Tuesday 24 April 2012

Nat and Ryan's London Adventure

 
or…the 3 / Baby Expert Photoshoot

I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve ventured into London in the last 27 years, so the idea of travelling to our capital with a (nearly) 7 month old baby was quite daunting!

Weighing up my travel options (and getting some advice from the lovely ladies on the Baby Expert forums!) we decided to leave our new car at home and brave public transport. As I only own a hefty travel system of a pushchair, I knew it wouldn’t be practical to bring it with me, so we whipped out the Babasling and away we went!

Ryan didn’t last long at all on the train journey from Crewe, it was nicely timed to coincide with his usual morning nap, and the gentle motion ensured he didn’t even fight his sleep, as he’s sometimes wont to, instead he just drifted gently away in my arms!

Just under 2 hours later we arrived in Euston, easily mastered the tube (always amazes me how easy and efficient it is!) and had a nice stroll to Islington Green, where we only got slightly lost looking for the studio! 

The studio itself was an amazing apartment which I would love to own, not entirely baby friendly with the spiral staircase though! We were made to feel very welcome, and just chilled out for a while as some of our fellow mums and kids posed for the cameras. 

After a dairy free lunch, Ryan became the subject of pass the parcel between the 3 and Baby Expert ladies while I had my hair and make-up done, then tried on some clothes to find a good outfit. After a quick change of clothes for my little monkey we posed for our photos, and then it was all over!

It was naptime again as we left, Ryan passed out in the sling as I got us back to Euston, where we discovered we couldn’t change our train tickets to an earlier train without paying extra, and had nearly 3 hours to kill! Thankfully I have a knowledgeable friend who went to uni in London, so after a round of texts we were on our way to Green Park, where we had a lovely stroll in the sunshine, went to have a look at Buckingham Palace, and watched some children feeding the squirrels, before heading back to the station to catch our train home.

Having a baby around London has totally changed my view of Londoners! Last time I visited I was virtually blanked, but with the gorgeous Ryan attached to me everyone wanted to talk to him, to me, give up their seats for us, hold him while I sorted my many bags out etc! And who knew men went gaga over babies as much (if not more) than women! It helps that I must have the most laid back baby on the planet. The only minor grumpy moments we had all day were when he got tired and when he was hungry – both understandable I think. Ryan is just so inquisitive, he loves new things, and there was so much to see and do that he was just occupied all day. The sling was ideal as he is nearly at my height so can properly see what’s going on, which he loves. Think we’ll be using that a lot more now, and making more day trips – though maybe we’ll bring daddy along to carry the bags!

All in all we had a lovely day. The stylists and make-up artist were lovely, the photographer totally put us at ease, and Ryan clearly enjoyed all the attention – we could get used to this modelling lark!

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