Birthday panic

DH celebrated his birthday yesterday. Ordinarily, I would have carefully compiled a shortlist of potential gifts in September, shopped in October then carefully wrapped and stored them away so that come his birthday week, I could concentrate on making a cake, cooking a lovely supper and generally making him feel special (see- I am sometimes a Good Wife.) Pregnant brain means all that went out the window. Last week, I was sent into a flat spin as I suddenly remembered the day was nearly upon us. I dashed into town on Monday morning and bought a suitably cuddly sweater (deeply practical gift, since I don’t want hubby to get cold now that there is a chill in the air, but has the added benefit that it will fit me rather well once my wardrobe no longer fits- a day that is rapidly approaching.) He seemed to like it when I made him open it at 6.30am before I dashed off to work. Thus far he has been unable to wear it as TWH has appropriated it for a bed…

I have been entirely unable to cook for the first time in my life (hence the distinct lack of recipes available for your perusal of late), since the smell of anything cooking has me running from the building. My poor put-upon DH comes home every night to a ready-meal, if he’s lucky, whilst I survive on a menu of coco-pops and toast with marmite. Fortunately last night some of DH’s closest friends had organised a dinner at ‘The Club’- purely coincidental- so I called one of the WAGS in a panic on Monday morning and she sorted out a cake. So I appeared to do my duty, if only by the skin of my teeth.

Good friends are such a joy- they are always happy for you when you have good news to impart. In our case they have been ecstatic. They are deeply concerned if things are not well. You can call them for help with a moment’s notice and they rush to your side. And you can be the kind of terrible friend that is rubbish at keeping in touch, yet they are always delighted to catch up with you when they see you. I have a great set of friends, small but perfectly formed, who are scattered across the globe and would do anything for me. When I married DH I inherited a truly wonderful circle of friends to swell the numbers. And as the news of our baby spreads, we have been inundated with messages of goodwill from them all. I have never felt so loved. And the look of happiness on the DH’s face on the train home last night- having had a wonderful evening of good food, good wine and good banter, topped off with a good dollop of cake and a slightly out-of-tune rendition of Happy Birthday-I know that he had a perfect birthday.