Mum and the slice of pie

Dear Mum, 

This week grandchild no 1 is about the size of an avocado, or I guess the length of a decent slice of pie.

Tried this out last weekend - very yummy :)   http://allrecipes.com/recipe/fresh-rhubarb-pie/

 This week, as you know, I have been feeling a bit low.  Hormones do not agree with me it seems.  At 16, after a visit with you to the Dr about my shocking cramps (that had me rocking on the armchair hours before a piano exam and you pegging it up to the pharmacy at the top of the road for pain killers) he took one look at my face, diagnosed cystic acne and prescribed me the pill.  So 14 years later, with an occasional break, I have gotten very used to the fairly normal constant, drug controlled, emotional state I have been in.  Coming off was a bit of a shock but growing a mini me (or Pip) seems to make it worse.  Hopefully I’ll perk up and laugh about it with you soon.

It seems being a bit down in the dumps has made me a bit reflective and being months away from becoming a mum I guess has made me think of you and the things you have done for Ali, Rob and me and what I would like to pass on to our child(ren – I have to have the first one first before I can start talking plural apparently).

Music would probably be the key thing.  While I might pass on the Sunday afternoons spent teaching us accordion – I am not sure who they were more painful for – I would certainly like to be able to sit and share my hobby with my family as you have done.   While none of us appreciated the constant nagging to practice, practice, practice when we were younger, without that nagging I would never have been “on tour” to the US or played in Disneyland Paris.  

 Granted you wouldn’t have had to attend quite the number of concerts and carol services that you (and dad) did.  One concert in particular, where I recall being given a ticking off on the way home for not actually making it on stage for the orchestra’s final number.  There you were looking child number 1 in the row of flutes, there I was sat back in the music room watching Look Who’s Talking with the choir.  Some things never change, right?!

So far you have been in your element with baby bits, you are officially knitter extraordinaire and your research skills for pretty much anything are second to none.  One particular, non-baby, example would be me setting you the challenge of finding me a new enamel bath.  45 mins later you called me back with 3 different options...  It is still not quite cool to email at half 11 at night about prams you have seen in John Lewis but it’s a working progress :)  

 You have decided that you shall be known as Granny rather than Grandma – to be fair calling you Grandma Cole just reminds me of my Grandma Cole and calling you after your mum-in-law is probably unforgiveable...  So Granny C it is.

A (rare) lovely pic of mum at our wedding

I look forward to seeing you with your grandchild and to hearing any pearls of wisdom you can offer us as Pip and I get used to being parents.  I am sure they’ll be times when we are “not doing things they way you would do it” and times when I will inwardly give you "the brow" but that’s just the way we are and it’s worked for the last 30 years!

 Love you Mum xx

The muffin and the baby's room...

 So this week baby D is approx the size of a normal sized muffin, I have tried to bake some this afternoon but they decided not to rise and are smaller than cupcake.  Pip has assured me the taste ok tho!  So its back to a pic from the interweb instead...

Obviously it was going to be a chocolate one!

  This week has involved a lot of work in the baby's room.  It would appear that I am not so keen on the word nursery, can't really explain why, after discussion at TB's last eve Lori said that it sounded like having ideas of grandeur, which I did find myself nodding too.  The day we have a butler and cook is waaay off!  So for the meantime baby's room it is.

So, Pip has spent an hour or so shifting things around and sanding all the woodwork this week, then I kind of bribed Ali with a potential meal if she would come up and assist with the glossing.  I'd like to point out she happily obliged...

Yesterday we had all of family Cole at casa Doherty and while Ali and Pip were painting I had my brother turning soil in my veg page so I could get in some canes and plant the veggies I picked up this week.  No-one was quite sure what mum was up to but she informed Pip at some point she was supervising...

At the moment the room looks like this...

View from the door, post gloss pre much else...

 And once we are finished it will look something like this...

Ta-Da!

 Okay so the latter one is clearly a joke, much as I'd like to triple the size of the room it's clearly not going to happen and as for the giraffe... But the brown chest of drawers that you spot is my project for the room, I plan to sand and paint it to give it a new lease of life.  Watch this space for progress!

The veggie patch, vigilant slug watch will be happening for the next few days :)

 I may have reported slight clothing issues in previous posts, this week, we reached a milestone.  Having spent 2 days in heels at work I have found my knees were aching, which in itself is not a good sign, I am hoping it was just a weird one off as I hadn't planned on having to wear "flat, comfy" shoes quite so soon... Anyway, most of my work trousers are longer length to allow for heel-age so in an attempt to find shorter ones I tried on the maternity trousers that have been given to me, along with a host of other maternity clothes, and Holy Moly, how comfortable are these magical creations??!??!?

The cupcake, the Jill moment and Betty...

So, nothing terribly exciting to report on the baby front this week.  We are watching out for any bump-age as according to the precious app its anytime from now on.  Nothing as yet but I'll be sure to report back as and when!  I have noticed discreet (and not so discreet) looks from people towards the tummy region and am finding it quite funny!  I might do a cushion up the jumper job one day just to catch peoples faces :o)

This week our comparison will be the humble and yet delicious cupcake.  I mentioned to the lovely CC that I might make some and actually post a picture of home-cooked cake this week and true to my word here is one homemade lemon cupcake (our fruit this week, again according to the blessed app, is the lemon so I'm keeping theme!)

Ok, so they're lemon and lime as I had one hanging around...

This week has seen "pregnancy brain" kick in, according to most of the people I work with, Pip and Ali.  It would appear that out of work I am repeating entire conversations without realising and while Pip is politeness itself and doesn't say anything/hears my voice and zones out, Ali is a touch more up front and simply says "Jill, you told me this yesterday, you're turning into mum".  Sisters...

Work wise it has led to a fairly entertaining week at work, I think my office colleagues have had great laughs at my expense with various "Did I tell you this already?" "Er, what study number did I just say?" "Oh crap, who did I just send that email too?". 
In my defense it has been a true week of the "stupid people". Generally they only emerge on a Friday but not this week.  The type of people that email/message you and you think "Did you really just ask that?!" or "I'm not sure I can reply politely just now so I'll just ignore you".

The slightly distressing part of this was that my boss, Karina, told me PB lasts for years - Oh Dear...

Now the Jill classic had to be on Tuesday.  This little story has earned me Betty. 
I feel I should explain Betty before I share the story.  Betty is a little figurine (below right) that lives on the desk of the person that has made a boop. Betty Boop.  A-ha I hear you cry...

The real Betty

Our Betty, accept ours no longer has a tail

Now since I joined my dept. she has pretty much lived on my desk with the occasional trip to Tracy or Lori and more recently Vince, I daresay Jo or Candace have had her once of twice.  And I have to say I reveled in telling my new colleague, Patricia, about her recently when she made an epic boo-boo!

We also now have a virtual Betty as Tracy and Vince have moved on from ICON to pastures new and we like to share the love!

So the incident...  Karina and I were interviewing a candidate for a job on Tuesday, I had dialed Karina in to the call and used the equivalent of Skype so we could see each other.  Having completed a very thorough interview we ended the call and I closed down the camera.  I turned to the candidate and said "Well she gave you quite a grilling!".  At which point a voice on the end of the phone said "I can hear you, you know".  And thus I now have not only the virtual Betty but the figurine too...!

The scan, the news and the mini muffin

So, did you hear?  We are expecting a baby!  Baby D is officially due on the 7th Nov 2013.  2 days earlier than our calculations but let's be fair it's more likely to be anytime from then onwards.  All being well it'll be bang on (as I was, Mum says its the only time in my life I've been on time...) but who knows!

Baby D caused the sonographer consternation by essentially break dancing on his/her head for the first part of the scan, then eventually moved to lie down so a measurement could be taken :o)

A little wave to say hi to us all :o)

 

This week we're going for a mini-muffin as a size comparison (ta TB) my app decided that week 13 is shrimp but after discussion in the office we decided that was greatly uninspiring so back to cake it is. 



Having had the scan and all being well with baby D thus far we decided to share the news with nearest and dearest and each work place this week.  It's been quite strange sharing what we had gotten used to keeping secret, no more surreptitious looks round Mothercare or watching what we/I say around friends.  One of the harder examples of this was a recent evening spent with Ali and our cousins Jen and Nik, Jen has also been very keen to provide her son with a playmate and it's a fairly regular course of conversation when we meet up so keeping shtum was particularly hard a couple of weeks ago.  

So now the true planning starts, the bedroom needs some work so that's next on the list, we are having a look into enviro friendly nappies so if any mums reading this have any advice that would be gratefully received, and then it's names which has already been under much discussion and looks set to continue for quite some time!  
We (I really mean me) have lists, in fact I almost have lists of lists, much to Pips amusement, of things to read up about or purchase from baby wipes to a cot mattress and a rocking chair (e-bay bidding ongoing) to cotton wool.  We took a stroll round Kiddicare yesterday, for those of you that think a high chair is just a high chair you are so wrong....!  It is fascinating the things you can buy and allegedly need for one tiny human and it's slightly bewildering to see it all in one enormous shop.  Thankfully we (I) have lists, a cousin who's pregnancy is 10 weeks ahead of me and a batch of friends and family who I am relying on for advice ;o)

Mum C has been busy with the knitting needles and this week gave us these beauties!

The creme egg and the holibob...

 So this week baby D is approx the size of a creme egg, possibly a bit bigger but I am determined to stick to my chocolate/sweet treats sizing theme!

Today, according to the apps on my hone we are week 12 day 0!  Our scan is booked for Mon at half 9 and I should have "a medium full bladder".  How one is supposed to measure this is beyond me but a pint of water an hour before hand apparently helps you along the way...

This last week has seen us in Prague for a few days, were we both got sunburn.  As ever I looked like Rudolph for a couple of days, nothing like a Cole nose to catch the sunshine...  In humourous discussions about future Doherty children we have decided that one blessed with my smile and Pips intelligence would be preferable to one with my nose and his eyesight :o)

Back to the holiday, we had a great few days, we walked a lot, eat some great food including lots of ice-cream and went to many of the places suggested by my colleagues in the Prague office!

Places included a Monastic Brewery were Pip has discovered a liking dark lager, Prague castle and cathedral and we unintentionally found St Nicholas church, which had the most impressive interior.  We took a trip on the tram a couple of times and I snapped away on my new camera with some success and some not so successful photos - the panoramic setting may need some work!

A few of the amazing buildings in the main square

St Nicholas church

One of the windows in Prague Catherdral

The view from Hotel U Prince terrace restaurant overlooking the cathedral

This weeks recipe is for mini Toffee Apple tartlets - a pampered chef wonder, sadly there are no photos from me as mum, Ali Pip and me have managed to polish the whole lot (24) off this evening...!

American recipe is the closest I can find, def recommend trying them out!
                     http://www.pamperedchef.com/recipe_search/recipe.jsp?id=81812

A visit to the midwife and a chocolate...

...So today has seen us visit the midwife for the first time.  Finally having this baby is starting to feel more real and a little bit more exciting :o)

We went through a host of questions both health and personal.  I was weighed and had a batch of blood taken for all manner of tests.  Once we'd been given a library of paperwork, pamphlets and discount vouchers (bring on the shopping) the midwife, Hayley, asked if we wanted to see if we could hear the heartbeat.  I hopped up on that bed super quick!  Sadly baby D was hiding but it was amazing just to hear everything inside moving about!  Hayley filled in our scan request and we just have to sit tight now and hope that its not the week we are away!

Week 9-10 sees baby D being about the size of a chocolate, one of my favourite things!  So I picked one of my favourite types of chocolates to show this.  My baby app tells me that we are also grape/prune sized but I'm afraid chocolates definitely win out on the size comparison.

Baby D now has its first gift.  Grandma D-to-be came down for a visit this Easter and bought with her the very lovely zebra, just in keeping with what we are thinking colour scheme wise for baby's room and general feel.

We also took a visit to the New Forest Lavender for a cuppa and a slice of amazing, still warm, dusted w icing sugar and served with stems of lavender for decoration Lavender and Apple cake.

While I cannot find a recipe for that cake I have found: 
http://www.allotment.org.uk/recipe/1375/lavender-tea-cake-recipe/ as always if anyone attempts it please let me try a slice!!

Oh and I did make Easter bonnets too...

The Mini Egg (its Easter afterall!)

So according to my reliable phone app this week we are moving from blueberry to raspberry so I thought I would use artistic license and upgrade to a mini egg!

Now mini eggs are up there with one of my favourite Easter treats, I am a big creme egg fan too but can only manage one of those now, whereas with the mini egg I can probably polish off a bag!  There's nothing like seeing if you can bite off the sugar casing to leave a whole choccie egg!

In the last few weeks, chocolate has slipped from one of my main dietry requirements (sad times) but I seem to be eating pretty much anything else...  Thankfully still no sign of any morning/all day sickness but most mornings seem to contain a weird hour or so, so far foods to cure it have been hula-hoops (very wrong at half 10 in the morning), a banana, hickory smoked seeds (thanks Graze) and a bourbon biscuit (or 2 or 3).

I think its starting to feel more real now that (all being well) Pip and I are having a child; today he has purchased a "pregnancy for dad's" book to read on our up and coming trip to Prague.  Not the usual choice for holiday reading but another reason why he is such a gem and I couldn't imagine doing this with anyone else :o)  His new pet-name for me at the moment appears to be "preggers", I guess it'll grow on me...  
We have also been doing a little bit of pram/general baby research after Mum and I got a bit carried away on a trip into town, by carried away I mean, Babies R Us, Mothercare and Mamas & Papas all in one afternoon.  Us Cole's do not do things by halves!!  However it has meant that I have discovered the Little Bird range by Jools Oliver (Jamie Olivers very lovely wife) and Isabellas Toybox at Mothercare.  Swoon...

Scribble the Tortoise

Little Bird Cotbed Quilt

  
















It's still strange having this huge piece of news that very few people know and it's even harder not to tell anyone, everyone actually.  We're trying to play it cool until we get through the first 12 weeks (esp as I heard of a friend of a friend recently who went for their scan to have bad news) but I am determined not to lie.  So CC and TB may be half in on the secret.  (TB please note while the hug and the hushed "take care of yourself" was appreciated yest at lunch, a little less squeezing would have been good.  It seems one "symptom" of being preggers is sore boobs.  And holy-moly do I).

In baking news  I managed a round of choc-orange cupcakes for church Spring Market, with fancy duo icing...  A marmalade cake (my first cake ever to sink in the middle, horror of horrors) and my usual banana tray bake, Pip had to beat this lot together as I was pretty pooped last Monday evening! And just now I have a slab of honeycomb cooling or hokey-pokey as Nigella calls it.

As its Easter I might whizz up a batch of Easter bonnets, an old Fithyan favourite, if I do pics will follow next time.

xx