All Change
Last week we attended the last of both sets of ante-natal classes. Three of the women in our group have since given birth. Mo is good to go. Could be weeks, could be...much sooner. My beloved is eager - her body is continually putting her through practice paces. She springs a sort of labour emergency-stop test on me on occasion - strolling through town: 'What would you do if my waters went now?' I aim to stay calm.
Last night we went for dinner at the West End flat of a couple from another ante-natal group who came to our lot's last meeting to answer questions and show us their baby, a beautiful, amazingly alert (to my unaccustomed eyes) 4 month old girl. They're good people, warm, hospitable, funny, kind. A most pleasant time, though I was a wee bit intimidated by their level of self-possession, capability, eco-awareness and clean-living ways.I felt a tad slobbish but Mo shone. While she was up and cooing and rolling about (the baby, stoopid!), I couldn't take my eyes off their baby.
At work, I finally undertook to change things. Bro 2 and I had a disagreement some weeks ago after which I huffily jabbed the keyboard in search of a new job. Long and short of it - after an interview last Monday, I was offered a job as an auxiliary nurse at the hospital just up the road from our pad on Tuesday. Looks like I'm donning the old white tunic again. A very convenient location, but what really swung it for me was the shift patterns: three twelve hour shifts per week (and one week per month of four shifts), allowing me four days most weeks to look after the Bean, upon Mo's eventual return to work. This time, I intend to take the work seriously and study for a nursing degree in due course. All of a sudden, it's no longer unthinkable to be responsible. Perhaps stil a leetle daunting.
I'd been deeply anxious about how the Brother would take the news of my imminent departure for a number of reasons. He's a capricious fella, capable of showing both great generosity and an ugly temper, often within a few minutes. I did him the disservice of expecting anything from surly acceptance to a smack in the mouth when he turned out to be completely cool and understanding, though a little incredulous that anyone would take a cut in pay from a fairly cushy office gig to ministering to the maniacs and mutterers of the east end, as he sees it. The money's not an issue. What I lose in wages I'll save in childcare costs. I'll also be making my own way again at last (though Mo will have to pay the bills when I reach the third year of nursing studies). Exciting times for oul unclef and famille.
But, plus ca change, a drink this evening in the Note, between office and home, with Mr Q, his cool pal Yvonne over from Germany, and Miss L. Good to see friends in the midst of these personally momentous times.
Mo, though still keeping busy, running up curtains, so to speak, is groaning and gasping with aches and Bean movements. Watch this space.
Last night we went for dinner at the West End flat of a couple from another ante-natal group who came to our lot's last meeting to answer questions and show us their baby, a beautiful, amazingly alert (to my unaccustomed eyes) 4 month old girl. They're good people, warm, hospitable, funny, kind. A most pleasant time, though I was a wee bit intimidated by their level of self-possession, capability, eco-awareness and clean-living ways.I felt a tad slobbish but Mo shone. While she was up and cooing and rolling about (the baby, stoopid!), I couldn't take my eyes off their baby.
At work, I finally undertook to change things. Bro 2 and I had a disagreement some weeks ago after which I huffily jabbed the keyboard in search of a new job. Long and short of it - after an interview last Monday, I was offered a job as an auxiliary nurse at the hospital just up the road from our pad on Tuesday. Looks like I'm donning the old white tunic again. A very convenient location, but what really swung it for me was the shift patterns: three twelve hour shifts per week (and one week per month of four shifts), allowing me four days most weeks to look after the Bean, upon Mo's eventual return to work. This time, I intend to take the work seriously and study for a nursing degree in due course. All of a sudden, it's no longer unthinkable to be responsible. Perhaps stil a leetle daunting.
I'd been deeply anxious about how the Brother would take the news of my imminent departure for a number of reasons. He's a capricious fella, capable of showing both great generosity and an ugly temper, often within a few minutes. I did him the disservice of expecting anything from surly acceptance to a smack in the mouth when he turned out to be completely cool and understanding, though a little incredulous that anyone would take a cut in pay from a fairly cushy office gig to ministering to the maniacs and mutterers of the east end, as he sees it. The money's not an issue. What I lose in wages I'll save in childcare costs. I'll also be making my own way again at last (though Mo will have to pay the bills when I reach the third year of nursing studies). Exciting times for oul unclef and famille.
But, plus ca change, a drink this evening in the Note, between office and home, with Mr Q, his cool pal Yvonne over from Germany, and Miss L. Good to see friends in the midst of these personally momentous times.
Mo, though still keeping busy, running up curtains, so to speak, is groaning and gasping with aches and Bean movements. Watch this space.