Week Twenty Four: Sunday 22nd June 2008

Elwood has now hit the six month mark, and according to the websites, weighs more than 600 grams. Other key facts for this milestone include: though he / she still has little body fat and his / her skin is thin and fragile, he / she is now well-proportioned (i.e. the head is no longer hugely massive). Elwood’s brain is growing rapidly, and from crown to heel he / she could measure 22 centimetres. On a personal level, Elwood seems to have found a comfortable niche directly under my right rib – I know I wrote about this last week, but I am starting to feel guilty – I think from all the pushing I keep doing under my rib, he / she is going to come out with a big dent somewhere on it’s body!

An exciting moment for Mum today, she felt the baby kick for the first time. I think the novelty has worn off for Ash, but Mum was definitely excited. Ash has also been given (to the horror of many family and friends) the responsibility for choosing the girl’s name. From those of you who don’t know, I have had the boy’s name chosen since I was practically in high school, but the girl’s name has always proven a little more difficult. I love the name Charlotte, however Ash refuses to name the baby after a character in Sex and the City (despite she is the best dressed of the lot). So, I have said he get’s final say on the girl’s name, and being Ash he has gone into full-on research mode to make his decision. He has decided the name should be of an Irish heritage, and found a terrific website that not only pronounces each name, but provides you with it’s meaning – all in an Irish accent. (click here to see for yourself: www.babynamesofireland.com) This is a pic of Ash taking his research all too seriously.

With the baby’s arrival quickly speeding up, Ash and I are more determined than ever to start on the nursery. Well, we say that now, we will probably be in exactly the same position in another four weeks time. Here are some of the BEFORE shots – (the nursery is currently the study), and the plan is to paint the walls a soft yellow, with a Winnie the Pooh border, specially purchased from the UK. Our furniture is chocolate coloured and at the moment includes a cot, change-table and the infamous rocking chair. We still need to work out where we will store all of Elwood’s clothing and toys, and judging from Dylan’s collection, we may need another room altogether.

I also need some ideas from my beloved readers in relation to another little project I want to get started… I thought it might be a fun idea to organise a time capsule of sorts for Elwood. The idea is to collect things which are important / relevant to the current year or even generation, and then give the package to Elwood on his / her 21st birthday. A nice way of seeing how things have changed since the year he / she was born. So for example, I thought I could get a CD with the top singles of the year, a copy of the newspaper on the day of his / her birth, a DVD of a high rating tv show, definitely something Eels related etc. Are there any other ideas out there?? If you do have an idea, please send through via the comments section, or drop me an email on: kelly_parmenter@arnotts.com

That’s about it for now, until next time….