Week 15!

In Cudgee now as I write with Bee at 15 weeks along. Timshel and Shelley have been building their strawbale home here and moved in this past April. It’s awesome; it’s beautiful, comfy, and it works! It’s so warm, mid-winter. See for yourself: buildingwithstraw.blogspot.com.au

We’ve had a wonderful, relaxing, yet busy week filled with lots of cuppas, meat pies, walks, and feeding sheep, chickens, and pigs, as well as two full mornings at Sovereign Hill in Ballarat thanks to Susan & Gerry. Sovereign Hill is a reconstruction of an 1850’s Australian gold rush village with lots of demonstrations and interactive outdoor museum type things. It’s sort of like a more informative Renaissance Festival ... maybe Colonial Williamsburg would be more accurate =). Paul enjoyed his time! He got chosen to touch a $145,000 gold ingot we watched being smelted, poured, and cooled, and he gobbled up his veggie “pastie” each day (say PAH-stee, not pay-stee). That was a bit of a relief because he’s still been off schedule. Dylan and I think he finally made a full switch to Melbourne time yesterday – ate great all day, full meal before bed, and finally slept from 8pm-7am like normal. We figured it’d happen right at the end – ah, traveling with Baby.

Yesterday, the three Knoll siblings met for the first time as parents. I thought that was very special, and I was excited and thankful that the others played along for a photo op. There’s Timshel with Reuben, 8, and Grace, 6, Dylan with Paul, 18mos, and Shalome with Ahlwan, 3+mos. Then the in-laws, Shelley, Fehraz, and me.

Bee has been growing and growing. I keep saying I feel like I’m getting bigger by the second, and Dylan reminds me that, yeah, he hopes so! I should be! Well, yes, of course, but I FEEL like I’m growing by the second =). Granted, it’s been nearly a month since I was last in MN and barely showing, but this busy Bee has decided to make his or her presence very known over the past week.

And so this morning began our weekly bump shot =):