Breastfeeding in the Library

I have a new date, Rhyme Time, every Tuesday at 11am my little man and I go to the library and sing along with Bookstart Bear.. 

I didn't predict this would be such a entertaining 30 mins of my parenting experience but then neither did I know that I'd get SO good as using my left hand and my feet for things I'd normally use my right hand for!!

My rekindled love affair with the library was prompted by a talk given at one of the post natal classes I'd attended where a lovely lady from St Albans Library made a point of telling us that they encourage noise .Gone of the days of the stereotypical 'sshhhhing' from the angry librarian peering over his / her specs. 

I know it's an obvious thing to highlight the perks of a Library, but did you know you can borrow magazines! Yep no more baby books for me, I've been pawing through them all from Olive to Marie Claire - looking at all the lush clothes I won't be buying whilst on Maternity leave. But what a handy resource whilst spending my dwindling pennies on coffee's with my new mummy mates, I can now get some mags. 

Today's libraries are so uber cool, with the self check in and outs making you feel slightly like you're playing library.. and the books, well apart from noticing the latest Louis de Berniers  book was with on a week loan ( likely!!) so I opted for a knitting book! Ha, I know I've changed but there's a brilliant t-rex and monkey toy i'm going to have  go at. All the latest biographies, travel, cook books, loads of DVD box sets which if you don't have Sky or the like are a winner and CD's... I can't remember the last time I bought new music..

Yesterday after Rhyme Time I was sat with the paper breast feeding my little man and no-one batted an eye lid and I didn't think twice about where I was, which I thought was pretty impressive to be made to feel that comfortable. I do have such fond memories of the library as a child which then turned into somewhat stressed ones - desperately trying to get my dissertation done at University and quote loads of reference books in the hope it made me sound like I knew what I'd written about!

Now  I'm glad to say I've got a good relationship with the place again. So if you've not even thought of using your local library of late, why not make it a date x

Moved to the couch...

Having reached 33 weeks of being pregnant and completed our #NCT classes the countdown really is on for the upcoming arrival of our first baby!! Excitement, fear - lots of emotions running as I get ready to leave work as well.. 

Now, I confess I was slightly nervous about the whole NCT class. Everyone tells you it's where you make 'friends for life'. However the weekend before a pal told me over lunch how she knew instantly at her class, that there wasn't a single couple her and her hubby would gel with.. eek. I purposely didn't mention that to my other half and put it to the back of my mind. 

We went to a weekend intensive course and...it was good. The lady taking the course told us all we needed to know using various quirky methods. We saw some graphic pics, drank lots of tea and  we have a great group. The emails are flowing, the facebook and what's app group are being set up and it all feels rather lovely to have access to folk in the same boat as us. 

This Wednesday night was our breast feeding session and another opportunity to share tips, including one new friend - saying she'd slept on the couch the night before and had the best night's sleep ever.

So as I woke at 1.24am this morning, ahead of my 4.00am weekly alarm , with all the aches and pains of being weeble shaped. I thought - enough is enough (my pillow den all around wasn't cutting it) plus there's only so many times I can keep my husband awake this side of the baby arriving... 

Of I went to the couch and OH MY, a lovely deep slumber for the few remaining hours I had left. I know sleeping on the couch isn't anything revolutionary, but comfort and sleep get less and less the more pregnant you get and when like me you have to get up early for work - such a simple revelation is worth writing about!  

So I'm writing this all sprightly and optimistic that my sleep tonight will be as good and as a tip to any other preggars ladies,  - get on that couch!

Would you call your baby Fanny?

Do you like your name? I remember growing up I didn't, mostly because I couldn't say it properly. Then there was the phase where I shortened it to 'Natty' all my friends names ended in 'y' - Vicky, Chessy, Izzy, Lucy. As I got older I made my name shorter to Nat. Then decided it was too familiar so I try to use it in full now.

Friends have done similar things - a Vicky from school always introduces herself as Victoria, yet my pal Giancarla gets her name shortened to GC (something I think she introduced due to being fed up with incorrect pronunciation)

Now we are at an age where the responsibility to pick names for our children lies upon us. A friend is in a dilemma as to what he will call his next child. To me it seems an exciting and somewhat extraordinary privilege but terrifying for others. There's always lists of the most popular names, but today it has been revealed the names that are dying out. 

Cecil, Rowland, Bertha, Blodwen, Fanny, Gertrude, Gladys, Muriel and Margery or Marjorie are also names that were very popular a century ago but are now believed effectively to be extinct, according to analysis by the genealogy website Ancestry.co.uk.

There are certain names that just sound old, but is that by association eg, your Nan was called Gladys or the lady at the end of the road where you grew up was Margery. I had an Auntie Fanny and and Uncle Willie growing up - and whilst it caused many a snigger amongst me and my cousins it was pretty common. Fanny was also once a staple of Enid Blyton books and apparently Margret Thatcher said of her deputy 'Every Prime Minister needs a Willie'. Yet no Willies have been listed on recent birth certificates.

When you hear about celebs calling their children stupid names, you can't help but feel sorry for the kid. I have visions of Moses Paltrow being picked on at school - maybe in a swimming lesson where his peers will ask him to part the chlorinated waters!

How do you decide on the right name? Maybe you've grown up not liking yours, so you're adamant to pick well when you have children. Would you go retro or just play it safe?