Introducing Reuben

This is Reuben Miles Preston King



To our great surprise, he arrived eight days early. He joined us on Monday, 2 November 2009 at 8.05pm weighing 3.66kgs (8lb 1oz) and was 50.5cm long. We arrived home from the hospital on Friday morning and, so far, the MonkeyFish hasn't squished him. Yet.

Of course there are more pics on Flickr.

La la la la, I can't hear you

We had our 20 year school reunion this weekend and I really enjoyed seeing everyone again. It seems that by the time you reach 20 years, it's more about being happy than it being a competition about financial success.

On the Friday night before the reunion, we all gathered at a friends house to finish the preparations (cutting out the name tags etc) and have a glass or two (except me of course - I'm still the designated driver).

Buster was standing in the kitchen talking to one of the guys we went to school with who was (I think) a year above me - Andrew. He works in a hospital and has trained as a midwife (I'm not sure if he still works as one though). Andrew, by this stage, has had more than three glasses of wine, and Buster is not that far behind him. Anyway, Buster and Andrew are chatting away happily enough and then they start to discuss the impending arrival of Ponyboy.

Some general conversation follows and Andrew begins explaining to Buster how he can check how much my cervix is dilated once labour starts. Buster is desperately trying to interject to explain that he doesn't really want to know this information, but Andrew is determined to share his professional, if inebriated, expertise.

I get distracted by something else for a few mintues, and when I next listen in, all I hear is Buster saying plaintively "can't I just drive to the hospital, I'll just drive her to the hospital, really, it'll be fine, I don't need to do anything expect drive to the hospital".

I think that's the equivalent of putting his fingers in his ears and say "la, la, la, la - I can't hear you".

Differences

With the MonkeyFish about to be a big brother, it's become very interesting to me to see the differences between children depending on their birth order. One of my friends has three boys, the youngest of whom is about the same age as the MonkeyFish. He's active and busy, just like the MonkeyFish, but seems a lot older as he learns tricks from his older brothers.

The MonkeyFish has just started singing along when I sing nursery rhymes like 'Baa, baa black sheep' and 'Twinkle, twinkle little star'. My friends little boy, however, has just started singing along too - but he sings along to Beyonce - 'All the single ladies'.

Last time we visited them, I learnt that the eldest boy, when being naughty, puts his fingers in his ears and says 'blah, blah, blah ... I'm not listening to you'. But his youngest brother hasn't quite got it yet - his heart is in it but he's just not quite there.

Blah, blah, blah ... you're not listening to me!!

7 weeks to go

So there are only 7 weeks to go (or thereabouts) until Ponyboy makes his grand entrance (although exit is probably more accurate). That's right, only 7 weeks until he stops being a foetus and becomes an infant.

When the MonkeyFish decided to come early (about 5 days early), he arrived pretty quickly - only about 5 hours from start to finish. I am a bit worried that Ponyboy will be even more impatient and that we won't make it to the hospital at all. I am having recurring nightmares about giving birth on the side of the road. Buster doesn't seem concerned which alarms me even more.

Anyway, until now, Ponyboy has been pretty happy in the womb - sitting head up like a little Buddha. In case you weren't aware, babies are actually meant to come out head first so the pressure was on for Ponyboy to turn around. Apparently, if you have a foetus that is head up, as they get bigger, gravity takes control and tips them around so they are head down. That's the good news. The bad news is that as they get bigger, there is less space for them to turn around.

But I think Ponyboy has finally succumbed to gravity and turned around. We won't know for certain until we see the doctor again, but I'm hopeful.

Exibit A.

This is why Buster is in charge of opening up the sandpit every morning.

Byeeeeee

Usually when we dropped the MonkeyFish off at daycare, he hares straight off to play with the toys or play chasey with his little friends. On Monday we dropped him off a little bit later than usual and all the other kids were being let outside to play.

MonkeyFish headed straight for the sandpit with his little friend Lachlan and they proceeded to tip all the toys out of the box into the sandpit.

'Bye MonkeyFish', I said, 'see you this afternoon'.
'Bye Mummy', said MonkeyFish.

'Bye MonkeyFish, bye Lachlan', said Buster.
'Bye Man', said Lachlan.
'Bye ... Man?', said MonkeyFish.

Ahh, it warms the cockles of your heart doesn't it?

How's that for being born under a bad sign?

Buster has banking issues.

For the last ten years he has done all his business banking with a nameless giant of the banking industry ie. the Commonwealth Bank. Over the last year or so, Buster has tried at least four times to change his address on the business account to no avail. He's been into the branch a few times, he's tried over the phone and even faxed the signed forms in himself (in case the branch were doing it wrong). But alas, apparently it is beyond their capability. And, to be frank, being charged outrageous fees has done nothing to earn them redemption.

So Buster finally decided to close the accounts. So in he went to the branch and said, and I quote, "I want to close everything". So they did.

Until yesterday when Buster received a $38 invoice from CBA for fees for maintaining his merchant account (which is the credit card processing facility). Clearly when you say that you want to close everything, merchant accounts are not included. I'm not quite sure how they expect Buster to process credit card payments without have any account in which to deposit the money though.

The best bit is that when he rang up to explain that he'd tried to close 'everything' and then received an invoice for the merchant account they said that he had to pay a $110 fee to close the merchant account. On the bright side they'll waive the $38 invoice.

When he went in to a rival bank to open a new business account, he was told that there was a $60 fee for doing a business name search (which is their way of confirming his business registration number).

I think Buster is considering the old money under the bed banking system now.