Scottish Terminology about Pregnancy

I have learned a few new phrases related to pregnancy here in Scotland. One is that they call the belly/baby a bump. I never really thought much about it until I was saying "My bump" while at home for Christmas and everyone thought it was so funny. People here in Scotland will say "How is your bump?" I even received Christmas cards at work to "Erin and Bump."

Another phrase is "How are you keeping?" They will ask this instead of "How are you feeling?" or "How are you doing?"

One that is hard to explain is the term "neat." People will say to me "You look so neat," or "You have a neat bump." They are not meaning "cool" or "tidy." It basically means I am proportioned well. I am mostly baby. I know what they are meaning when they say it, but it is hard to convey.

I will also share a few funny questions from 4 year olds about my baby. They have become very interested now that they can see my bump.
"Miss Erin, how will your baby get out?" My response was..."Ask your mum about that one."

"How did your baby get there?" I can't remember how I dodged that one, but I did.

When told "Miss Erin has a baby in her tummy," one child asked, "Did you eat to much food and it turned into a baby?"

For those of you asking for a new belly shot, here it is. This is at 27 weeks.

Christmas 2007

We had a wonderful time in the States for Christmas. The trip over was not so wonderful. We almost missed our flight in London and our flight in Dallas due to weather delays. However, we made it and were very thankful we did.

We spent two weeks in Kansas City at Jason's parent's house. My parents came there as well. It was fun for everyone to see my belly and feel the baby move. We ate lots of good food, played some cards and a game called Farkle, and did lots of shopping. We always have a list of things we want to bring back with us that we can't get here or that we can get cheaper in the States. We had snow three times while we were there. The ground was covered the entire time. Somehow though, it was still not as cold as Aberdeen. The wetness in Aberdeen makes the cold seem worse.


Our Moms and Jason's sister also had a baby shower for us. We received a lot of the essentials we need to start off with. We managed to get all the baby shower things plus a stroller back with us on the plane! Jason worked very hard to pack it all. The cake says "Congratulations on your bump." I'll explain that in the next blog.


We actually have a funny story about our boxes. Jason had to make boxes to fit certain dimensions for the plane. So he had worked really hard to tape them together securely and pack them so no space was wasted and we could fit it all. Well, we get to the airport to go home and send the boxes through security. They start to open one of the boxes, and we are thinking "Great! They will never get it all packed again!". What triggered their sensors was a bottle of Head Country BBQ sauce. Jason's uncle Carter brought it to us from Oklahoma. It is great stuff! The security guy pulls it out and says "BBQ Sauce?!?" Jason says, "That is the best stuff you can buy." The security guy says, "You must not be from Kansas City." Jason replies, "I am, but it is still the best stuff you can buy." They must have thought we were crazy. Oh well.

When we got back to Aberdeen, we immediately started looking for a 2 bedroom place. We had thought we might get by for a while with our 1 bedroom, but quickly realized after bringing baby stuff home that it would not work. So we are currently flat hunting.