Here is Elsie having her breakfast before the drive. She seems to like it as she is licking it off the highchair tray..
I haven't done much driving for a few years and I'm really bad at it. So I was pretty nervous. I stopped in Titirangi to fill up and check the car. Petrol in. Bonnet up. Where's the dipstick? Oh well, Ill check the water. Still can't find it. Top up the windscreen washer stuff. Still can't find the dipstick. Look around - no one very likely to help. Systematically search engine left to right, back to front. Can see where oil goes in. Surely the dipstick must be near? Nope. So embarrassing. Had to go into the petrol station and ask someone to come and help me check the oil. Can't believe I've become one of those women!
An hour behind schedule I finally roll up to Grandma's house. Elsie has been a superstar and stayed awake nearly the whole way to the Northshore - just napping for the last 10mins. Inside, a cup of coffee for me and a breastfeed for Elsie and we are off! Sheesh, I remember the days when hitting the road was easy.
The drive was fabulous, good weather and hardly any traffic. I gradually got my mojo back as we progressed South - now I'm back to thinking I'm some kind of formula One superstar. Me and the rest of New Zealand. Elsie slept all the way to Pirongia where we stopped for lunch.
We had quite a long stop here. Elsie was in a great mood! Grandma was awesome too - basically skipping out of the car and into the cafe (walking stick left firmly under her carseat). We gave Elsie a breastfeed and then I gave her some solids. I was a bit nervous - I've never fed her solids in public before. I put a bib on her and a muslin cloth over me, sat her on my knee and went to it. She ate it all up. What a good girl. Then she got to have a nice long kick about on the sofa's at the cafe while Grandma and I finished our lunch. Elsie gurgled and smiled at everyone as they entered and left the cafe. She had the whole of Pirongia eating out of her hand by the time we left!
Novice Mother Note: Cafes have highchairs. I hadn't realised this at the time. Would have been easier than having squirming baby on my lap smearing food all over me while trying to act like I knew what I was doing.
Usually when we drive to Taranaki we have to stop and feed Elsie again at Mokau - which is an hour away from Taranaki - but today Elsie was just happy to roll on through. We made it all the way home! That's a five hour drive with only one stop and no crying. Big ups to the little girl. Grandma couldn't see Elsie from where she was sitting in the car and she kept panicking me by saying "Are you sure you didn't leave Elsie in Pirongia Dear?". A quick check of the rearview mirror reassured me that we hadn't left her behind - she was just being a very perfect baby.
We arrived in New Plymouth at 6pm after leaving Grandma's house at 11am. So not bad going really. Elsie continued to smile and play away happily with Grandma while I unpacked, set up her bed and pureed some veg for her. I couldn't believe this as normally this time of day is arsenic hour not least after all day in a car seat. But Grandma seemed to have the magic charm with Elsie - she just couldn't smile at her Great Grandmother enough. Lovely for Elsie, lovely for me, lovely for Grandma. Great day.
No comments:
Post a Comment