Thankfully we now appear to be past the dreaded initial 3 months of pregnancy and Nicola is starting to feel a bit more like herself. I learned some valuable lessons in those first 3 months and I give you my top 5 below:
1, Women get an increased sense of smell - meaning of course that I have had to start wearing a fresh pair of pants everyday.
2, Trying to get out of doing something by suggesting that Nicola could do it herself is likely to result in a long hard stare and the dismantling of a voodoo doll looking like myself.
3, Buggies cost more than my Mondeo!
4, Buggies look to have put pay to my Xbox, PS3 and Nintendo Wii aspirations.
5, Waddling about with my arms pushed out to my sides and my cheeks puffed out is never ever funny.
So, as I said, Nicola is now back on form and instead complaining all the time that she is feeling bad, she is now twinkling about the place like a glowing beam of happiness. She has been coming on some long walks along the beach and the Deeside railway with Lucy the dog, cooking (thank god!) and has been discussing her plans for the arrival of the little person without bursting into tears and punching me.
She also has started to show a wee little bump over the last couple of weeks and advised me this morning that her waist is now 33 inches (the bitch). Oh how I remember when my waist was but 33 inches. It was the summer of 92 (around the time Burger king and MacDonalds were dominating my diet). I remember it well because burger king were advertising that you didn't have to have gurkins (they called them pickles) so I used to order a double cheeseburger with only ketchup meal please. Where am I going with this?....moving on....
We were in Glasgow yesterday and went to have a look at the Pram centre. This visit was quite productive and we began to get a feel for what we required and also what we liked. Now, Nicola disagrees with my scientific assessment of buggies. She always thinks she knows better and to be fair, she normally does but I'm convinced that on this occasion I know what I speak. Clearly, the standard of the buggy, just like the standard of a car, depends on the number of cup holders available. If one is walking down the street, one cannot hold a hot tasty beverage in one hand and push your own flesh and blood with the other. No, you must be able to relinquish control of your hot tasty beverage and allow the buggy to do the work. Allowing you to use both hands to push, wave or give the finger to passing traffic. I'll keep you posted on the buggy news as it comes but we have seen a couple that look to do what we need - only one has a sufficient number of cup holders!
On the Lucy the dog front, she has been getting a lot better and I can report that she is no longer using my home as a toilet. Well, mostly, she sometimes lets her standards slip resulting in me skidding through the kitchen from one end to another but 99% of the time she is good. She has now been to 3 dog classes and is very close to being promoted to the next class. Nicola and I were scared after the first night that all she was going to learn at dog school was how to bark. Thankfully though she has picked up some good habits and hopefully in a few months we will have a happy little pooch that behaves all the time and doesn't chase everything that moves.
Thats about it for now, I won't leave it so long next time.
Mike and Preggers
