Yummy Mummies Meet at the Rainforest Cafe

Photo credit: traci*s retro

Now I must confess that I used to think meeting anyone from an internet 'community group' was completely nerdy. The kind of thing best left to World of Warcraft-ers and Second Life-ers.

Basically, I thought that meeting people you'd only ever met virtually was suitable for people who didn't have any real friends.

But times move on, and I with them.

I was excited, I was nervous. Sunday came and Ella and I traipsed off to London for the British Mummy Bloggers get-together at The Rainforest Cafe.

Organised by Susanna at A Modern Mother - truly the Queen of the British Mummy Bloggers - it was a great opportunity to match some (very pretty) faces to blogs.

Ella had a great time on the kids table and loved her goodie bag, especially the Rainforest Cafe wallet which prompted her to ask for some pocket money. Hmm. Is five too young for pocket money? Probably. I gave her some anyway.

I had a lovely natter with NixdMinx during which we discussed the burning desire to occassionally 'let rip' in anonymous blog posts.

We all slightly self-censor at times, knowing that friends/Romans/Countrymen read our posts. It would be great to have a place for us mummy bloggers to vent, to expose the raw, naked truth at those times when we can't on our own blogs for fear of reprisals. NixdMinx suggested the name 'AnonyMums'. Love it. I'll let you know when it launches...

I met Emily from Maternal Tales and her cute, cheeky daughter who had me and NixdMinx in stiches. I chatted to Home Office Mum and More than Just a Mother (whose current post I urge you to read. It'll make you chuckle) and waved manically to Notes from Inside My Head as for some reason I was convinced I'd met her somehwere before. Turns out she thought the same of me. We don't even read each others blogs (though I will now). Spooky.

And then there was the ripely preganant and glowing Tasha from Wahm Bahm who impressively managed to combine working at home with a two week old baby the first time round. Living, breathing proof that you can have, and do, it all.

And last, but certainly not least, I met Metropolitan Mum and her gorgeous little Baby L. What a delicious group of yummy, funny mummies. I am proud to belong to such an intelligent, interesting completely non-nerdy group.

There were more mummy bloggers I didn't get a chance to say hello to (I was wedged tightly in the corner, as it was a large table in a very small room, and I only ventured out of my seat for loo trips), but I hope to meet in due course.

We all enjoyed a free lunch - courtesy of the lovely people at Silver Cross who only asked for a few minutes of our attention while they discussed their ethos as a company (British, committed to quality and innovation, open to feedback from customers) and demonstrated two pretty cool products.

My favourite was the Halo pushchair which combines a travel system with a lightweight stroller so it will last Junior all the way through from birth until s/he progresses to walking/scooting/cycling.

Impressively, it folds down so small you can fit it in the boot of a Mini. The old style Mini.

Now I just need the baby...