NAPPIES AND NEWCASTLE

Having spent a morning in Carlisle with no major disasters we decided we were brave enough to go further afield, and headed over to Newcastle.

Going to Newcastle for us rarely involves seeing much of Newcastle: I know exactly how to get to either of two car parks in particular and head straight from there into John Lewis, purchase what I want, and then return to the car and home: if necessary stopping off at Waitrose in Hexham. 

Yesterday was no exception to this rule.  While husband did in fact head out into the cold north-east air and Reed Accountancy (he is determined to get a new job which pays him a salary commensurate with his experience and the type of work he carries out), I made a beeline for JL's nursery department, toy department, baby change and cafe.  It was all very relaxing as Baby Son slept throughout and I came away with a steriliser and a front sling/baby carrier.  I looked a little desirously at some of the women's clothes as I went past, but there was no point in stopping for a proper look while I still have weight to lose and no spare money.

Thank goodness for Maternity Allowance however.  Despite having vouchers as gifts for christmas and for the baby's birth, there have been various other things we have needed as well.  I was hoping to use Nature Baby nappies which are largely made from cornstarch and therefore more biodegradable than the better known makes.  However the Baby is so tiny still and they're so papery that he kept leaking, and the middle of the night (or early hours of the morning) is not a good time to try to change the clothes of a wriggly newborn who is hungry and who thinks even having a nappy change is too objectionably cold.  I decided we'd try Huggies, which I remembered working well for Daughter, who was also teeny tiny: they've gone all environmentally-friendly-looking with light brown packaging and off-white nappies which apparently contain organic cotton.  I'm sure they're no more biodegradable than before, but they feel softer, are presumably not so bleached, and more to the point, we have far fewer leaks.

I even managed discreetly to breastfeed in the John Lewis cafe, but gave him a bottle top-up when it became clear that I was going to have to sit there for several hours to have any chance of him getting settled.  Even at home I'm tending to give a bottle top-up if he has fed for, say, 2 hours and is still hungry.  At least he will take both at the moment and it will be easy to get him on to a bottle when I want to, or need to: I know breastfeeding proponents will be horrified, but it works for me.  I do wonder whether someone should do some research to find out what percentage of older mothers has trouble breastfeeding: plenty of other risks and health matters are highlighted as being worse when you're older, but nobody said anything about breastfeeding until the Community Midwife mentioned that in her experience older mothers find it a little more difficult, by and large.

The baby is of course too young to smile but I'm sure he's been smiling from time to time since I first met him, and today I could swear that he looked straight at me and smiled: Lesley who came to visit us thought he was smiling as well.  He will of course be a prodigy in some way, just as my other two children are.... I just wish I could get them to be prodigious in their tidying up, or better still, keeping things tidy.

Tomorrow is weigh-in day: in addition our broken dishwasher is being fetched by a charity which is going to recycle it and my brother-in-law is giving us his old dishwasher.  It will be great to have a dishwasher again: there are three outstanding jobs today - the washing up; hanging the washing up to dry; and doing the ironing. Tomorrow I should also receive confirmation from Woman that they are publishing on 1st March: but am rapidly beginning to understand that things move very slowly in the magazine world and that they are very poor at contacting people!

And on Friday my Grandmother turns 99.  I wish I could be there to celebrate with her and to introduce her to her latest great-grandchild, but it's just too much to contemplate at the moment.  The hour journey to Newcastle was all right but six hours or so to South Somerset would be too much.  I'm optimistic she'll keep going to 100 at least, so there is still time for her to meet the baby.  I too have aspirations to live to 100: which would mean that I'm only just coming up to halfway!