Things have been.... well... stressful mostly, but everything seems to have evened out now. Thankfully, everything seems to have worked out out in the end.

Making Beads:
I spent over 14hrs out in the garage making beads the past weekend. That's the most I've done in quite some time.... and I know how many hours I've been out there because I've been listening to an audiobook while I work, and it's a pretty good way of tracking the time that gets eaten up when you are engrossed in the flame and the molten glass.

Making Babies (well, not right now):
Ross and I had our specialist appointment in the middle of last week, the OB sent us for a 'Recurrent loss' panel of bloods which means both Ross and I had to give blood. We get the results back in about 5wks, but he was really positive and gave us a really high  chance to go on and have a healthy pregnancy.

He suspects that I have PCOS, which wasn't really a surprise, I'd looked into that before, but I'd thought that people with PCOS don't ovulate regularly, and my charting seems to suggest that I do ovulate. It turns out that I was wrong, simply having a cycle longer than 35 days is a symptom (mine is 39 days).

We are allowed to try again as soon as we'd like to, but since I haven't had a cycle since the 2nd miscarriage (November) .... well.... we'll have to sort that out first.

I've been really tired recently, so hopefully by sorting out that, my body will balance itself out again...

Since getting the wii fit for Christmas I've been exercising more also (although that being said, I haven't done anything ALL weekend! *gasp*) ... but if it is PCOS, exercise, acupuncture and good nutrition should have a positive impact.

So, yeah....all is well and good. Sorta.

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Before with digger:

After:

First stage complete!

The long term plan to pave the top of the terraced part, and there will be another retaining wall, planters and more stairs towards the back of the terraced part.

In the short term, we'll let grass grow up there and plant some trees.

During.

We also leveled the path to the side of the house, put down some gravel and pavers. I don't have a before photo of the side of the house, but it wasn't pretty.

Afterwards we celebrated with Cold Rock on the steps:

 

Ross, Me and My Mum (Dad took the photo).

Yesterday Ross, TK, my parents and I went for a ride on the Southern Star Observation Wheel. (Click the link if you want to know more.)

Here are a few of the photos we took.

The wheel from below.

We had a cabin all to ourselves.

My parents with TK.

Ross and I, and the view near the top.

Ross, TK and I.

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TK has been doing a week long 'swimming intensive' (lessons every day for a week) in order to get him more confident in the water when he goes to school holiday summer camp.

Today he got a certificate to say he could go up a level from 'beginner' to 'learner'.

The teacher asked him, "How did you get so good?"
He responded "Connie taught me."

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Ross gave me a wii fit for Christmas... and I love it.

I'm now a hula-hooping, rhythm-boxing, ski-jumping fool.

Tee-hee he.

The backyard make-over is progressing well, there are photos, and they will come... I promise.

TK is learning to swim (thanks to Connie for kick-starting his lessons!) and I have been convinced to shoehorn my ample figure into a new pair of togs to get into the water with him. A couple of days ago we spent 2hrs at the local pool, most of the time was spent in the wave pool. Much fun was had.

Tomorrow, Mum, Dad, Ross, TK and I are going to see Bolt in 3D... yay!

Then Monday, it'll be time to work on the retaining wall, the backyard is going to look great when it's done.

Happy 2009 everyone!

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