Merry Christmas!

It was a quiet but nice Christmas here at Riley Street.  We were going to go away, but after an unsettled weekend with A in Melbourne recently, we decided it would be a lot more relaxing just to stay home.  So stay home we did.  Especially with the pouring rain here in Sydney.  I cooked a pork neck which I talked Hudsons into giving me (after they told me the pork necks had been allocated weeks ago), which was delicious.  We took a drive down to the beach in the rain, just for something to do because we were all going a bit stir crazy.  We drove past Seans Panorama, where we had a couple of memorable meals when I was really pregnant, and going past just flooded me with memories of waddling in and out and those last few weeks filled with anticipation.  I also have stuck my head into the room where they do prenatal yoga at my yoga place - the carpet has a very distinctive (and not unpleasant) smell, and all I have to do is breathe it in and it's just like I'm lying there with Arch kicking me from the inside again.  I think about my pregnancy a lot, and what it might be like to be pregnant again, it's such an incredible thing.  Especially marvelling at this little person that grew inside me.  I still can't get over the fact that his ears and eyelashes and fingernails and ribs (and the rest, you get the picture) grew inside me.  No doubt it would be much harder the second time around, having a bebe to chase after and pick up and get down on the ground with, but like all these things that seem impossible with babies, people have being doing it more a very long time, and people just seem to manage.
I've been going to yoga when I can - which is much easier with Jamie around for the break.  I really enjoy it, and wish I could get down there more often.  Arch is still breastfeeding four times a day, so I still can't be away for long periods of time, and have to time it when I do leave him, but four is better than six, and soon it will be three.  He's still loving solids, and I think I'll give him an eating disorder if I'm not careful.
he's eight months now, and the biggest development lately has been sitting.  He's so much happier and seems so much more grown up now he can sit and play with things.  He's doing a lot of babbling of ma ma and da da - he has no idea what it means, but it's still adorable when he does it.
I'm going to go back to work three days a week when he is one, which I have really mixed feelings about.  I think I'll be a happier person for engagement with the adult world, but oh god, the thought of leaving him... As soon as the new year ticks over I know I'll feel like I'm on countdown until the end of April, and I need to not do that.  But it will be hard.
I've hurt my knee running, and it's taking ages to get better, which is driving me up the wall, so I've found this great gym to go to which specifically caters for pregnant women and women with children - there is almost as much play area as there is gym area, and they do small group training.  So you turn up at some stage in a three hour time block, stay for an hour, and there are usually only a couple of other people there.  The owner puts you through the session she's planed for the day, while the babies/kids play on one side of the room.  It really is ideal.  And something where I don't have to rely on other people to look after Arch, which means it's up to me when I exercise (and Archie's nap schedule).
Some photos to finish off: