Emily's new transport method - the piggy back

Emily has started to exhibit a strange new behaviour lately.

If she wants to be picked up, she'll normally get in front of you and put her hands up. If you're lucky she'll utter something obvious like "Up" and just make it incredibly obvious she wants to be picked up.

Lately, she's been walking BEHIND me. At first I really didn't get it, until I knelt down to tie my shoe and she hopped on my back.

Ah... penny fully dropped, I realised she's now wanting a piggy back, instead of being picked up in the front. I wonder if she's grown tired of my face and is much happier to look at the back of my head. Or if she sees this position as a happy in-between from the full on sitting on my shoulders.

Whatever the case is, her piggy back is not a proper piggy back in that she has no concept of actually holding on. It's more like riding the bucking bronco at a rodeo, but in this case I'm trying to keep her from falling off.

I discovered last night at Asda that the Emily Piggy Back (EPB) also makes it quite impossible to do any shopping as all available limbs are being used to ensure that Emily stays put.

Conclusion - good for the park, not for the shops.

Emily the misery

I know better. I keep telling myself that.

Do NOT go to a supermarket with Emily. Bad things will happen.

Why I didn't heed my own advice last night was a mix of optimism and stupidity. My faith in Emily to not create merry hell was repaid by her actually creating the most merry HELL I have ever had the joy to witness from her.

There was shaking, screaming, tears... the works. This has been the first time in a LONG time that I really wanted to give a good hiding. I understand how parents can lose their cool with their kids on shopping trips.

I also told myself that she's usually placid and only cocks a strop when there's a good reason - hungry, tired, thirsty, etc. I got the feeling that the real underlying problem was I wouldn't let her run around the shop. I let her go a couple of times and she was off like a bullet. There's only so fast I can push a trolley through the shop.

The fun didn't stop when we left Sainsbury's however. Emily managed to maintain her happy disposition through dinner, mixing the bland flavour of her chicken korma with the salty bitterness of her toddler tears.

After that it was bath time and this usually illicits tears regardless of previous emotional state and again Emily did not disappoint. By this time, however, the footie was on and mummy was home so she got to taste some of the flavour of the child I call Grizzelda.

Emily IS usually placid and I can't place my finger on exactly why she was such a misery last night. I can only assume it was a mix of things - tired, hungry, me not letting her run riot. I just need to ensure that food shopping is done at the right time or else bribe her with treats to keep her still.

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Emily's supermarket tantrums

Despite her inability to want to actually talk, Emily's been quite expressive lately and has actually been a joy to be around. A joy as long as I'm not hauling her around the supermarket.
She can be in any type of wonderful mood, having had a lovely sleep, etc. when I pick her up from Helen's.

She screams when I take her into the bathroom as she assumes she's going to be forced to have a bath. However, it takes her about 5-10 minutes of being in a supermarket before the screaming, crying and random tantruming seem to happen.

Like bathtime, I don't know what happened. She used to love going to the supermarket, helping me unload the shopping cart on the belt, etc. Now it's just a game of "placate the child" with drinks, biscuits, etc.

I guess the golden answer is to continue to try and do my food shopping at lunch time... oh Emily.

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• Shopping with Em (bubbytimes.blogspot.com)

Shopping with Em

Usually when I pick Emily up from Helen's after work, we have to head straight home. Any deviation to the supermarket is usually met with quite vocal hostility.

For whatever reason, tonight was different. Emily only grumbled a couple of times, and both were quite lame attempts. I've found it's easier to placate her if she rides up front with the food, rather than sit in the child seat.

When it came to checkout time, I thought I'd try and get her involved a bit. As she was standing in with the food anyway, I pointed to items in the cart and asked her to hand me the next item. Some things she gave me and some things she put on the conveyor belt and some things like a kilo of rice were a bit too heavy.

I was hoping this would keep her interest as well as let her not hate trips to the supermarket. As I was packing, I gave her the items that she could then put in the bag.

I'm under no illusions that the next trip to Sainsburys will not be as smooth or that Emily will be so helpful. It was nice while it lasted.

Ebay trek to Northampton

Today was the day we had booked to trek up to Northampton to pick up Sue's "pick up only" Ebay auction win.

While most people would be going "whaa??", Sue did go to great lengths to explain to me the item in question retailed for FOUR times what she got it for from Ebay. As it ended up, even with petrol, we still only paid half of what you'd see it retail in the shops for.

What is it? It's a wheelie activity centre type thing that is much better described by imagery alone (see to the right).

Sue had the loan of one in Australia and Emily loved it enough that Sue was toying with bringing it back with her, as it promised to "flat pack". Having picked it up today, there is no way in hell that this would have flat packed to anything remotely plane-ready, so it's a good idea we went this route and not the excess baggage route.

When we got home tonight, we put it together (un-flat packed it, as the case may be) and popped Em in to give her a taste before bed. About an hour later she was still all smiles and chuckles and deep looks of concerns over trying to get the toys to do their thing. In a nutshell - she couldn't get enough.

It wasn't the nicest weather going to Northampton, and the idea of a 210 mile round trip was daunting, but seeing the look on Em's face made the whole thing worthwhile... which is good.

Tired... and where do the hours go?

Why is it that with a child time seems to have sped up? I was used to a 24 hour day feeling about 18 hours usually. Now we have a baby (or time vacuum as they actually are), a 24 hour day feels about 5 hours long. I blink and the baby's already over a week old. I'm back to work a week tomorrow and Easter came and went in the blink of an eye.

To add to the time concerns, both Sue and I are quite tired, not feeling 100% and prone to being snappy. I can usually keep it together but the veneer tends to slip the more I get exhausted.

We went out today in the car. This is the first car-venture since we came home a week ago. We dropped mummy off at the doctor's then went to the chippie for mummy's lunch, followed by hanging out in The Oaks, a local park. All topped off with Emily's first trip to Asda.

Excitement!

This evening has been filled with Emily feeds, then crying when she's taken from the feeding-machine. Sheesh. Sometimes you think it HAS to END!!

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Now playing: Bryan Ferry - Slave To Love [Instrumental]
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Crashed out!

My two ladies are fast asleep in our bed. Sue managed to hold it together when we got home long enough to have a much needed shower, open a card and present from me and feed Em.

On the way home, we stopped in at Mothercare for a nursing pillow which Sue went in and bought (as she needed the loo as well). On returning to the car, she announced that someone had forgotten they'd just had major surgery. We then went to Asda for a few bits and our initial plan - walk around the shop with the baby in her basket in the trolley went out the window. Sue sat in the car feeding the little breast demon while daddy did the shop.

Waiting for Sue to wake up now before I order some take away to celebrate our first night in the flat as a full family.

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Now playing: Moby - I Feel It [Contentious Mix]
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Baby ruins all the fun

Sue wants to fly to Australia in September for a wedding. No problem there, she's always flying to Australia for various reasons. This time, however, she wants to take the baby. Only trouble is, the baby isn't a baby yet, it's still a foetus. By September, of course, it will have been a baby for months.

Try buying a plane ticket (or at least pay the taxes) for a person who legally doesn't exist yet. When you can't tick the "name" or "date of birth" box for the travel agent, they tend to come back with a "not enough information" response.

Now that the baby is 8 days late, we're hoping it'll arrive soon, with the task of getting cheaper airfare added to the list of reasons why.

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Baby show!

Hit the babyshow today at Excel and managed to pretty much break the bank. Having said that, we're pretty sorted now for baby.

We really went to get the OneLife nappies, which retail for £295 on the website. Show special was £275 and they threw in the £20 nappy pail pack which was awesome. We also talked during the walk around the show about the glider chairs you can get. Mothercare have them for about £400 and we'd pretty much written them off. Then what do we spy? A glider / footstool combo for £105, down from £179. SOLD! Also got a £79 toy chest for £15.

Loads of deals, specials and a bunch more promo freebies and handouts made it well worth the hideous drive to the docklands. Now we just need a baby to use this stuff on !

You Reeka Moment

This whole baby lark is starting to hit me in dribs and drabs.

Yesterday, in Asda, we bought newborn nappies, and like that boulder in Raiders of the Lost Ark that just about hits Indiana on his escape, it hit me that... whack... we ARE having a baby. Sue's not just fat, with bloated fingers and problems bending over, it's actually leading to something, and something big!

Now we have to focus on finishing the "big shop" - stroller (to be sourced from Mothercare, via cashback website), crib/bed combo and the nappies.

Here's to giving the credit card a good baby-sized bashing.

Amazon Wish List

Now that Amazon sell baby gear, I've created a new wish list for the baby stuff we imagine we're going to need.

I've only got one thing on there so far, but as Sue and I find stuff that we need we'll add it. Mainly so we know what we need in one place, but also if someone wants to buy us something they can handily find a place that lists what we still have outstanding.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/registry/REJOBQQUUPVS

Good chat

Had a good chat with a fellow-dad to be at work today.

Discussed all the usual, from scan photos to clothing. It's good that his wife is about to unload, as I can sorta see what the next few months will have in stock.

There were the usual words of advice like don't scrimp on the pushchair/carseat combo, be prepared to return loads of redundant gifts and make sure you really really need the stuff you're buying.

For example, apparently something like 60% of Moses baskets don't get used.

It's all good to know stuff and much easier on the brain than just reading this crap in a book.

Crazy Day of Baby Fair

Spent a LARGE chunk of the afternoon at Earl's Court at the bi-annual baby fair.

If there was anything I didn't know or wasn't prepared for before today, I think that's been sorted by the many stalls at the show.

Only thing I'm worried about now is how to pay for the child. There's so much stuff to get - diapers, stroller, bed, clothing, food, things to feed it with.

I think worry has now been replaced by confusion, as we're not sure which stroller to go for or which diapers or which anything. Much more research and Amazon.co.uk searches are needed before March rears its head.

We did get some wicked and wonderful freebies including literature, coupons, and just loads of information to make us as informed as possible.

Sell Sell Sell

We went to an NCT sale today. For the uninitiated (which very recently included me) the NCT stands for National Childhood Trust.

Basically what I imagined the sale to be was parents selling things their little loved ones had recently outgrown. For the most part I was right, but what I didn't count on was the stalls selling new stuff and actually giving out information.

I got the low down on the car seat law (it's any child UNDER 135cm regardless of age, but there seems to be age 12 attached to the law) and Sue got an Indian head massage from a woman who apparently massages babies, after their hard day... at the office? pooping?

Paul came with us and stocked up on secret santa stuff for a pregnant woman at work.

All in all, a nice eye opener, and a good place for us to not only stock up on baby gear but to also offload it once we're done.

For the £1 admission fee, we also got an "I support breastfeeding" wrist band, which they were flogging for £1 in the main area of the fair. Not bad!

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Clothing score

Went shopping today for various bits and pieces and came across quite the score.

Sue's been talking to her mates in Australia and there's a shop called Pumpkin Patch that does kids clothes and a range of maternity clothes. So, we went shopping to Croydon, ostensibly so Sue could check out the Pumpkin Patch outlet at the Whitgift Centre, one of three shops in the UK (most of them are in Australia and New Zealand).

They had their "Big Patch Sale" on which meant Sue managed to get about £80 worth of clothing for around £30.

Of course, I just can't help thinking that maternity clothes shouldn't be bought, they should be rented. You need them, at most, for around six months and sometimes even less. Still, with sales on, it makes the financial sting a little easier to handle.