Friday 30 April 2010

Silence is golden

OK, OK. I'm rubbish at finding the time to sit down & write anything. So, a brief overview of the less full-post-on-their-own-worthy things of the last few weeks.

We went to the park, and it was lovely. I got sunburned, Squeakydaddy ran round the lake 3 times for no obvious reason, and Squeaky slept through it all under the cover of her buggy. Parc Bryn Bach is lovely, one of the most well-designed parks I've ever seen, and very very inclusive. The trail around the lake is paved & flat, so cyclists, buggies and wheelchairs can all get round comfortably. They rent out bikes, trikes, tandems, trandems (I may have just invented this word), and various configurations of bikes for people with disabilities, about half the staff in the visitors centre have some degree of learning disability, even the kids play area has a roundabout accessible to wheelchairs. Honestly, the place is lovely. And a changing/feeding/whatever room almost the size of my lounge. And most surprising of all, the place is run by the council! Local Government Win for once!!!

Other places made of baby changing & feeding WIN at the moment are Mothercare, and The Mall in Bristol. Both of which have seen my boobs in the last week or so, as well as Squeaky's bottom.

Speaking (Squeaking?) of Mothercare, I'm so glad I went down there the other day. Before Squeaky was born, we bought an Infantino baby sling 2nd hand from someone. While we've had a little bit of use out of it, it just felt kind of insecure, and I was beginning to think it'd been a waste of money. And now it's on a recall! So I get a better carrier as a replacement, brand new. Hooray.

There may be more posts to come shortly, but we're off on our holidays next week, squeaking our way to north Wales, so you might have to excuse another gap. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

Monday 12 April 2010

Like Mother, Light Daughter

Squeaky has lots of friends. A few of them are the other babies she meets at Boobie Club (our name for the breastfeeding support group), some are her toys, and the rest are random items. Maybe I should introduce the cast members.

Plant - strangely enough, this is a plant. To be specific, it's a poinsettia that's been living on the windowsill since before Christmas. How it's still alive is a mystery to me, but as long as Squeaky keeps talking to it, I'm glad it's going strong.

Mask - a lovely red & cream Venetian mask above the bed. Clearly fascinating first thing in the morning, and gives her someone to talk to when she decides that sleep is for other people.

Lightbulb - Oh, her best friend. All her best friends are lightbulbs. The conversations they've had, the fun they've shared! Even when a light is switched off, it's still worth staring at for a while in case it comes on and she can talk to it for a while.

I mentioned this to SqueakyGran the other day. BIG mistake. She just laughed, and "kindly" reminded me that lightbulbs used to be my friends too. And more to the point, that I would spend many a happy car journey talking to, and feeding, the streetlights. I'm not entirely clear on how I fed streetlights, let alone why, but it's true. As soon as she said it, I remembered it quite clearly. I wonder who feeds them now. I hope they're not too hungry.

Wednesday 7 April 2010

Tact & diplomacy

Over a week since our last update, but now Squeakydaddy has gone back to work, so I have more time to do stuff. Yeah, go figure.

Squeaky is 2 and a half months old now. How does that in any way suggest that she's ready to eat chocolate? From someone who has two children and at least half a dozen grandchildren (I've lost count, the one son is a veritable machine). And how do I politely say "Thanks, but no thanks"?

Oh, but I might have the solution. Squeaky is going through another of her "not putting much weight on" phases. We've been here before, so I'm less concerned than the health visitor. She piles it on for a few weeks, then stalls for a couple, then piles it on again. So we've sent a poo sample to the hospital for lactose intolerance tests, and I'm experimenting with soy milk. This could be our chocolate escape route, without offending my crazy family. Wish us luck, it's weigh-in day today.