Girly time...with me too

On Saturday night after we'd had a feast of food, too many laughs - you may think you can never have too many but after Indian food, believe me, you can - and played a game, things were settling down when Alison said to Erin that she should go with her and Kirsty.

Alison was born to be a mother.  She also loves to pass on advice and anything else, if she can. In this instance it was maternity clothes.  She'd mentioned that Erin could have a few clothes, which Erin was very grateful for, so off they went upstairs.

I went up a few minutes later to see what was going on and they were just finishing with the first large sackful of clothes. Alison had stored  her clothes as well as some from a few other friends. There were maternity PJs, skirts, trousers - the elasticated ones which would be great for any fat person - jeans, fleeces, tight tops, loose tops, classy-dressy-dresses and loungey-softy-comfy-joggers.  The lot.

I was also told to try on the baby carrier.  It took three women, manhandling me like I've never been before, for a good few minutes, to get it on but once it was on and a teddy bear was stuffed in it I walked around almost as proud as I will be when I'm walking around London with my little one.

After this, most people left and we were on our way too but not before we got a lesson in nappies (or diapers).  Alison and Railton use the reusable ones which are good for the environment. We'd like to too and so got Alison to give us the lowdown.  We left feeling a little more knowledgeable. And for those days when you just need to use disposable ones, apparently the discount supermarket Lidl does a large pack for a fiver. 

Ears and eyebrows

I've been thumbing through  a book we got when we were in the States. It's The Pregnancy Countdown Book by Susan Magee. 

Erin's now 17 weeks pregnant and here's what it says about the baby.

(And just to wind those up who are adamant the child will be a boy it's written as if she's a she.)

Spread your hand open wide.  Study the distance from the top of your thumb to the bottom of your palm.  At 17 weeks of pregnancy, this is the size of the baby - about 5 inches.  She weighs about 6 ounces.  The cartilage of the skeleton is hardening to bone.  Fat is just now forming under her skin.  The bones of her ears and the nerve endings from her brain are now, or will soon be, developed enough for her to hear your voice and heartbeat. So you can start saying 'I love you,' and maybe she'll hear and raise her eyebrows - because she's got those now, too.

From now when we play music the baby will apparently be able to hear. So lots of Mozart then? I doubt it. A few weeks ago I downloaded a load of Mozart for this stage of the pregnancy but have been thinking about it.  Why play classical music when it wouldn't hear it so much in the house when she - I'll go with the book for today's blog - won't be hearing it when she's born?  So what should we purposely play for her to listen to?

Send me your ideas. Most of you will know what she'll hear if I get my way.

So that's what's happening inside Erin at the moment.

On the outside she had her first I've got nothing to wear moment today.  Her clothes are getting tight and she's just about showing - Looking good might I had.  But for her, the use of those maternity trousers and jeans are fast approaching.

Bullseye

We showed Simon and Sarah what we bought from Target in the States tonight.

These included:

Baby wipes - boring but a lot cheaper over the pond

A portable baby changing mat

Spare changing cover

Butt paste - don't ask

Pus Erin's maternity wear. Please feel sorry for them. - Sarah, at least, looked interested.

And a breast pump.

Simon looked away from the TV for the first time in the evening.  And the response? 'That's bloody brilliant.  That's my favourite thing I've seen all day.'

Shove it in...

Erin and I went shopping yesterday.  We're going to the States later this Summer for her youngest brother's wedding.  Obviously a dress is needed. 

Erin feels as though she's grown a little recently and wondered how much she would grow in a month's time.  She eventually went to the dressing room in Monsoon armed with 5 dresses all in her usual size.  They all seemed to fit well but we both wondered what they would look like a month's time.  I ran to the other end of the shop to get the favourite dress in the next size up and then she tried it on.  This was all causing a little fuss with the attendant until we explained that Erin was pregnant and we didn't know how much room was needed for growth - I said room for improvement at the time but thinking about it after Erin laughed and looked at me weirdly, I meant growth.  

The dress went on and looked the best of the bunch.  But Erin wasn't sure how much give there was in it so in one full-swing-perpetual-motion she leant down, grabbed the skirt she had come to the shop wearing, folded it, puffed it a little, and shoved it up the dress she was trying on to she how much of bump she could get away with.  I usually give an opinion of whether something looks good or not at this stage but I just had to walk away with a smile that quickly turned into a giggle.  It was genius. 5 minutes later we walked out of the shop having bought the dress.