23 August 2015

Day of Firsts!

I love experiences that make me feel young again.  Or in this case, young and unexperienced.  Some friends from church made a shout-out on FB last night saying they were going down to Seacliff Beach for a picnic today since the weather was supposed to be nice.  ('Nice' Ha!  It was fantastic today!)  Seacliff Beach is the stretch of sandy beach you can see from the cliffs of Tantallon Castle.  It has an elusive entrance down a private road.  I've wanted to figure out how to get there for ages.

After a super busy day yesterday (summary: sofas, Livingston Clarks Outlet shoe shopping, Mall shopping, plus a run to Costco - yes, we are certifiable.  BTW, Mom I finally caved and bought Ziploc Bags, aren't you proud?- more on that later!)

Anyway, after a super busy day yesterday, I didn't think simon would want to go much of anywhere today and I was mentally prepping myself to prepare and freeze a bunch of the food we bought at costco yesterday.  But he wanted to take a walk somewhere and was suggesting the Botanics.  Nothing against the Botanics, but we've been there a lot and on a nice (understatement again!) Sunday morning during the *FESTIVAL* - ugh, think: too many people!  (Especially the Yuppie-parents-of-small-children and artsy-people-with-no-children and retired-people-who-no-longer-have-children who always give me the feeling they are looking askance judging my parenting techniques and scrubby pram....)

Anyway!  Somehow I thought - YES! Going to Seacliff Beach is a great idea!  And I packed 2 changes of clothes for Felicity, and suncream and her sun hat and her swimsuit and a snack for her.  And I dressed Titus in BLUE JEANs for the first time (ack, but forgot to take a picture - sorry Sisters!) and got him all happy fed for the 40 minute drive out there.  I even put on some make up and sun cream myself (I think? hard to remember back to the beginning of the day...)  and it was only when we actually got out to the beach and I realized how very very very windy it was that I thought: shoot.  I forgot his sling and I don't have a towel or blanket to lay him on - what am I going to do with a 6 week old at the beach??  since he's obviously not going to be poking around in rock pools like Felicity.

We had a good attempt.  Simon and I carried his pram over the sand to where our friends had lain out their picnic blankets.  I nursed him when he got fussy, but it was just too much for him.  Poor thing, the sun was bright and the wind was gusting hard and the place was busy.  After he just cried and cried, I ended up taking him and my share of the picnic back to the car and settling him down out of the wind.  And though I couldnt see the sea, it was still warm and breezy and set down by woods and fields. and quiet.  and Kindle phone app happy.  BUT, I felt very GREEN.  So, note to self: do NOT take newborn babies to the beach.  No.  It is not a good idea.

The drive to North Berwick was lovely.  East Lothian has lovely rolling fields and hills.  Many farmers had not quite cut down their wheat and those are the fields that take center-stage this time of year.  White gold undulating waves.  The stubble is still white cream bright when they cut it, but it misses the movement and today with the wind it was a real pleasure to see the fields as we drove past.
So Titus, first time at the beach.  First time in Blue jeans.  OH!  Last night, first time slept 5+ hours at night!!  (9:30-ish to 2am-ish - go Titus boy!)  and first time Felicity has slept from 8pm until 6am!!  (Wow!)  So will try not to be disappointed or peevish when they *will* wake up every 2 hours tonight...*trying not to get my hopes up too high*

Right.  Off to catch what sleep I can.

Normally I wouldn't encourage her to play with the baby toys, but when she crawled in next to him the other day, it was just too cute, I had to have the pictures.