Expedition to the.... Lakeside....

Got up late.

Very late.

Hurting.

Can't blame a bad night either - it was alright! Even Ben's 5.30am tantrum was a fairly short one and was dealt with by a cuddle from daddy, after which he slept another 3 and a half hours!

No, we have all succumbed to the Lurgy and it has made all my joint pain worse.

Never mind.

Desperate to avoid a frustratingly boring afternoon stuck on the sofa, we made it out of the house by mid afternoon, headed for Ikea. Different to normal, we went to Lakeside rather than Croydon. Charley was asleep within minutes, Ben was asleep by the time we hit the motorway, and I was asleep before we got to the M25! Arrived at the services for coffee and I had a full-on lapse of brain. Almost careered into someone because the doors into the services were in the wrong place. Took a while to find the toilets because they'd had a lot of work done inside as well as moving the doors. Sat on the loo and suddenly recalled that we were going to a different place and were therefore NOT at Pease Pottage services, but somewhere on the M25 - which would explain why the doors were in the wrong place and why everything had been moved around inside!!!

Of course now I'd realised we were somewhere else, by the time I got back outside with our coffees I hadn't a clue where we'd parked, so I was rather grateful when Steve pulled up outside :-) What a dozy duck!!

Had a productive time at Ikea. Found everything we were after, but are going to get a couple of bits ordered for home delivery (because one thing was out of stock and we totally forgot about the other until we were at the checkouts at 9.45pm...), and found a wardrobe in the bargain corner too :) We also saw and both fell in love with a particular kitchen, so we have our kitchen inspiration now. Actually getting it is going to have to wait though! Nice to go round and think about how to do things, where different furniture can go, what sort of things we're after, and colour inspirations. And of course we were there til closing time. Goes without saying really!

Ben has been a star: no tantrums, and has coped magnificently with being up so late. He did earn me a "you can't control your child" look from another woman after nearly giving her partner a heart attack: clambering over the sofas in the restaurant while I was feeding Charley and Steve was buying us a drink and some cake, he did a (very controlled and deliberate) dive off the arm of an armchair onto its seat. Man jumped in alarm thinking Ben had fallen / was going to fall, woman gave me a real look of contempt! I do recognise that to most people who don't know Ben as well as us, his antics can be quite hair-raising and probably rather irritating. It doesn't help that at the moment he is going through a particularly challenging period, testing my patience and ability to cope - so it probably does look like I can't "control" my child. Ah well. Good job I have thicker skin than that.

Charley basically slept his way throught the trip in the Moby. Slept until we were almost there, had some boob and a nappy change, into the wrap and slept around the showroom, out for more boob while we had the obligatory meatballs and chips (good job I like them!) and another nappy change, back in the wrap for a sleep round the marketplace and warehouse. We spotted another stretchy wrapped bambino, and I got aproached by another couple curious about ours!

I'm writing as we are on our way home. Ben is asleep, and Charley is too, now: he did yet another poo as I was feeding him while Steve was loading the car and the poo sounded like it was just never ending. And I'd used the last nappy at the previous nappy change... anyway so he's in a massively pooey nappy and I've been twisted round in my seat settling him by letting him suck my fingertip...

On the home straight now having pulled in for a quick diesel top-up and a coffee - and an Emergency Child Blip as I don't think any of the pictures I've taken for my ideas / inspiration file would do really. Although that said they'd be a better reflection of the day, rather than a grabbed iPhone pic of Charley in his carseat at 11.30pm...

Why do we do this to ourselves??

Oh yeah - decent furniture that we can almost actually afford ;-) And the meatballs, of course....


Edit since getting home - have to record how sweet Ben was. Charley was screaming on the bed while I got Ben into pyjamas, then when I went to draw the curtains Ben got up and went to Charley and crooked his little finger and offered Charley his knuckle to suck on, just like Steve does :) And Charley saw me, calmed down, and accepted Ben's beautiful offering!