I have already consumed a lot of vitamins at once and  d. my stomach already feels very full.  All of the above can make me gag and my stomach just responds by getting everything out whether I like it or not. I used to think it was psychological, but now I think it's just a learned response my stomach has from my first trimester. My hope is that things will go back to normal after pregnancy and I won't have to fear any time I take a supplement. Before you start offering me suggestions....I've tried lots of different things and really the best option for me is to just seperate out all the supplements throughout the day. My prenatal vitamins have arrived so there is hope most of my vomiting supplements is over. My cold has developed into bronchitis causing Matt to sleep in the spare room to avoid listening to me coughing all night. There has been a massive outbreak of flu and gastro going around so ultimately I'm really lucky I'm not experiencing anything worse. I think I'm getting better, but it's definitely taking it's time - it's almost been two weeks!

I recently had to take the glucose tolerance test to test for gestational diabetes, which was not ideal considering my poor health at the moment. The test requires you to withold from everything except water after 10pm the day before. At 6am you go to the hospital where they take your blood, give you a glucose drink (tasted kind of like a flat lime soda) and then you wait. After an hour they take your blood, then you wait another hour and they take your blood again. I went in on Friday and waited 45 minutes before the woman saw me and then she turned me away because I had taken a throat lozenge that morning. I guess I should have expected that, but my throat hurts so bad in the morning! I called Matt and we went out to breakfast to make up for my bad morning. When I went in the second time I tried to do everything I could to get a good nights sleep including my nightly antacids, lots of pillows, Vick's VaporRub, and Matt helped massage my sore back and sciatica nerve. I still woke up nearly every hour, but miraculously I felt fine going in to my appointment. My biggest worry was that the lack of food would make me feel very sick, but the glucose drink filled my stomach enough that I was able to feel ok. I passed the time by calling family in the US so it wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected. The best part was after having breakfast and getting home I was so tired I passed out and slept really well!

On a different and more positive note, my application to get paid maternity leave was approved! This means that once the baby is born the government will provide financial assistance, which I believe is $672.60 per week before tax for a maximum period of 18 weeks. This is a massive blessing! I am so grateful that we were able to find a way to meet the requirements. Although this won't help us figure out how to pay for the stuff we will need prior to the baby being born, it will help relieve some of the stress after she is born.

OTHER STUFF

A few other fun things over the last month have happened. Lincraft is a fabric chain here that had a 50% off all fabric sale so I went a little crazy and got a bunch of material at awesome prices. It was 50% off the marked price so I got some fabric that was normally $20/metre for $5/metre. So I sewed another maternity skirt, only to discover I had gained weight and it was way too form fitting for my liking. I had enough material to fix it sufficiently, but this meant that the green maternity skirt I made before the move would be way too tight. I spent days trying to fix it into a short hippie style skirt with the leftover material and I think I just made it worse. Sometimes making things up and putting it on the dress model just isn't the same as trying it on yourself. Feel free to give me feedback... should I even wear it in public? Matt's response was "It's VERY hippie." Good thing I have lots of other material to play with! My next project is a minky baby blanket and I also got a couple of maternity patterns to try out. I want a big flowy dress that I recently saw in the store so that might be in the works as well, but as my "made up" creation didn't go so well I'm hesitant to try a dress without a pattern.

          

Our cat shade has been enjoying having me home all the time, but he's been very bored since I've been under the weather. Another cat in the complex randomly showed up at our door meowing so we decided to let him in. To see what Shade would do we called him downstairs and that's where things didn't work out so well. The other cat was roaming around and Matt decided to pick Shade up to introduce them. Shade was so unhappy and scared he started to pee all over Matt and the floor. The other cat we rushed out of the house, but he managed to step in the pee and get it spread all the way to the door. We were late to our class that night cleaning all the cat pee up, but luckily it had made it on the tile floor and nothing else. Today the cat came around again but this time we let them get to know each other on their own terms. The other cat just sat outside of the screen and Shade stared at him from the stairs content to not get any closer. I'm not sure they will ever be friends.

Laura's Visit and The Second Trimester

All throughout my first trimester I looked forward to the second trimester where things would be easier. I have been happy to find things have been easier (for the most part).

25 weeks 

Matt and I have officially settled into our new home. This does not mean that we have finished unpacking, just that everything is liveable now. We had to do a bit of rearranging to determine where we would put things with a different layout. Luckily due to the end of financial year sales we were able to get a much needed rug that fit the space for half the price!

I had extra motivation to get things organised in our new home because my best friend Laura came to visit from Oregon! You know you have a good friend when even though there are long gaps between visits, it feels like you can easily just pick up where you left off.

For her first day we went to Redcliffe, which has the nearest beach to where we live. We didn't get in the water, but just talked while walking around on the beach and at the nearby pool. Later Matt went with us to the shopping centre where Laura was able to try her first waffle with ice cream at Oliver Brown. She also decided to take log of the different flavours of Tim Tams so friends back home could tell her which ones they wanted to try. I think this resulted in something like 40+ packages of Tim Tams in the end!

The next day we went to the Gold Coast and chilled on the beach at Surfer's Paradise. It still wasn't ideal beach swimming weather, but Laura felt it was perfect and the temperature was only a little cooler than summer in Oregon. We had organised an AirBnB place to stay that night so we could see the nearby glow worm caves at Springbrook National Park. We got there at the perfect time because right as we were leaving loads of Asian tourist groups arrived. One bus carried at least 70+ people and there must have been 6 or so more groups that we had seen on the trail or at the start.

Glow worms picture

View from our AirBNB

Surfers Paradise beach

We decided to go back to the same trail the following day. It was a completely different experience to see the falls and the surrounding area during the day.

the Natural Bridge glow worm cave

Instead of heading home after that we took a different route that would go past Fingal Head, an area a friend recommended we visit. We LOVED it! I was in no great condition for climbing on the rocky cliffs, but Laura took advantage of it. I think it was one of the most beautiful areas I've ever been to. It felt like I was on the coast of Ireland or something, but with warmer weather. I took a nap on the rocks in the sun and decided I would definitely have to come back with Matt sometime.

To finish off our day we met up with Matt and visited our friends Cate and Dan to watch the QLD vs NSW State of Origin game. I figured Laura would enjoy it more if we watched with a bunch of Aussie's that could actually tell her about the rugby league rules and whatnot. It was a pretty good game, but it had been a long day and we were all very tired by the end. I think the best part of the night was just spending time with friends, eating good food, and watching this video:

The following day I slept in a little too long so we rushed to try and make an early session at the LDS Brisbane Temple. Unfortunately the endowment session was full so they couldn't accommodate us. We decided we'd wait to go with Matt on Saturday instead and toured around Brisbane. As I've done in the past, we hired bikes to ride from Kangaroo Point to the botanical gardens on the other side of the river. The weather was absolutely perfect and the gardens was a great place to walk around and explore. Laura even did a live video on her Facebook page to show the awesome trees we have.

We stopped at a place to eat lunch nearby at the Aroma Cafe and it was amazing! It's just a simple cafe but they serve everything from sandwiches to pizza and pasta. I was glad we discovered it as I'll likely go back when my mom comes to visit in October if not sooner.

After riding bikes back across the river we explored South Bank which includes a bunch of fun things to see like the street beach, a Nepalese pagoda, and the Wheel of Brisbane. To finish off our day we ate at my favourite chocolate place, Max Brenner. Although I didn't intend this to be dinner, we were both too full to eat anything else the rest of the day. To finish off the night we went to a West Coast Swing event that Laura had found. Dancing is her passion and so she was very excited to find a place she could attend while visiting. I had no desire or energy for it so I sat and read a book while she took part of the lessons and the freelance dancing afterwords. I'm pretty sure the dancing was her favourite part of the trip so I'm glad it worked out for her to be able to go.

Laura chose to be the "lead" during the lessons since they weren't enough guys.

Friday we had arranged to go to the Australia Zoo and also meet up with a friend of Laura's that she met through Facebook I believe. It turns out the woman lives only about 15 minutes from me! We had fun exploring the zoo with her two boys before they had to leave early. I really like that zoo, but I kept telling Laura she'd get opportunities to take pictures with more native wildlife at the zoo and had forgotten that they really didn't have a lot of options. In Sydney, Featherdale Wildlife Park has a lot more native animals including kookaburras, eagles, and quokkas that you can see up close. Australia zoo didn't really have that much, but at least she was able to see koalas, kangaroos, wombats, and crocodiles. Surprisingly I don't think she got to hear the kookaburras at all while here! Listen to some recorded calls here. When my sister visited us in Sydney she woke up to them at 5am every morning. I think we will have to search around to find other wildlife parks to go to with visitors.

Saturday we went to the temple as planned. I had a really good spiritual experience while there so I'm glad we made the effort to go. Afterwards we headed to the Brisbane Powerhouse Markets. I hadn't been to this market before, but I was expecting a lot of artisan foods and crafts and a good place for Laura to get souvenirs. I was wrong, it was mostly just a farmers market with fresh and organic produce amidst some other things. Oh well, we still had a good time. The rest of the afternoon we split up so Laura could attend another West Coast Swing event that was during the day. She was so lucky they happened to have two in the same week and the second one was better. I was happy one of the dancers was willing to help her with rides because I wasn't that motivated for the drive. Matt and I got to enjoy the afternoon eating cinnamon rolls and walking around the river.

Laura got to try a homemade Aussie pie - seafood style

We had planned to meet up with Laura at Eat Street Markets for dinner. Eat Street is a huge venue with 70+ food vendors, live music, and other shows. The place was amazing and they had so many different types of food from paella to curries, pizza, fish and chips, cronuts, pastries, and much much more. We wandered for a long time not sure what place to try. We finally picked a place right as Laura arrived. It was a lot of fun, but I think the best part of the night was the beautiful sunset!

Sunday was Laura's last day with us and luckily she had a night flight so we could spend the day relaxing from the busy week. After church we pulled out my tiger puzzle that you may recall I have been working on for about 3 years during General Conference. Laura and I used to do puzzles all the time when we were roommates so it was a great way to finish off our time together. The biggest surprise wasn't finishing it, it was that I hadn't lost any pieces amidst all the many times of taking it out, putting it away, and moving it. I definitely highly recommend roll up puzzle mats! We had a wonderful time together and I'm so glad she was able to come visit and we could catch up on life events. Next time I hope I'll have more energy and we can do a lot more things where I won't have to fit in a nap somewhere.

Regular life hasn't been as interesting. We had a visit from our ward home teachers and it turns out one of them used to be an IT and he agreed to help me put my new PC together. We took all of the stuff over to his place and worked on it for about 4+ hours! It was a HUGE blessing because it became quite evident I would've really struggled to put it all together myself. Now we finally have a nice computer that should last us quite a while.

Matt has been able to have sufficient work to stay local in Brisbane the whole month, but we are unsure how long before he has to start seeking jobs out. One of the big jobs he quoted for in Sydney contacted him for a revised quote so we are hoping they will finally go ahead with that. Big jobs are great because they provide a bit more of a buffer between work. Right now funds are getting pretty tight since we have had to pay to get our cars registered in Queensland, my medical stuff including psychology appointments, and lots of other little things we didn't account for. It doesn't help that I don't have an income.

Originally I was going to find part-time work, but the reality is that it wasn't practical as I had no idea what work I could handle mentally and physically. We ended up setting myself up as Matt's employee and I am now his Finance Manager/ Accounts Administrator. I did all of his taxes and paperwork before, but now I make a weekly effort to put things in order and log my hours. This makes me eligible for the paid maternity leave provided by the government. I am now at a point where his taxes need to be prepared and I officially need a professional to help make sure I have all the correct data in the system. It's too easy for accounting errors to compound to become a massive problem and I don't want to have any penalties from the Australian Tax Office. At this stage I'm not looking for additional work and I feel that somehow we will be able to make do without me having to have a regular job.

How do I spend my days you wonder? I'm not even sure myself! Most days are filled with at least 30% watching some kind of TV show or Netflix. Sometimes I'll organise or unpack a box while watching something. There's always some laundry or dish washing to do as well so it's amazing how quick the day fills up. I spend a lot of time on the computer doing something or other like researching how to renew Matt's passport, or how to import invoices into the accounting system. I'm excited because I've finally organised most of my desk and I unpacked my overlocker! Now I'm ready to start unpacking my sewing items and work on some projects.

One weekend we attended the medieval festival just north of us. It was fun and significantly larger than I expected. If you wanted the educational aspect of it you could easily visit the different camps to learn more about the viking way of life, the knights, etc.. We mostly just enjoyed the shows, but to be honest the jousting wasn't that exciting.

The baby is doing well. As many have asked, we had decided on names long ago. Since we're having a girl her name will be Sakura Lily Rose. In my family all of the kids have six letters in their name with the girls ending in "a" and the boys ending in "n". I liked the tradition and wanted to keep it going. When I was young I used to love a Japanese anime show called Cardcaptors with the main character being called Sakura. I LOVED the name and wrote it down in my journal so I could remember it one day when I would have kids. When Matt and I married we had discussed my 6 letter arrangement and to my surprise Sakura was a name he had always liked and wanted as well. Over the years we've had other ideas and we keep a list, but it seemed certain the first girl would be Sakura. To my surprise I just met a woman in my ward from New Zealand who is named Sakura! There aren't too many here in Australia, but she says she loves her name. Matt sometimes changes his mind and thinks it should be something more unique or different like Saqora or Quorra, but I won't let him change it at this stage. At my last appointment with the doctor she said it was so great to see someone who was so healthy and everything is going well. I don't feel like I'm very healthy, but I was glad she was happy with how things are going. The baby likes to move daily and sometimes she kicks quite hard and it startles me. I'm getting used to it. All is well for now!