Today has been non stop. People say that a lot. NON STOP they say. When really it isn't. I do wonder, hand on heart, what the hell I did with my time before I had a baby.
Anyway, up and on the phone to the doctor's by 8 and at the surgery for 9.30 having fed George and got us all dressed and ready. First I had an appointment with Dr Okanga (aka Baby whisperer) who has given me some very strong iron tablets to try and bring my woefully deficient haemoglobin levels back up to normal....more red meat he said, and beetroot. I also got some much stronger co-codamol to deal with the chronic period pain. Godsend. Jon went in next and while discussing the pro's and con's of butter I went across to the other side of the clinic to the stay and play/baby weigh-in. George is now 18lb 14oz - exactly 2lbs on in just over a month which is great :) less great was trying to change his nappy single handed whilst having a conversation with the HV and getting metanium all over my cardi. George, now changed and clothed again, zoomed off toward said HV and she watched him faceplant whilst I tried to re-pack my bag. Cheers love. Having soothed the tears we turned around to face the play area and spotted Wendy link-worker, who immediately came over and said hi and gave George a big cuddle which gave me chance to get up and pack the bags. I asked could G have a try in the ball pool and we plonked him in there much to his delight and watched him proceed to suck ball after ball after ball. It's at times like this I have to just let the germ paranoia go as I sit there wondering who the hell last sucked the balls and what on earth those marks on them are... Prayers that he doesn't come down with something before Sunday though, missing his own Christening would not be cricket.
Jon arrived then, and we let G have a big old crawl around, playing with jingly jangly toys and putting everything in his mouth until he started to get a bit whingey and we beat a path to boots, picked up a bagful of prescriptions and set out for Morrisons. More Christening related shopping and the nicest bacon sandwich I have ever had in their cafe and we were home again. Just in time for Majestic wines to deliver the case of 12 we ordered for Sunday. Exciting, and very reasonable, might be nice to use them again for Christmas time perhaps. Lunch was meant to be using up the pasties from the freezer graveyard but they looked like hell and we had jacket potatoes and shared some pitta and hummous with George, then a slew of fruit - pear, plum and apricot - loving the ripe summer fruits at the moment and our corner shop is brilliant for the latter. After this I mixed a tripled up cupcake recipe and baked 34 cupcakes, It was meant to be 36 but I fear I overfilled two at the cost of the missing two....hmmmm. One day I will buy another cupcake tray, but for today I had to make do with one. so I had to fill, bake and empty x3. Having done this I then discovered the damn wrapper things I got from ebay are way too big and had to cut them down to size and then glue them. Pffffffft. Like I needed the faff. Meantime, my cardigan, yes, the one with metanium on, latterly smudged with gloss paint from the endless bloody decorating, had been turps'd by Jon and put in the washer. The stain came out but the bloody turps DIDN'T so back in it went and unfortunately I realised at 6.30 that It was going to be too wet to wear to Mass at 7.....despite Jon's best efforts and the washer on a million rpm I couldn't get the door to the machine open in time and had to give up entirely and wear something else and Mass had already started by the time I walked the fifty steps to the church. At least I wasn't the last though. The brilliant hippy lady with crazy hair came after me. It was half and hour of peace though, in both sense of the word. Home again and I cleaned and re-jigged the kitchen worktops ready for Sunday, Jon took the TV upstairs and I missed it instantly, Around the world in eighty days was on and I've wanted to watch it for years. I put the veggie burgers in and made an impromptu gratin with new potatoes, sundried tomato pesto, soft cheese and stock. Then George was hungry and I made him a cheese sarnee with home made courgette chutney. Followed by fruit. Always the fruit. He looks like an explosion in a plum factory when he's done. Usually at the point of wearing the most food is when he decides to rub his eyes...it's like having the alarm go off in a fire station...we all jump up and grab a muslin and run to the sink trying to provide the hot cloth antidote....even Graham has cottoned on to this def con one...(he witnessed it once and now knows the drill) and when Shaz was here on Tuesday he scuttled sink-wards with the rest of us. Anyway, disaster averted and full cry curtailed, I go to bottle making and washing up like I was born to it while Jon continues to be Daddy Daycare. Finally, there's some food for us and G in his playpen before we come upstairs and wrestle the little man into a sleeping position and try to persuade him it's time for bed and there is nothing in the least bit big and clever about sitting up. Teetha granules work wonders for his sore upper gum and the chamomila gives him that extra nudge to the land of nod. Now I have some time, finally, at around 11.30pm, to check my phone, kiss my husband, dawdle on twitter, read some baby led weaning tips and then write this monologue. That's my day. Dawn til Dusk. All done.
