A surprise!

We had our scan today (22 weeks + 4) after being sent home last week.

The baby wasn't somersaulting quite so much today so the sonographer got the measurements and then told us she is 95% sure that we are having a GIRL!
I'm stunned!!!
Was so sure it must be a boy!!

Who knew a girl would cause me so much trouble already and make me eat like a horse too! I thought girls didn't cause trouble til they were at least 14!!

Anyway, we are thrilled (would have been thrilled with either of course) - we are extremely thankful that all the checks were fine - we saw the 4 chambers of the heart, the brain, mouth, lips, the baby extended her fingers several times and definitely waved to us!

In-laws Visit

Mike's parents came for the weekend - his dad helped a lot at the new house. There's still a lot of wrecking to be done and it's quite exhausting for Mike to do on his own.
It was his dad's birthday that week so we had Mike's brother and family over for a birthday tea - chipolatas in rolls and pork and apple sauce followed by a huge cake that Mike made filled with cream and cherry compote.

Food & Kicking

Can't believe how hungry I am all the time!! I am sure this baby has a giant funnel and is stealing everything I eat as soon as I eat it!
Have been making mushroom soup lots which has been lovely and my latest fad is prawn and avocado sandwiches/salad...sometimes at 5am which can be a little tiring!
At least now I am able to make it to the shops myself so Mike isn't having desperate calls from me to bring home shopping. (he is very relieved!)
The baby is now kicking and some days it really makes me jump as it's so insistent. Last week we got sent home from the scan as s/he was too active (exactly the same happened at the first scan - too much jumping around) so we go again tomorrow to see if we can get the measurements this time.

2009

So we've had a lovely relaxing time and now it's time to get on with life. 2009, God willing, will bring new blessings and challenges and we look forward to those.

For now we are making soup (I'm addicted!) and enjoying the slightly milder weather. Mike is working at demolishing the old kitchen at the new place and I'm trying to catch up with things this end while I can still bend over and reach up etc etc!

We are now over 20 weeks pregnant...our next scan in on 21st Jan when we get a lot of the medical side of things checked and we may know the sex of the baby which would be amazing! Now that we are in the 'next year' our due date - 1st June - doesn't really seem very far away so I'm trying to make the most of this time when it's just us...I would have liked a little longer to be a couple but time wasn't on our side so we had to move things on...they just happened a little faster that I had imagined!!!

Village Walk

We visit the same little villages a few times...this year we loved the decorations. We also collected some firewood to take home and popped into The Old Mill at Baginton for soup on the way home...delish!

Visitors

My best friend came to visit with her kids...just for an evening...they were down staying with Paul's mum. It was raucous! Her kids are super-lively but adorable, always really pleasant and in good moods. We had given Joshie a DVD that he starred in so we got to see him watch that for the first time...he loved it and it was great to watch the kids' reactions to it.

Dec 25th

My parents arrived a few days before Christmas and we had a lovely quiet time with them. I wasn't feeling that great so they really helped us a lot. They had a few walks with Mike while I had a few naps.
Mike and I managed to cook Christmas dinner though and enjoyed that. I especially loved the smoked salmon and prawn starter - so good! Plus our neighbour gave us a bottle of champagne for looking after the cat while she was in Dubai - I savoured a teeny bit!

Party in Chester

We love this weekend when we drive up to Chester and get together with friends and have a dinner and a dance and then stay over and enjoy breakfast and a swim and coffee & chat in the morning. This time we also went for lunch before we departed which was nice too.
Lots of fun and THE most relaxing way to spend the weekend right before Christmas.

Family Christmas

We had this with Mike's family in mid-December....his 2 brothers and their families and his mum and dad. The boys cooked and did a truly excellent job. We sang some carols and we all had a secret Santa gift. We also told the rest of the family our news...there were audible gasps...it was fun! One of our nieces said "Auntie Anne, you're having a baby? I thought you were going to get a cat" which amused us.
We lasted til 8pm when I had to go home for a sleep - pretty good going I thought!

Christmas at church

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We had a fab meal (as always) at church with games to follow and readings and poems and some make-it-up-as-you-go-along singing which was fun (lots of laa-laaing as we tried in vain to remember the words!)
Last year Mike and I did the meal so it was doubly enjoyable this year and we appreciated it all the more...I just did the canapes that we started with which I enjoyed preparing.
I love this night at church - it's a real highlight of the year.