French Connection

The closer we get to C's due date, the more things we remember we should already have done. In the main, it's knock on effects and tasks caused by other tasks that I've forgotten to account for. For example, I had allowed cupboard space for a load of baby gear, but I had not accounted for the time and effort required to rearrange and repack all of my stuff into what was left of the bedroom.
It's looking like Christmas week itself will be very busy, so I have broken with Stephens family tradition, and set the tree up in the lounge in the first week of December.
Rose has had an interesting first week in Nimbin - as we got home on Monday evening, there was a large lizard caught in the wire fence next to the carport, and I must have looked hilarious as I gingerly cut it free using wire cutters - they are only a foot long but those claws look vicious. Luckily, the poor thing was too terrified to do anything except freeze up, and it didn't even scamper away until I had cut its neck completely free of the fence. Later in the week at Nimbin pool, she got to observe at first hand how I react when bitten in the foot by a large Australian red ant, which is probably even funnier. I think.
At the end of the week, Tity finally turned up - he managed to make it all the way from Auckland to Nimbin this time, making up for our complete failure to hook up when he and Morganne were in Australia on holiday earlier in the year. He almost didn't make it again, as his alarm didn't go off, and he woke up after the Kyogle train was due to leave - luckily, the train was delayed by almost 2 hours!
Given how tired we are at the moment, it was lucky that Tity was up for an extremely chilled weekend. We pretty much reverted to type; showed Tity round the strange architecture of the village, made sure he got some good souvenirs from the candle factory, got coffees, got cold beers, and chilled out on the deck watching the sun go down. I am fairly certain that Tity will be our last pre-baby guest! It was fantastic to catch up with the old bugger, and he certainly seems to have enough plans to keep him busy for the next few years - and with a bit of luck we might even catch up with him in Montpellier sooner than he expects!
Talking of babies, Ian and Eri in Tokyo have just had their son, Louis. As Eri did not look as big as C, and her due date was a week after C's, it's quite a surprise that she got there first!
Though today has been a very full week, it will be a very short blog post as at least 90 per cent of my time has been taken up with mundane crap that is best forgotten.
Forgetting stuff - ahhh... something I do well.