I love Lazy

I have been married for almost 5 years now.  One thing we never paid for was an album as they were extortionate and we never thought we wanted one.  We paid for all of the digital pictures and copyright however so whoever wanted a copy of anything could have one. 

Shortly after we got married, I decided we should have an album and have been working half-heartedly on one ever since as there was never any urgency.  As it fast approaches our 5th anniversary I can't help but feel how lazy I have been in finishing it.  I did finally finish it a few months ago only to have a technical issue with the site it was created on resulting in me needing to recreate the whole album again.  So for the second time, the album is finished... to have the same technical issue be the problem! Fingers crossed I will get a response back in the next couple of days and I can finally get it ordered.  I just can't help but think how lazy I have been in getting it done. 

The same applies for other things, like having a spring clean of all of my stuff.  I have no trouble in being ruthless but it's just finding the motivation that I'm struggling with.  I'm not sure where this has stemmed from but I have so many unstarted jobs I really need to think about doing soon before my maternity leave comes to a very abrupt end.  

Needless to say, I have finally bought the mirror (on sale woo hoo!) to finish off the decoration in our dining room, I just need to spray paint it a more fitting colour and then it can be hung above the fireplace.  

I have also bought cork tiles for our study to hide the damage caused when installing the built-in desk as they no longer sell the paint we painted the room with.  My intention is to do something like this from pinterest:

 
They also just need to be installed and then painted so we can start using the study as a study and not a dumping ground.  Hopefully both of these are jobs I can get started on next week and they should have a knock on effect with tidying. 

Keep your fingers crossed for me! 

~AB~

The long weekend

This weekend has been exhausting! It has mostly been spent baking and preparing for our first family night away from home for our nephew's first birthday.  

My in-laws live around three hours away in the south and they usually come to visit all of us at least once a month but this time it was our turn to venture to them.  This was particularly stressful for two reasons:  (1) we had to find a room which will cater to our travel cot without charging us an exorbitant amount of money (2) we have never been away with our son before and had no idea what to bring or what issues might arise.  They live in a staycation area and the hotels around them overlook a bay so as you can imagine they would be very popular during the summer especially when it is high peak wedding season.  This is conveniently the same time of year our nephew was born. 

We had been trialling our Hauck Dream and Play travel cot for the last month in preparation for this trip and it did not fail us.  Our son slept well although woke a couple of times disoriented as this wasn't his house but went straight back to sleep again. So how did we fare on our first trip away? Pretty well I think! There was nothing forgotten, nothing left behind and our son had a nice transition between home and away time despite getting stuck in traffic and it raining the entire time we were on the road... for over 6 hours.  My husband found it hilarious that I managed to switch on organisation mode and for the first time in I would say about a year, I felt in control.  I did what I do best and wrote my lists.  I categorised my son's stuff into four areas and mentally walked my way round our house and our routine.  This may sound pretty intense but it really does work for me.  I am a list maker.  I love and am constantly making lists of things and yes I am a control freak but this is how I control my life and sometimes that of my family but it's the only way for me I will get stuff done.  Anyway, I digress. 

In preparation for our weekend away which coincidentally is also my sister's birthday weekend I wanted to do some baking.  Noone put a gun to my head so to speak, I just thought it would be nice.  I always try and bake my sister a cake for each birthday (except for last year as I was pregnant and we were going away on holiday) but this year she has discovered she is dairy intolerant so it wouldn't be any old cake it would be a dairy free cake.  I also decided I would make something for my nephew's first birthday and made him sweet potato crackers which the toddlers didn't eat in the end :( 

So courtesy of the recipes at Pure and Merriment Design, here are the finished products:

Sweet potato baby crackers
(in the shape of Mickey Mouse)

Coconut cake with passionfruit frosting
and mango topping

The rest of the weekend was spent eating and at my son's swimming class so I won't bore you with the details but I cannot wait to get into my bed! 

~AB~

The 7th month

Last week was filled with excitement but also a little sadness on my part.  My son has turned 7 months old and whilst I love seeing how far he has come and how he achieves another milestone practically every week, part of me inside wishes the time wasn't going quite so quickly and his growth would slow down.

He was bumped up a group in his sensory classes as he is too advanced for his class with his sitting up, feeding himself and trying to talk to other babies.  He is now the youngest in his group and part of me is cheering inside as he's still a little baby compared to the other babies and I get to hold onto the idea of my tiny baby just that little bit longer.  My son on the other hand spent the whole class silent, observing the babies and I think generally feeling overwhelmed. 

This month means a lot of changes for the both of us.  It is my last month at home with him full time although I have managed to work it out that I can still do classes with him. For him there is the weaning in which he will be trying proteins for the first time this week. The biggest changes for the both of us though will be the unpredictable ones, he is at that stage where he will transform into a toddler overnight and it's both exciting and frightening!  My son might crawl or he might not.  He might say his first words or he might not.  He might get his first tooth, or pull himself up on something and stand for the first time or he might just clap... or he might not. 

I can already see signs of him trying to be mobile and although his sounds don't sound anything like actual words yet, I can imagine as any parents know too well anything can happen overnight especially as he spends more and more time around older babies.  I always gush about how great it is to have a baby and I love my son more than anything but there is also the other side of the coin. 

This past month a stronger and not so nice side of his personality has emerged where he gets very frustrated and then gets angry.  He has also started to become more and more difficult to feed as he is distracted by everything.  I am currently feeding him in his bumbo while we sort out the mess of a dining room table (we need to finish off and clean the study before the table can be sorted) and he is practically trying to climb out of it to get to anything around him if I'm not feeding him quickly enough/he is bored.  This makes meal times extremely frustrating and almost like a battle every meal time, particularly at dinner.  He has started pushing my face away when I kiss him sometimes and pushing his daddy's hand away when it's in his way when they sit in the armchair together.  I don't know if this is something other babies of similar ages do but it certainly seems like a part of his personality manifesting in a bad way and we are hoping to start doing more stuff to deal with it, like yoga to give him more calm time.  

Still, every day is very much a learning curve for us and despite the more difficult days I can't help but feel a little sad I'm losing my little baby to toddlerhood.  Why does he have to grow up so quickly?! 

Not so antisocial butterfly

Since my last post about meeting new mums, my son and my life has become a constant influx of dates, are you free on this date, should we go to this thing etc.  I have absolutely no idea how this has all happened!

Once our yoga classes finished, we have been to songs, stories and rhymes sessions at our local library, pancake mornings, garden parties and we will be hopefully attending messy play sessions every Thursday.  I'm loving bouncing ideas off of other mums although I think I'm the most anxious out of the lot of them and my son is loving the interaction with babies born within a month of his birthday.  I think it will help a lot with his development as well as the other babies, as some of them are doing things the others aren't etc.  A friend of mine also has a son who is much younger than mine but as we used to work together we know how we both think and it's nice to be able to bounce thoughts around honestly and also I guess for her to ask for advice as we have already passed that stage.

I don't know what it is like outside of mine and the surrounding borough but we have something called SureStart Centres.  They are absolutely amazing and their facilities are fantastic.  One thing I have noticed is that in some centres a lot of the classes that are held are not free of charge whereas in our borough they are.  I appreciate this must be subsidised by the local authority responsible for the centre and never have I been so grateful I live where I do! Our centres are fantastic and I intend to make full use of them as much as I can before I go back to work.  I plan to book out the sensory room for my son and his friends to make the most of and while it is free why shouldn't I? It makes for a great play date although there are no cafes etc around us for the mums to get their playtime afterwards.

I still feel like a little bit of an outsider but that's probably just mostly in my head.  As far as they are still inviting us out, we will definitely be there! 

~AB~

#mummyproblems

I never like to complain about my life as it is now as I'm trying my hardest not to follow in the footsteps of a regretful relative.  The way I see it is, I chose the way everything is now and I wanted all of it at one point or another so I should be grateful as I've only fulfilled my own wishes.  I know I'm lucky to have found someone and even better still made him a husband who is so patient with me but also is an amazing and very hands on dad.  I'm extremely lucky to be able to own my own home (thanks to my dad) given the housing market in London over the last couple of years.  Most importantly (and I know you'll see this one coming), I'm grateful for my son.  I wanted a baby for the longest time and was made to wait due to circumstances out of our control (thank you economic downturn).  I have friends and know people who have endured a battle with fertility who are the same age as me and I really am so grateful that I could have a child.  My heart breaks for them inside that they might not be able to feel what I do for my son. 

Sometimes though, maybe it's tiredness or just the English air but I just can't get everything done and it's frustrating.  I always knew that a stay at home parent's job was a hard one but I never thought it would be this hard.  For starters, I'm not a big cleaner and although our house is tidy and clean-ish I have never felt as I do now about dirt.  Maybe it's needing to protect my son, or the nesting from when I was pregnant where I would hoover every couple of days as I didn't have much else to do while I waited for baby to arrive but now more than ever if I see dirt it makes me annoyed if I can't/don't have time clean it.  Another mum I know has said the same thing.  Her son is four months younger than mine so she has a lot more crying and feeds to deal with but she even said, when did there become so much stuff to do at home? 
 
My day is usually made up of 6 feeds for my son (at the moment two of those include purees), washing up, washing and sterilising bottles, laundry, more laundry, quiet cleaning and tidying (we only hoover when there are two of us there and when our son is awake so he's not afraid of it), snacking or eating for me, maybe a shower, cooking and finally entertaining my son.  It doesn't sound like a lot but the day flies by, especially if we have a class or something as well during the day we need to prepare to attend.  I feel like I am forever washing up and doing laundry and ironing and it's a pretty monotonous existence.  I know some people would say why don't I leave it till later in the day or for my husband to help out but I cannot see things sitting there anymore and I don't see it as fair on my husband when he has been at work all day long.  

Then there is the entertaining my son.  He chews on everything so reading is out of the question for most of the day.  He is desperate to stand/walk so I have to hold him up at his activity table and show him how to use his walker which can get exhausting for both of us as he's not a small baby!  His attention span with me is also quite short as I get boring very quickly probably as we're all each other sees for most of the week.  All of the classes he attends are only 30-45 minutes long so they're nothing in the grand scheme of things although including travel time we're out of the house for 2-3 hours.  I'm still very much his only company unless we get a visitor which I'm so grateful for as they can pique my son's interest and I get a break from thinking of things to do.  

A mother's work truly is never done and I do love my son deeply, but I also love eating, being able to shower and when my husband gets home from work so I can have just a little me time.  It's amazing how much more energy I have when I get one of those things or even all three of them and don't get me started on recovered sleep! 

Some of my planned future projects

Although I have had a very productive (I think) maternity leave, I still have a list of things to do in my mind which I would like craft in the very near future.  Some of these include: 

• Name bunting for my son's room like this:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/transaction/157516601?

 

• A marquee light for my son's little reading and play nook: 

http://www.homeyohmy.com/diy-marquee-sign/

• sanding down and applying chalkboard paint to the top of a kiddy table left behind by the previous owners
• applique-ing/painting the two chairs that came with it
• sanding down and distressing in an aged white paint, a side table they also left behind so I can use it as a bedside table in our predominantly white guest room
• spray painting a row of coat hooks (also left behind) and some small picture frames in a mint green where I will frame my son's monogram and hang them low in our hall for my son to eventually be able to hang his own coat
• either the t-rex or the elephant soft toys as I have a ton of fat quarters left I won't be using: http://blog.hobbycraft.co.uk/21-animals-to-make-with-fat-quarters/ 
• then re-covering a bunch of old cushions for my son's nook

In writing this, I have noticed all bar one of the projects are for my son which can only mean one thing... I'm done crafting for the house and my husband and I.  They should be simple little craft projects but I'm hoping my son will like them like he does the mobile as I really do love the personal and handmade touch especially for babies.  Wish me luck, I have a very very long summer ahead!

Getting my serious craft on

Since being on maternity leave, I have found a dearth of things to spend time on to keep my adult mind busy.  Some of these things I have photographed and written about in previous posts but to summarise, they include: 

• a cloud mobile for my son 
• baby basket for my pregnant friend full of toiletries and necessities 
• biscuits for my friend's birthday and Father's Day
• two cross stitches, one very simple and one very time consuming 
• two name buntings 
• spray painting a mirror upcycle 
• creating and applying a house number window transfer
• sewing velcro (by hand as I still don't have a sewing machine) to two sides of four changing mat covers

Things I still want/need to do: 

• Finish painting the textured papier mache letters I have made for my son who loves to touch different textures 
• Create a blackboard for the kitchen (painted but needs finishing touches) 
• Upcycle our full length mirror to match our existing room decor
• Create little coat hooks to match our hallway decor at toddler height 
• The study which needs to be a study and not a dumping ground
• MY GARDEN!

I seem to be in the middle of so many things at the moment and I'm desperately trying to get them finished one by one.  As soon as I finish something I think of something else! As you can see from above, I still have the mirror upcycle, blackboard and papier mache letters to finish but they all require time or a clamp of some kind which I don't have.  My plan is also to bake red velvet Mickey Mouse cupcakes and sweet potato baby crackers for a birthday part in the next couple of weeks, nothing like burning the midnight oil to get something I have inflicted on myself done! I will have to post pictures again when I'm closer to done if that's ever the case, I think we have at least another year for the garden to be finished for sure but here's hoping everything else can be finished in the next month or so!  

~AB~

Weaning winning

My son is my first born, so I have no prior experience with any other baby.  I know I get quite anxious from time to time but like every other mother I just want to get it right.  Sometimes the anxiety does get a bit much and although noone has actually said it, I get the impression when I'm having a mini panic people want to shake me and say, calm the hell down.  This has been particularly the case for weaning. 

There are so many books, forums, blogs and general advice from the medical professionals, family and friends of how to do it.  I have spoken to numerous other mums and everyone is completely different because, here's an eye opener, every baby is different.  I have been backwards and forwards in my mind unsure of how to go from step to step with my son, how long should I do vegetable purees for, when should I start mixing the flavours, when should I start upping the feeds to twice a day then three times etc. there is so much to think about.  In the end I appear to be doing a combination of what every other mum is doing! 

We are at the end of week 2 now and I have decided it will be two weeks of vegetables.  On the suggestion of my mum, I upped the feeds to twice a day starting from yesterday.  Tomorrow will be the last of the one vegetable only purees and I will start on fruit every morning next week and introduce porridge (as suggested by another mum) so I can then start setting out proper meals at the times they're meant to be eaten. The evening feeds will consist of a mixture of vegetable purees.  Then the following week I will up the feeds to three times a day, porridge for breakfast followed by a puree mix (veg/veg or fruit/veg) for lunch and for dinner.  I should mention, against my mum's beliefs I am pureeing and then freezing the veggies in ice cube trays to make it easier particularly for the mixing stage.  It also helps me keep track of how much I'm actually feeding my son which is at the moment two ice cubes worth per feed.  I do not reheat the veggies once defrosted, I just wait for them to get back to room temperature and feed them that way.

The two week rule was what I had thought seemed right and having spoken to another mum, confirmed for me I should definitely stick to two weeks.  I have asked for first foods advice from google and every mum I know and so far since my last post about health my son has had broccoli and peas. Tomorrow he will have cauliflower and red pepper followed by swede and a fruit the day after.  The first fruits will consist of: apple, pear, peach, plum, more banana, blueberries, blackberries and when I can get hold of a nice enough tasting one, a papaya.  I feel exhausted typing it all out but I feel a little more confident I'm doing the right thing.  

As mentioned previously, my diet is shocking and I want to make sure even if I don't eat whatever it is my son is eating that he gets to try everything for health reasons and because I don't want him to stick to the same foods.  He cannot be allowed to become like me and once I have removed all of the lazy food from our freezer I will start making a conscious effort to cook from scratch so that my son can see what a real meal looks like.  I figure I might even grow to like some of the things I'm making him try! 

For reference, I will be using the following sites for mixing recipes as they seem awesome  (especially the chicken, chickpea and apricot puree which I will also enjoy eating) but more importantly are free: 

http://www.annabelkarmel.com/recipes/category/baby-6-9-months
http://www.heinzbaby.co.uk/en/recipes?age=Month_4_to_6&keywords=#filtertop
http://www.babycentre.co.uk/a546645/baby-food-recipes-from-six-months

Mini health kick

At the moment we are trying to wean our son which means we need to lead by example.  My husband and I do not have a very good diet and definitely do not want our son to follow suit so we try and hide eating our not so good foods from him and sit in a different room and also will mostly eat them when he's not awake.  My husband is a big fan of fruit, whereas I'm more a veggies fan which in the grand scheme of things hasn't worked out too badly for us but when it comes to eating meals, the three portions you should see on a plate to have a balanced diet aren't there.  

In a bid to shake up our mealtimes, we are going to start planning dinners and I will have to search for simple, quick but wholesome meals.  I will also start making bigger batches and freezing them for the days where I am definitely too lazy to cook but where I should not be reaching for oven convenience food.  

So far my son has tried potato, sweet potato, parsnip, carrot, avocado and banana.  To my delight he seems to like sweet potato and parsnip which are two of my faves and to my husband's delight he dislikes banana!  My husband does not eat them as he had an incident when he was younger and unfortunately my body has grown intolerant to them but I'm trying to force myself out of it.  I haven't heard of any baby disliking banana so I will be trying it on him again to see if it was purely just the texture he disliked.  I will then start on a cycle of fruit, and then a cycle of mixing foods, which should take him to his 7th month, time goes so quickly!  

When he starts eating less pureed fruit I'm hoping I can introduce him to lollies.  Not the store bought kind packed full of sugar, but the kind I love making at home.  I have seen so many lolly recipes and I cannot wait to try them, particularly ones like avocado and cocoa but at the moment I have been experimenting with banana.  Unlike other fruits, bananas don't need to be mixed with anything to make a good ice cream as they are thick enough on their own, hence why they are always in smoothies.  Just in time for the good old English weather to turn after over a week of glorious sunshine, I have made banana and summer berry lollies.  I just need to wait for the weather to perk up again so I can give them a whirl but I imagine with the addition of some spinach or some avocado some day, this will be the perfect summer, seemly naughty (but not as there's no need to add sugar) snack for my son.  

Any other recipes you think I should try would be much appreciated and at this stage, I'm aiming for dairy free to keep it as natural as possible.

~AB~

My inner interior designer

When my husband and I bought our house, I had so many ideas as to how I wanted to decorate.  My husband is very patient (and trusting) so I was able to run riot and design everything the way I wanted it.  We bought a period home so I wanted to try and be as true to its 1920s roots as I could, we even have the beautiful original stained glass window panels but not the original door unfortunately.  It seemed like a travesty and definitely not in our taste to keep it the farcical colours in which we bought the house. 

There is a lot of monochrome in my house with little pops of colour but a very subdued palette generally. Our hallway and landing is monochrome with a grey bound stair runner, my intention is to put up mint green hooks on the wall and display a mint green (hopefully functional) 1920s style phone although I have been leaning more towards the 1950s phone styles. 

In our lounge which was the last room to be finished, we have grey walls and have added white georgian panels to the bottom half of the walls painstakingly created by my Dad, our armchair and sofa are both grey and we have a black tv unit and side table.  I spray painted one of the chandeliers which were left behind in a matt black and my intention is to get a grey and white geometric rug for under our coffee table which is my husband's pride and joy! We have a couple of geometric cushions in a deep pink and some plain cushions in grey but in different fabrics.  The focal point of the room would be a wingback chair in a plum colour which is finally on sale so we bought it and it's being delivered in the next week.  I'm so excited! 

Our kitchen opens out into the dining room with a little breakfast bar in the middle.  The kitchen is a work in progress and we're hoping we can afford to replace it in the next few years but it's not a priority as it still works. The dining room I have been trying to create an oriental feel as a nod to my husband and my love of Japan although it has become more Chinese in decoration.  We have a dark brown ceiling and cream walls to create warmth and a cosy environment.  The light is inspired by lanterns but is brassy coloured and has glass lightboxes which still show off the original ceiling rose painted in white.  We also have two round picture frames and I am in the process of getting a third as 3 is a lucky number in China.  I will be purchasing a brass coloured sunburst mirror to go over our fireplace to finish it off and the garden doors have cream voiles which hang from ceiling to floor to frame the windows which will be hung higher when my son is more mobile.  

The bathroom is my husband and my favourite room in the house.  It is a merger of both of us and we put so much love into designing it to be the best of the best for us.  My husband and I are very opposite in our tastes but this just works!  My husband figured out the layout to make the best of the space so we could fit both a bath and shower.  The bathroom is also monochrome, the shower tiles are devon stone with a traditional victorian floor pattern.  The sink which is my pride and joy is an original iron singer sewing machine base with a granite top and the basin mounted onto it and more of the devon stone as a splashback.  It sits below a geometric mirror which reflects light everywhere.  Our bath sits under the window surrounded by black brick tiles and has a white tongue and groove panelled front. 

Just after we had moved in (note the lack of bath panel).

The study which used to be the old bathroom is painted a grey green which I like to call a gentleman's club green and is masculine office themed, the guestroom is predominantly white with textured wallpaper and gold and copper accessories, the master bedroom is a pale blue and is beach themed with a fisherman's lantern and sand coloured carpet and finally the nursery which is beige with a beige striped ceiling and orange accessories.  

I dislike the fact the house to me is still unfinished, it feels like there is a never ending to do list but i love looking at the decoration and how "us" as a family it truly has become. Maybe we will finish before it's time to decorate again but one things for sure, we owe a huge thanks to my dad who did the majority of our building work to get us to this point.   

~AB~

Name bunting

In my crafting purge, I have discovered I can craft really cute little felt presents as my back stitch has really improved since my practice on the cloud mobile I made for my son.  I have had an idea in my mind to make bunting for a while now and whilst I love the idea, it's not everyone's cup of tea nor do I have a sewing machine... yet, to make it easier for me to sew in a straight line.  Needless to say, in my bid to save money but still provide nice presents I have created it and am currently in the process of making the second.  

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out and hopefully the parents of the recipient will be too as obviously it's more for decoration! I stuffed the felt letters with soft toy stuffing so they're extra soft.  I also used mismatched buttons on the tops of the stars and to hang the letters as I thought it would be cuter. 

I might even branch out and try and appliqué some bunting triangles but I will definitely need to buy a sewing machine first!

~AB~

No green fingers here

It has been exceptionally hot in London the past week or so and whilst I'm not complaining as hot days here are few and far between, I have never had a little one to deal with in the heat.  What's great is although he hates the sun in his eyes, he loves greenery.  In particular, trees and flowers and picking his own leaves.  My son finds it hilarious and fascinating that when there is a breeze, the leaves flutter.  Oh to be a baby again!

Since moving into our new house which is no longer new as we have been here for a year and half, doing up the garden has definitely not been a priority.  When we bought the place one of the selling points was supposed to be the "mature and easily maintainable" garden.  Neither my husband or I are gardeners, we have no idea what to do, when to do it and aside from cutting grass (very occasionally) have never had to deal with a garden before.  This posed two problems.  One, that we would have to learn and fast how to deal with a garden mature or not.  Two, how would I be able to assist with the garden and get it into the shape I wanted it so we didn't have to deal with it when our baby arrived.  As you can imagine, a pregnant woman and her husband with only two hands couldn't get it done in time before the winter and a baby arrived so it was pushed to the wayside. 

Unfortunately, the time has now come that my son is showing an interest in the outdoors and worse, becoming mobile! Keen to give him some of that natural vitamin D and nurture his interests, my husband, mum and I have been out in the garden stripping away a garden so mature we didn't realise a lot of it was actually dead.  You might ask how it wasn't possible for us to see that, my answer to you would be that it is a very very mature garden (so foliage on top of foliage which masks everything) and ivy.  So much ivy, everywhere.

Anyway, I think we're about a quarter of the way through at the moment, we have gone through countless recycling bags and we're still nowhere near finished! We still have to get rid of three large dead trees and one very alive house height palm tree (don't ask) which we will have to employ a professional to deal with, then I will have to remove a layer of soil and put top soil back so I can plant cuttings of our fuchsia and camelia, revive our lawn and that's just the green part! The shed needs to be completely replaced and don't get me started on the concrete and paving in the garden.  This is a conversation I never thought I would have to have, I have used terms like "cuttings" like I know what I'm talking about, but I have had to learn the hard way and one day I know my garden will look just the way it does in my head at the moment.  In the meantime, I will just have to make sure it's safe for my son and hopefully in a year he can have his first barbeque in our garden!