The weekend was fantastic – summer again! – and we made a little family excursion over to Box Hill Sunday afternoon. First time for me and Jessica in the new car too. She seemed happy enough in her car seat in the back and spent most of the journey both there and back asleep. We didn’t worry about the pram but brought the Baby Björn carrier and at Box Hill Jessica seemed to enjoy herself looking at people, trees and the views from her elevated position at Daddy’s chest. We sat down on the slope at the view point while Ian and I had an ice cream, then Jessica decided that she wanted something too and started to cry, so we went back to the car to breastfeed in a bit of privacy… Afterwards we went for a little stroll before hopping in the car to go back home again. Only a few hours out and about, but it was nice to be able to. Looking foward to having our own garden, where we can sit and chill without always having to worry about the trip home.
This morning Jessica and I went by bus to the hospital again for the post natal group. Time for some baby massage this session (though a speed-through taster version due to the size of the group and the limited time). I had to wake Jessica for us to be able to do the massage bit – all the other babies were wide awake on their mums’ laps, so Jessica was noticed again for snoozing away in her pram… When she started to wake up properly, she seemed absolutely thrilled by all the babies around her, kept turning her head from side to side with wide-open eyes and a big smile, and every so often she’d chat or creak delightedly (yes, for a few weeks now she has got increasingly fond of making this noise, a type of creaking sound is the best way to describe it).
We happened to sit next to a mum with a baby girl born on exactly the same day as Jessica, and it was kind of funny because they were not too dissimilar in length and build, and at one point both Jessica and the other baby girl, Lily, were craning their necks to look at the other one, Jessica with her right hand in her mouth and Lily with her left – like little mirror reflections of each other…!
When we went to lay our babies on their tummies for a bit of back massage, Jessica got noticed for holding her head so high (“your baby’s strong!”). She doesn’t really hold it that high at home together with only boring old Mummy about, but she was probably so excited about all the other people being there that she tried to see as much as possible! After the baby massage bit, a paediatric physiotherapist spoke for a while about baby development, which was quite interesting, and I had Jessica on my lap with her back against me so that she could see as much as possible. But towards the end of it all it got a bit too much for her: she was getting tired, it was hot in the room and with one baby after the next around her getting cranky, she started to cry too. As soon as I had got her dressed and we were out in the fresh air, though, she calmed down and fell asleep.
With our trip to Sweden over midsummer, Ian not coming home until late during the week and me looking after Jessica, we don’t have much time to pack our things ready for our move the end of this month. We have started already (well, Ian mainly) and are looking to do it all bit by bit, but it means that I sadly won’t have much time to meet up with people for the next few weeks and also that I might not be able to write as much on the blog as I have tried to do so far. We will try to keep you updated regularly still, but perhaps not quite as often for a little while – just to give you some advance warning…
Gabriella