With only 11 weeks left until the arrival of baby View From a Daddy, the preparations better start with vigour now the tree is down!
The time seems to have vanished since we first found out that we were expecting and now there's lots to sort. Perhaps we're both approaching this one with less trepidation as we sort of know what to expect but are we lulling ourselves into a falsehood? Could the next trimester possibly be as smooth as the two that have preceded it or indeed the three that came with the little lady? Probably not? And, if you asked Mrs View From A Daddy, she would probably be frowning at me in disbelief with a look of 'what's uneventful about fat fingers that force the removal of a wedding ring? The widening of ankles that lead to the sensible but vaguely trendy boots being banished to the wardrobe? The inability to turn in bed without a lot of effort? (I won't add the sound effects for fear of receiving more than a glare).
I won't pretend to be able to empathise with the change that pregnancy brings to the body but I can say that I do admire the capacity of the human form even if pregnancy does bring many limiting factors (again, I won't comment more than is necessary) but I can't help admiring the way that Mrs VFAD is ploughing on and maybe that's what informs my perception of a calm pregnancy so far. Although, I might add that one too many million gram blocks of Galaxy this festive period have put me somewhat into the same league of being unable to tie my own shoelaces without a lot of manoeuvring.
Given that the old cliche - time flies- can be applied to this pregnancy, it's also safe to say that choosing names has somewhat eluded us. Do we recycle the boy names we had last time or do we start afresh? What will go with the little lady's name. Do we really like what we've got so far for either sex or will we be chopping and changing right up until the last minute? On our first journey, we knew we wanted something different, something that wouldn't carry connotations for the teacher in Mrs VFAD, something that no one else would have in the growing band of new parents we were getting to know.
We have the name book to hand, we have the top 10 names of 2015 as a gauge and we have our short list so far but we also only have just under 80 days to decide (hopefully- any shorter could be tight in the DIY department; any longer would be reminiscent of last time - watch out or she'll clean you or at the very least feed you concoctions she's ahem 'invented'). Maybe the decision will be easy and we'll just know when he or she arrives? Here's hoping.
Anyway, as the preparations begin in earnest, the carpet will be laid, the magic ladders to the loft will be fitted which will reveal once and for all just how much stuff we have kept and need to clear out and of course the clear out (my nesting) will be completed but will we ever be ready for real events until the big day actually arrives? Probably not. But what I am sure of is that the time that follows will be something to be treasured as our new adventure begins and we get to spend the best of times learning how to be a four.