Time to start afresh.

All is well in the Pearce household. We are gearing up for Christmas and the holidays.

Bowen is almost 6 now, and just finishing Kindergarten. He has done so well at school, and is reading and doing his maths work like a champion. Seeing him read, and sound out words in his head, makes me want to cry.

Riordan is 4. He is slowly starting to calm down. He's not the whirlwind that he was 12 months ago. His speech is improving, which means he gets less frustrated as we ('we' meaning everyone but me, the eternal Riordan interpreter!) understand what he says.

Austin is 2 1/2, and still a breastfeeding maniac. I would never have dreamed of feeding my baby for this long. I think it's got something to do with the fact that he was the last, and in my mind he would always be my baby. Plus, he just loves it, and the closeness is delectable. He climbs into my lap before bed, legs slung over mine, and is slowly lulled to sleep.

Speaking of Austin being the last baby, it looks like that won't be the case. I was lady week free for 18 months (thank you Austin) and this whole year have been very irregular. There was a brief flirtation with the mini pill (I was hoping it would stop my bleeding altogether, turns out it had the opposite effect) and otherwise I've been having longish cycles. I always watch closely, and can pick when I'm dropping an egg. I also have an app on my phone that helps me keep track of my cycles. Last month I was really sick with tonsillitis, and the boys were sick, and it didn't really concern me that Aunt Flo was a bit hesitant in arriving. My average cycle has been around 32, the longest 35. For some reason, I still am not quite sure, I did a quick whizz in a cup on Friday afternoon. This is what greeted me when I went back to check.

"What!?!" I yelled. Quickly dipping another stick in my wee, I expected to see one solitary line, but almost instantly two popped up. Even though I doubted that two false positives would happen in a row, I still popped out to the supermarket to get a 'brand name' test.

The lines appeared before the wee had reached the end of the window.

Still in shock, I went about the rest of my afternoon, willing time to go faster so I could tell Darren. I showed him the third test and, ever eloquent, the first thing he said was, "Bullshit." No, Darren, it's just a joke. Ha. Ha.

Getting over his shock, and trying desperately to work out how it happened (I mean, we know how babies are made, just not this one!) we decided that things will be fine.

And they will.

A question still to be answered, and one that I can't for the life of me figure out, is exactly WHEN it happened, and hence when the baby will be due. I'm thinking around the 11th of August. This test helped me.

Apparently it's telling me that apart from the fact I am pregnant, the little bean inside of me was conceived more than 3 weeks ago. I also had a blood test today, and I'll book in for an ultrasound in a couple of weeks, probably next Friday.