5 Weeks to go

Until the big day, and i wasn't feeling nervous until this evening. When she who must be obeyed arrived home, it was immediately clear that her meeting with the midwife this morning had gone fairly well. The birth plan was discussed and decisions made, decisions which apparently i had no right to question or debate. Though that's not really an issue, I'm happy to do whatever makes her most comfortable at the time considering what it is she's going through for us.
So, my evening dragged on as i endured first ER and then CSI: Miami (there's something about the Miami series that i just can't abide). Though still being awake at 11 did have a plus side, as i was able to catch part of an episode of Boston Legal, which is something I've never seen before but I'll probably make an effort to at least record some of them in future.
I also was forced to check up on paternity leave procedures in my workplace and realised that i had successfully failed to notify my employer in sufficient time to actually entitle me to take my paternity leave entitlement from the newborns date of birth. (Though i am hopeful we can work around this oversight as i was never directed to this until too late!) I seems to me incredibly unfair that a father is only entitled to 2 weeks paid paternity leave. A fathers role isn't something insignificant. It's no longer the case that all women stay at home and/or that all menfolk earn more than their female counterparts. Women's lib and equality for all has ridden that pony right into the ground. So why is it that the father is still only entitled to two weeks paid leave (and the rate of pay is purely employer dependant!) Those of us who work earn the same money as the women who have children, we work the same hours (in many cases) we do the same job, and yet we are not entitled to 6 or 9 months off work (paid). We aren't even entitled to a month off with our newborns. No, we must console ourselves with the knowledge that we are merely second class citizens, we cannot give birth to the child nor can we take a decent amount of time off to bond with the child.
It seems to me that it's about time fathers were given the right to at least two months paid leave with their newborns, I'd argue for 6-9 months, but i think we all know there's no way on earth the government would ever push that bill through the commons.
I look at my own situation, being that I'm desperately looking forwards to the next chapter of my life with my wife and newborn (oh and the dog!) and yet somehow i feel completely belittled by society for wanting to spend some time to bond, and simply adapt to family life as a father before being forced to return to work for the rest of my living days in-order to support this new family unit. I work for a living, i have never been in the position of relying on the state to pay my way in life, though i can't help but feel that if i did i would at least be allowed the time i desperately crave with my family. Despite the fact it would be at the expense of the general public.
I think I'll leave this moan now, i could continue but it's pointless, this site isn't read by anyone and even if it was my grumbles wont get me anywhere, nor am i sure what I'm saying is actually articulate.
For those of you living in one of those wonderful European countries that do allow fathers more paternity leave than the UK, spare a thought for us Brits.

Shitty cold!!

Went to bed feeling like crap, with a cold (man-flu i should like to point out) and woke up feeling like a freight train had ran me over during the night. In a valiant effort to "get on with things" such as is demanded by she who must be obeyed, I went to work early. However after four painkillers, and a bunch of phonecalls to colleagues north of the border i decided i'd had enough and couldn't endure the sinus pain any longer.
So i've been sitting on the sofa for the last two hours moping around. Thankfully however my special edition box set of Firefly arrived this morning so i've been watching them trying to watch my way through the pain.
Stupidly in my dosed up dozy state i failed to realise that the box was far easier to open and in fact didn't even require opening, so i've damaged it slightly, but i'll forgive myself for that this time. In truth i've had a bit of a dangerous few weeks when it comes to damaging things! less about that for now though! ;)
So i just thought i'd jump on here and vent some steam by moaning about this stupid god forsaken cold! I'm not particularly bothered about colds after a few days once i dry up, but the wiping and rubbing every 10 seconds drives me bloody crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :/
Spoke to Mesh today, fingers crossed the new machine should be here on Thursday all being well. They said the order wuld be shipped tonight, though i'm not 100% inclined to believe them. Just need to find a disk with MS office on it now, i can't decide if i want to use open office or whether i should just go with MS Word & Co for ease.

Painting day!

Just got into bed, have spent the entire day painting the nursery with my mother under the control of her who must be obeyed. I'll post pictures of the finished nursery room when we finally get the furniture and shelves in the room and done.
Quite suprisingly we managed to get four coats of paint on the room in just a under five hours. The room itself was a tip site less than three weeks ago, full of old furniture, an old bed unit, boxes of old computer hardware, software and dusty bags of dusty toys, board games and old consoles. accompanied by a strange set of dolls, teddy's and just basically crap that my wife and i have collected over the last 27 years of our lives.
It had a very heavy coat of a turquoise matt paint on it, that's been on there since we moved in and decorated it 8 years ago. However today it's gone from Turquoise, to light green, to white, to faintly blue then finally to "Seafoam" ii'd link to the colour but i can't find it listed on any decorating sites!
Just waiting now for a few of these things to be completed.

1. Picture rail needs replacing in a small corner area, possibly along with a new skirting board
we've boxed off some pipes that were fitted for a new radiator and it would seem sensible to try and make this box appear to be as much a part of the room as possible. These also need to be glossed asap.
2. Cot and Small Rocking Horse haven't yet been delivered
3. Carpet needs to be replaced
4. Wardrobe, Chest of drawers and toybox/blanket box need to be put into the room.
5. Bookshelves to be installed

The list is getting smaller but the biggest impediment is that we kindly aren't doing all this work ourselves. in-fact we've done little ourselves, the in-laws on both side have been bearing the brunt of this work. the door frame and walls required some major plasterwork and remoddelling and father in-law has been thrust to the fore to get this work done. Thankfully it's all done now and just the above list is left.
Interestingly though we're approaching the final 5 weeks now, and it wont be done at least for another couple of weeks because the wardrobe doesn't arrive until at least the 25th. I'll keep adding to this work in progress and will take photo's as soon as there's something worth seeing!

Getting close now!

The weeks are flying by at the moment, it's hard to believe that in 7 weeks (or less) that there will be another member of the Aven household.
The pregnant one is currently only appreciative when the words little, small or beautiful are used before her name. Of course being 35 weeks means that the latter is the only one of the three that truly applies at the present time.

I've had a funny couple of weeks recently and find myself without a desktop PC at present, meaning i've not been gaming for at least a week or so, but that's enough for now i'll explain later. so i will just leave it at that for the time being. I'm not sure why i've not posted recently, it just seems that whenever i feel ready to post something, i just never get around to it, or more likely i change my mind and stop myself.