Astrological

Erin's just read her star sign for this week from the Observer Magazine.

Faster! Given the following wind granted you until Christmas, the despatch of outstanding business should be simple, plus you can instigate new projects even complex ones, with minimum opposition.  Avoid getting sidetracked and sneak a favourite scheme under the wire.  A similarly abrupt attitude may apply to relationships...

Erin's response: 'That's rubbish.  That doesn't tell me if I'm going to have the baby this week or not.'

Erin and the arm wrestlers

Unfortunately we didn't take the camcorder with us on the big walk of the weekend up a mountain. It would have been great to chronicle Erin's efforts.

But here she is after Sunday's breakfast with a few extras.

The sign of things to come?

This morning, about half an hour before we were due to get up, Erin turned over to hold me. I didn't think much of it at first. I blinked at the alarm clock and tried to drift back off to sleep. Erin had already effortlessly done this. But I couldn't as two little jabs in my back later, then 3 blatant kicks I was mesmerized. It went on until the alarm should have gone off, had I set it. The feeling of slump and haziness at 3 this afternoon was worth the little show the bump put on this morning.

I should get used to early morning wake ups shouldn't I?

Art gallery part two: the book shop

After strolling around the Tate, dodging the runners, we ended up in the book shop.

At the end of the shop was a bold sign saying Children's Books.  I was attracted to the section like an indoctrinated zombie out of old spiderman cartoons - it could be something to do with never growing up.

Here are a few of my favourite spots from last night.

Obviously the Very Hungry Caterpillar is ubiquitous in these sections but it was next to the find of the night. Now, I say it was the find of the night but neither Erin nor I can now remember the book's title so can't get a link to it.  But it was a small hard back book with card pages.  As you opened the pages you saw different animals moving along the page in a cartoon flicking style. 

I say that was the best but there was one which captured my attention much longer, a pop-up dinosaur book called Encyclopedia prehistorica.  I'm not sure how long the pages would last in my hands let a lone a child's but seeing this took me back to my days of obsessing over stickers books where I made the Brontosaurus, stegosaurus, and triceratops all run a way from my favourite, T-Rex.  

I now can't get 20th Century Boy out of my head.

There was also Madeline in London, Where The Wild Things Are and various Dr Seus.

We've already started a little collection of Roald Dahl at home.

I can't wait to read bedtime stories.

From out of nowhere

The reason why I didn't post anything about our second scan this weeekend was because Erin and I went up to Durham with Si and Sarah and stayed with Si's parents (Sorry for causing any worry Joey). 

The last time we were all together was just before we made the official announcement that Erin was pregnant. Everyone around the dinner table therefore knew before most people and that night Si's mum regaled us with a load of fun pregnancy and childhood stories about both her boys. We all shared a lot of belly laughs (even the often embarrassed Simon).

This time there was less baby talk which suited us just fine.  

There was the odd time though such as when Si was out of the room and his mum spoke about how even two children in the same family can be very different.  She said one of hers was a rebel but the other 'would even wear frilly knickers if I'd told him to'. Which, of course, she didn't. And neither did he.  We uncontrollably giggled at this but I think you had to be there as Si proved when he walked back in the kitchen.

There was another story too.

We came in from a walking tour of Durham in need of refreshment and to see what the football results were. Well, Si and I did anyway. The girls were all talking and Simon's mum was telling them about different parts of her pregnancy.  Si immediately switched off as boys are wont to do when their mothers are telling stories about them. I had one ear on the story and the other on a match summary. After hearing a 'really?' and trying to diffuse the words wonder goal from nowhere and this arm came from nowhere I asked for the story to be retold.

The context is that Erin was describing how she's feeling the baby a lot now. It's gone from feelings of waves to punchy kicks or kicky punches.  From what I can feel on the outside they are tiny taps. On the inside they are apparently not so tiny. Anyway, Erin had explained this and Si's mum went on to say that at the end of her pregnancy with Simon he literally made a full turn and 'from out of nowhere' she saw the imprint of a hand for a brief second from inside her belly.

And the kicks I can feel are impressive.

Miss communication or boys will be boys

On Friday, Erin went to our friend Caroline's for a girls' slumber party and I organised to go out with a few boys to eat Thai and watch comedy in Balham. We arranged the night a few months ago long before we knew Erin was pregnant but we decided to tell those who were with us about what's going on.

JB arrived at mine just as I got home from work, and Michael and Dewi, who had come from Wales, arrived at mine a few minutes later than when we wanted to leave, so we got to the restaurant a little late. This was noted by Fred, Chris and David who were sat down having a drink.

The conversation ran from the Three Peaks Climb to the London Marathon to how many units of alcohol there are in a pint - 2, thanks PC Foster, what one of Britain's leading broadcasters is like to work with and the usual thread which is a constant to most of our conversations, music. I was sitting next Chris who likes to ask controversial questions in a very understated way. He asked if work was OK, if Erin was OK, then if Erin is pregnant. And, oh boy, was he not ready for the answer.

I answered as matter as factly as I could, affirming that she is. Fred was also listening opposite us, as was David, who I told a few days before at work.

'Really?' Said Fred.

I nodded 'Yes.'

Chris looked at me.

I looked at David.

David smiled.

Chris didn't. He didn't seem to believe me and looked a little stunned.

I looked over to David and said that I'd told him a few days earlier and he nodded.

It was now Chris's turn to say 'really?' and I said that Erin was 10 weeks gone.

Fred congratulated me.

Chris finally came round from his daze and congratulated me too.

The boys on the opposite side of the table had sussed that something was going and I announced it officially. There were a lot of 'wows' and 'congratulations'.

On the other side of the city Erin was in her PJs eating pizza, vanilla custard, and strawberries - for nutrients - dipped in chocolate. When she got home and we talked about the evening she said that there were a few times when she thought about telling the girls but nothing seemed the right time.

When she arrived she was asked if she wanted wine, she thought that was the opportune time to say something but wanted to get her feet in the door before she said anything. There were also times while they were chomping through their pizza and watching Sex And The City DVDs, but she didn't say anything.

Chris - you know the one - sent a text to his girlfriend, Blathnaid, asking if there was much squealing at Caroline's tonight. Blathnaid hadn't got a clue what that meant. Then she asked the girls, and Erin knew it was the right time to tell them.

Well done Chris - I think - for getting both the north and south of London talking.

Shove it in...

Erin and I went shopping yesterday.  We're going to the States later this Summer for her youngest brother's wedding.  Obviously a dress is needed. 

Erin feels as though she's grown a little recently and wondered how much she would grow in a month's time.  She eventually went to the dressing room in Monsoon armed with 5 dresses all in her usual size.  They all seemed to fit well but we both wondered what they would look like a month's time.  I ran to the other end of the shop to get the favourite dress in the next size up and then she tried it on.  This was all causing a little fuss with the attendant until we explained that Erin was pregnant and we didn't know how much room was needed for growth - I said room for improvement at the time but thinking about it after Erin laughed and looked at me weirdly, I meant growth.  

The dress went on and looked the best of the bunch.  But Erin wasn't sure how much give there was in it so in one full-swing-perpetual-motion she leant down, grabbed the skirt she had come to the shop wearing, folded it, puffed it a little, and shoved it up the dress she was trying on to she how much of bump she could get away with.  I usually give an opinion of whether something looks good or not at this stage but I just had to walk away with a smile that quickly turned into a giggle.  It was genius. 5 minutes later we walked out of the shop having bought the dress.

Mum and Dad's visit

Not too much to report really. Erin and I met up with my parents and received big hugs and beaming congratulations from both of them when we met up on Thursday night. We ate at the Fentiman Arms round the corner from ours, caught up on what's generally going on and had relatively little baby talk.

Mum asked how Erin was and when she told her that she'd been tired mum mentioned that she felt the same - not now, but when she was pregnant.  And like Erin, she didn't want to drink coffee in the first stage of pregnancy. She also didn't want eggs too.  And her craving?  Vimto.  Erin's never tasted Vimto so I doubt that'll be a craving for her. 

Difficult times

Well, not that difficult but secret keeping isn't my forte and we're only telling a select few people about the pregnancy until we've had the 12 week scan - 15 days to go.  

I always have to tell someone at least some part of a secret I know.  I'm sure - and it's amazing that I've not been found out, or if I have, punched, for letting some secrets go - that I've let some major ones out of the bag in the past.  In fact I have.  As a teenager I loved gossip - good for my career I suppose - and always had to pass it on to at least one person as soon as I heard it.  But at the moment we're not telling any more people than we've already told and it's killing me.  

I generally have ups and downs with my moods anyway but as soon as we found out about Erin it's been haywire and when people ask me how I am I must be so conspicuous with my answer as it's just a set pat Yeah good thanks - said very quickly, and very quickly after the question has been asked. Usually, I'll allude to the truth and see if the person who asked the question wants to pick up the gauntlet.  But not now, I just blurt out that I'm good and turn it around to them.  

I can't actually bare taking about myself at the moment as all I want to do is shout our news from the roof tops and I'm sure I'm going to let the cat out of the bag half way through all my sentences.

But my mum and dad are in London tonight so we're going out for a meal.  I might be babied out by the end of the evening.

Pregnant dreams

Erin's dad, Bud, has just said that I should expect pregnancy dreams. 

This scares me.  

Dreams of me being pregnant?  Surely that's just wrong.

Have any men who are reading this who are fathers had these dreams or is it just Bud?

 

A little or a lot

You may or may not know this, but we're pregnant.

That's right, the perpetual kids, Erin and Jay, who love traveling all over, being independent and generally having a laugh without any cares in the world are going to be bringing into this world and caring for another, probably, before the end of the year.

With a bit of encouragement from Erin and my American family over the pond, who won't get to witness our highs and lows first hand, I've decided to write about what we're about to go through in the next 7 months... and maybe more.

Now, even I know pregnancy takes nine months, or ten if you're Chinese.  But our journey has already begun.  Apparently two months ago.

We're now in our ninth week and as gurgle says: 'This week the baby has grown to the size of a grape, the back is straightening and webbed fingers and toes are developing.'  Don't worry, those toes should fully develop in time and I'll let you know when they do.

We found out that we were expecting a couple of weeks ago and have spent the last few days away in Portugal talking about everything future, such as where we're going to live, names, and if it could be twins.  Not necessarily in that order.   

Today, we told my parents, Erin's mum, dad and siblings with a few different reactions.

We predicted that my mum would say how lovely it was, Erin's mum would say 'I knew it' and Matt - Erin's older brother - would say 'oh wow'.  We got it wrong.

Well, my parents called this morning to see how the holiday went and after I had gone through the motions of mentioning the weather, how much we went swimming and the markets we went to, I decided to tell them. But there didn't seem to be the right moment.  My dad got on to talking about problems with his car and mum moved on to church things.  I just uh-huh-ed while wanting to shout we're pregnant, you're going to be grandparents and I'm going to tell you now. No now. No, hold on, wait until mum's stopped talking about what she had for dinner last night. 

I eventually spotted a pause in conversation and asked if dad was near the phone.  Mum said yes, but they didn't have a speakerphone and they would have to call us back on the mobile. They did straight away. And then I said it, we're pregnant to hurrays and clapping. The next words were wow and congratulations.  My mum asked if Erin was all right and then we talked babies for the next 5 minutes -  probably a sign of things to come.

This afternoon we waited for the US to wake up and called Erin's mum.  Erin, like me, went through the usual conversation but as she talked about our recent adventures she neatly moved on to telling her mum that we were about to embark on the biggest adventure of all as we're pregnant. The reaction?  A scream.

Erin's dad has chronic back pain and not only has to deal with this, but because of his medication he finds it difficult waking sometimes.  Erin talked to him but didn't think it was a good time to tell him our news.  

We then called Erin's older brother and his wife, Matt and Liz.  No answer.

Then we tried Seth, Erin's younger brother.  We thought we'd get some witty comment from her youngest sibling.  Erin told him and his fiancee Alissa and they woo-hooed.   

Matt and Liz eventually answered and Erin told Liz first.  Liz screamed - as she did when she called Erin's younger sister Robyn a  bit later.  Matt thought we were teasing and his initial reaction was 'you're kidding'.  Even after he said congratulations he asked 'you're  kidding though aren't you?'

This is no joke.

I did say that this was the first time we told someone but we had already told Robyn, Erin's sister.  Well, Erin did.  She just couldn't keep it to herself.  Robyn is the best secret keeper ever. It's now official.  and no one had even guessed, not that really she kept her thoughts to herself as we have been inundated with daily emails from her about names and advice for pregnancy.

Oh, just one more to tell.  Erin's dad.  He wasn't in the best state again but Erin told him to the reaction of 'are you a little or a lot pregnant?', hence the title of this blog.  I guess it's both, if it can be.  We are a little of the way there but very much 'a lot' pregnant.

And Erin seems to be having her first craving, Emmerdale, the girl who doesn't watch soaps can't seem to get enough.  Although she'll deny it when you ask.