Illyria

Thanks to all who brought pressies and food for Mira’s dedication service! You helped to make it a really special day for our family!

Recent creative exploits include cutting seven strips of fabric and putting a hairy chin on a rac(c)oon… ask mrben why…

The photo editor is being weird again, so here are some extracts from my diary…

28/05/07
Mira was eight weeks old yesterday. We had a wonderful day: she had her nails cut and filed and her ears cleaned with cotton buds for the first time, then after her bath she shivered so Mum wrapped her up in her white lacy shawl like a Babushka. We went to church and she was admired with such joy and wonder, like royalty! In the afternoon we took her to the beach for the first time and Dad bought us all ice creams. There was a coldish wind, but I took my shoes off and the sand was warm beneath my feet. I had an afternoon snooze for an hour and a half. Swaddled in her white blanket and curling up repeatedly on Ben’s shoulder, she looks like a cute white caterpillar, a bit Anne Geddes.

At church I went out to feed her in the purple room, which still has the giant furry purple crab I made in Guides. It looks like the product of a drug-induced hallucination. Sara came out and made me a cup of tea and we chatted about babies – she’s had six. She told me that eighteen years ago she lived in London and she used to go to Habitat where her friend worked and feed her baby in the café. However, there were also gay men who used to breastfeed with dollies, lifting up their jumpers etc; and you couldn’t say anything because of fear of discrimination. She said it used to clear the café in no time.

She woke up at 4am this morning, not what I had hoped for in my desperate desire to feel like a semi-rested human being instead of a soggy newspaper. She has done 5am or 6am a few times recently. I must remind myself she could be getting up twice in the night at this age. And not to feel sorry for myself.

I have now changed 300 nappies.

Mira’s top 5 favourite things to do:
1. Make cute faces.
2. Make cute noises.
3. Eat.
4. Pee while you’re changing her nappy.
5. Wriggling.

Mira’s top 5 hated things:
1. Having a bath.
2. Having a vest put on.
3. Wearing socks and scratch mitts.
4. Having clothes taken off.
5. Having face washed.

I’d like to thank the lovely lady who helped me with my shopping yesterday - don’t you just love a RAK?

Mira is from the Latin for wonderful (roughly!) A short form of Miranda or Miriam, we also get the words miracle and admire from this root.

Having contractions now.

Ten days to go, and the baby is 4/5ths engaged, which means it is nearly ready to come out! Still pretty wriggly! Here are my helpful hints for making it through!

1. Have mrBen as a husband. Not only are all those costumes fabulously entertaining, he cooks really well too!

2. Cereal bars, or if you’re naughty like me, jaffa cakes. Keep some by the bed and in your handbag AT ALL TIMES. You’ll never regret it.

3. Rennie Rapeze fruit flavour or chewy mint - as for no. 2.

4. Not drinking after 8pm, and eating just before bed seems to stop me waking up in the middle of the night hungry or desperate to pee. You do need to drink lots in the day time to make up your fluids.

Things I wish I’d bought:

1. Braces. Maternity trousers - and I’ve tried a LOT of brands - just fall down all the time! The best ones were from Dorothy Perkinks - over the bump, cheap and long lasting.

And I’m now bored. I have been surfing Delia and Nigella, my two favourite culinary inspirations, and have made the world’s longest shopping list with lots of veggies for the vitamins. Their websites are okay, but their books are perfect comfort reading, provided you have snacks to hand because I always get hungry reading them. I now have to get mrBen to pick them off the bottom shelf coz its painful to bend.

This is my most comfy position at the moment - recumbent. (Isn’t recumbent a great word?) On my front on the pilates ball is a good second.

My first ever experience in front of the video camera was for a primary school Home Economics project. Our group had to pick a recipe (chosen by me) write a script (me) and present it (me again). I was being Delia! And I loved it! It was the only time I looked good on film. I was bossy, but that’s why our teacher said we were the best. I knew what I was doing and that I could do it well.
So today I’m going to try Frijolemole, just for the name of it, but I can’t be bothered boiling dried chick peas so I’m going to use tinned. Yummy!

I’m never very sure that what I say, do or remember is at all sensible at the moment. Particularly this time of night. Particularly when trying to spell ‘particularly’. Put it down to 5am hormonalness.

(Baby appears to be practising kung fu fighting tonight. A lot.)

I’m at 33 weeks out of 40 now, and I haven’t shared very much about my experience as yet - so here are some of the highs and lows…

Highs:

Being kicked and tickled by a very wriggly person indeed - its happening as I type, just above my tummy button!

Hearing the heartbeat and going for scans.

Anticipating meeting the little one for the first time - I can’t wait!!!

Free stuff - the Boots club is the best! They send you vouchers all the time! Today I got foundation from No 7, a changing bag, a baby bathwash, wipes and all I had to do was buy a bag of nappies.

Window shopping for cute stuff!

Choosing names - I must have looked at thousands though!

Maternity leave starting in three weeks - wey hey!

Generous lovely people being nice to you!

Lows:

People going ‘You’re tiny, aren’t you?’ like I’m starving the infant or something. I’m starting to get really annoyed. I don’t go up to people and say, ‘You’re so wrinkly/smelly/sweaty’ etc. I can’t help it, okay?

Physical drawbacks - mildly irritating nosebleeds, backache, cramp and acid reflux, sometimes causing sleep deprivation. Not as bad as the four months of fairly relentless nausea, however. SOOO glad that’s over.
General grogginess, losing your memory and the ability to think. Depending on who you listen to, you may or may not get this back.

Trying to find nice cheap clothes that don’t fall down or bobble.

None of the above really detract from the loveliness much - you seem to get a kind of constant calm endorphine that overrides it all.

*Smile*