The Great Reveal - boy, girl or monkey?

We had our twenty week ultrasound today.
I've been counting down for days. I woke up and turned to my Beloved this morning and beamed 'we're going to see our baby today!'
Poppet came along with us to the hospital and was very good. I managed to spill my water three times, but Poppet was very good. While my Sprocket would be quite happy to swap the baby for a spider, or a kitten, or even a chicken, my Poppet is quite keen on the idea of a baby and wouldn't even swap one for a puppy.
I hopped on the bed, the jelly went on (Poppet looked very interested at the mention of jelly) and we saw our littlest one. There was a lot of looking at blobs and going 'hmm, yes. That could be… something.' But there was also a lot of oohing and ahing over tiny toes and fingers, leg bones, delicate spines and heart-mushing profiles. The steady little heart beating was amazing.
Yes, it's the third time I've seen it - but each time it blows me away. There's a little person in there, listening, kicking, punching, peeing (surely not every twenty minutes - ugh!) growing.
The sonographer was great. He used lots of words like 'wonderful' and 'very healthy' and 'I'd be happy if my brain looked like that'. I suppose he must be used to dealing with nervy parents. I wasn't as nervous with Sprocket and Poppet. I suppose I know more now about all the things that can go wrong.
Our dates changed once again - but I tend to look at the dates as a leetle bit of a guesstimate.
And… boy, girl or monkey?
We've had a lot of people ask it we were going to find out. My Beloved and I have never been in any doubt about it. I read the ends of books if I'm unsure of the ending. I google the plots of movies to make sure I want to see them. I'm not a surprise kind of girl.
And we're going to need every day of the next twenty weeks to argue over discuss the name. So...
Well, the sonographer wouldn't bet his house on it, but he would go so far as to say he's ninety to ninety-five percent sure… we're having a little girl!

Stills

- Our Christmas Dog. We didn't bring many toys down to the beach, but went to the op-shops in the first day and picked up some Christmas stuff. Hours of entertainment in a few Christmas hats! 
- Our Gluten free Christmas pudding. Made for my father-in-law (my Beloved was up till one as it took sooo long to steam). Unfortunately, he had to leave early to pick up some medicine… so it turned into my breakfast for the week! 
- Wet foliage at Point Addis. All week rain and shine seemed to swap every hour or so. Our Point Addis trip to see the caves was one of the wettest time! 
-Our makeshift Christmas tree. A branch and a can of paint and voila! 
-Poppet walking the back-beach. A new-old op-shop dress. I wasn't sure of it as it seemed very frilly, but I thought in the end it looked gorgeous. 
-Twenty-weeks. I can't believe we're half-way through. We have the ultrasound this week and are so excited. I also can't believe my bump is probably under half the size it will grow to… 
-Sprocket and Poppet going over the path to the back beach. 
-The kids in their PJ's playing with Sprockets new tool bench their Nana Sheba brought down from Queensland. Shortly after this Poppet decided all the screw fastenings were rings and began putting them on my fingers. 
-Sprocket eating his porridge. He may be appalling at eating veggies but at least he eats his porridge. He'd be quite happy to have it for lunch and dinner as well. (Okay, he often does.)
-The kids being swung in the hammock. (Or the space ship/rocket/sea ship, depending on their mood) 
-The kids in the sea. My Sprocket is an ocean boy and loves the waves. We don't want him to swim for awhile yet because of his grommets, but he's so desperate to get in and eager to go under. My Poppet is still very suspicious of waves. 
-Poppet on the way home. She reached the top of the dune steps and flung herself down on the path. 'I'm tired.'

This past week has been a beautiful, lazy beach week with nowhere in particular to go and nothing in particular to do, just listen to the sea, walk along the shore… bliss. This week is a lot more busy, doctors, dentists, end of year break ups, results, last minute Christmas shopping, Christmas card and present making… but I'm hoping we can hold on to some of last weeks calm!

Joining with the lovely Em of The Beetle Shack with moments from our week. 

50/52

My Poppet - dancing over the path across the sand dunes. So very her. Light on her feet and joyous. 
My Sprocket - with a beach-battered butterfly and hands red from making out Christmas wreath.

We've just had a wonderful five days at the beach and the only thing that reconciled me to coming home was knowing we'll be back in under a fortnight. This was such a hard week to chose photos for as there were so many beautiful moments!
Joining with the lovely Jodi of Che and Fidel for a portrait of my kids once a week, nearly every week, in 2013. It's hard to believe there are only two weeks to go. Surely not!

Australian Christmas Tree

When we came to our coast house so close to Christmas, I knew we'd need a Christmas tree. Nothing big, nothing fancy, but something festive. We found a branch of a gum tree and an old coffee container and used some paint to spray them golden. It worked like a charm and the kids were amazed, thinking it magic.
While I've tried to paint coffee containers before to disastrous, lumpy, splurgy, effect, I now know the secret is a can of spray paint. It was done in seconds, and dried within the day.
We filled the coffee container with sand from the shore, (you might be able to see we spilt some on the table) to keep our little tree upright, and voila. One very Australian Christmas Tree!
I thought about decorating it, but its golden gum nuts seem like decoration enough.
While I'll admit it's a little makeshift, I love our little trees simplicity and gleam, especially in the evening light. And I do like it when I actually get around to trying out an idea found on pinterest!

Unwinding through Advent

Running along the beach in the rain. Sinking our feet into fine, pale sand. Checking under stones for crabs. Exclaiming again, and again, and again about the colours, the smell, the sound, of the sea. Timing the waves to run around rocky outcrops. Building the biggest sandcastle ever. (Well, sort of,)  Yelling out as massive rainbows span the sea.

We're finally unwinding.

The Christmas rush is passing us by and we're going at a slower, easier pace.
We're still enjoying Advent - each evening we light an advent candle in the evening, read some Christmas stories and then the kids get their chocolate from the Calendar. But there's nothing we need to be on time for. No urgent shopping we'll do. No events to go to. Just the beach.

We're in the midst of making a Beach Christmas tree from a gum branch painted gold. We've already checked out the local op-shops and returned with a Christmas haul of tinsel, baubles, Christmas hats and reindeer antlers. We're eating Christmas pudding for breakfast. (The safest time for me to indulge - with pregnancy reflux I'm too scared to eat anything so rich much later!)

I'm still planning more Christmas crafts, but slowly, slowly, slotted between long beach walks and cliff top explorations. We've gone up the Cowboys and Indian Way, and along the Bandicoot path. We've ducked to weave through the Fairy-path, the moss beneath the ti-trees lushly, and unseasonably, green with all the rain. We've run and danced and paddled along the back-beach.

We've seen rainbows and this morning we're checking out Pixie Caves for pirate treasure.

This year, we're taking Advent slowly, and each day is precious.