Friday 27 October 2006

Rosemary woke at 2.30 am and fed for half an hour, then went straight back to sleep in her crib. She then slept until about 6am. We had a big feed and then she went and sat in her chair and had a little play with Chris, before falling asleep, while I had my shower and made sure the nappy bag had plenty of nappies, nappy sacks, wipes and three changes of clothes (just in case!).

I then did a few computer bits and bobs, dried my hair, put some make-up (blimey, haven't managed that since Sadie's wedding!) on and made sure I had everything I needed, before getting Rosemary changed, topped and tailed (1) and dressed and giving her another quick feed to settle her for the walk to the train station.

I decided I would try her in her baby carrier facing forwards, as she likes being carried facing forwards by me and sitting on my lap facing forwards when we're in a cafe. And she loved it! So I transferred everything from the changing bag into my rucksack, stuck a hat, some mittens, some booties and a muslin square in my handbag and a blanket in the rucksack and off we went at about 9am.

The train wasn't due until 10am, but I wanted plenty of time to get something to eat and buy the ticket. Lots of people came up to say hello to her and marvel at her cuteness. The guy in the C-op and the ticket man both had little conversations with her. Had to feed her on the station while waiting for the train. As she was facing forwards we couldn't do it with her in the carrier, so she had to come out, then I just carried her onto the train in my arms.

On the train, we bumped into Tamsin, who was in the lower sixth when I was in the upper sixth, and who has a 6-month old little girl herself. The train was absolutely packed and Tamsin insisted I go sit in First Class. I finished feeding Rosemary there, but then moved back out into the corridor when I was done, as I felt awkward in there. I had Rosemary back in her carrier and, although there was a fold-down seat available we stood the rest of the way, so I could jiggle her up and down and keep her happy.

When we got to Reading, I got my make-up mirror out of my handbag and put it in my pocket, so that I could use it to look at her face! I couldn't tell whether she was sleeping or not, otherwise. Quite handy, really, and sometimes she would recognise me in the mirror and smile, which was nice.

We wandered up to the shopping centre where we were meeting people and were quite early, so we then went outside for a bit, as it was very warm in the centre. Then we went back in at around 11.30 and found Claire and Evie. Evie was in her pram as she had not wanted to go in her carrier, but fortunately Claire had managed to get one of the low buses that you can take a buggy on unfolded.

Shortly after that, Amanda and Arthur arrived, with Amanda's eldest, Emily, who was lovely, calm and well-behaved little girl. We then went and sat in a cafe to wait for the others. We picked a spot that seemed quite could, although it later turned out to be incredibly inconvenient for the cafe staff as they had to get us to move buggies and ourselves every time they needed to go and clear the upstairs tables.

Next to arrive were Nicci and Janae, with Nicci's eldest, Javan. He was also really well-behaved and very quiet. Javan and Emily took to each other really well, with the slightly older Emily 'looking after' Javan. So cute.

Jules and Em then arrived together (having come up on the train from Southampton) with Marco and George in their slings. I have to say that slings looked to be much less hassle than Rosemary's baby carrier. They also looked a lot cooler, not that I normally worry about looks and fashion!

We then all sat around in the Cafe Giardino (think that's what it was called) for a few hours, chatting away, drinking coffee and having lunch. And feeding our babies intermittently (or practically constantly in Rosemary's case) and running off to change them now and then. The first time I changed Rosemary, I did it on the floor of the cafe's loo, but then someone discovered that the large Boots opposite had a proper changing room, so we used that afterwards. Poor Amanda had a half-hour period where she had to change both of hers twice, it seemed!

Anyway, we had a lovely time meeting some of the other mums and babies that we know from the August Antenatal Club and hopefully we'll get to do it again. I found it a lot easier to talk to them than to the local mums, probably because I know them already, albeit virtually.

We walked back to the station with Jules and Em - all three of us carrying our babies, rather than with buggies, we must have looked quite unusual! While waiting for the train, a young man came and chatted Rosemary up. Apparently she reminded him of his niece, who was now one year old. He spent about five minutes cooing and chatting to her, and kept apologising to/thanking me. It is interesting, actually, how Rosemary seems to elicit as much ooing and ahing from blokes as from women.

The train was packed again, so we stood up again. I was offered seats, actually, but decided to stay standing as Rosemary seemed to like that more than sitting down. If I'd needed to feed her, of course, I would have accepted. Fed her in Swindon, though, as we had a 40-minute wait. And had to change her on the floor if the loo in Swindon station, as they didn't seem to have any changing facilities. Again, stood up on the next train.

We got home at about 5.30, by which time Rosemary was hungry again, so I fed her. I was convinced that she'd want to go to sleep early, so tried putting her down a few times, to no avail. She fed quite a lot and we had a half hour or so of her being very lively and chatting to me. She then went to sleep at 10pm, after a final big feed. (I'm wondering if I'm producing more filling milk around 10pm and that's why she's waiting until then?)

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(1) Topping and tailing: I do this every morning and every evening, in case you're interested. If you don't know, this basically means washing face (including eyes, mouth, behind ears, back of neck, etc.) and bottom (i.e. what you do when changing nappy, but with a bit more water). I'm probably not going to remember to mention it every time. We only bath her once or twice a week as it can dry up the skin to do it too much, if the baby is prone to dry skin, which she seems to be. I'm more likely to mention a bath, as it's quite special, but I still might not always remember. However, just want you to know that Rosemary is kept clean, just in case you were wondering!