August, 2005

As Mr Levee already mentioned we have spent this week getting ready for the imminent arrival of baby number 3 to our household. Last night we assembled the cot, and I made it up with the cutest of sheets, blankets and sleeping bags, half of which the baby will be too young to use for at least 3 months. Although it feels like I’ve been pregnant forever it still hadn’t really properly dawned on me that we will actually have another real life baby in the house when this pregnancy is over. Of course somewhere in the back of my head I knew it but it just didn’t seem real. But when I woke up this morning and the first thing I saw beside my bed was a cot it all clicked.

In a few weeks at the most our household which has always been dominated by females (evens our dogs were girls!) will be male driven, 3 to 2. Ray and I will be outnumbered. I will be breastfeeding again, a prospect I am really looking forward to as I think it is one of the most rewarding things you can do for your children, and it is so much easier than having to clean, sterilize and then prepare loads of bottles. I am a bit of a lazy sort so I will always choose the easiest option. We will have 3 children under 4!

On top of all of this Ray starts Nursery school in 3 weeks. I used to hate listening to mothers who lamented about how quickly their children grew up, when Ray was born I must have heard the phrase “they’re not babies for long” 1000 times. But I now know where those mums were coming from. Ray will be four in a few months. She starts proper pre-school in as many weeks. She is already talking about getting married (albeit to her brother Jay which is a bit worrying) and having children of her own. Its all moving too fast! Where have the last four years gone?

Friday, August 12th, 2005 // Family Life

I have been begging both midwives and consultants to give me a date for induction of labour all week, but they seem adamant that its not going to happen…well not yet anyway! Apparently baby number 3 is happy and healthy no matter what pain I am in so they want to give him as much time to grow and develop in the womb as possible. I was angry and disappointed at first, but the more I think about it the more I get things in perspective. Its only a few weeks at the most left now. Whats that 14 days? It’ll fly by and in the meantime my family are being really helpful with the kids so I might actually get a bit of a break before I have to launch into sleepless nights and hours of breastfeeding again. So I suppose there is a silver cloud to every lining!

Friday, August 12th, 2005 // Family Life

Damn, this year’s Big Brother has been terrible! Despite the ethnic and sexual diversity of the housemates, all of them have the ‘wannabe’ gene.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been glued to Big Brother every evening to watch the ultimate in car crash TV. Oh, you know it’s terrible, but you just can’t stop yourself looking!

The Big Brother house has essentially become the waiting room for the z-list celebrity! Even though Endemol notified talent agencies to submit CVs, there isn’t an ounce of charisma between most of the housemates. Unless you count some poor attempts at amateur porn by the more desperate types, most of us have been sitting in our living rooms, watching people sitting in a living room.

We’re glad Craig’s gone! That scissor-weilding abomination has probably set homosexuality back a few centuries. One of the tabloids yesterday described him as the most vile character on TV ever! Mrs L and I would be inclined to agree!

No Talking About Nominations…

Psst! Pssst! Who are you voting for?

• Not Anthony. The personality bypass worked - there’s nothing to vote for there! And am I the only one who thought he was playing mad Craig?
• Not Kinga. If I’m sick of Orlaith McAllister’s boobs, you can bet I never want to see Kinga’s again! What a filthy, disgusting woman. I sincerely hope she becomes more comfortable with herself. You mostly see this exhibitionist streak in people who can’t get attention in any other way.
• Not Makosi. Don’t get me wrong, she’s been one of the funniest things on the show this year, but she’s still a desperate wannabe (and possibly a plant). If I were being fickle, her use of the third person is irritating. No vote for Makosi.

If a vote gets placed in the Levee household, it’ll be for Eugene. He’s already talking about returning to his old job after the show. Reminds me a bit of Cameron Stout and Jon Tickle from previous series’ of BB - Eugene has his feet on the ground and has no delusions about lasting fame.

Oh yes, and I’ll be watching Kinga’s exit to see just how the public feel about ‘ladette’ culture! All tits and no personality make girls very…yawn….boring…..

Friday, August 12th, 2005 // News & Media

The kids have been away all week for a holiday with their grandmother.

As a result, the house is much quieter, we’ve got loads of work done, every room is spotlessly tidy, and we are prepared to receive baby #3 into our home!

Still, this is the longest period we’ve ever spent separated from the children and there’s a weird, empty feeling we’ve both had all week. Sure, they can demolish a house in five minutes, stress us out and cause us worry. But our little girl and boy give us a world of love and laughs that we could never live without!

From what we’ve heard, they’ve both had a good week: plenty of time at the beach, going for long walks, scaring their Granny in the park (Ray is like a monkey, and she loves to hang upside-down at the moment! Her Granny didn’t know this the first time she did it!), and playing with other kids where they’re staying.

So, while we’ve had a relatively relaxing week, Mrs. Levee and I are very much looking forward to seeing our babies again…

Friday, August 12th, 2005 // Family Life

Well I think we had all guessed that much by now! But in that reputable newspaper known as The Sun she was exposed today as being an wannabe actress who actually came through a talent agency that was contacted by Endemol in order to spice up the Big Brother House.

She had a professional audition tape and photographs produced by this agency and was allegedly fast tracked through the whole audition and interview process. I never liked Makosi but do feel a bit sorry for her as she really thinks she is going to win on friday and I think this story ruins her chances.

All I can say is VOTE EUGENE!! He is the only one in that house on whom I wouldn’t wish a slow and painful death.

Thursday, August 11th, 2005 // News & Media

Ah yes! Not only did Mad Craig get evicted from the Big Brother house this evening (thank God), but Big Brother turned the tables on the housemates in excellent style!

Housemates were asked to get into their eviction outfits without explanation. Straight-laced Eugene went into the Diary Room and was offered 50% of the Big Brother prize money. What he didn’t know was that if he refused to take the money, Big Brother would push the total prize up to ?200,000!

After a painful deliberation, Eugene surprised….most of the UK actually….by agreeing to take the money. He said he knew it probably wasn’t the most ethical decision, but at least two people could now be the winner!

The other housemates (Makosi, Anthony and Kinga) all watched Eugene’s deliberations on the house TV screen.

Apparently, Eugene can still win the contest on Friday as he has been allowed to remain in the house. I hate reality TV, but things are really heating up!

Wednesday, August 10th, 2005 // News & Media

A lady I know was called to court today over a serious crime. Due to an oversight, she had failed to renew her TV licence (yes, she had one to begin with). She had moved to temporary accommodation for a few months and in the confusion forgot to renew the licence. She eventually managed to sort things out, but there was a two-week discrepancy in payments. So, she received a summons.

Horrified, she contacted the TV licence agency to find out how she could make up the difference. They told her she couldn’t. Once the summons has been issued, she must attend court. So today, quaking with fear, she attended court. Only to be told there would be no hearings today and everyone would be called back at some point in September. So my friend’s ordeal is not over.

Excuse Me While I Take Off My Rose-Tinted Glasses…

Take a look around people. Shankill Sean Kelly is walking the streets, a free man. Gangs of Loyalist thugs roam the streets intimidating - even killing - people they don’t see eye to eye with. Police issue nationalist residents with fire blankets to protect them from petrol bombs. The Columbia 3 mysteriously re-appear in the Republic of Ireland, and despite the outcry Ireland shrugs it’s shoulders. A teenage girl is raped in West Belfast and apparently police disregard information being handed to them.

Let’s not forget the Northern Bank heist and the brutal killing of Robert McCartney, two serious crimes that are currently being brushed under the media carpet. Didn’t take us long to tire of those upstart McCartney sisters, did it? Even though they had a point. Best just let it lie, eh?

The Bigger Picture

There’s a lot we could say about all of the above issues. A lot has already been said.

The point here is that while ordinary law-abiding citizens are being harrassed over what amounts to a few quid, violent people control our society with no regard for the rest of us. And they get away with it.

Is anyone else as frustrated as I am? Instead of answers, our political parties create a smoke-screen of tired, pointless debate, then the issue disappears. Nobody gets an explanation. The public don’t count.

We simply don’t count.

Wednesday, August 10th, 2005 // Northern Ireland: Politics

Mrs. Levee and I are taking it easy this week. The mother-in-law has chipped in and taken the kids on holiday until Friday.

I know I’ve been critical of the In-Laws in the past, but they’re redeeming themselves at the moment. No complaining, no complications. Hell, right now you’d be forgiven for thinking they care!

This bit of quiet time is giving us the chance to prepare for baby #3 coming along, so we’re getting the house in order. Mrs. Levee’s pelvis situation is getting pretty bad at the moment, so she can’t work for very long (poor thing)! Anyway, an antenatal appointment this afternoon should confirm if induction is an option and what the timeframe might be. I know we’d both be more settled if we knew definate dates.

Wednesday, August 10th, 2005 // Family Life

When in labour with my first daughter the midwife handed me one of these balls with two painkillers and then left the room. I was completely baffled and didn’t quite know what to do with it. I tried sitting, bouncing and rollling about on it but I felt like a bit of a prat and it didn’t seem to make any difference at all to the pain so I gave up and pushed it into the corner.

It goes without saying then that when I fell pregnant this time buying a birthing ball was the last thing on my mind. However this changed last week when I went to see my physiotherapist to talk through the best positions for me to give birth in. Due to the SPD and related pelvic pain I suffer from I can’t lie on my back as usual, so a bit of imagination will be required!

She recommended giving birth on all fours or on my knees using a birthing ball as support. She also said that sitting on and leaning on a birthing ball in the lead up to labour may make things a bit quicker and encourage the baby into a better position.

So off I went to Argos and bought their cheapest ?3.99 version! Its great, I can lean over it while watching TV and get complete relief from the pelvic pain, its also a great footstool and after the birth I just know my kids will have so much fun throwing at each others heads! I also plan to take up Yoga or Pilates after the baby is born and apparently both use these balls in their excercises. So all in all a very versatile piece of equipment for under ?4 don’t ya think??

Tuesday, August 9th, 2005 // Family Life

Christmas really has come early for die-hard Republicans!

The news that the three IRA men convicted for training FARC guerillas in Columbia have returned to Ireland is astounding! Of course, there’s the typical Unionist line that this was pre-arranged, blah blah blah. That’s a bit of a stretch, even for me!

Gerry thinks it’s great thay’re all back on Terra Eire, and probably wants to throw a big party in their honor. Hell, there’s no point in pretending anymore - we know Sinn Fein were in bed with the IRA - it’s all one big happy family! Of course, it’s not like Gerry & Co to show flagrant disregard for the legal system of another country . . .

My favourite bit of coverage was on the BBC website. In an interview with Jim Monaghan, one of the Columbia Three:

[Monaghan] said he did not consider himself to be “on the run” and would not be hiding from Irish police.

All the same, he was being interviewed “by RTE at a secret location”. Nope, definitely not on the run.

Monday, August 8th, 2005 // Northern Ireland: Politics