Boo's latest amusement. He’s found a lovely cosy place for her toes, in between ribs 1 and 2.
Saturday was spent at Will Rogers park planning my baby shower for next Sunday and doing a short hike in the mountains. Had to stop every 10 mins to go for a pee in the bushes. It feels like Boo's head is firmly clasped in my pelvic bones. It's not a comfortable experience.
Went to Vanessa's baby shower in Pasadena yesterday. Beyond the mountain of gifts, the food and drinks were excellent and it makes me think I've got a whole lot to organise with Sandrine and McKenna for next Sunday.
Vanessa lives in a beautiful (and tiny) 1910 Arts & Crafts home nestled in the foothills of Pasadena. We'd bought her this baby bathtub with jacuzzi feature which was the 2nd largest box size wise (one gift was a Peg Perego car seat!!!), but was so badly wrapped, I almost had to disown it when it came to her unwapping it amongst the delightfully wrapped bags and baskets of baby things.
There were games all day, so many babies and their mums, both of whom seemed quite content whiling away the hours from 12-8pm breastfeeding under blankets. We barely heard a peek out of any of the babies, but perhaps that's because there was a gaggle of 15 of us girls playing silly party games. Michelle's little Lincoln is 4 months old and has already flown twice just with mummy to New York where her sister lives, and which is a good 6hrs flight away. I love the flexibility that breast feeding seems to give her. It reminded me of the antithesis, Kate saying at your lunch party that she needed to get home for her baby's feeds. It reassures me that, God willing, the 5 hrs flight to Chicago in October for the marathon which Jason is running with Iain (bearing in mind I'll have Jason with me), should be a breeze by comparison to Michelle's transcontinental jaunts.
One of the games which I would love to re-enact at my own shower next week is a painting competition on onesies (don't know what these are called in the UK, but they're little envelope T's without legs). We stenciled ours with flying cows and the tag line "Fly me to the Mooooon", but the winning entry above that and "You're the apple of my eye" was the simple "I love Mum". I thought them a lovely keepsake.
Another was the string around the bump estimate. I merely measured my own bump (such a route hadn't been laid down in the ground rules as being out of bounds!) being due 2wks after Vanessa and was spot on as a result. So, whilst Vanessa looks huge to me (great big bazookas), we're actually the same size and I won that competition. Oh, and even though it was a gloriously hot day, I was wearing your black dress which of course is very flattering.
Mine will be a little different next week as it's a picnic so I'll have that challenge of getting blankets for all and keeping food and drinks chilled all day in the hot sun. It's in the state park of Will Rogers, Pacific Palisades, which is nestled in the Santa Monica Mountains and which boasts marvellous ocean, city and mountain views in the distance, and just below, a lush polo field. Green grass is a complete luxury in LA. I'm having boys along too (needed Jason's help as they'll be 20 of us) so they'll be "soccer" games and the like.
The whole concept of a baby shower is wonderful. The gifts are merely a sideshow as the real star of the show is the ability to celebrate the birth pre-birth and whilst the mum to be is still blessed with energy and has time to rejoice in her pregnancy with friends and family. I can only imagine such a concept being pretty hard to envisage soon after the birth.
Getting lots of contractions but thankfully not too close together!
Boo’s length 29cm, weight 1.9k (4lb 3oz)
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