Lady of leisure

So somehow I've now been off a fortnight - and I've used up my remaining annual leave so today is the first day of my maternity leave. I'm just touching 37 weeks now (gulp) so Baby Beans is fully formed and could - theoretically - arrive any time now. Although I'm not getting any indications bub will be early, so I think we've a good few weeks before our crash course in parenthood begins - but we will see.

It amazes me how much more quickly the time has passed while I've been at home, and I couldn't really tell you exactly what I've been up to over the last few weeks! Everyone told me* I would be completely bored by now and would go stir crazy not having a routine. Well, our survey says 'uh-uh' - I am having the time of my life. Amongst the highlights, it's so nice to...

• stay in bed a bit longer after the Boy has headed into work and stretch out like a starfish, my toes pointing out to each bottom corner of the duvet, releasing the tension in my muscles;
• eat breakfast slowly in bed every day rather than gulp down my cereal on the kitchen sideboard while simultaneously putting my make-up on and packing my work bag;
• peruse the paper with enough time to read every word of the stories that interest me - and with no pressure to look at the stories that don't;
• watch the news as a layman - and not be thinking about whether I'll have to respond to the story on behalf of work when I get into the office;
• put on whatever clothes feel comfortable over the bump, and not what is appropriate for work - or to stay in my jammies if that's what feels best;
• pick up my book and read uninterrupted for an hour, or two - or three. Try it! Or to put on a CD (current favourite is a beautiful Debussy one) and listen to it from start to finish. Without. Doing. Anything. Else. At. The. Same. Time. Bliss...
• potter about the flat and do the daily jobs that need doing when I feel like it and spend as long as I want doing them - no longer fitting them quickly around the hundreds of other work and home-related chores I've carried in my head for the last x amount of years, never being able to do anything properly;
• spend time doing my make-up and hair properly, experimenting with different colours and hairstyles - I straightened my hair for the first time in months last week! Having the luxury of taking an hour to get ready to meet a friend for lunch or coffee (and that being the main event of my day) is blissful.
• get everything ready for when the Boy comes in, so that after work he comes in and I can get him a drink and we can sit and talk properly about how his day was, how me and Baby Beans are doing and the current affairs issues of the day while we eat a home-cooked meal at the table - sometimes even using the Sunday best crockery! 

And I really could go on and on - and on. So, suffice to say I'm nowhere near bored yet - and I know this period is time limited and that soon enough once again I won't have time for any of these seemingly mundane activities. I think boredom and being bored is a very relative and individual state. I've had so little time in my own company that it is still a huge novelty and every day feels like an indulgence. Perhaps I would get tired of this routine given a little longer to enjoy it - but I'm not convinced, despite what 'everyone' says...

* 'Everyone' likes to tell you a LOT of things when you are pregnant - what the process is like, how everything is going to be, what is going to change and so on. For me, the best approach is to smile sweetly and nod, while in my head yell 'shut up shut up shut up, this is my individual experience, not yours' - so far it's working nicely ;-)

Bump update...