Ikea and living the retail park dream

Today we bit the flat pack bullet and got our bad selves over to Morley to the blue and yellow palace of the lost...

This mission of mercy was a necessary evil as we needed some more storage for all Little b's things while he is in our room. Ikea is a bit of a marathon at the best of times, but 30+ weeks pregnant on a Saturday is a bit like the steeplechase, full of obstacles and utterly knackering. We got there though. Codes noted for the warehouse and some other bits and pieces for B and the nursery collected on the way.

a stripey rattle...

patterned muslin squares

and one of the bigger items...a shelving unit (we also got some rattan boxes to go in this)

Loaded up and self-check-outed we had enormous fun in the loading area which most people had decided to use as a parking place. From here we decided to brave the rest of the retail park...when in Birstall and all that.

Babies r us is a hole...it's part of Toys r us which is based on a dare and it's name is such bad grammar that I want to poke my eyes out whenever I see it...but, I can't fault the products and we love their 'favourite things' range so we dragged our heels through aisles of toys to get to the baby section. I assume this layout is to force those with a child and one on the way to succumb to placatory toys...If we ever get to this situation I think I'll order online.

Anyway, find this we did... (a changing mat for the uninitiated)

then onto the tranquil (and expensive) shores of Mamas and Papas we sailed...and this we found, perfect for the handle of the car seat....

What you can't see from this photo is that a lot of it is purple and reminiscent of Jon's trousers in a former life and the hanging items rattle and squeak and jiggle and it seemed rather lovely. What made it even lovelier was using our complimentary £5 off voucher which came with the autumn/winter catalogue and the fact that it was part of their bank holiday discount, meaning we got it for half price.

Finally, from here we went to TGI Fridays - somewhere we'd never ever been before and not our typical kind of place, but they were so lovely - incredibly kind and solicitous of my being pregnant - and just attentive and helpful without being a pain... the food is what you would expect but after walking round the world and back I thought we deserved a bit of a treat and the endless refills on the drinks were fantastic.