countdown

The next four weeks are going to be painful. As I grit my teeth, literally taste dust and grit.

Since our upstairs neighbour won't allow us to build an extension onto our flat, we have instead decided to try and do some indoor works - small things that can give us more storage, and maximise every bit of space we currently have.

All within the regulations of course - God forbid we don't do anything by the book around here. We don't need anyone's permission to do this.

However, there is still going to be quite a bit enough noise generated to feel like there is a jackhammer boring into her skull for a while. One thing the builders are currently doing, as we speak, is bashing down an old chimney breast in our bedroom. We don't currently have a wardrobe, and this will give us one.

No wardrobe at all is dire. Currently all of our clothes are in storage (luckily I only have five things I wear and rotate at the moment. Rhino fashion is limited, believe you me), but I'd imagine you'd all agree - cupboards are a necessity in a home, not a luxury.

Concrete bashing is going to drive the highly strung Parisian neighbour up the wall. We could hear her screaming about it to her husband last night. And yet, there's nothing she can really say. Luckily for her, this will only last a week. The other work is the basement - we are digging that out to create another room. This will be less noisy as it's two floors down from her.

Either way she can bitch and scream all she likes. We offered her an office, we were polite, we did everything we could and now we are doing what we can with the legal requirements we have.

Et voila.

Our indoor space is covered in dust. Everything is coated in a film, from the toaster in the kitchen to the bath tub. Five weeks. Just five weeks. And everything will hopefully be better, more liveable. Ready. And I can then focus on making the nursery nice for my twins.

We are currently camping in the nursery on our bedroom mattress. The nursery just about fits a double bed. So, at the moment, my fixation is Pintresting things like "small nursery ideas" and trying to strategically come up with clever storage ideas, and how to fit two cots into the space we have, alongside a small cupboard or shelves. And where, for example, I can store the 1000 nappies they'll use in any given week.

I think we will just about be alright. I'm not entirely sure how more than two of us will fit in there at one time, but I'm working on it.

The fun thing with a nursery is looking for pictures and art and other fun things to brighten it up and make it all homely and babyfied. I can't wait to do this when I am on full maternity leave, when I can consult Etsy from the couch.

We've also booked a babymoon!
More accurately, a road trip to France for a long weekend. We thought of flying to Barcelona or something, but there's a chance they won't let me on the plane with my current size, so a bit risky.

We always said we'd do a road trip to Europe once we had our car, so now's the time. When next can we just pack up and go to France anyway? Besides, I need to stop for a pee all the time, so driving makes the most sense.

We'll load the car onto the Euro Tunnel, and then once in Calais, drive an hour or so south to a chateau we found. We are staying in a chateau, with roaring fires and good food, not far from lots of little Alsace market towns. Could be worse eh?


It's all going by so fast. In less than 7 weeks - eek! SEVEN -  I stop work for 10 whole months. The clock is ticking, and time is going by like a flash.

Before we know it, we will be four.