Quiche is coming!

It's the been the third most stressful week of my life this week.

First, our landlady announced she was selling our flat and we had to get out - then we had big rows with her - and eventually I found us another, much nicer place to live; though I still have to sort out our references.

Second, Buffy and I got into a big fight with the Mumsnet forum after I posted a link to our parenting blog on there. Half of them thought our blog was funny and sweet; the other half called me a sexist nob. Traffic to LAB went crazy, but the whole thing got too personal and we had to get Mumsnet to delete the post.

Third, we had the continued agony of the wait for Quiche. But finally - finally! - something is happening. Buffy is going to be induced tomorrow. At last, at last, our daughter is going to enter the world.

I know that's going to be the start of all the hard work. But I have no doubt it's all going to be worthwhile.

Here's a picture of Ellie in her bedroom in Oz:

Anyone out there?

I don't know if anyone still reads this blog because I haven't had a comment for weeks! Maybe you've all moved over to Life After Birth... where you can read all about the seemingly endless wait for Quiche.

Apart from willing Quiche into the world, what else have I been doing? Um...

1. Using consumer power to make Mars change their minds. Last week, Mars announced that their chocolate bars would no longer be veggie-friendly because of the introduction of calf stomach. So, Buffy, I and 6000 others wrote to complain and the company backed down. Hurrah! We can scoff Mars Bars to our hearts' content.

2. Watching My So-Called Life on DVD. I missed the entire show when it was on in the early 1990s. (Not sure what I was doing at the time; hanging around, being baggy.) It's fab and ace. Not as good as Buffy TVS, but what is?

3. Getting excited about Big Brother. Only 10 days to go. Quiche will have to be trained not to scream between 9pm-10pm.

4. Getting addicted to Facebook. On one level, I find it almost as irritating as Myspace, and it makes me feel old. But I can see that it's useful for keeping in touch with groups of friends. If you're on there, look me up in the London network or using my normal email address.

5. Getting depressed about Nottingham Forest getting knocked out of the League One play-offs. How shit.

6. Going a little bit mental. I really do feel a bit mentally and emotionally unstable at the moment. It must be the pressure of the impending birth, but I'm finding it very hard to concentrate on anything right now. I hope I'm not too difficult to live with at the moment.

Come on Quiche!!

Sweet little victory

I'm feeling very happy this afternoon for a very shallow reason - Sara and I won our company's Fantasy Football competition! (Or, rather, we came top of our league; there are three.) It's funny because our team, which we named before we knew Sara was pregnant, is called Up the Duff, because we had Damien Duff in our side. I've been trying to win for four years. Hooray for us!

I'm also happy because I finally completed on the sale of my house this week. I've been sensible and put most of the money in a savings account, ready for when we try to get back onto the property ladder... although we need a house price crash in London before we'll be able to do so. I've also put some money aside to start driving lessons again. And had a mini spending spree. I've ordered a camcorder so we can shoot endless footage of Quiche. I also bought Buffy a Nintendo DS which she's been playing all afternoon, doing brain training. I promise it wasn't actually a Homer Simpson-style bowling bowl present for myself!

If you think I don't update this blog very often, you need to see Life After Birth - I'm blogging there nearly every day. Sometimes twice.

Wimbledon commoners

We've had a very quiet bank holiday because Sara is too pregnant to venture too far, although she went stir crazy today and we ended up in Wimbledon, where I bought some distressed Converse then ran through a May Day downpour to Wagamama. Everybody was stressed and miserable, especially the waitress who barked 'Come', the parents of the numerous screaming brats, and me. I felt like murdering someone with the umbrella we'd just bought. However, yasai yaki soba and Asahi calmed me down.

Sara is in bed right now - it's 6pm - after being up all night, suffering in her last days of pregnancy. I've written more about this on our parenting blog.

Ooh, there are some yobs outside, shouting 'F*** off' at each other. Bank holiday high spirits.

Sara has already told you about the Flake tail trauma. It's called degloving. Last night, after the tail appeared to be healing, Flake bit into it and made it bleed again. I'm not saying she's stupid, but...

I've just signed up to Joost. TV on your computer. I haven't explored it properly yet but it appears to be mainly music programmes and stuff about lingerie models. It's all a far cry from when I first went online, when it took an hour to download a clip from South Park on Shockwave.com, if your connection didn't keep dropping, and we thought that was amazing.

Quiche will be here any day now. I will, of course, let you know the moment she arrives!

Mark

We need links!

An appeal to readers of Chicken's Roost and our girlfriend (as opposed to sister) blog, Sara Sizzle:

As you might know, we recently launched our parenting advice blog, Life After Birth. We really need anyone out there with their own blog or site to link to Life After Birth. We'll beg if necessary ;)

Thank you!

Mark and Sara