Goodbye 2005....to the year we got married and made Bert

Hello 2006....to our first married year and the year when we'll met Bert in real life

Raising a glass of non-alcoholic grape juice

Happy New Year Everyone

Investigating the ripping sound from behind the living room curtains, resulting in one bad black cat, Spot with his mouth full of wallpaper... Argghh.

I asked my DH what we should do, he couldn't say anything for laughing. Wonder if he'll feel the same when I have bought the new wallpaper ?

Gosh, we still have SO much to do and with a baby on the way, we have to get the house straight in the next seven months.

Which might be possible if I could stop sleeping all the time. Between my post work nap and then my post dinner nap, before my main evening sleep...housework is non existence.

Luckily I should get more energy next month and my wonderful sister has promised to give me a hand should I need it.

One of my more interesting pregnancy side effects is very vivid dreams.

Last night I dreamt that I took a baby 'Bert' swimming four times, each time was worrying, either the water was too deep or the water was too hot for 'Bert' and then each the scene wind back and started again in a different pool...very strange.

Though not as strange as a dream last week...TWINS !!! Thanks goodness they don't run in the family and we are not on any weird fertility treatment so no chance of twins for us...Phew

First thing we had a cup of tea/coffee and opened our presents to each other and from Deckchair's family as we had already opened my parents gifts.

Deckchair had bought me a beautiful leather bound version of the Grimm Fairy Tales with colour plates, I was looking at a similar book in Hay-on-wye on our honeymoon. This is a beautiful book full of the stories I was read when I was a child. I can't wait to read these to Bert when he/she is much older

Deckchair cooked a lovely christmas lunch, though I was being a bit picky about what I was eating, meat is not appealing at the moment. I also insisted that Deckchair moved his red wine jug away from me, as it smelt like rotting beef - isn't pregnancy lovely !!! In fact my red grape juice didn't smell much better. We had posh crackers and party hats.

We watched silly christmas DVD's - Santa Claws 1 and 2, Nightmare before Christmas.

We played games Yatzee and DVD version of Who wants to be a millionaire, Deckchair cheated big style by switching off the DVD player when he was losing !!! Men

It was a lovely day and although the original agreement about having christmas on our own did not including computer time. I took pity on Deckchair in the evening and he played computer games whilst I slept on the sofa

We had a lovely married christmas and the last one we will be having on our own for quite a while, next year we'll have a bouncing four month old baby

I had arranged to drop by Leeds with my sister's christmas present and to show her and her boyfriend our wedding pictures.

I had my sister's gift in a small gift bag just a thought of a sparkly beaded bracelet and her Christmas card was a Happy Christmas Sister card from Deckchair and I, with a smaller Happy Christmas Aunty card from Bert inside the first card.

Sadly her boyfriend went out when we got there, as he had to dash for some stamps for christmas cards !!!

I couldn't wait any longer and gave my sister her gift and card, whilst she sat on her own on the floor by her coffee table.

She opened the first card and then the second card with a puzzled expression on her face.

Deckchair suggested that she read the front of the card ? She read it out loud "Happy Christmas Auntie". Now read the inside of the card my husband prompted. "Happy Christmas Aunty *****" she read.

Then slowly it dawned on her and she said 'Your not !?!' She was happy and very excited for us and is looking forward to being an Auntie to our baby

Her boyfirend was equally confused when my sister showed him the card when he returned back to the house and when he got it said 'But you always said your sister is not having kids !?!'

Then I rang my brother from my sister's house phone. Although I wanted to tell him in person too, I didn't for two reasons.

One it would be weeks if not months before we would have the time to go and see him.

Two my mum wanted me to tell my brother sooner rather then later as he had gone home for the Christmas holidays and if my mum couldn't talk about Bert she said she would burst. OK a bit unlikely but who am I to risk my mum in this way.

I couldn't think of how to break the news to my brother and in the end the phone conversation went like this. "**** are you alright...brief pause...**** I'm pregnant."

Everyone at my sister's flat just burst out laughing and my poor brother seemed a bit overwhelmed on the other end of the phone. "Ermm does mum know he stammered". I explained that both parents already knew and why I was breaking the news to him over the phone instead of in person. He relaxed and explained he was out with mum and dad shopping and was worried he had to keep this a secret and he would have struggled to do so. He sounded happy that he will be an uncle soon.

My sister and her boyfriend took us out for tea at a lovely pub, Deckchair had a couple of beers and so I drove home. I supect I'll be doing a lot more of the driving over the next eight months or so.

On our honeymoon we had purchased two small baby suits, one yellow jacket and one all white suit with a teddy on it.

On the label of each suit I had written 'Due to be filled on the 15th August 06. Love BabiesEverywhere and Deckchair xxx' each suit was wrapped in tissue paper and placed in a gift bag.

We set off without speaking to either set of parents, as we thought it would be too suspect to announce a visit just a couple of weeks before our already arranged christmas visits.

We called in Wigan to see my parents first and my parents were out, even though they had no plans the night before...arghh. We had a pub lunch at the Foresters, the pub I use to work at around the corner and went to my parental home again no go.

So then we drove up to Blackpool to tell my in laws. Deckchair gave his mother the gift bag and when she opened it, she thought we were planning on starting a family and Deckchair had to explain that we were already pregnant.

What was amusing was that my mum in law changed the subject and talked about many other topics over the next hour but kept coming out with questions about the baby at random points.

Before we left Deckchair's parents I rang my mum too check if they were back home, telling her that we have been to Blackpool to show my in-laws the wedding pictures (which we had done but that of course was not the whole truth) and asked if we drop by for a cup of tea on the way home, which of course my mum agreed to.

I was so nervous about telling my mum which was so silly, as I knew she would be over the moon but it is such an important thing that I wanted it to go well.

I gave my mum her bag telling her it was another present from our honeymoon, whilst Deckchair and my father were talking about something else but I couldn't wait any longer.

My mum was so shell shocked when she opened the present, she just looked between me and back at the little white baby suit, even lifting the suit higher to check what it was.

Deckchair said my father saw what my mum was looking at and just broke into the biggest smile ever. My mum mouthed really?. Yes, I said.

She gave me a big hug and then did a mock faint on the sofa saying she couldn't believe it and things got more giddy from then on.

We talked nine to the dozen about so many baby things you wouldn't belive. What a lovely day to break the news.

I was so tired, I fell asleep on the way home, whilst Deckchair drove back home to Sheffield.

I had already taken a photo of the digital pregnancy test (as you can see on the last post) as I knew the test would only display the positive result for 30 minutes and I had no idea when my husband was going to get up.

I used a software package to update the photo with the relevant details and here is the finished result.


I logged onto my husbands computer and replaced his desktop background with the above picture and then waited inpatiently for him to wake up.

When he did get up he was sat on the sofa debating about going back to bed, as he was the worse for wear for having a couple of beers last night and I volunteered to make a cup of coffee for him and suggested that he check his email.

I would of cried if he had gone back to bed without checking his computer with new background

He turned on his computer and was speechless when he saw our news

He was so happy and shocked, neither of us expected to fall so quickly, as we had expected to take between six and twelve months to get pregnant based on what the nurse had told us.

The first words he spoke were ' What have we done !!!'.....In a good way of course.

He is going to be the best daddy ever

Well, the joke was on me ....

Wow...I am so excited. We did it !!! We created little Bert (male or female) My hands are shaking. Oh my what have we done !!!

I can not wait until I tell Deckchair. It is 6:50am in the morning, he has been up all night working, so I'll have to wait until he wakes up naturally. Oh my, we are going to have a baby. Stick little bean

Oh my, I keep looking at the test...it still says Pregnant. I thought it would take months, maybe we were lucky as he/she...our daughter or son (wow) was conceived on our honeymoon

I can't stop smiling. It was a good job I didn't give in and have that small glass of wine which I was trying to convince myself would be alright last night. As I was so fed up with the First Response Test which gave a very faint line which I assumed must of been a BFN.

Oh my, I'm going to be a mummy in nine months!!!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is 7:22am, the positive pregnancy test still hasn't sunk in and I really want Deckchair to wake up, I have no patience

I hope everything goes well, opps in the excitement over the positive test I have not yet took my baby pills (folic acid and vitamins) and I have been taking them for months, in fact from a month before I went of the birth control pill (BCP) just in case.

Everywhere I go in the house I am carrying The Test with me !!!

Oh my, I hope this baby sticks, that is the down side from reading so many birth boards, I now understand not all beans stick.

Me and Deckchair have already discussed who we are going to tell and when. We are telling my mum as soon as we are sure that this is a proper pregnancy, which will be in the next week or so.

I wanted to tell my mum this early as I love her and she is very supportive. I know if anything was to go wrong in the first trimester I would want her support, so if I would tell her if something goes wrong, I figure we might as well give her the joy of enjoying the good news with us from the beginning.

We'll tell Deckchair's parents the good news when we get to the second trimester which will be on or near the 18th February 06.

In fact as near as I can tell we conceived Bert on either the 20th/21st/22nd November definitely on our honeymoon (at the most beautiful county manor you can imagine).

Taking the date of 7th November as the date of last period (which is the way doctors calculate it)

First Trimester Finishes February 2006 and little Bert will be due mid to late August
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wow....