Mmmm…chicken.

We had our 20 week scan a few weeks ago, and I have to say, the image of Snowy resembles a roast chicken.

Made me hungry. I don't get to eat chicken much at home because Tricky doesn't eat it (that's a whole other story) but besides looking like a chicken dinner, here's some other facts about Snowy (I'll fast-forward to 23 weeks because that's what Tricky has just passed). I'm going to refer to Snowy as a he, because its just easier but don't infer anything from it, OK?

• Snowy is about 21cm from head to rump and about 30cm head to toe. That's getting to be too big to do somersaults and other gymnastic feats, so Snowy has been kicking in frustration.
• Snowy now has taste buds and can get to 'taste' what his mum eats (that means Snickers bars, Elderflower cordial and lots of hoisin beef noodles)
• There are some long legs in there. No idea where they came from.
• Snowy is pretty much a fully formed baby now and really just has some growing to do. There are a few things to sort out between now and when its time to come out but should anything untoward happen and Snowy had to come out now, he would have a chance of surviving.
• Sleeping time is usually when Tricky is awake because her movements soothe Snowy to sleep (this is apparently why babies can be rocked to sleep.) On the other hand, wakey time can be when Tricky is trying to rest. Snowy still spends a large amount of time sleeping – takes after his mother.
• Snowy is growing like The Blob, or maybe like Audrey II, the plant in The Little Shop of Horrors. Tricky will attest to this (Feed me! Feed me! Feed me all night long!)
• Some say a foetus has started to think by this time. If so, it would probably only be something very simple like "Gee, that was a dodgy curry" or "Bouncing up and down on mum's organs is fun"
• Snowy can hear Tricky's voice and apparently can distinguish my voice as different from hers. He can also hear and feel Tricky's stomach rumbling and yes, probably her farts as well. Snowy's nostrils are open so its just as well he's swimming in amniotic fluid or he'd be able to smell those farts. Hmm.. Tricky has also been complaining about her nipples being sore lately and "Shit, my fucking tits!" has become a regular catch-cry in our household. I think when Snowy come out, his first words will be Shit, followed by Fuck, then he'll rip off a huge fart, or more likely a series of farts. That's the only way they come in our house

More on Snowy later. And I also a post something about how Tricky's going.

Emiliana Torrini.

Although Tricky is not that keen on it, I absolutely love Emiliana Torrini‘s album, Fisherman’s Woman. Its full of gorgeous vocals and lyrics and (despite what you might infer from her name) Ms. Torrini is from Iceland. Imagine listening to a less nutty Bjork accompanied by just acoustic guitar and you’re almost there.

Favourite tracks, Sunny Road and Thinking out loud.

Link-o-rama

It seems I've been getting a lot of traffic from these two guys lately.

Thanks to Masamichi Ban and his site, pajatti.net, Community for Creators, based in Japan (yet another design site I will have to revisit) and also Gabi Londo from Madrid, Spain (I think that’s his name, sorry mate if it isn’t) in the CSS-mania section of his personal weblog nv30 – well worth a visit.

Thanks guys!

Update
Damn. Must check out referrers more often. I’ve also been getting some visitors from the lovely ladies at Moxie Design Studios from where you can get all of your graphic design needs, plus try a tasty Moxietini while you’re there.

Dirty dishes haiku

The lack of updates is because I've been busy, and tired. And quite frankly, I can't be arsed.

Whatever I've been doing, it certainly hasn't been the dishes. This photo represents almost every plate, bowl, cup, knife, fork and spoon plus most other culinary items in our kitchen. The only things left in the cutlery drawer are a corkscrew, a potato masher, a metal egg slide (that I don't like to use), one wooden spoon and assorted rarely-used knives of the K-mart bargain variety.

As this is the first time in memory this has happened for me, before I set about the task of doing the dishes, I decided to record this moment for posterity (and of course, to share with you all now.) I've also composed this poem in haiku stylee, just for something different.

Birthday Girl.

It was Tricky's birthday on Saturday and we went off to Paris for the weekend.

We’ve been to Paris a few times before but Tricky especially wanted to do the Fat Tire bike tour with me before a baby comes along which would make it tougher for us to do. What can i say? The tour was fantastic. They have both a day tour and a night tour and we decided on the night tour. You get to ride these cool retro cruisers and travel in relative safety in a group of around a dozen around the streets of Paris. These guys know all of the secret spots and special vantage points to see most of Paris’ main attractions from a different angle. What a great way to see Paris! I highly recommend it. And Tricky took it all in her stride as though she wasn’t 19 weeks pregnant at all.

We made it home at around 1 am via the crazy, smelly Paris Metro (what a mental place a Paris Metro station is late at night), had some Madeline cakes for supper and hit our bed to catch some sleep (we had been up since 5 the previous morning.)

The next day, we were on a hunt for something. Our hotel was at the bottom of the Mont Martre hill, home of the famous artist’s market. We were looking for a painting or ink drawing or some other object for us and for Snowy to remind us of this time. We saw lots and lots of tourist paintings of typical Parisian scenes, the type that the artist reels of by the dozens. Not what we were looking for. We also saw some beautiful ink drawings and some pastels which were way out of our price range. We eventually found the perfect painting for Snowy.  It was one of many by the same artist, but each one was a little different. You can see a detail of the painting above. We love it.

Our weekend in Paris was the best ever. Happy birthday sweet. I love you.