We haven’t yet told family that we’re expecting and don’t want to let them know until Saturday which is Tim’s mum’s 60th birthday. I won’t be drinking at the party and I’m sure that will not go un-noticed. I’ll be nine weeks pregnant by then and we know it will make his mum so happy. Our baby will be the first grandchild on both sides so we anticipate a lot of excitement when we finally spill the beans!
As a Christmas/60th birthday treat I’ve taken my mother-in-law to Manchester for a day of shopping, lunch and a musical. Only two days to go before her birthday and it’s very hard not letting the cat out of the bag. This morning we’ve been round the Arndale Centre and if only she knew! We’ve spent our time looking in M&S etc. at women’s fashion, completely bypassing anything baby related, even though I’ve been dying to go and look in the maternity and baby departments. I cast a wistful glance in the direction of the Disney Store as we sailed by, knowing full well that a week later she would have dragged me in! We don’t have a Disney Store near us but if you go to www.disneystore.co.uk at least you can still shop online. Not quite as good as walking round stroking all the cute fluffy animals and trying to make some purchasing decisions but arguably quicker!
All day I’ve been hoping that my mother-in-law hasn’t noticed that something is a bit different. It’s cold and of course raining in Manchester and I’ve got a big coat on and massive scarf to try and hide my expanding tummy! I’m a lot hungrier than normal, but I counteracted that by having a large breakfast at 5.30am when I woke up (totally ravenous!) before going to pick her up and catch the train. I couldn’t finish the big coffee she bought me – poor little thing, I didn’t want to give it a sudden caffeine overload! My handbag is stuffed with little packs of Organix dried fruit so if I really felt like I was starving then I could eat a handful of raisins in the loo! I think the Organix dried fruit boxes are really designed for kids’ lunchboxes but I find they’re ideal to keep in your handbag for when hunger suddenly just comes out of nowhere and you want to try and stay healthy. I picked mine up in a supermarket so you don’t have to go to a health food store to get them.
When we were in the theatre I bravely ordered a G&T (as we were supposed to be having a girlie birthday celebration) but was very relieved when my mother-in-law went off to the loo and I could hastily swap it for some 7UP that I’d been hiding in my bag. I appeared to drink my G&T in the interval but was instead grateful that I’d downed the 7UP. During the first half I’d started to feel rather nauseous (hunger probably!) and the 7UP kept it in check during the afternoon. I couldn’t stop myself from yawning constantly at the end of the day but I think I got away with it!