We didn’t get as much accomplished today as I might have hoped, but it was still a nice day. B went off with Nannie at 11 to look at a horse Nannie is contemplating buying for her. As she was in the process of getting all her stuff out of the car, she let the dog into the front yard, who promptly ignored all attempts to call her back and disappeared for a run. Fortunately the dog was wearing her tag and was found by someone in the next suburb, who called us to come and collect her. Bloody animal… I was not impressed with B having let her out in the first place as only yesterday B was complaining that Z is not responding to voice control as well as she usually does. Some retraining is in order, methinks.

After that, E and I took the littlies to Hall Markets. It was very hot, and H got quite overheated in the wrap with E after a while, so I took him back to the car and gave him a feed. He was bright red in the face, so I took off his onesie and nappy and let him kick in the cool air while he rehydrated. We had fortunately been able to find a parking place under the trees so it was shady and relatively cool, and there was a nice breeze. He cooled down after a while and, with a disposable instead of a cloth nappy plus woollen cover, and no clothes on, he was much happier in the wrap with me for the next hour. One of his big sisters’ hats kept his head and the top of his back covered while he was looking around, and when he went back to sleep I was able to use it as extra shade.

We found a few things of interest while pootling around, but only ended up buying H a tie-dyed sleeveless onesie as his Christmas Eve pyjama present, plus some cute little finger puppets for stockings. We couldn’t resist a finger-puppet layout of Little Red Riding Hood, although I’m not sure who precisely will get that – probably K. When she saw them she said they belonged at Grandmoogi’s house, because GM has a layout of Old MacDonald’s Farm done by the same people. We chatted to someone selling poi, and I was very tempted to get a pair for B as I was thinking yesterday that it would be a nice gift for her if I can find the time to make some (I’m also contemplating making a beanbag toss game for K with hand-made beanbags, and possibly even some retro beanbag animals). But I didn’t have $45. Also didn’t buy any food products; I’ll get them at the Farmers’ Market over the next few weeks. I was suffering from my usual experience of being overwhelmed by too much choice! E and I fell utterly in love with a big pottery platter glazed with a design like a stained glass window, but couldn’t possibly justify the $130 price tag to buy it, so left it sadly behind. At that same stall, we found a gigantic moth clinging to the side of the table, which was an interesting diversion. At that point we decided we were too hot and tired, so headed home.

The insulation people rang and made a time to come round later that afternoon, so when H and I lay down for a nap we decided to make it in the study instead of the bedroom. Obviously that was a good decision, as I woke up three hours later, without even having heard them arrive 🙂 Hence I am still up at 1am, as wake-up time was late enough (7pm) that I’m not really tired.

Tomorrow is playgroup, which I am really looking forward to, as I’ve been going all year with my gradually expanding belly, and now I want to go and show off my new babe! I’ve been feeling very sociable over the last week, as I had a JB meet-up at my place on Wednesday, went to an ABA meeting on Friday, and now playgroup tomorrow. This post-partum time has been such a different experience to K’s – it was hard to realise how very exhausted I was for a long time after K was born because it just seemed so normal at the time, but now, since I am energetic and healthy and even getting enough sleep, the difference really stands out. Anaemia is awful, I’m glad to be alert to the signs now after that experience, and able to counter it before it becomes a problem. It is much easier to cope with the three of them now than it was with the two girls (although B’s added maturity is a big factor in that, of course).