‘Cause I see a lady tonight who is havin’ a baby- ok not the exact lyrics to the song, but forgive me!  It sort of fits with this post…

So I’m not blaming my lack of blog posts on being pregnant, however there could be a small correlation because I haven’t written anything lately.   Time does seem to fly more quickly than it did before, it seems like only yesterday (well 3 months ago) I was trying to keep this massive secret- pretty hard when you’re the one not drinking on a hen’s weekend in the Hunter Valley- and now it seems like I have a huge sign on my (pretty huge) belly saying “Ask me about my pregnancy”- women in Coles are coming up to me and asking what I’m having and to give me their thoughts on whether it’ a boy or girl.  A pregnant belly is a magnet for conversation- unless, of course you’re a man on a crowded bus or train during rush hour- in that case, pregnant women are pretty much invisible unless your stomach has a pokemon go or dating app logo painted on it.

The truth is, we haven’t been eating out as much and really, we haven’t been doing super interesting things….ok, not entirely true but, just go with me here I’m trying to come up with reasons why I’ve been so slack!

So without interesting meals to write about or interesting things to do, it’s been a bit quiet in the He Runs, I Cook household.  Yes, I went to the US for a few weeks which was fantastic, and yes we were up in Hamilton Island for a wedding and our wedding anniversary, and went to Cairns, and we took a helicopter ride over Sydney- oh and an ice cream making course at Gelato Messina, but other than that, I’ve been focussing on keeping this little person alive and growing- scans, doctor appointments, and lots of reading and research trying to figure out what kind of crazy caper we’ve embarked on.  It’s a little known fact, but I think we actually have the most scanned fetus in the world, every few weeks we get to say hello and see what’s happening in there.  As it turns out, quite a lot, our little Cook/Runner is pretty active and is normally either moving it’s little legs or staring straight at us- possibly plotting world domination once it gets out.

As you can imagine, just the thought of this little person and its mere existence has been pretty all-consuming.  So, instead of looking up trendy restaurants and planning trips away, I’ve been researching prams, baby rockers, and unisex baby clothes that don’t look ridiculous.

I’m 23 weeks now, which is pretty crazy considering this little person is nearly an actual person and in theory could survive in the outside world.    It’s not recommended obviously so we’ll be keeping him/her under wraps for a couple more months at least.  Which is good, because it gives us time to do “all the things we won’t get to do once the baby is here”.    Not surprisingly, most of the things on are list are restaurants—it turns out most trendy restaurants are not pram/baby friendly so we’re trying to squeeze at least 5 or 6 good ones in before the end of the year.  The Runner is also going to Kona (Hawaii) for the World Ironman Championships to enjoy his last bit of freedom train on the course and watch the race.

Last night, was the “first of the last” dinners out.  We went to Big Poppa’s on Oxford Street.  Now, I know that all of you parents will say- ‘oh, your life doesn’t end when you have kids’ but seriously, I know better, that’s just what parents say to trick other people into having kids.  I still remember tales of all the fun things my parents used to do “before I was born” there were Porsches, sailboats, exotic ski trips, trips away, FUN! and I remember asking, “wow, what happened to all that FUN STUFF?”  The answer was nearly always, “well, that was before you were born.”   So even it’s not 100% true, that all the good, fun stuff happens before kids, The Runner and I only have a small window left to fit as much as we can in “before the baby comes.”   If The Runner is reading this, no I don’t think a Porsche, sailboat or another triathlon bike is on the cards or in the budget, but hopefully we do get to work through our list of restaurants to try and movies to see.  Not exactly bungy jumping or sky diving, but we may have left our “pre-baby to do list” a bit late for adventure sports.

So, last night’s dinner was at Big Poppa’s.  Big Poppa is named after the Notorious B.I.G., and to prove it there is a giant mosaic of him in the floor of the bar downstairs.  It’s sort of a mix between a bar and a hip hop themed Italian restaurant that sources its cheese from one of the  best Cheesemongers in Sydney, Formaggio Occello, and has a lovely wine list as well.  I know it sounds weird, but it works.  We went for dinner and despite me not being able to eat or drink, most of their menu, it was delicious.  Oh yeah, that’s the thing about pregnancy- most fancy restaurants are a minefield!  No cured meats, no soft rind cheeses, no raw meat or seafood not to mention the foods that I’m just not so sure about at the moment (I’m giving a wide berth to mushroom and fish at the moment, nothing personal, just not so sure about them these past few months.)  Despite this, Big Poppa’s was delicious and good fun.  I would say that I would love to go back when I’m not pregnant but it is definitely not a pram/baby friendly restaurant.  In fact, when we left at 8pm there was a queue of trendy 20-something non-pregnant, non-parental looking people waiting to go in and sample the delicious raw meats, soft cheeses and cocktails that I had to stay way away from.  As I yawned (8pm is pretty late after all) and The Runner hailed a cab, I thought to myself “Look at all of those young and cool kids, I still know where the cool places are, I’ve still got it.” as Baby Cook-Runner gave me a little popcorn pop kick, and I realised I was going home to go to sleep at 8pm and there’s nothing gangsta about that.