Christmas is around the corner...

But you wouldn’t know it. Otis thinks that perhaps the Snow Miser, a favourite villain from The Year Without A Santa Claus (the movie that saved my sanity when Peggy was a screeching newborn and Phil was on the other side of the world), is sending us some snow for Christmas. Temperatures are lucky to reach the low 20s, we see at least a little bit of rain nearly every day (usually its bucketing down), and winter clothes are still in rotation. Shocking stuff! Where the hell is my summer? As a pregnant woman, so many sensory pleasures are unavailable to me... The warm, sedated buzz that comes from a third glass of wine, the salty goodness of Christmas ham and cold prawns coated in garlicky aioli... But I was relying on feeling the sun on my back, smelling of sunscreen and chlorine and spending many a golden day at the beach. Not happening.

To add insult to injury, I have a Vitamin D deficiency, so I am actually supposed to be exposing my skin to direct sunlight, which is simply not possible! I am taking supplements to prevent #3 being born with rickets! What an odd, first world problem Vitamin D deficiency has become. Cover up to avoid melanoma, but not too much, to avoid rickets. It’s complicated...

This pregnancy hasn’t been kind to me. I am icing my pubic bone nightly, wearing a brace most of the time, and limping along with a bit of a forced smile on my face. Peggy still demands that I carry her and “hold her tight”, and anyone who knows her knows that she’s not an easy person to say no to. I am as tired as can be, but underneath it all I am getting very excited about meeting this little one. I can’t wait to sniff its little (big) head, and gaze into its eyes for the first time.

I had to have a scan at 26 weeks after feeling really ill for a couple of months and not really knowing why... The baby was measuring very much ahead of dates, with an exceptionally large head. The sonographer looked a little perplexed, but I know better... It’s in the genes. I graduated the other day, and the woman who was fitting my hilarious Harry Potter-esque tudor bonnet was stunned by the size of my head... Big head, big brain, right? We can only hope!

All the scan confirmed for me is that this baby is super duper cute...

#3 has been referred to by a few different names by O and P... Bobba Fett (from Star Wars, for those not the parents of a Stars Wars fanatic), Smudge, Sanga... But the names we’ve chosen will remain a secret until we make our big announcement... The pressure is on! How do you match Otis and Peggy? It’s not easy, but I think we’ve done it.