It's a girl!

Nico is a year, 10 months and 18 days today. In 137 days (or so), he'll be the big brother of a little girl. Well, I hope she'll be little on the way out and grow from there.

We went to the 20-week scan yesterday and the sonographer said she was 96% sure that the Bean is a girl, considering we saw some girl bits and no boy bits.

That being said, I must admit that she looks more like an old man than a girl at the moment, without the fat on. Time to head to the nearest KFC, all for the baby's sake.

Everything for Miss Bean is going well, or at least as far as we could tell. The sonographer checked for Down's syndrome, cleft palate, femur length, and head circumference. And other stuff.

The only potential problem is that the placenta is low lying for now, which could mean placenta praevia if the placenta doesn't expand upwards. Placenta praevia is a condition where the placenta covers the cervix, blocking the baby's traditional exit route. In which case we'd have to go for the scenic route via the rooftop. Let's hope it doesn't happen...

Nico behaved fairly well considering he'd received the full weight of a toy chest's wooden lid on the face in the waiting room earlier on. The wonders of cuddles, grapes and a glass water... Must find a way to bottle this and sell it as a miracle pain killer on the black market. Why black market? Because morphine sells for more than ibuprofen.

The rest of the time he's his happy angelic self with the exception of when he doesn't get his way - in which case we'll get a theatrical performance where he'd rush up to the cause of the upset in question, dramatically fall on one knee and collapse to the floor, crying/whingeing. Move away to another room, and he'll follow for an encore.

We went to visit Finn to give his birthday present yesterday. He and Nico got on really well. Must take Nico out to socialise at Playgroup more often. Hopefully he'll enjoy the interaction with his little sister, though I'm expecting some drama as he will no longer get undivided attention.

Nico is pointing at my belly and saying 'baby', but I'm wondering whether he might be confusing it with my belly piercing.

To Brisbane and (unfortunately) back

Today Nico is 1 year, 10 months and 8 days old and I'm 19 weeks pregnant.

Daddy had to go to Brisbane to see a client, so we tagged along for the ride. Nico decidedly enjoyed his 3rd trip overseas, waking up every morning (well if you don't count the days he had fever and our 6am start on the last day) full of beans and zooming around the apartment like a hoon without the wheels.

Typical me, I had extensively researched Brisbane's child-friendly activities, had addresses and schedules noted down and of course forgot them on my laptop at home. Blame it on baby brain. Still, we managed to find pretty fun places to see and do.

The key to an easy trip is definitely down to two things: toys and food. As long as the beast was fed and entertained, no one's sanity was in danger. I now have a standard checklist of things to take for road, camping, plane or overseas trips.

So what did we do?

- Got in touch with our inner Ponsonby St selves and ordered fluffies, known as baby-cinos in Australia, at each cafe/restaurant. Tried (most of the time successfully) to tip it away to see if gravity works on hot liquids.

- Ran around the apartment naked (incriminating pictures not supplied) because it's so warm

- Got up close and personal with snakes, koalas, kangaroos, lizards, and other animals whose names I can't remember at Currumbin Sanctuary and Australia Zoo

- Impersonated a gibbon at the Currumbin Sanctuary playground

- Had yum cha at a restaurant in Chinatown

- Got shorts, t-shirt and non-swim nappy wet at Southbank's Aquativity playground

- Demonstrated how Nicosaurus-Rexes chase hordes of Daddociraptors down at Queensland Museum

As a bonus, Nico decided that it was time to say things that an adult would actually understand.

As of today, his vocabulary includes:

1. 3 in all 4 languages, Hai (2 in Vietnamese)


2. A, C, D, E, I, O, Q, R, U


3. Nana (banana), Cheese


4. Gau (bear in Vietnamese), Chat (cat in French), Bo (cow in Vietnamese)


5. Down


6. Papa, Mama, Thijs (as in, Uncle Thijs)

The pregnancy is progressing well, we're going for our 20-week scan next Tuesday and will hopefully find out then if Nico's going to have a sister or a brother. The Bean is kicking a fair bit and causing me some grief with my breathing. My belly is now obviously sticking out if I wear tight-fitting clothes and I've resorted to using my belly belt for the first time today to keep the ends of my pants together.