ailbhe | WHAT a day! I am feeling GREAT!

I got up and put on some laundry, and then some more laundry, and no-one wanted breakfast, so I had a shower. Emer supervised me, because I also had Astrid and she wanted to not be parted from the baby for ONE MINUTE. So I put Astrid on the bathtop change-mat, took her clothes and nappy off and cleaned her up, got into the bathtub and had my shower and rinsed all the soap off, and then picked her up and brought her into the spray with me. I soaped some of the worst of her spots, and rinsed her off, and she seemed to enjoy it. Emer put a Better Towel on the mat, and I put Astrid down, got out, covered her with another towel, dried myself, dried her, put her fresh nappy on, and then took us both upstairs to get dressed.

It was helpful having Emer there but really, really not necessary. So now I know that I can shower myself and Astrid without hurting my hips or pelvis, or dropping her. I can't get in and out of the bath easily, so I can't have a bath with her, but showers are better anyway for all sorts of reasons. I am delighted to have figured this out before she reached 4 weeks.

After the shower and hanging two loads of laundry on the line outside, I cooked porridge for the big girls and I had weetabix, and then we went out to the library. There were many old friends at the breastfeeding drop-in so it was lovely to be there, and we had a nice 90 minutes or so.

We left with two other families and went to Costa to have lunch, which was ok - Costa is always overpriced and underwhelming, but the food was clearly labelled and there were a few non-dairy non-soy options, which was a nice change. Then we dropped one family off at their house and the other one came with us.

We did reading and painting and thunder-making, and then the bigger children played outside while the mothers and babies did milk and chatting inside. We had coffee and biscuits and didn't realise how late it was getting, so they had to leave in a rush.

Then we watched a video a friend and her husband made especially for my children, which was brilliant, and Linnea started the dinner - opened packs of ready-made meatballs and put them in the oven to cook while we waited for Rob to come home. I talked her through it while standing in the kitchen breastfeeding Astrid, and I turned the gas oven on. Her grasp of oven safety and basic food hygiene seems sound enough when she's focusing on it. Not so hot otherwise, I suspect.

And then I sat in the dark feeding Astrid while the big girls went outside and did gawdknowswhat in the back garden. I dread to think. I'm not going to investigate, in fact. Ignorance is slightly less stressful than confirmation of my worst suspicions.

Rob's home; we'll eat shortly and then swing straight into bedtime. Thursdays are his late night.