Intro Day 3: Visiting Santa

Today was our first full day with our son - just the three of us. We started off by visiting a local park to feed the ducks and then made a really memorable trip to see Santa (who happened to have stopped by a nearby garden centre, which was lucky). I have to say this was really emotional for both Pappa and I - I had so far  managed to hold in any tears at matching panel and even on the first meeting our boy, but carrying our son into a magical grotto to see Santa for his very first Christmas managed to break me! As we entered the grotto with all of the other families it struck me that we were now a family and we were taking our son to see Santa just like the other parents. It was such a lovely experience, we wrote a letter to Santa, made Reindeer food, sang Jingle Bells with the Elves and of course got a present and had our photo taken with Santa.

Pappa and I had a look around the garden centre while the little man had a nap and then we all had lunch in the cafe. Heating up baby jars and feeding a baby in public didn't seem like too much trouble, but changing a baby in a public toilet is another story. Pappa took the little one off one his own while I sat with the shopping and was gone for quite some time. About 20 minutes later a very flustered Pappa and son reappeared. Having changed him myself since in a similar situation I can testify its hard work, not helped by the terrible design and layout of so called 'baby changing areas'. Those pull down changing tables seriously need a re-think! There is seldom anywhere to rest your nappy bags, wet wipes, cream and some of the worse places don't even have a strap to secure the baby so it's very much a juggling act.

We returned to the FC's late afternoon to feed and change our son before enjoying a first bath time with him there. After putting him into one of his adorable baby grows and settling him down for bed we left - just time to send another round of photos and messages to family and friends.