Sproggs, Dogs and Baby Showers, part 1

My, what a frenzied weekend Nonna has just had.

Little LHG’s Aunty C arrived from the West Country for the weekend with Uncle S. Along with them came their dogs, Briar and Bronte and Uncle S’s 9 year old son, T. This wasn’t purely a social visit, a date plucked at random from the calendar, no. They’d come because Aunty C was keen to partake of Aunty Kat’s baby shower, celebrating the impending birth of Teeny Rasatfeeny, her latest nephew.

It just so happened that it had been Aunty C’s birthday in the week and it seemed a perfect opportunity, and excuse, to hold a family lunch party for her. Organising any such event once upon a time would have involved the six of us. Not so these days!

Along with C, S and young T, there was Peter, Kat, Kat’s 8 year old son Ben, Giovanna and little LHG. And of course, Jack, who at least made this party even though he didn’t make his own birthday dinner a fortnight before. Ho hum. Anyway, along with Pa and me, that made 11. Add three dogs to the mix (Kat’s Maisie joined us) and you can probably guess that it was a pretty hectic affair: LHG pulling at the dogs, dogs getting entangled with boys, boys interrupting adults and adults talking over each other. Great fun though. Needless to say a buffet won out over a sit-down meal.

Poor old T, it was the first time he’d met any of us, but he seemed to take it all in his stride. C tried to explain to him how he and Ben were kind of step step cousins, but I think it’s only ever women who understand the complexities of family relations, let alone those of the modern family. Luckily, he and Ben just got on with it, spurred on by a shared love of Lego and Bionicles (‘originals ones!’ they enthused). See, it’s worth hanging on to toys, even when your children are all past 20.

Little LHG loved all the mayhem and attention: adults to cuddle him, other children to follow round and idolise, dogs to stroke and wonder at.

Day turned to evening and the conversation inevitably turned to baby names. Just three-and-a-half weeks to go and so far there is only one boy’s name that Kat and Peter agree on. Now they’ve discovered a friend is desperate to use a similar one should they have a boy. Dilemma. Still, I don’t know what’s wrong with Bud, Carlsberg and Peroni, or Bilbo, Frodo and Gollum, or even Thyme, Basil and Dill. Yes, we’d stooped to categories. Apart from beers, Lord of the Rings and herbs, we rummaged through trees, soft drinks (particularly liking Um Bongo!), fruit, veg, pagan gods, elements, To Kill a Mockingbird and, well, just about everything.

Beneath the surface, and what Kat wasn’t aware of, was a whisper of another dilemma. How on earth were we going to get her to the secret baby shower scheduled for the following day? More of that in the next post.

In the meantime, I don’t think the baby name discussion covered weather and cheeses. Now where’s Kat and Peter’s number…