Happy Birthday Dear Piggy....

First off - a very slightly belated Happy Birthday to my dearest Piggy Wiggy (it was in fact yesterday) - 42, and you don't look a day over.... 41 ;-)

We had a great weekend - if not slightly exhausting. I went into London on Friday, for my bi-weekly (less if I can manage it!) catch up with the gang there... it was nice actually. I got a few funny looks from people who I guess couldn't work out whether I have been eating too many pies (which in fact I have!) or whether I am pregnant. I confirmed to a few that I was and got some really nice comments and congratulations. I took John out to lunch at Borough Market (it was his birthday too on Sunday - the big 40 for him!!) - we had delicious bratwurst and all the trimmings, and some lummy cakes... yay! On Friday evening I met up with a girl called Louise I met on a pregnancy forum (sad I know!), who just happens to live in my area. She is just a week or so ahead of me and we will be using the same hospital etc... so it is nice to compare bumps and talk of things that nobody else in the world could conceivably be interested in! ;-)

Saturday I went and finished my shopping for Mark's birthday (I bought him some much needed clothes from TK Maxx, and some wooden paddles for his Canadian Canoe), and in the afternoon practically collapsed on the sofa for several hours and watched crap TV... very out of character! I just seem to have been lacking energy all weekend really - perhaps the baby is having a growth spurt or something! In the evening we went to a joint 40th birthday party for twin colleagues of his! His work crowd are a really really nice and friendly bunch - they all love Mark to bits, and were delighted that he is going to be a Dad. Yet again though I found complete strangers coming up and stroking my belly - I get the feeling that as the belly grows this situation will only get worse! I now realise how irritating it is, and feel bad for all the times I have squeezed other people's baby bumps. I am desperately trying to convince myself that I always asked first... ;-) I might invest in one of those t-shirts that says "If you touch my bump, I punch your face" (or similar!) ;-)

Sunday, being Mark's birthday, we had lots of visits from his family in the morning. Caroline and Phil and the girls came over, and we sat in the lovely spring sunshine in the garden and had tea and sweeties. His Brother and Alison popped over with a card at lunchtime, and his Dad came for lunch and for the afternoon. I cooked hot dogs for lunch (with a side serving of buttered spinach - my big-time craving!), and we had carrot cake for dessert (Mark's fave). In the afternoon we went to the garden centre at Fordham, and then on to Wicken Fen for a lovely walk. We got home - all had a sleep in the lounge (hahaha - what a sight), until Mark's Dad' snoring woke us all up... and in the evening Mark and I went to The Plough at Coton for supper. It was a lovely day!

Slightly concerned about Mark's Dad at the moment. He has on and off for some 20+ years now complained of feeling 'low' at times, and seems convinced that there is something wrong with his "blood". His symptoms seem in all honesty to be slightly vague, and more recently more indicative of depression than anything else. However... recent blood tests have shown that he has low red blood cell count periodically, and the hospital has decided to pursue some tests - including a tube down the throat and then up his bottom tomorrow (I have forgotten the name of the procedure!) to check that he isn't losing blood anywhere in his digestive tract, or to see if there are any other obvious problems. He seems to have gotten himself in a right old state about it - and to be honest, part of me wonders whether he will actually go through with the tests tomorrow as he seems so frightened of them. I actually feel little concern about the outcome of the test (anything serious would have seen him off after 20 years or so), but obviously we hate to see him so down about it. I wish that there was something we could do to bring back some of the 'Joie De Vivre' in his life. He has no interest in his garden anymore, and the family rarely see him. It seems that there is no middle ground with him. Anyway... fingers crossed for a successful outcome tomorrow and an end to his worries... let's hope that this September baby will remind him what life is all about!

Have a great week all of you... lots of love
Hayls
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