OK, here goes...
We are still recovering from the shock of snow in Provence: the supermarket shelves are a bit empty, but DS's school opened again today.
I am eating like a horse, too. Every pregnancy is different and all that, but when I had DS I was pregnant during the subtropical summer (35°C with a 90% humidity rate, VERY sweaty), wore little other than a pareo around the house, did my hair into two Pippi Longstocking braids to keep cooler at night, rarely left our hillside house for the heat down in town, swam in a friend's pool three times a week, and ... ate very little as I was so hot. Excess lychee consumption was as wild as it got (oh, and a bit too much ice cream, too, now I think about it!).
This time around, I find that without actually being hungry, I just seem to graze all the time, and am eating a lot of filling comfort food. I'm doing hardly any exercise: we went swimming yesterday and just after getting in the water I sneezed, which gave me a huge, piercing cramp across my abdomen, lasting for about 5 mins. V. scary. The actual swimming after that did me so much good, though, that I really should go regularly. Sadly, the pool is only open at lunchtime during the week, and when I'm on ML I'll have DS home for lunch, so won't be able to go.
I am very of those with nurseries: the baby will have to sleep in our room, which will require some preparation as the temperature in there is 9°C at the moment, not quite what is recommended for a newborn. DS went straight into a cot in our room, which I think with hindsight was a bad choice, as it was so big for him he probably felt very lost flailing around in there. DH has now "lent" our cot to a colleague, and confessed at the weekend that he had not mentioned it was a loan, so we may not get it back. So now I'm trying to decide if a Moses basket is worth investing in for the first months. We live in a very old house, with a narrow, steep, irregular spiral staircase. Garage on ground floor, kitchen, bathroom & living room on 1st, DS's room on 2nd, ours on 3rd. The idea of manoeuvring a Moses basket up and down the stairs is terrifying, so I don't know if there's any point, or if I should get one of these (sorry can't find it in English) to put in the (new)cot for the first months. But then when the baby is napping, I'll mostly be 2 floors lower in the house, which I think I'd find a bit freaky, being so far away.
But the stairs issue won't last long, as our landlady is throwing us out at the end of Aug, since she's selling. Very, very bad timing, as the market has crashed, so although prices are falling, there's not much up for sale, and my savings are in the UK, so have lost 25% of their value because the £ is so weak.
We'll be moving house with a 3 or 4 month old baby, just as we did with DS, though not 12,000km across the world this time! But first we have to find somwhere to live. Not only a flat/house, but also a town, as we can't figure out where to live. Choice is limited by the extortionate cost in the area. DH works 9am-8pm and commutes 1hr each way day on his motorbike at the moment. It's dangerous, he hardly sees DS, and he is sick of it, so he wants to move to the town he works in, which I hate, hate, hate. I can't see myself bringing my kids up in that town, TBH, but then again I can't really go on working FT and also doing all the housework, shopping, cooking, laundry, etc. because DH is never home. So I think I'll have to give in, and it's making me a bit .
I have been scouring ads and found one for a nice house (rare), which is affordable for a good reason: the living area is separated from the bedrooms by a courtyard (nice, shady, with a fountain and pond thing). Not v practical with 2 kids, but the house is lovely and I can see myself living there, as opposed to the grim flats that are available for the same price. Please come and convince me that it would be daft to buy such an impractical house!
Wow, that was long, and all about moi and my petty concerns!