Whilst out with a friend yesterday in the sizzling 103˚F heat, we both commented with excitement about the projected 30˚F drop in temperature that was forecast for today. I’ve looked forward to this ever since I saw it on weather.com ten days ago and OH MY GOODNESS IT FEELS GOOD. Grey skies, clouds and no need for air conditioning. Nicole even needed a jacket for her early evening walk. As I type this, I’m sitting in a woolly jumper (that’s British for ’sweater’, by the way) having just eaten a mini apple pie and I couldn’t be happier, squee! Time for Autumn crafts. Time to break out the knitting, I think.

So let’s see… Baby, baby, baby, blah, breastfeed, baby, blah, baby, baby, blah, blah, baby. It’s all that I seem to talk about these days. There *is* actually more to my life than that. We have a wedding this weekend, for example. WineChris (not to be confused with FilmChris) is marrying his lady love and DrMrNin is going to be best man, so there has been a flurry of clothes-related activity going on in our house to make sure we’ve all got suitable attire. Except the flurrying is mainly to do with me as I have *nothing*, I repeat *NOTHING* to wear. Well, nothing that a) fits and/or b) is wedding-appropriate and/or c) is breastfeedable in. DANGIT, there I go again, just when I was going on about something else I turn it all round back to babies again. Sorry. But seriously, it’s not that I’m short of clothes, I have a WHOLE ENTIRE CLOSET full of them, a whole closet that I paid good money to import the contents of across the Atlantic but it’s all for narrower hips, slimmer thighs and a less than ample bosom. I repeat, *NOTHING* fits. Hopefully by Christmas it’ll be a different story but by that stage I’ll have rather missed the wedding, somewhat.

So anyway after more time than I wanted to spend trying to find something to wear this morning, I get all ready to pop Baby Peach into the car to head to the local library for Baby Storytime and Songs. It’s nice and cosy with a few other local mums and Oliver seems to like it in his own little not-really-knowing-what-it’s-all-about sort of way. So there’s me, shower: check; clothed, check; MAKEUP (woohoo): check; then there’s the baby bath: check; early morning feed: check; MASSIVE FULL-ON THERMONUCLEAR MELTDOWN OF FIRSTBORN* SON…..CHECK. Let’s just say we didn’t make it to the library this week. Ah-ha! I thought (I’m good like that), I shan’t waste the day now that I’m up, dressed and WEARING MAKEUP. So I decided to go to the shops to see if I could find a couple of cheap tops to see me through my booby phase for the coming few months and to also ger DrMr a belt for the wedding on Saturday. Lunch for me, lunch for him and an equally unenjoyable baby screaming fit later and we finally make it into the car and drive out to the store. And you probably guesssed it, the moment we stepped foot across he magic eye that triggers the automatic door, the bawling re-started. Followed by the howling. Which was promptly followed by the SCREEEEEAAAAAAMMMIIING. Chernobyl exploded all over again and then DEFCON ran out of alert statuses. Not nice.  So I grabbed what I could, bought it quickly and then ran back to the car with Grumpy McGrumpster still hollering LOUDLY all the way.

And then to top it all, when I got home I found Maddie with a whincing toothache and had to take her to the emergency dentist for a filling.

Not a fun day at all. But at least I had managed to put on some  makeup.

*actually thirdborn if you include Chester Kitten and Toby Kitten.

“Mommmm” squeaked a tiny, little voice.
“Yes Paige?”
“Eliza says you’ve got a baby growing in your tummy and that’s why you’ve turned into such a fatso. But we all know she’s lying.”
“Why?”
“Because we all know that new sisters come through the mail in boxes.”
“But Paige, you’re having a new brother.”
“WHAT? A BROTHER? So you really HAVE got a baby growing in you?”
“Yes.”
“How is he going to get out?”
“Through my bottom.”
“WHOA. Will he still come in a box?”
“No.”
“When will he get here?”
“Any time after about three weeks.”
“THREE WEEKS?”
“Yes.”
“ARE YOU SERIOUS?”
“Yes.”
“Mom? Aren’t you supposed to get stuff for babies?”
“Umm…”
“OhMyGosh you SERIOUSLY need to start doing some shopping…“

In three weeks time I will be 37 weeks, by which stage the baby will be classed as full term and aside from some gifts from friends and family we still have yet to get anything ready. Do we have a carseat? No. Nursery furniture? No. What, not even a bassinet? No. Diapers? No. Clothes? A couple, but like I said, we’ve had gifts from friends and family. A pram? YES!!! My parents got us one at Christmas. Lotions and creams? No. Are you joking? No. So really, aside from a couple of clothes and a pram, we have EVERYTHING still to buy. It’s really about time that the shopping should begin…

And yes readers, Baby Peach has plums! We’ve known for quite a while, but wanted to make sure everyone in the family knew before I posted it here.

What better distraction is there than to do something completely different, so this past weekend we decided to forget all about anything house/home/appliance/sick kitten-related and headed up to Wine Country for one of the annual barrel tasting events- this time it was the turn of the Russian River Wine Road. As I mentioned previously, ventures up to Napa and Sonoma are always some of my favourite daytrips. As if the winetasting itself isn’t enjoyable enough, it’s all within spectacular scenery too.

Plus we got to have a fun day out with our old roommate, WineChris (not to be confused with FilmChris), but then a trip to Wine Country isn’t a trip to Wine Country if he doesn’t come along too- he’s a walking wine encyclopaedia

(Note DrMr’s hair in this pic- post about that coming soon, I cut it the next day).

Joyce decided that she wanted to come with us too. Joyce likes to throw parties and entertain, so she was keen to find out what she could look forward to serving her guests in the seasons to come. It was a rather blue-skied day, so she was very careful to protect her fair skin from the sun.

Barrel tasting is when you get to sample the wine straight from the barrel, before it has even been bottled, and if something particularly takes your fancy you can buy ‘futures’ which are exactly as they sound- you can pre-order wines that are yet to be bottled and released. DON’T WORRY, I USED THE SPITOON. And DrMrNin, WineChris and Joyce were all delighted that they didn’t have to draw straws to be the designated driver on this occasion. Pfft, pregnancy.

It’s always very interesting to compare wines by the same winemaker that are the same vintage and the same grape varietal, but were grown in different vineyards. Most winemakers definitely have their signature stamp on the flavours to distinguish themselves from their neighbour wineries, but the terroir (the environment in which the grape was grown) can make an incredible difference and it is this which usually gives a particular wine its special quirks. What’s even more interesting is to also do a ‘vertical’ whereby you compare the exact same wines from the same winemaker, but taste the same wines of consecutive vintages- annual variations in climate can make an incredible difference too. Barrel tastings are an excellent chance to do this as most places invariably have their current reserves on offer for taste sale too- after all, what more of a captive market is there than one with carefree inhibitions?!

We didn’t buy any futures on this occasion, but did stock up on some of our other favourites as they usually have good discounts at these events too (plus extra discounts and free entry to the event if you know people at the wineries, hee hee!). We got a particularly good deal on some of my favourite 2001s that are ready to drink right now, woohoo.

So yes, I’m pregnant and went winetasting, but like I said, I DID NOT SWALLOW (ugh, *groan*). But although I didn’t get to fully appreciate each sip, at the same time my hormone-driven-super-heightened sense of smell and taste certainly made up for it and I had a lot of fun picking out the different flavours, often noticing them WELL before the people I was tasting with. I shall probably actually miss that part of the whole baby-growing process when it’s all over, but one thing I am very much NOT going to miss is not recognising myself when I look in the mirror. Here I am at six months….

I recognise my clothes, face and hair, BUT THAT IS ABOUT IT. Just look at my boobs, they’re ENORMOUS! I also can’t wait to eat blue cheese, and wear skinny jeans, and be able to sleep through the night without having to get up 20 times to pee.

But I digress….. all in all it was a lovely day, thoroughly enjoyed by each of us. And in just a few short months I’ll at last be able to enjoy some of the wines that we bought, hooray! (Yes, I’m planning to pump so that I may partake of the odd glass of adult beverage from time to time, but that’s probably more information than anyone really needs to know…)

Yay for Sonoma trips! I already can’t wait for the next one

First a quickie update to say that Toby is still progressing, albeit slowly but in a throughly pleasing way. I must be doing something right so far. It’s likely we’ll get the test results tomorrow, so fingers crossed… thanks everyone for all your kind words so far, they really are helping!

Now onto the other things that I’ve been up to over the past couple of weeks when I haven’t been busy or tending to the kittens… Firstly there was FilmChris’ and VanderKitten’s Supercool Superbowl party the other weekend- my second American Superbowl experience (woot!) and I understood as little about the game this time as I did the last I did enjoy the 3-D commercials though, very clever.

Then there was a trip up to Wine Country, always one of my favourite outings.

A group of college girls gawped and me and spoke in VERY LOUD WHISPERS condemning the fact that I dared even set foot into an establishment serving alcohol in my pregnant state, but hey, a girl is allowed to swirl the glass and sniff it even if she doesn’t swallow!

They were probably all experts in raising children too, I will have to hunt them down next time my child is scareeeeeeeeming and I can’t get it to stop.

Speaking of children, or should I say plastic ones, Nicole came along for the ride too. She likes the scenery up there.

She wasn’t allowed to taste though, so ended up getting a bit bored having to wait around for us (what is it with Moofs and their short attention spans?!).

And as for the other main reason why I’ve been busy of late (well, besides nursing the kittles……), WE’VE BEEN HOUSEHUNTING! But so far without success.

Now back to my kitties… Please keep your fingers crossed for us tomorrow! I would give anything right now to be told that Toby has herpes and not this horrible FIP

Oh Christmas tree…
Oh Christmas tree…
How lovely are your branches…

Yay! Christmas is almost here! This weekend was a flurry of festive activity, the decorations went up, Christmas parties were attended, and some christmas shopping was got underway too. Paige, Meredith and I attended our very first Blythe Meet in San Francisco and had a completely super time meeting lots of other Blythe folk and their girls. Unfortunately I couldn’t stay until the end, but it was probably just as well as Paige was slightly overwhelmed by the whole affair, turned a shade of pale that I hadn’t seen on her before, and became VERY shy. I’m sure she’ll be better next time.

Meredith on the other hand was as bubbly as ever…. yes, yes, I have yet to formally introduce her by way of updating my meet the girls page, but we have yet to venture out for a little photoshoot. I must introduce Lily Blue at some point too, and do a page for the Moofs. I will have to sort through some photos when I’m back at Christmas. But in the meantime, that’s Meredith on the right. She’s quite a mischievous girl, and is always bursting into fits of giggles, as she is in the photo above. That’s her to a ‘t’- mid laugh.

So anyway, from the Blythe Christmas Party, we caught the train back down south to the 5th Annual Holiday Party of Vanderkitten and Film Chris who are not only our friends but for the last couple of months have been our neighbours. Fun and merriment was had by all and it was a great way to get into the holiday mood. Too bad DrMrNin couldn’t make it as he had to get some samples processed at work, but he came back with a happy look on his face- the look of a satisfied scientist who has just got some good data is very easily recognisable- so it wasn’t all that bad in the end.

Yay for the holidays! I love this time of year