Look at that face.

That's the face of "I've had chocolate cake and I'm happy".

He wasn't entirely happy because he didn't get mummy cuddles, but aside from that he and I had a lovely afternoon.

Quick hello to new subscribers - maryam, JellyB and Helendc! Thanks guys!

And I've backblipped yesterday which wasn't too bad a day but you do get to see the "other" side of Ben....


Today didn't start well. I was sick this morning - although chocolate milk isn't too unpleasant second time round - when I got up early and decided I ought to have food; I made the mistake of going back to bed though and then left it too late to get out of bed and Ben had found his way back upstairs after his dvd had finished and spent an hour stressing my stomach out by bouncing and climbing all over the bed and me. By the time I did get downstairs I was feeling ill again and only managed half a bowl of cereal (in the time it took Ben to eat a yoghurt and a bowl and a half of cereal himself) before sicking it back up again. I did manage the rest of my cereal eventually and then because I was feeling alright thought it would be a good idea to go into town to get various bits and pieces.

Idiot.

That could have been disastrous. We'd only got halfway there before I was fading (did I mention that I've lost nearly three quarters of a stone since the beginning of this pregnancy? Simply from not eating enough. I'm officially underweight now.) because I'd only really had half a bowl of cereal. By the time we got the cafe I wanted to curl up in a corner and cry and be sick but couldn't. Food ordered, Ben ensconced in a highchair playing with a vTech ITNG book think, we waited. Not long thankfully. But Ben again had finished all he wanted of a plate of chips and sausages and beans before I'd even got a third of the way through my jacket potato and beans and coleslaw, and he'd eaten quite a fair bit too. But eventually I felt more human again and was actually sitting up properly and enjoying the food before I'd got to the end.

Once that ordeal was over thing looked MUCH brighter. We collected my new specs from the opticians, and the world was crisp and bright again. We tried to collect some new trainers for Ben but they'd not arrived in the shop yet so it'll be next week before we get them. We tried to buy some new summer shoes for him but he's got skinny feet so they had to be ordered in as well and so it'll be next week for them too. We had a successful hat hunt for me to complete my wedding outfit for the weekend - hat and matching bag! I've never had a matching bag before, I'm a little bit excited about that! - and I successfully managed not to buy yet more shoes for me.

We had coffee and cake in another cafe which Ben was pleased about being able to fly to (on condition that if he flew away from mummy, mummy would catch him and put him in the buggy. Which he did not want and therefore was a very good aeroplane and flew - in a roundabout sort of way - to the cafe without incident.). We shared a giant iced decaf mocha but it was too sweet so neither of us finished it, and Ben made a lot of people laugh. He ran round the cafe flying with his arms out, grinning the cheekiest grin I've ever seen on him; he decided that some girl with big headphones on was a boy and that he/she was talking to him. So he walked up - several times - with that cheeky grin on his face, and stood near her, grinning, and when she didn't respond came back to me. And then tried again.

He played peekaboo with a couple of random ladies, jumping up from behind armchairs; and then quite deliberately fell down backwards, gently landing on his back, feet up in the air, make a couple of fellas laugh right out loud!

He does make me laugh sometimes, he can be beautifully bonkers.

He did have to go into the buggy after that, I was running out of energy and needed to call in at a few other shops. In Boots he decided that he wanted cuddles because he was tired :( but pulling the buggy hood over his eyes and laying down was an almost acceptable alternative. He was asleep before we were out of the town centre. He slept all the way home. He slept through a quick grocery shop. He slept almost all the way back out to the polling station too! A good nap. Unfortunately I deposited his shoes at home thinking he'd probably stay asleep, so when he wanted to go to the playpark after I'd done my voting all we could play on were the swings really. But Steve saved the day, he arrived home and brought shoes out for Ben on his way to vote so Ben could have a quick play.

Playtime done we headed home and microwaved some potatoes for tea (they were perfectly acceptable for a woman who was ready to collapse) with beans. Steve went out, I did bedtime with Ben, Ben took ages to go to sleep and I've run out of time to have an evening bath. Hey ho, that's the way it goes. But I've blipped.

Priorities, yeah.