OHMYGOD I just did some research and if a guy who posted on this blog in June isn’t lying there is a Taco Bell opening in Watford in 2006. That’s like 15 minutes away from here! I am so excited!!!
AND there is at least one on one US airforce base that we drove past on our way back from the Broads. I should have been able to smell it in the air!!

Okay I need to calm down, I just freaked out Mark who thought something was really wrong!

You know when you are little and you stick out your stomach really far on purpose just cause it’s a funny thing to do sometimes? (well at least I remember doing this!) This is what I feel like is happening today – except I am so not doing it on purpose. Oohh stretchy stretchy.

Although I said before that my appetite is back, it’s sort of hot and cold actually. I still have aversions to a hell of a lot of foods, I barely like the idea of eating anything to be honest (except ice cream). The house is full of food and we either keep having to go shopping again, or end up eating out.

Actually, all I want to eat is Mexican. So we’ve been having it alot. I’m talking fake not proper Mexican here – not like chipotles in adobo sauce or anything. Lots of Old El Paso meal kits, and we tried the restaurant chain Chiquito‘s here. Actually I didn’t expect much and I had a great meal, including a freakin’ delicious strawberry colada. Yummmmmmm. What I could kill for is a bean burrito from Taco Bell. Or those fries with everything on them. Why isn’t it in this country? Oh my god I just visited the official Taco Bell website and literally I am salivating. I need to go home to Canada SOON. We have KFC, we have Pizza Hut – it’s the same parent company, what is going on??? I should contact them. I should open one right in Leicester Square or something. At least then the American tourists would keep it running at a profit.

At least if it’s something I want to eat, I’m cooking again. It’s been pretty crap the past few months not being able to enjoy or participate in my number one stress reliever and favourite past time. The recipe books have collected dust, along with any nice pots and pans, and utensils. So, okay, Old El Paso kits or a tray of nachos, cheese and salsa doesn’t really count as cooking but it’s baby steps here… I think I should research more Mexican food and experiment beyond the meal kits. Sounds good.

Mark made a pretty good steak and ale pie last night, and tonight we are bbq’ing some chicken and veg. I’ve also been craving foods that I used to eat that I don’t really eat anymore – like onion soup mix & sour cream dip (we had that for lunch yesterday with a tonne of veggies – although I did use some half fat creme fraiche as a substitute) and chocolate pudding (I hope it’s similar to Canadian brands, but I bought Angel Delight and we will see how it stacks up). We went blackberry-picking in the fields behind the house last night so I’d better do something with those tonight. There’s leftover puff pastry from the pie.

Jesus – obviously I am feeling better with all this talk about food!!

End of summer and the weather suddenly improves (just when I was looking forward to autumn and cardigans and cords – well if I can fit in them this year). We took the dog out to Ruislip Lido this afternoon, which is a good walk for us, and a good run and a soak for her. Plus there are always loads of other dogs there which is always entertaining.

Tomorrow, we’re planning a seaside trip Kent-way to Herne Bay/Margate. I’ve found some dog-friendly beaches there, and the weather is supposed to be even nicer tomorrow. And it’s a long weekend here.

Even more planning – we’ve just booked a long weekend spa break at the end of September! We decided we wanted to do this as it’ll be some quality us-time before the big life change in January, and we didn’t go anywhere exotic for a honeymoon (Norfolk is not exactly a big getaway for us when you can usually find us going to Barbados, Greece, Egypt – wherever). So instead we are spending a mint on a long weekend at Ragdale Hall in Melton Mowbray (where Piper was born!) where I am going to get extra pampering, Mark is planning on just swimming a lot apparently (although there was something muttered about how he fancied a manicure), and we get to stay in a nice old hotel all inclusive. And no dog this time.

I’m not actually supposed to have any more time off of work until November due to our impending ALI inspection but I think I am a special case… or at least I hope I can convince my boss I am.

So it was our big “anomaly” scan and consultant appointment yesterday – and everything is hunky dory. All measurements of the baby are lining up with expected due date – minus a couple of days, which is exactly what I expected as they have told me 02/01/06 is the date based on a 28 day cycle and mine were all around 34 days. So I expect this bean to arrive not until the 7th January at least. But I could be wrong.

She couldn’t get all the measurements of the heart and spine that she wanted for two reasons -the bean was lying in this kind of sideways breech position and no matter how hard she stabbed me with the ultrasound thingy it wasn’t cooperating fully, AND as we arrived in the car park at the hospital, I decided to vomit up the entire contents of my stomach very violently, which had included the litre of water I needed in my bladder for the scan to go well. Not it’s not a return of morning sickness, it’s called don’t eat somewhat dodgy expired desserts for lunch. There’s my lesson of the day.

So the good news is that we get another one on 9th September – so we didn’t get a print out of this one as that one will probably be better as it will be bigger.

And no matter how hard Mark and I peered at it, no idea what this thing is, boy or girl. And they won’t tell us, so I am hoping we may have a clue at the next scan? I saw arms, legs, head, tummy, spine, heart – everything but. Damn.

Anyway, on to the midwives and consultant, where there is no protein in my urine (good) and my blood pressure is fine (good). Saw the high-paid consultant who was very nice for about 3 seconds as everything is absolutely fine so they had nothing to say.

Yesterday I had some clothes arrive in the post: first pairs of maternity pants, a pair of jeans and black pants for work, also a dress. I’ve heard this before, I think reading Lisa’s blog and from Sam, but wow I really do look huge when I put the jeans on. I think it’s because normal pants sort of still keep things tucked in a bit, but when you wear something with a large elasticated panel, it all pops out!

I feel better about buying things now anyway, and I’ve got my first item (which arrived in the post today – ooh how I love getting all these parcels, a wedding gift came today as well) – a baby sling. I was actually looking for a particularly stylish diaper bag from the US (mums just must have good accessories, you know) when I stumbled across a particularly stylish piece of material being used as a sling. Looked around and found this one which I really liked (I got the flowery one on the right – too bad if it’s a boy, it’s my accessory not his!!), and today it’s here. Hopefully it was a good purchase, people seem to be fans of them. We’ll probably still get Mark a more sporty looking Baby Bjorn carrier or something similar. I can’t wait to use all the John Lewis/Mothercare gift certificates which were wedding gifts to buy stuff in the next few months!

Well it seems to have been an eventful week or two. I’ve got my appetite back (this could be dangerous!), and likely as a result even my 4 months of constipation seems to have come to an end (you don’t want to know how happy this makes me). I’m feeling pretty good all around, hell I only had to get to 20 weeks for that to happen. And there’s definite movement and something resembling a bump – particularly when I lie on my back.

Now this bump, I have to tell you, isn’t a nice bump like skinny people get. For example, my friend Mimie (who I did my Masters with at Laurier) who is 2 weeks more pregnant than me looked like this a couple of weeks ago (sent by email):

Hope she doesn’t mind me putting that on here!

But the point is that I have no nice photo like that of her lovely well-formed bump as mine is more like a load of blobs. You’ve got to be skinny in the first place to get one of those. So no pics of bumps Jamie! I will wait until there is something more formed to show. In some flattering shirt or something!

Anyway, the most interesting thing about recent days is that on the first night we were away, I slept REALLY soundly (I was surprised, not having tried to sleep on a boat before). In fact, I spent most of the night on my right hand side. When I woke up to roll over, and then did so, I realised there was a bean sticking out of my abdomen! Like it’s head or bum or something really hard up against my tummy! I grabbed Mark’s hand but by the time he was conscious enough to move it had sunk back into where it should have been. How weird and cool at the same time. Mark had visions of Alien but what the hell.

The BBC has started a new show here called He’s Having a Baby. I have to say, it’s pretty cheesy. However I did make Mark watch the first episode with me as I cooked dinner Saturday night on the boat (thank god for colour tv on a boating holiday or we’d have killed each other by boredom). They are supposedly trying to prepare first time fathers for parenthood. It’s really lame, and I am sad for Davina the presenter who I normally think is great! However, I still managed to get really emotional over it which is pretty sad of me…

Cheers
Originally uploaded by emmabean.

The honeymoon is over (ha ha). Well, our infatuation with the boat is over and we came home a bit early. We’d kind of had enough, although it was a good and relaxing week. Scenery doesn’t change though. At least I have a day at home today to sort some things out before the dreaded return to work tomorrow. Like photos. Thankfully I have received a lot more and as opposed to blogging them all, I’ve put a bunch (but not all) on flickr, and you can see them by clicking on the new box on the left side of the blog. This one I have put on the post is my favourite so far, and I’ve ordered a bunch of wallet sizes to send out with thank you notes (must start them asap!). Will continue to add photos as I get them but there is a monthly limit to flickr accounts that I am close to meeting.

The dog probably had a better time away that we did – it was like it was her holiday! Actually she was really excellent – it’s amazing how naughty she can be when we have guests at the house, but when we take her away she is good as gold. And she adapts to change (like suddenly living on a boat!) really easily.

So now lots of laundry to do (but it’s miserable and rainy today), groceries to re-stock up on, handbag to sort out with work bits, house to clean up, etc etc.

Alright, I’m convinced – I seemed to have popped out a bit like yesterday or today and my stomach is feeling really big! And abdomen lots harder. And I think I’ve even convinced myself that the feeling I am getting in there that is like bubbles popping might also be movement.

Off for a week to the Norfolk Broads tomorrow – wonder if I will get sick on the boat?

Finally, as requested, some wedding photos with people in them! But I am still waiting for more, I know there are loads out there on digital cameras!!

Above: checking the registry office documents before signing them.

Above: about to either cut the cake for real – or was it the mock photos?!

Above: our handmade cake topper, made by Helen in Scotland. Doesn’t really look like me, but not a bad job on Mark, Piper and Piglet!

Above: what the marquee looked like before the party started.

Had a good week being a tourist with Tami, and last night enjoyed having Jen and Bill here too after their week in Spain (they were also here for the wedding), but they all left from Gatwick this morning on Air Transat so the house is back to normal now with no more Canadian visitors to have fun with.

Above: Tami, Mark and I went to Oxford on Monday.

Above: Tami and I at Stonehenge on Friday.

Off on the pseudo-honeymoon tomorrow with the dog to the Norfolk Broads for a week. Hopefully while I am gone my inbox will produce a few more snapshots. And then next Tuesday I have to face going back to work. Work?? What’s that??

So now back to our regularly scheduled pregnancy… (now the wedding is done and the bean is no longer illegitimate!! )

The bean can now apparently hear things (19 weeks now) so I am wondering what it thought of the crappy dj on Saturday night who played it all way too loudly and only played about 2 songs I was interested in listening to. Poor thing. I will re-educate it soon.

Thankfully I really don’t have a bump still, just as I have said a harder abdomen than before and possibly the migration north of other tummy flab, which meant that the wedding dress fit just as good as it had in the store and it wasn’t uncomfortable at all. Plus Tami did it up nice and tight so I had a proper waist under the boobs again. The top of the dress wasn’t filled up as I swear my breasts have not gotten any bigger. But everything says that they should have.

I am looking forward to the scan and appointment at the end of the month because it’s another weird stage right now in that it could be that everything has gone wrong and I just don’t know about it – or everything is okay and it’s just me. No bump, no bigger boobs. Still a bit sick sometimes, possibly feeling movement but it could be gas. Who knows.

For my birthday present, Tami got me some excellent books that I am looking forward to reading on our honeymoon break – Belly Laughs by Jenny McCarthy which I have heard is a riot, Confessions of a Slacker Mom by Muffy Mead-Ferro (to remind me not to listen to people who try to tell you the only way to be a perfect parent) and the very entertaining sounding The Three-Martini Playdate (A Practical Guide to Happy Parenting) by Christie Mellor. With chapter titles such as:

Bedtime: Is Five-thirty too early?
Child Labor: Not Just for the Third World!
Screaming: Is it Necessary?

Can’t wait for that one!!

This could be a pretty long post as so much has happened in the last few days – but all in all, it all went well, better than hoped really, completely according to plan and beyond.

We worked our butts off in the last day or two ahead of time, with my parents, Marks’ parents and Tami all pitching in tremendously to get the house ready and get all the details set. And then suddenly it was Saturday and there was hair and makeup to get done, and I forgot how long it was going to take to get help to do up my dress (it’s like a laced up shoe all up the back) and we were in such a rush to get down to the car – but we made it in good time, suddenly everyone was there with loads of cameras and the actual ceremony was going to happen.

Thank god the registry office staff were so brilliant because we’d been so wrapped up in the house preparations that I don’t think we had really thought enough about the ceremony and we were sort of confused as to what was happening and how. But they were fantastic – set up the music and played it for us (Nobody Does it Better by Carly Simon on the way in; Rest of My Life by Sloan on the way out), told us all that was going to happen and put people in their right places, and actually ended up moving us to a different room than we had booked – but it was nicer anyway. The superintendent registrar that conducted the ceremony was efficient but best of all very humourous and brought a complete sense of lightness to it all that I really appreciated. I really thought that in those few minutes in there I would be completely nerve wracked and (as usual) terrified of the public speaking and hating the public display of affection – but it was all fine! I didn’t feel as nervous as I do chairing a meeting at work. Very strange.

So then out of the building to a million camera flashes and about 10 tonnes of confetti (of which 3 ended up landing in my bra, but anyway!). So many people that we hadn’t seen in ages or who had made a long journey from across the Atlantic (US and Canada). We had a ride back to the house and then the best part started from there. The marquee looked great and we had lots of compliments on it. The catering staff were great too, and although Mark and I weren’t all that impressed with the food, we did have many positive comments from guests. The cake was brilliant (edible and attractive!). The drinks started flowing (and didn’t stop) including my small intake of half an excellent Bellini (for the amount of money we spent on peach puree I was damn well going to have one) and a sip of champagne (we saved a bottle for next year when I can have half of it!). The speeches were good, pretty much everything was good and I can’t complain. Oh except about my shoes which killed me during the ceremony so I wore flip flops under a very long (lucky I didn’t get it hemmed) skirt.

I think people really did have a good time and weren’t just saying that as they left. This is what we were mostly worried about so I am glad we accomplished it. There was a big family reunion on my side that everyone had been looking forward to, and I spent most of the night at a table full of my friends which I had been dying to get to during the sit down meal with arranged seating. Voila – a seating chart created by moi:

…among many other things that I ended up doing by hand to save some money. Actually, despite the hard work and back pain, I really enjoyed a short return to the craftiness I once used to engage in all the time. Now for the really hard work – the favour bags. Which ended up containing a few Cadbury Eclairs, a lucky chocolate sixpence and wedding rock candy (representing the UK) and maple syrup candy and Canadian M&M’s (representing you know where). Now for the visual:

So, I had a good time, my friends and family had a good time. Mark had a little too good a time – he was fine up until about the last hour of the night (12am-1am) when he decided he still wasn’t feeling any effects of any alcohol consumed and chugged a few more bits and pieces. Yes he mixed drinks all night. And has been paying for it since – first, with the profuse amount of vomiting early Sunday morning until Sunday afternoon. And, since that time, he’s had barely any voice, a bad cough and a worse throat. Heh heh heh. He’s paying for it. Especially after breaking the rule that said he had to be a good host and not get pissed. But whatever. I didn’t mind being sober because there were so many amusing drunk people – I may have missed really seeing what they were doing if I had been affected.

And the after party clean up:

Unfortunately these are pretty much the only photos I have but I am hoping some nice person that was there is going to email some to me so I can share with others who weren’t?? I just realised that photo has the cat in the back – he’s moved in since it got put up. The dog is afraid of it however. Oooh actually that has been one bad thing about this weekend. She did NOT have a good time at the kennel and has been misbehaving since she got back. It was only two days but we didn’t feel good about leaving her there when we didn’t get to see where she was going to stay, and she was barking like mad (and she doesn’t ever bark). So we are in no rush to put her in there again. She’ll get a lot of quality time next week too on our boating holiday.

Since then we’ve been tidying up, trying to catch up on sleep but also hanging out with Tami as she’s here for another week and there is lots of sightseeing to do. This afternoon we went to Oxford, walked around for a few hours and had a nice dinner. It was a great sunny day too (these Canadians have been very chilled since they got here so I think she appreciated).

Of course, we had to clean up the car before we went…

Anyway, better go, stuff to do, but wanted to update at least a bit to those who have been wanting to know how it all went. More soon I am sure! Actual wedding photos when I get some.