24th March 09

Another week and again not much to report. Bean is very active it seems judging by the feelings I get in my stomach every day, he/she seems most active in the early evening, normally just after dinner and again at bedtime. A week today is my 16 week appointment with the midwife so hopefully all will be well.



In a different topic, our new house is well under construction and the area is amazing. We went down there last week to take some pics and video so I will leave you with those for now.

1. Our house so far:

2. The cycle/foot path that runs around the village outskirts, right alongside our house. We've just come around the corner (so our house is behind and to the right from this perspective) and we're looking more towards the centre of the village where the green, pond are play area are.

3. The village green with kids play area. The buildings at the left are the hairdressers/salon and what should soon be a corner shop. Directly ahead, behind the van, is the primary school. The van is on the road where the buses to Lincoln run. The buildings on the right may be coming down soon to make way for the small supermarket, pub and community/sports centre that should all be coming at some point in the future.

Obsessed much?

As the light at the end of the tunnel grows brighter and there finally appears to be movement on our house sale, I can once again return to and focus my attention on my fixation with potential baby names. However, as Sophie is no doubt descreetly thinking to herself, this is a complete and utter waste of my time as no matter how many lists of baby names I read through the plain and simple fact is that there are very few names I like or want to use.

Most names we both like are already taken by other friends or relatives, or remind us of people from our past (or moronic media-greedy celebrities) who have tainted the name in some way in our minds.

So right now, there are only 2 boys names and 2 girls names which I would seriously consider monikering our future child with. And no, I wont tell you what they are! Thankfully, Sophie also likes them and is happy to consider them for our little bundle of currently-jiving-like-he/she-is-auditioning-for-Strictly-Come-Dancing joy.


Right, so will I be logical and stop fixating on potential baby names and scouring name lists? Probably not. There may be a doosey of a name out there we haven’t thought of or considered yet and I want to make sure I haven’t missed a good one.

After all, I found *name censored* the other week and we love it. I just hope most of you think it is on the right side of pretentious if we actually use it! *tease*

18th March 2009

Just a quick update this week as there's not a huge amount going on with the Bean. Here's a side view of the bump, must be said that it's pretty darned impressive for 14 weeks!!!

3rd March 2009

Well, as you can probably see from the above, today was our 12 week scan. The pictures don't show the whole story but you might just be able to make out a body, head, 2 arms and 2 legs. During the scan we also got to see a tiny little heart beating away furiously, so everything our little Bean needs to survive.

Bean decided to go in the most awkward position possible during the scan so the sonographer had to attempt to move him/her by getting me to move onto my side and using the hand held stick thing to poke him/her. It must have worked as she got all the necessary measurements. The wee one is 6cm long, 12 weeks old and dancing about like a trooper. The due date was confirmed for Sept 13th.

All the appointments with the sonographer and midwife were done within an hour so we were very pleased. I've had yet more blood stolen, sorry, taken. Scott says I can't call it stealing as I allowed them to do it, albeit unwillingly, however I still subscribe to mum's theory that medical staff are actually masquerading vampires! We've also been quizzed about lots of things and given what appears to be a small library of magazines, pamphlets and leaflets to read, including our first Bounty pack. Inside was a nice little temperature gauge for the nursery, first of the freebies.

Just breathing a huge sigh of relief that all is well, now to go and book another appointment for 16 weeks. Onwards and upwards (or outwards in the case of my tummy) as they say!

Daddy's musings

I guess it’s time for “Daddy” to say a few words and express some thoughts on all of this.

As we’ve both admitted to each other, it has been hard to imagine that all of this baby/pregnancy thing is real. Sure, Sophie has had the physical manifestations of being pregnant such as morning (or in her case, evening) sickness but even then it has been hard to believe that the baby brewing in Sophie’s belly is actually there. What probably hasn’t helped me is that Sophie and I have agreed that, for the time being, she will worry about growing our baby and I will focus on getting our Leeds house sold and ensuring we have a home in the summer well before Bean arrives… Bean being our pet name for the little bundle of joy.

Perhaps the first sonogram images of Bean will be the tangible evidence my brain needs to realise that this is really happening? We’ll see on Tuesday afternoon I guess.

Despite all of this, I am still over the moon about the prospect of our first child entering the world in September. This is something I’ve wanted for a long time and on one level I can’t wait for Bean to arrive. Yes, I am fully aware of everything that goes with having a baby. Yes, I know it will be hard. Yes, I know it will be scary. Yes, I know it will be difficult. And yes, I know it will be tiring. But it will be our baby and from what I am told by all other parents it is the most wonderful thing in the world and all the stress, exhaustion, frustration and financial hardship is more than worth it in the end.

Sophie already has specific designs, themes and colour schemes in mind for the baby’s room and they’re fine with me. No arguments there. I suspect the sticking point will be the baby’s name. We’ve had a list of boy and girl names for years and for the most part we had agreed on our joint favourites. However, I now find myself moving away from these preferences for various reasons.

There are really very few names I like or want to use. I have a definite personal favourite boy’s name but Sophie pretty much refuses to use it. Our joint preferred boy’s name is now not so desirable to me – maybe I will come around to it again over the next 6 months.

As for girl’s names, I have a far-out-in-the-distance favourite. Sophie likes it too but the spelling may be up for significant amounts of negotiation. At least the name, whatever spelling we agree on, shouldn’t be too common so its doubtful there will be a girl with the same name in school classes. Despite not being popular, the name shouldn’t horrify people. Hopefully. Well, I think it is fantastic and beautiful.

At least we have a selection of names to choose from when Bean bursts (not the best choice of words, sorry Sophie!) in to the world and we can pick the one that best fits our child when we see him/her. Feel free to start the name sweepstake now.

Okay, I think I’ve rambled on a little too long. Next time I will try to be a little more concise assuming Sophie doesn’t ban me from posting and clogging up her blog!

If you want to take away one thing from this blog then it is that Daddy is very happy with the baby growing in Sophie!

22nd Feb 2009

Yesterday was the day of the Great Jeans Hunt. It appears that women under 5' 3" don't have babies, or so the high street seems to think. Plenty of maternity jeans out there but barely any in the short leg/petite range. Next and Top Shop both stocked the tall range in maternity but not petite, irritating isn't the word. I ended up going to Mama's & Papa's where there was a great range of style in the petite range. I got a pair of boot cut style, right now they're a little baggy to say the least but I doubt that will be a problem given a few more weeks.

Feeling very tired and irritable today, generally quite down and miserable. Wondering if it's the realisation that comes with beginning the packing process that's triggered it? I packed most of my scrapping stuff up this afternoon and knew I wouldn't see it for several months. *sigh* I've kept a small(ish) box of stuff out to take to Linda & Graham's house, I'm hoping to work on the Disneyland Paris album there. Having that goal helped me minimise the stuff to take with me.

I feel guilty for secretly wanting the solicitors to keep dicking us about with the paperwork for selling this place. Every day they drag this process out is another day we don't have to live under someone elses feet. I always feel like I'm massively imposing when I'm there, even if it's only for a day, I'm gonna feel permanently guilty when we actually move in! At the same time I want this place to get sold quickly to get rid of the niggling worry of it falling through and so Scott can chill out a bit, he's worrying over every tiny detail right now.

No wonder I'm tired and miserable!!!

20th Feb 2009

Woohoo! My baby book arrived today. It's based on "Guess How Much I Love You" and is totally adorable. I got it because it matches the scrapbook I've had for a while so the baby's early life books will all match - I'm making the most of having time to think about things like that! Here's a link:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Guess-How-Much-Love-You/dp/0744561183/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1LC91OCSJ1IAV&colid=3INHR6HRF1Y4F

Wendy has given me a load of her maternity clothes, sadly quite a few don't fit but I've got a skirt, pair of trousers and a top from the haul which saves me some money.