Christmas and the 2s

My son is now officially 2.  Of course he begun his transition way before he was 2 and his speech is amazing so he can tell us many things that are wrong etc but I'm not going to knock it as he can tell us exactly what it is that he needs.  He received a toy grand piano for Christmas (that is another story) as he loves to sing and dance and treated us to a rendition of the Wheels on the Bus which again for his age is amazing.  I cannot believe he has got to this landmark so quickly, it seems like yesterday I was pregnant and here he is, my own little whirlwind with his own personality and character.  It's easy to see the traits he has picked up from my husband and I... my short patience and inquisitiveness and my husband's charm and sense of humour but he is so much his own person and it's fascinating to see what we have created together.  

This year we took him to see the steam trains at North Weald and he has his very own ride on the Santa Special, gorging on his mince pie at 10am while Santa handed him a present.  From what I can tell he had a lovely time and I'm really hoping that despite how bitterly cold it was he will have some warm memories of it.   If you're ever in the area and you're a huge lover of trains I would definitely recommend it! They also have a vintage bus that can collect you from either Epping or Ongar stations as they have limited parking on site. 

http://eorailway.co.uk/

The train ride was then followed up by lunch in a local pub and then everyone was back to ours after naptime for dinner around 4 which consisted of an oriental themed buffet and Christmas tipples!  As per our new tradition, I made my son's cake and modelled it on a cake I had seen online.  Unfortunately, I left it too late to buy a 2 cake tin, but some of the mum's on the local mums group helped me out with this amazing diagram:

And so, without further ado, here is the cake in stages (I didn't photograph after I filled it):

 

I apologise for the mess you can see in the background but I think given that I finished at 1.30am on the morning of my son's birthday, it doesn't look too shabby! The recipes were courtesy of:

Cake: Aliciak @ Instructables
Filling: All about Chantelle 

I kid you not the cake came out amazingly and even the dairy eaters couldn't tell it was vegan, it also kept for a really long time without going hard or drying out which was also amazing.  For the filling, to keep it dairy free I used Flora Dairy Free butter but it didn't make a difference as again everyone could taste exactly what I was aiming for which was Terry's chocolate orange!  As you can probably see, I had a little trouble when cutting it up and moving it about as the cake started splitting but I don't think you can tell from the finished product and I certainly didn't think about it when I was stuffing it in my mouth.  Another year, another cake but I think these recipes will be used many more times, they were so very easy. 

Christmas here well there isn't too much to report.  It was a lovely quiet one just the three of us and so I made food I know we all love.  Ribs for my little boy and pork belly for me and the husband followed by cheesecake for the dairy eaters and free from chocolate logs for me.  It was a lovely relaxing day and to be honest it topped of an exhausting week, we all went to bed early that night and felt much better for it.  Presents-wise, my son got absolutely spoilt by family as per usual although they all mostly stuck to the list I provided of his favourites so far he was given a car transporter truck full of cars, a train set and a baby Grand Piano (birthday present but still a favourite).  He loved the scooter we got him and has managed to teach himself pretty quickly how to ride it so I cannot wait till he's less full of cold and he can have a go outside.  For me, I asked for a new bag and purse... my son has the best taste:

Happy holidays and hope you have an amazing 2017.

~AB~

Wedding music

Music was a massive thing at our wedding.  Both my husband and I love to sing and although some of our tastes in music differ, we can wholeheartedly agree on Motown and R&B.  When it came to devising music lists for our wedding however, it was so difficult to pick favourites.  My husband and I don't have a particular song which means something to us so we literally had the choice of anything we wanted (except anything that had religious connotations as we had a civil ceremony).  I did originally want to walk down the aisle to Ave Maria but unfortunately due to that rule I couldn't.  We had a lot of Vitamin String Quartet songs because they're amazing and also a lot of the soundtrack of Love Actually.  I walked down the aisle to Eva Cassidy's Songbird and it still makes me cry listening to it as her voice is so beautiful.  Also if you've ever seen the film... Karl.

I have no idea what it will be like for my brother and future sister-in-law and picking music.   Their taste isn't a million miles off of what I currently listen to but they will have a completely different audience than we did.  There has also been talks of a steel band for part of the wedding.

If you need a little inspiration or are simply curious about what I would listen to, here youtubes of two of my absolutely faves (one of which I am singing in my head right now):

And this is the song we ended the night on because "see they don't do this anymore":

Light reading

I am loving this emergence of mothers who feel they can be honest with the world about how hard parenthood truly is.  In fact, Dads have twitter feeds and instagrams with hilarious anecdotes and images that could only come from a parent's camera/experience.   These writings, books and images have given me solace over the last few months so, if like me, you're not quite feeling your best and could do with some cheering up, I hope these help:

Reasons my son is crying: https://twitter.com/reasonsmysoncry
Queens of Constance: http://queensofconstance.com/
Renegade Mothering: http://www.renegademothering.com/
Selfish Mother: http://www.selfishmother.com/
James Breakwell: https://twitter.com/xplodingunicorn
Weird Couples (I am loyal to the original couple and couldn't warm to the new ones - also I totally didn't cry when I found out they were expecting...): https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0PtUxA4JeEJErMmcXRhGdM5h9FblUkI3

Weddings, weddings, weddings

I wish I could get married all over again.  I frequently beg my husband to let us renew our vows in Las Vegas.  So far, as I'm sure you can surmise, I have been unsuccessful but I will wear him down and it will happen I'm sure.

The main reason I love weddings so much is probably the research - creating the perfect day of romance but trying to add each of the bride and grooms' personalities in so it's more personal.

My brother-in-law proposed to his girlfriend last Christmas and ever since then she has been slowly pinning ideas to pinterest and gathering inspiration... that unfortunately is as far as everything has gone.   When they last visited us in London she made it clear she didn't have the inclination to do any planning and was hoping someone else would do it for her... I'm sure you can imagine what happened next.  I have spent the last couple of weeks researching venues and the legalities of weddings in Barbados and I have absolutely loved it!  We were all in Barbados a couple of weeks ago and spent an entire day viewing venues.  The weather was horrific but I loved every moment of it.  I put my wedding planning hat on, tried to ask as many questions as possible at each of the venues and managed to narrow down even further exactly what it is that my future sister-in-law wants out of her day.

While the day itself is still another two years away, I cannot wait.  Every spare moment I get for planning will be just as exciting as when it was my own wedding.  Armed with her pinterest page, the budget and my ideas I'm so excited to make her dreams come true and although it's a lot of pressure I will pull it off no matter what it takes.

If you are planning your own holiday abroad, here are some of the venues we have considered:

Bougainvillea Beach Resort

Sugar Bay

The Cliff Restaurant

Cobblers Cove

The Crane Resort