The fun part 2

There's more...
This week me and mum had arranged to go shopping for baby bedding. We went to Mothercare at Shirley Retail Park and my two mum's were very good to Bean, very good indeed! Bless him, the little chap's being spoilt to death and he's not even out... To say thankyou I took us for lunch at Mortons in Dickens Heath as it's on the way home and we had a very pleasant day together.

Mum, Fran and me

 Then, yesterday, lovely Laura came by for me at 3pm to take me to an unnamed location... Intriguing! Her sat nav said Knowle was the destination, and I suspected there was some kind of baby shower awaiting me but had no idea what to expect. Final destination was, it turned out, the Heron's Nest pub in Knowle where around 15 of my friends and my mum were waiting for me alongside the brains behind the operation, Danielle. It was such a surprise and so wonderful to see everyone together! Friends who aren't normally thrown together getting along like a house on fire; that really floats my particular boat!

Claire and the cake 'assembled' by Danielle

Teresa playing 'Stick the dummy on the baby'

  

The baby



And the winner is..!

The group

There was Danielle Sumner and Susie Emerton, Ruth Gallagher, Vicky Gilhoully, Laura with Emma, ben and mum Gill, Danielle and mum Wendy, my mum (of course :)), Pauline Weaver, Teresa Salter with Sian, Catherine Shelley, Claire Davies, and if I've forgotton anyone then my hugest apologies. I was shaking for a few minutes then after catching up with people, some of whom I hadn't seen in YEARS, I settled down to opening presents! Oh my goodness were our friends generous! Danielle's mum had made flower arrangements for the table and helped Danielle set up, Laura had had the brainwave of games and Danielle had pulled the whole thing together. And all the guests had driven through the wilds of Warwickshire to come together and spol little Bean rotten. He now has more outfits than me! And impressively there was a smattering of clothes across the ages newborn, 0-3 months, 3-6 months and 6-9 months so they bought SMART. Mum bought everyone's drink to say thank you. Emma, who hadn't been feeling well for days, rallied and was at her most charming. Everyone contributed. I must say I am massively grateful to all my lovely friends... words aren't enough.

At church yesterday the vicar Jane gave me communion and said a blessing on the child within, a personal touch of hers that is just eautiful. She blessed him and I thought 'he truly is blessed'. It's a bank holiday Monday today and yesterday afternoon Alex put the icing on the cake by building his cot. So Bean has a bed and a wardrobe! I'm starting to pinch myself and think this long-dreamed of baby is going to be a reality soon. Happy days.

The fun...

Well to start with the next Tuesday our very good friend came to visit. James Alex and Leon had lived together throughout their 3 years at university. In the first year I lived on the floor above them, got to know and love them all and then in the second year they moved into one house one Pershore Rd and I moved into another in Selly Oak. Since by then me and Al were seeing each other I carried on seeing quite a bit of the lads. After university Leon stayed in Brum but James went on to London, from there to Dubai after a few years and now he lives in Australia. Last time he and Zoe came back to Birmingham for a visit me and Al were away on holiday in Barcelona and were gutted to miss him. But that Tuesday I sat waiting in the Patrick Kavanagh pub in Mosely to see my 3 favourite boys in the same place at the same time for possibly the last time in... well who knows? Leon's moving to New Zealand, there's more chance they'll manage an antipodean catch up next time so Lord knows.

James Alex and Leon

Me and James and Al

It was gorgeous to see James again, and Zoe's just as nice as ever. But tinged with sadness cause 1 night is not enough! But still, the best thing is that we just picked up where we left off, as though no time had passed. After the pub we went to La Fibule for some dinner and then back to the pub for some after dinner chinwagging. Everyone was there; all the girls still left in Birmingham from Zoe's house were there and it's just such a pleasure to catch up with them all. So many of us had married and had children, I think James and Zoe said it's only their Birmingham friends who've all had babies so maybe there's something in the water! I eventually put my foot down and drove Al and Leon home as it was getting late for a 'school night' - but honestly I'd have stayed for hours more if I could have.

The next day Leon and Teresa's rent finished on their home in Kings Heath and they moved in with us. It was delightful to come home from work and have dinner together. Sian was already being bathed and put to bed when I got in so we had a grown up dinner the 4 of us; Al had had the day off so he'd cooked. And so began a very pleasurable 5 days of just hanging out together. I had the Thursday off so the next day it was me Leon Teresa and Sian, then we both went to work on Friday and then we had the weekend all together. It was like a mini holiday!

So they moved in and gave us all their condiments and herbs and spices so we spent Thursday morning just sorting through it all - it was AMAZING! The day before Al had gone to their allotment with Leon and they'd brought back kale, beans and beetroots and various vegetables that we cooked up over the course of the week. And they kept thanking us!!! I mean, honestly; we'ver never been so rich in either food or company I think and I really missed them when they moved out the following Monday.

Just waking up - Teresa and Sian

Sian propped up on our sofa

 Me and Teresa went to visit her friend Becky to talk about nappies cause she used re-usable nappies and that's what I'd like to do also. It was really interesting and useful and I'm definitely confident enough to use them now. We watched True Grit together one night, sort of, being as parenthood took its toll on the Salters' ability to keep their eyes open ha ha! And on the Saturday the boys watched some footie together then we all went for a meal at a really nice steak house in Dickens Heath (Miller & Carver) before taking a stroll around Earlswood Lakes. It was good to get a breath of fresh air and some exercise after that steak!

Having lunch at a steak house

Walking by Earlswood Lakes, Leon and Al

Al and Sian

Leon and Teresa

On the Sunday Teresa and I took Sian to church and Alex took Leon to the first game of the Sunday League season. He's always so happy to be back playing in proper games! So me and Teresa caught up with Jo (from theatre, AKA Mickey the cop in The Odd Couple) and as soon as we gave her Sian she just played and sat with her for the whole service. Her grandsons were the same, both adorable boys and so sweet with Sian. They just played for the whole service, quietly and gently. Sian didn't make a peep except during the singing when she gave it a good go! We had a lovely service and afterwards introduced her to Rob the vicar. As ever his first instinct was to pick her up so Sian got another cuddle before we left the church and left the church having made friends with just about everyone! When we got home we weren't expecting to find Alex covered in blood and bandaged up, but that's what we got! His head had made contact with the goalie's elbow he thought and had left a deep-looking gash on one side of his forehead. A quick inspection and I drove him to Accident & Emergency which is where we stayed for the next few hours until they reassured us that he was alright, cleaned and glued him up and gave him a jab. Once they'd removed the bandage his headache and nausea stopped and I stopped worrying. All in all the staff at the new QE hospital were very good and very nice and all's well that ends well.

So we got back to the day's plan of having a bbq and invited the Collins family over. When Jill and Richard came over to pick up Emma and of course stayed for a while to say hello it really was a full house! The weather held and Nathan didn't set fire to the trees so all in all it was a success! It really was lovely. Emma took such a shine to Sian, and all the kids behaved impeckably around the cat - whose nerves by this time were a little raw (she's only just calming down...), and we eat like kings! And that was our last night together because next day the Salters moved out to go see Leon's nan and we got on with restoring the house to some order (I say 'we' but really it was mostly Alex who went on something of a cleaning frenzy)

Jo and her boys entertaining Sian during the service

Rob the vicar with Sian

Nath doing his best to set fire to our garden

Richard Leon and Nath at the bbq

 

Emma and Ben

What an amazing few weeks

It's been an incredible time. We've had worldwide concern for our welfare, seen the worst and best of humanity, and enjoyed ourselves immensely with some of the best friends we could wish for.
Two weeks ago I began the week expecting a normal-ish week and then the riots happened. Birmingham city centre became a scary place for a few days and I'm very grateful that for two days I was allowed to work from home. But apart from feeling a little exposed and vulnerable and there being a weird a sense of aggression and the occasional riot van I didn't witness anything except the fear of the unknown. Work allowed me to stay and work at home and so I actually really only heard the reports and watched the news with increasing alarm, thinking of my friends at work in the city centre. The weirdest thing was being there in the morning. The shop where I buy my breakfast sometimes was full of business owners also there to pick up food whose shops had been attacked. They were normal people, just having a really rubbish week and I felt so sorry for them. The sandwich shop where I buy my lunch was all boarded up after being looted; another independent retailer. My friend who lived in the city centre had been forced to walk home from work along Broad St and through a massive gang of lads ripping into every shop they could get their hands on. It was the proximity of it all and the feeling of being 8 months pregnant and very exposed. The weirdest thing actually was on a lunch break or when being evacuated we saw these 'youths' and you would normally have just walked past them unthinking, but there they were grinning and laughing about yesterday's axploits, bold as brass. I was furious with them for holding a whole city to ransom. A city, by the way, already struggling with enough financial problems. Talk about kicking a chap when he's already down.

But the week drew to a close. On the Friday I received messages of support from colleagues in London and India, and all the family in Spain had sent texts, even Laura holidaying in Boston with Luis and Eric had seen something was afoot. And how can you feel too upset with so many people caring about you?
That said on the Thursday night me and Alex were eating our dinner when the next door neighbour's house was broken into and riot vans and policemen turned up. I go for months without seeing policemen and in Birmingham I can honestly say I've always felt very safe. To suddenly discover your neighbour's house has been attacked while you're innocently tucking into your shepherd's pie is bizarre and not a little unsettling. I felt just as sorry for the neighbours (who were in at the time and ran for their lives out the back door)  as I did for the policeman who came and sat on our sofa and looked half dead with tiredness. The poor guy had workd 60 out of the last 70 odd hours and was on his last legs. He was awfully nice. Yet another victim of the looters. I had a nightmare that night about our house being attacked and Alex ending up dead, but otherwise have remained relatively sensible (if at times slightly highly strung).

That sunday I went to church with Emma. The sermons are always highly relevant to topical concerns at St Nicolas and Rev John talked about the looters' need for respect and forgiveness and forced me to take a good look at my own reactions. Had my anger (justifiable or not) been a Christian reaction? Probably not. No, I'd say not. Last night, 2 weeks after the service I said to Emma it was my turn to write the prayers and did she have anything she thought I should say and she said "Ask him to help the rioters never happen again and for us all to love each other". So in and amongst the sadness and confusion there is at least one 6 year old who's learned something valuable. Bless her.

After the riots came the fun...

Time flying by

Wow we were 25 weeks pregnant in the last post and are now rapidly approaching 32 weeks; all I can say is time really has flown!

In chronological order, then, Me and Al went out with the Billesley Players for a meal the following week to congratulate ourselves on a job well done. but Sheila, the director of the next play in November had a sad announcement. There are simply not enough male members in the group to do the next play so it was cancelled. I wasn't going to be in it anyway but it's a sad situation for the group. It's not that men haven't joined but they've all either left after one or two plays or they've walked out half way through the rehearsals process; which is always a nightmare. Girls have joined and stayed but boys just don't seem to care enough about the community aspect to not bother about letting the rest of us down. Of course, Sheila could have directed a play with just girls in it but at the end of the day she has to direct a play she likes and she couldn't find anything appropriate.  I think it was a bit of a shock for the group and the problem will take some thinking over...

We had a couple of weeks after this of just normal life. We went to work, I went to church, we rested, we cooked; it was nice! This in itself deserves  a mention as it's been all go for months and to have a couple of weekends where the biggest plan involved going to the pub was amazing. I think Alex is enjoying the bonus of having a designated driver, and to be honest I really don't miss the drinks - there are some great non alcoholic beers out there; I'm quite partial to a Cobra. Then we celebrated Sam from thatre's wedding and Emma's birthday on the same day and for one day it was busy busy again.

The following weekend I went to see We will Rock You (click on the link to see the tour's official photographs) with mum and dad. I'm still not convinced they recognised half the songs but we had a great time which is all that counts! It was at the Birmingham Hippodrome and it was brilliant. I mean, don't go if you want something with a super clever storyline, or even a plot that holds together all that well; but it has great one liners, witty characters (Scaramouche, for want of a better word, rocks!) and of course stellar music. We finished on a real high, on our feet crooning to Bohemian Rhapsody, arms in the air and generally high as kites! I had to sit down for the last minute or two as all the excitement had worn me out but I still gave Scaramouch a standing ovation, along with the rest of the audience. The only weker point was Galileo who seemed to much of a sweetiepie to be the rock star super hero that we were meant to believe him to be. Maybe it was because I read in the programme that he'd starred in Grease musical on stage as Danny Zucho - or maybe it was because he actually still looked like him with the white T shirt. He wasn't a Freddie Mercury at all - but then who on earth could claim to be?

The next week was my 28 week blood teast and with it the midwife measured the bump and plotted Bean's size on a graph. He is apparently just slightly over the average size but I'm not taking it with more than a pinch of salt. Those graphs are based on average sizes and basically until he's out we're not going to know. And, as Alex puts it, a few ounces either side won't make too much difference; it's still going to hurt. Thanks hon!

That Saturday me Danielle Laura and Claire went to the IMAX in Birmingham to see Harry Potter in 3d. If you want to get a feeling for what it was like basically click on the link above to see the trailer and you'll get about 2%. The 3d film was spectacular, a proper roller coaster, the 3d element wasn't gimmicky it was really cleverly done. The first image of Hogwarts from the air shorouded in mist and dementors would have been great on any cinema screen. But in 3d you actually float through the sky and through the dementors, like they're just THERE! OK it was my first 3d experience and it's probably not worth it for many films but go and see Harry Potter at the IMAX (Thinktank, Millennium Point, Bham, Midlands, UK - ok?) if you see it at all because it's brilliant!

The next day we awoke with plans to take a leisurely shopping trip for baby items. But the best laid plans of mice and men as they say... The old freezer had broken so we had to defrost it and rescue what food we could before heading out to choose and buy a new one. That said in one day we did well; we bought a travel cot and monitor, changing mats and a few other bits from Mothercare, and a normal cot from John Lewis. In fact John Lewis took so long serving us they knocked 30% off the price which was good! Finally Alex went off to collect the freezer, he took the old freezer into the garden, unpacked and turned the doors over on the new one, and got the kitchen back to normal while I cooked. Restful it was not; but it was damn useful.

The next Tuesday me and Alex attended our Parent Education class at the Womens Hospital. We learned about the labour itself; types of pain relief; what to expect and the likely order of things; the differences between the delivery suite, birth centre and a home birth; we got a tour of the delivery suite (a normal hospital room where all types of pain relief and doctors are available) and birth centre (a more relaxing environment that can be used with more flexibility); and got to ask as many questions as we liked. We also did a tiny intro to breathing and massage. It was really useful and made us feel loads more prepared and involved.

So now we approach 32 weeks and I feel like we're getting 'there' - wherever there is. It feels good. Four weeks and 2 days left at work and then it'll be Bean time proper! Bring it on!