My Family

[Sundae]

She is 22 weeks on Friday.
And yes, my consideration is that she is safe, but as I say I worked around plenty of pregnancies, and I had to do quite a few sad returns.

Mum is going with her for the scan on Friday.
She's trying very hard. Still trash talking Abs to her friends of course, but you can't change the habits of a lifetime.

[Sundae]

So, Easter.
It went pretty much as well as any family event.
We (in this house) did not ask any questions about the pregnancy in front of my BIL and the subject didn't come up.

I skipped out on all the help with preparing and cleaning up afterwards and chatted with the children & Gary instead. This was to deliberately give Mum & Laura a chance to talk in the kitchen, although I don't think babies came up. Still, it was their mother & daughter time. And it was nice to laze about in my own house

I don't know whether Gary was making a concerted effort with me, and if so whether Laura had prompted him that the way to my heart is through my cat, but he was full of praise for Diz. Then again, he is a cat-lover and had had a few sherberts so it's probably me over-analysing

We had a leg of lamb for dinner, roast and boiled potatoes, Yorkshire pud, veg, gravy, mint sauce. Yum.

[Sundae]

Abs. Not obviously showing.
And me, because I was the only one taking photos and you might have forgotten what I look like by now.

[DanaC]

Typical teenager has her phone melded to her hand.

[Sundae]

They had to leave in a hurry as Samuel started to react badly (to Diz he said, but we're not sure, more likely to be Mia) and hadn't brought his inhaler with him. Still, we got in a couple of rounds of Who Wants to be a Millionaire on someone's i-phone before they did. I feel Laura was the only one who was really concerned about samuel, the rest of us were having too much fun! I do love a family quiz.

Ste & E came over on Bank Holiday Monday.
This is after Dad had his "faint" and was checked out by a paramedic (see here for details). So there was a muted feel to the evening. No boozing for a start!

I called Stevo out to help with the drying up, then disappeared as soon as it was done so they could have mother and son time. They talked all about the situation and the future and Mum's feelings and what Law has said and what Abs has texted etc etc. It probably did Mum the world of good. I sat and chatted with Erika, but to be honest she was happy talking to Dad about football (the results were coming in on the TV) so I was a bit of a spare wheel.

Leftover lamb/ four-bird-roast (the stuffing was too sage-y for me) and all the usual.

[Sundae]

Desserts, also from yesterday.
Homemade cake (Mum's), shop bought fruit tart.

[Sundae]

Originally Posted by DanaC

Typical teenager has her phone melded to her hand.

Tell me about it!
Okay we'd finished eating at this point, but here is Nan and Grandson enjoying the after-lunch lull in their different ways...

[limey]

It looks like you all had a pretty good time, all told. Kudos to you for trying to ensure that your mum got a private chat with everyone important. x

[Sundae]

Meet one of my Great-Nephews!
I am calling them Tiger and Bubba, but I am not sure which one this is.

They are 2 lb, 2oz (hang on, how come we still use Imperial for babies?! - must confuse the hell out of Abs who's grown up with Metric). One is a little larger than the other. One is in breach position.

Three more appointments for her. Mum will be at two of them, one is when Mum is in Australia, but she has offered Dad as a driver and suggested she takes a friend as she will have finished her exams by then.

She'll get a definite date for the [non-elective] Caesarian at the final appointment. Early-mid July as previously mentioned.

Her blood pressure and urine are fine, they are happy with the growth of the boys. The consultant did say, "They don't have much room to move, even now" but Abs confirmed there is still plenty of movement from her point of view!

Hope she is using her pregnancy belt and cushion - I only saw her as I was leaving for school this morning (her appointment was at 09.00). Had a few secs to show her the snowsuits I bought. 3-6 months, didn't go over £2 on either. Bought them while we were having a mini heat wave about a month ago. What idiot would buy a snowsuit when it was hot? Especially for a child already 3 months old. Ha ha ha - wily old Great Aunts, that's who. Even a mild winter isn't all that mild for babbas after all.

[Aliantha]

Lovely all round.

[Sundae]

My Great-Nephews will officially arrive on 9 July.
Currently weighing in at just under and just over 3lbs each. My sister took the morning off school to take Abs to her scan (the first one she has attended). Surprise all round here, but I uess she had to get involved at some point. Six weeks before birth is better than not at all.

Mum & Dad are taking Abigail out for lunch on Friday as she finishes school at 13.30.
Boo, hiss - we're not finishing early for half term so I miss out.
Then again, Mum says Dad is already muttering under his breath about having to buy his Grandaughter lunch, let alone his daughter freeloading!

I'll get Mum to take lunch photos - her final practice before flying out to Oz.
She needs to practice on food and faces.
They're only going to the Dairy Maid, so I think you've seen the whole menu photographed at some point or other anyway, but she needs to get it right for when she meets Ali!

[Sundae]

Photo of Dad, taken by Mum today.
She's not getting the "faces" bit right, but I can't really fault the photo.

[Aliantha]

Oooh yeah, not long till your Mum gets here and I still haven't sent my number to you. lol I'd better get onto that.

[Sundae]

My 40th birthday, Sundae. Sunday I mean.
Had a family BBQ.
There were supposed to be other celebrations but I have been feeling exceptionally low lately, and in the end this was all I could agree to.

It went off well.
Have met "Dad" now, as in the father of my Great-Nephews.
My Sis & BIL finally came round to the idea that this is going to happen and like it or not he is involved.
To be fair to Gary, he admitted that if it was five years down the line he'd have been delighted with him as a prospective son in law - he's polite, decent, interested in sport and has strong family values. But of course it's not five years down the line, so he spent five months wanting to punch Connor's lights out.

Anyway. I was pleasantly surprised to find some of the attention on me. People really seemed to respect the fact it was my 40th and seek me out, rather than the way things usually are, where I seek out conversations.

I got vouchers and money; £40 to go to the GTG in December, Mum is holding it for me and then £40 vouchers. A good haul. Also flowers, a personalised glass and a photo frame. Ste knocked up a presentation pack for our trip to Thorpe Park in November. We're going on Bonfire Night and I get to ride rollercoasters in the dark - woohoo! He's paying for travel and everything, bless him. It included a park map, the actual tickets and an IOU for the train.

Also had a photo-cake. Me on my first birthday.

[Sundae]

The flowers were gorgeous - a pink, glittery extravaganza with four balloons. They arrived Saturday as florists don't deliver on Sundays. Still looking good today.

Below, the sides and condiments table before the big-hitters came out. Missing are bread and potatoes and of course MEAT! I didn't take any other pics of food so you just have to imagine... Chips & dips and various snacks also not on display as they were on side tables.