Preparing for the new baby

We just returned from a long weekend with B's parents, during which we put a king-size bed and a load of boxes back up into their loft, and went to a really nice service at their church to bid them farewell before they leave in a couple of weeks' time for Tanzania.

Once back in London, we headed back to our flat.

Unfortunately S had totally forgotten we had builders in, so she screamed at the sight of Yilmaz.

We then had literally 15 minutes nap on the sofa, before heading back out again for an early pizza with Bhargavi, which was lovely.

And then finally S sat down and wrote a list of jobs to do to prepare for the arrival of the new baby. This is always a bit peculiar.

The list includes practising a surprising amount of technological know-how and techniques, from old-fashioned swaddling (we will be using A's Bunny), to working out how to swiftly assemble and disassemble the double buggy, to checking how to operate the delightful electric breast pump and the fancy 24-hour electric steam bottle steriliser, to carefully re-fitting the infant car seat to our Vauxhall Astra.

But perhaps S shouldn't complain.

Previous generations were expected to crochet booties, while simultaneously using sandpaper to toughen up for breastfeeding and holding a pint of Guinness.