Julie's Boggle

I was rather expecting that my free time would start to evaporate once the baby arrived… But it turns out that the little guy is using up a lot of our time right now while he’s still got weeks to go! (And not just for scans and doctor’s appointments either.)

Last weekend, for example, just vanished in a blur of baby business.

For starters, we painted the spare room (when I say we, I do mean mostly Tom), going over the yicky old cream paint with a nice clean white.

Sunday was more relaxed but still had a baby theme. Firstly, there was a mound of tiny clothes to wash and hang out — a generous loan from friends whose baby boy is just passing 4 months.

Then we had a great evening of boardgames with another couple who had their firstborn less than 2 months ago. This makes them perfect for sharing pregnancy and new baby experiences with, and they’re also keen to pass on a number of useful baby items to us as they’re out-grown.

Along came Monday, which we’d both taken as a day’s leave, and with it our (my) goal to finish off the long-postponed “baby shopping”!

Fortunately we had already taken care of a lot of the bulkier essentials (stroller, car-seat, Moses basket etc.) as well as some of the less bulky ones, like clothing, as loans or second-hand buys / donations from friends. But according to the list we got from the hospital and the books I’ve been consulting, this still left us with a whole host of goodies that we really should have on hand more or less immediately after the big day…

On the grounds that a branch of the Fine Burger Company is very close by, we chose the Mothercare in Oxford Street to start off our shopping. It’s their newest branch, and rather a large one, so I was quite disappointed with the selection they offered on many of the baby essentials. For instance, they didn’t sell single hats in a newborn size! Only as part of an expensive gift ensemble that also included socks, mittens, vest and a babygrow! And their breast-pump selection was abysmal.

Nevertheless we did find a lot of other things from our list there, and afterwards mopped up most of the remainder at a large outlet of Boots, just up the road, that also had a whole floor of baby stuff.

As a very last stop — following some yummy burgers and ‘shakes — we found a natty black changing bag, in the satchel-style I’d been after, at John Lewis. And from there we made our weary way home.

So I think we can conclusively say that we are pretty much there in terms of our equipment! Phew!

The painting of last week has been great for helping us to de-junk the baby’s room.  For instance we have finally made a move on getting rid of our three old computers that have been languishing in the cupboard for far too long (just waiting for us to find an environmentally-friendly way of disposing of them).

And as part of the putting-the-room-back-together process, Tom put up his
“Nerdy Baby ABC” cards, which do look very cute: