Do you hear that? It would be the sound of me coming up for breath.
There has been a pattern which has been followed in most of my pregnancies: I discover I'm pregnant at about five weeks; I then feel pretty good, albeit tired for the next couple of weeks; and then around seven or eight weeks the nausea hits and the vomiting begins. When that happens, I tend to go into hibernation for a few months.
This time was a little different. I felt the nausea, but only threw up a handful of times. At around fifteen weeks I found myself in a hospital room and discovered why. Sadly, we are no longer expecting another little bundle of joy to join us in August; the little bundle we had planned for had other ideas.
It's been about three weeks since that hospital stay and we've figured what's a pregnancy - even one that hasn't ended as anticipated - without a move thrown in for good measure. Since our marriage over seven years ago, we have moved more than ten times - sometimes it has been to another town for new opportunities, sometimes for promotions, sometimes to a bigger home in anticipation of another child, sometimes downsizing to cut costs, once was even into a home of our own. So I've managed to come up for breath just in time to prepare myself for next weeks' move.
On a completely different note, yesterday was Lewis's first birthday. This little man has made it through a whole year with the Donaldson Clan, something to be celebrated... which we did by singing happy birthday to Little Lou Lou each time he woke up and each time he ate. Isobel was very generous in giving him a ball - one that was lying around the house - as a gift. To be honest, with everything going on over the past few weeks, this birthday kind of crept up on me and I wasn't at all prepared. Perhaps that should have me struck down with guilt, but in reality, Lewis was only aware of whether or not he was getting the attention he sought, and he did pretty well with that yesterday. Perhaps we will celebrate once we have moved and settled into our new place. I can hardly wait to be in a place free of packed boxes.
Lewis is such a happy little man. He wants to be so involved in everything that his siblings are involved in. Despite his big brother preferring to play "Lewis-free" games, Lewis is always there in his brother's face having a good old giggle at the looks he is receiving.
Lewis has recently moved into remembering exactly what is was that he was playing with - you know, the very thing that he is just not allowed to play with - and voicing his unhappiness with having had it taken from him. He remembers what he is looking for and constantly goes back to get it, even when his mother voices her discontent with the idea!
Apart from an aversion to lying still to have his nappy changed, he is an easy young man to live with and we love having him here. So to you Master Lewis, we say happy first birthday.
