Nagging will get you everywhere

Here is my brand new vegetable plot! And above is my little garden helper, doing his best to ensure his pajamas will be unwearable after a 30 degree wash in ecover powder. I had been trying to grow veg this year in just pots, as most of our garden is gravel (I had to beg to get the grass last year), but I soon realised the pumpkins were massive, and with large pots being so expensive, just don't look so good in bright orange B&Q buckets. They did start out on my kitchen windowsill. I'd been asking HID about large window boxes, to no avail really. Then last Saturday, we went to a (fairly new) friend's birthday BBQ, who had just had their garden redone, to include a vegetable patch! I oohed and aahed quite loudly at this, and it may have just made an impression, as the very next day: this appeared in my garden! Feeling rather chuffed. Best news is, my friend, who's husband's birthday it was, said that not only had her hubby's green fingers rubbed off on HID, but HID's love of slings rubbed off on her hubby! You see, as the night wore on, and the little munchkins got more and more sleepy (ours and theirs too), HID wore Boy in a sling on his back, as he often does. We use it as a pram really. Although me and my friend both use slings, it may have been seen as a "girl thing" by others, and many (men in particular) asked HID if he found an 18m old heavy, was it difficult to use etc. HID loves sharing this closeness with his Boy, so sang the praises of the sling to anyone who would listen, and the next day, my friend's hubby hunted out their own back sling and asked for help to use it! Result for my friend (sling), result for me (garden).

Even better, the babies stayed up til 11pm, and were not even grumpy! We even got a lie in til 8am the next day, and normal service resumed the following night. Our friends were not quite so lucky, and have only just got their daughter back into her normal sleep pattern. As sod's law would have it, the sleep will be upset again this weekend, as a small group of them are off camping, with babies in tow! This group will almost definitely include my very own HID and Boy, which will be quite strange as I'm not going due to my health at present, and the group are friends I have met through parent/toddler groups, and HID doesn't know them that well. Also, I am quite jealous! He is going out with all my friends! I must say though, the thought of a totally uninterrupted night, plus a small lie-in has me near giddy with excitement! I do hope HID is well enough to go, he has been off work poorly this week. (it's been an extra tough job keeping Boy out of his way...) I've been begging for alie in of my very own for weeks. I give HID one every Saturday AND Sunday til 8.30, that's up to 3 hours longer than I'll get.

I am not quite as jealous of this weekend's impending camping trip as I was of the mummy bloggers meet up last weekend. I am really quite cross at myself for not going! I know it probably wouldn't have been practical, or even do-able, to travel from way up north to London at 6 months pregnant with raging SDP and on crutches/using a wheelchair, but I still feel I missed out. For some reason, I just had it in my head that other Northern bloggers wouldn't go, and now I feel really sad to have missed out meeting local bloggers like Amy! Although, in the back of my mind, I'm not sure I could have been brave enough, even in fighting fitness, to attend. It's not the meeting people (you don't scare me!), more my blog title coming into play: I'd have felt like a kid playing at being a grown-up. Being 17 when I met HID, I went straight from my parents guiding me through airports and organising travel arrangements, to HID's complicated itineraries and guidebooks: I've never traveled anywhere, except into Manchester, alone. (Yes, I am aware I'm a wife in the 1950's. Yes he pays all the bills too. You'll be pleased to know I don't do any housework though. No one does!) I spent the whole time in Manchester being terrified of getting mugged/lost, and gripping my bag like the wet-behind-the-ears small town girl I am. Even though I've been countless times with HID, even for small gigs at nighttime, where he insists in parking for free down dark alleyways. I have been to London before, but always with people who either know it very well, or who I trust implicitly to protect me. But I'm a big girl now, and perhaps it's about time I did something on my own! I fully intend to attend the next meet when I am back to full health. I can hardly wait to see what unfolds from the idea to have an up-north bloggers meet!

Sorry, bit of a lengthy post, with three separate subjects......call that pregnancy brain!