I'm back!

I'd like to say that I've become older and wiser since my last post, but that just wouldn't be true. What has happened and what has kept me away from my blog is that I am pregnant. Yup, I'm in the club, got a panino in the oven, in the family way, or, as they are so fond of saying here in Italy, I'm in an 'interesting' state.
The first few months were not, however, particularly interesting, which is why I wasn't blogging. Twenty-four hour nausea, more gas than the North Sea and more saliva than the maddest camel lugging fat tourists round the pyramids. You might be expecting a lily pad but what you get is bloating, puking and spitting.

Forget food cravings, for the first three and a half months I didn't want to eat anything and the only thing I craved was to always have someplace close to hand to be sick. I couldn't even stomach my beloved Marmite and went into a kind of Marmite mourning. The thought that I might never be able to eat it again was almost more than I could bear. I also discovered pregnancy hormones which make you cry at TV ads with puppies in them and the kind of news stories shown on Studio Aperto. (For non-Italians, Studio Aperto is a pseudo-news programme where the main stories are set to weepy music and all seem to involve either family members murdering each other or cats getting stuck in trees) (with a large side order of breasts, obviously).

Now, I'm feeling much better as I am in the hallowed second trimester, the eye of the pregnancy storm as it were. I can eat and drink without gagging which is nice and, more importantly, I can't get enough Marmite again. Phew. Bring on my mum's homemade imported pickled onions and spicy apple and raisin chutney!

It's a little girl, by the way.