Today has been a bit of a non-starter. We had plans to FINALLY meet up with Eco-Mum so our crazy, long-haired toddlers could burn off some steam at the park, she could play with Baby and I could sit and sniff her newborn's head! The nasty colds and bugs that have been circulating both of the boys' nurseries has meant that 4/5 playdates have been rearranged or rescheduled and today was finally going to be the day...
Until Toddler woke up looking like Quasimodo with an allergic reaction. FFS.
My gut reaction was allergies. It looked like it always does when something disagrees with him, but after two doses of Piriton there was no visible change so then I started suspecting 'slap-cheek', in which case I didn't particularly want to head out for the whole day in case he deteriorated quickly, not least in the company of an infant. So we had to cancel, again.
The upside to this misfortune was threefold. We got an appointment at the doctors within 3 hours (this is unheard of!) Baby cracked the lunchtime nap on day 5 of me putting my foot down and slept for a blissful 2 hours (by which time I was kinda bored and standing around outside the nursery door waiting for movement) and we got to nip over to BFF's house this afternoon for coffee which is always fun. So you know, every red and puffy cloud...
Husband is out on yet another work do. I'm sure he fabricates colleagues, drops their names into conversation casually for a few weeks then announces they're leaving so he must join them for drinks. I reckon if I actually went to his office unannounced there'd be no-one there but him and 2 decrepit old guys who have never heard of half the people he socialises with!! But anyway, it's mere jealousy on my part. I have no imaginary colleagues to fake socialise with. Bad times.
That said, we are taking matters into our own hands and decamping to BFF's tomorrow night. We have planned the whole thing. Baby soup at 5pm (take two toddlers and one baby, undress, throw into bath, drink wine while they empty contents of bath around bathroom shrieking with glee) followed by picky tea for all 5 babies, then put them all to bed (mental note, retrieve travel cot for Baby tomorrow afternoon of he'll be spending the night in his Bugaboo) and BFF and I are going to watch Love Actually in our pjs, eat Indian food and wear face masks while the husbands watch Shawshank Redemption, eat chinese food, drink beer in the cinema room and probably fall asleep on their respective recliners. It is going to be EPIC!
Oh, we also have 3 house viewings lined up so keep fingers crossed. One of these surely has to be our home. I'm losing the will to live!
30 January 2015
29 January 2015
On boys, and their bumps
My god, do little girls do this or is it a boy thing? Baby is constantly on his face, banging his head, knocking his chin, getting his hand stepped on (technically not his fault but still...) It's non-stop. He is only 9 months old but obsessed with standing, and whilst I think we're through the worst stage where they can't physically stand for toffee but won't be told and wind up with their face whacking the TV unit multiple times an hour, it's still quite labour intensive over here. He is now a competent little stander-upper and is beginning to cruise around like a crazy person, but every so often he loses balance and oops, there he is shrieking again. He's beginning to look like a child of neglect. And it's not like I don't try. I have cushions around the fireplace, I am constantly watching him, supporting him, encouraging him out of harm's way, I'm the helicopter parent I swore I'd never be! But still, he's so damn fast and so damn wobbly. One second he's got it and the next we're both in tears again. It's enough to make me want to invest in one of those bloody baby prisons.
Why must I raise such independent, adventurous little bruisers? Next thing I know he'll be working out logical solutions to problems that I was hoping would stump him (Oh no darling, we can't watch Lion King AGAIN, we've lost the remote...I know Mummy, let's use the television in your room...damn it!)
Why must I raise such independent, adventurous little bruisers? Next thing I know he'll be working out logical solutions to problems that I was hoping would stump him (Oh no darling, we can't watch Lion King AGAIN, we've lost the remote...I know Mummy, let's use the television in your room...damn it!)
Sugar and spice...
Have been reading a number of articles recently about food, nutrition, diets etc...since Baby started weaning a few months ago and it's really made me stop and analyse our family menu. Toddler was weaned in the exact same way that I've been introducing things to Baby and so far it's going really well but it's always good to try new things and adapt our approach if something healthily or easier comes along so I've been giving it some serious thought.
As some background info, I can tell you that Toddler eats pretty much anything that's put in front of him, within reason, and loves cooking in the kitchen. I have a lot more success getting him to try new things when he's been in charge of chopping or stirring, and after he's had a hot dinner for lunch at nursery sometimes getting him to eat some tea at home can be hard work. He gets a lot of satisfaction and pride when he is measuring, making decisions about flavours etc and adores making cakes for Husband...this love of treats is one of things that made me stop and re-assess our habits and cupboards!
We have a lot of opinions about mealtimes themselves, and that's not really my focus today. In a nutshell, we go for a 'try it and see' approach and a 'if you choose not to eat then there's nothing else until breakfast/lunch/snacktime...' kind of stand and so far it's working quite well. We know when to put our foot down (if he's asked for seconds and then decides he's full, not on!) or when to let him follow his own tummy. I guess eating well most of the time means that when he does decide to pick and choose it's not a massive deal!
My concern has been the amount of sugar that our family consumes. I guess I was naive in my thinking that sugar was only contained in sweets, chocolate, fizzy pop etc...and nowhere else but recent reading, and the huge, recent focus from the media, has alerted me to the fact that actually, we are not a particularly sugar-free family.
I've never been particularly sweet-averse. Toddler had tastes of chocolate, cake, icecream etc...at an early age and we practice 'everything in moderation' on the whole. If we head out for coffee with girlfriends then a scone or a teacake is pretty much a given. But it's not at every meal and it's not every day so...
I guess where we have fallen down the most is in the 'snack' zone. We have become consumers of wrapped snack bars, packaged fruit roll-ups, cereal bars and yoghurt covered raisins etc... A parenting blog that I love to read once mentioned the fact that 99% of her lunchboxes and snack pots were 'packaging free', meaning exactly as it reads, nothing had to be unwrapped during prep or when they sat down to enjoy it! In direct contrast, our lunchboxes contain Babybel, a cereal bar, fruit drops, fresh fruit, maybe some crackers, a yoghurt pot or tube...pretty much everything has to be unwrapped. Now, while this is mainly to do with ease and portability, it is easy to see the correlation between sugar-free/healthier eating and foods that aren't packaged!!
So, I decided to undertake an experiment. My gut instinct was to empty the snack box into the bin, declare the entire household sugar-free and embark on a nazi-style regime of homemade smoothies and...something else that doesn't contain sugar (see? I can't even name something? Plain fish?) But in a totally uncharacteristic move, I decided to take my time and phase things out slowly. I have refused to replenish the snack box in the cupboard, have quadrupled the amount of fresh fruit that we buy and am slowly transferring Toddler over to fresh fruit juice instead of squash. I am also making a concerted effort to include at least 3 vegetables in every meal. This one is proving the trickiest - I just need to buy a big bag of mixed frozen veg and I'm there but for some bizarre reason I have forgotten on the last two big food shops I've done!
I appreciate that these small changes don't make my family sugar-free. Far from it as apparently fruit and juices are two of the biggest 'culprits'. But that wasn't really the aim of my experiment. It was more a personal challenge to analyse our own family's diet, identify our weak spots and make some small changes that would hopefully benefit us all long term.
Looking at our everyday actions is something we forget sometimes. They become so routine, so mundane, so unimportant that we forget they need reviewing, refreshing and updating. At the moment we change our meal planner in Summer and Winter, but maybe my next big project should be to add in 2 more variants for Spring and Autumn? Now we have two growing boys I'm going to need as many ideas as I can to keep them interested and enthusiastic about food, as well as not lose my mind cooking the same 28 meals over and over again!!
As some background info, I can tell you that Toddler eats pretty much anything that's put in front of him, within reason, and loves cooking in the kitchen. I have a lot more success getting him to try new things when he's been in charge of chopping or stirring, and after he's had a hot dinner for lunch at nursery sometimes getting him to eat some tea at home can be hard work. He gets a lot of satisfaction and pride when he is measuring, making decisions about flavours etc and adores making cakes for Husband...this love of treats is one of things that made me stop and re-assess our habits and cupboards!
We have a lot of opinions about mealtimes themselves, and that's not really my focus today. In a nutshell, we go for a 'try it and see' approach and a 'if you choose not to eat then there's nothing else until breakfast/lunch/snacktime...' kind of stand and so far it's working quite well. We know when to put our foot down (if he's asked for seconds and then decides he's full, not on!) or when to let him follow his own tummy. I guess eating well most of the time means that when he does decide to pick and choose it's not a massive deal!
My concern has been the amount of sugar that our family consumes. I guess I was naive in my thinking that sugar was only contained in sweets, chocolate, fizzy pop etc...and nowhere else but recent reading, and the huge, recent focus from the media, has alerted me to the fact that actually, we are not a particularly sugar-free family.
I've never been particularly sweet-averse. Toddler had tastes of chocolate, cake, icecream etc...at an early age and we practice 'everything in moderation' on the whole. If we head out for coffee with girlfriends then a scone or a teacake is pretty much a given. But it's not at every meal and it's not every day so...
I guess where we have fallen down the most is in the 'snack' zone. We have become consumers of wrapped snack bars, packaged fruit roll-ups, cereal bars and yoghurt covered raisins etc... A parenting blog that I love to read once mentioned the fact that 99% of her lunchboxes and snack pots were 'packaging free', meaning exactly as it reads, nothing had to be unwrapped during prep or when they sat down to enjoy it! In direct contrast, our lunchboxes contain Babybel, a cereal bar, fruit drops, fresh fruit, maybe some crackers, a yoghurt pot or tube...pretty much everything has to be unwrapped. Now, while this is mainly to do with ease and portability, it is easy to see the correlation between sugar-free/healthier eating and foods that aren't packaged!!
So, I decided to undertake an experiment. My gut instinct was to empty the snack box into the bin, declare the entire household sugar-free and embark on a nazi-style regime of homemade smoothies and...something else that doesn't contain sugar (see? I can't even name something? Plain fish?) But in a totally uncharacteristic move, I decided to take my time and phase things out slowly. I have refused to replenish the snack box in the cupboard, have quadrupled the amount of fresh fruit that we buy and am slowly transferring Toddler over to fresh fruit juice instead of squash. I am also making a concerted effort to include at least 3 vegetables in every meal. This one is proving the trickiest - I just need to buy a big bag of mixed frozen veg and I'm there but for some bizarre reason I have forgotten on the last two big food shops I've done!
I appreciate that these small changes don't make my family sugar-free. Far from it as apparently fruit and juices are two of the biggest 'culprits'. But that wasn't really the aim of my experiment. It was more a personal challenge to analyse our own family's diet, identify our weak spots and make some small changes that would hopefully benefit us all long term.
Looking at our everyday actions is something we forget sometimes. They become so routine, so mundane, so unimportant that we forget they need reviewing, refreshing and updating. At the moment we change our meal planner in Summer and Winter, but maybe my next big project should be to add in 2 more variants for Spring and Autumn? Now we have two growing boys I'm going to need as many ideas as I can to keep them interested and enthusiastic about food, as well as not lose my mind cooking the same 28 meals over and over again!!
28 January 2015
Lawyer Mum
Lawyer Mum is my 'grown up' friend. Obviously, all my friends are grown ups, but Lawyer Mum has a definite air of having her shit together.
The first time I met her I was in total awe and not much has changed in the four years we've been friends. We were at baby class, all sitting there with our cute little bumps, naively chatting about how easy labour would be and how natural we would find breastfeeding tra la la and Lawyer Mum was asked about her plan for delivery. She was calm, confident, self-assured...and put me into a flat spin. I cried on the way home to Husband as I really hadn't given it any proper thought (fear leads to me denial, it's a bloody useless personality trait!) and had suddenly realised I was totally unprepared and quite frankly, an idiot! In contrast, Lawyer Mum had such confidence in her ability to give birth. She (inadvertently) made me feel like a kid playing house.
Conversely, once you get to know her, she is the most supportive and encouraging person. She gives excellent advice, I think it comes from her career where she doesn't say one damn thing without thinking about it from every angle incase she gets sued or loses millions?? She is accepting of different personalities, parenting styles and opinions and never gossips about people behind their back. I find this strange, as that's one of my favourite habits!! I have never heard her question anyone else's choices or approaches, even in private.
She is the definition of self-deprecating. She could mention her salary, her career, her family home...but she is demure and reassuringly matter-of-fact. She never partakes in girly chat about the menfolk, just smiles naughtily and declines to comment! She has two boys who are not great sleepers yet she never complains. She holds down an extremely demanding full-time job, is up all night with her Baby who suffers with reflux, makes all their meals from scratch and never grumbles. She states the fact that she is tired, but never blames her boys. I find that totally admirable, most people would lose their patience and reconsider their parenting choices, maybe decide to switch to bottles or try Controlled Crying to crack the waking issue. Not Lawyer Mum, she is resolute in her decisions and refuses to compromise.
I'm glad I met her. She's such a kind person whose example has encouraged me to be more confident in both my abilities and decisions but also in the way I interact with people, with strangers. I am more straight-talking, less likely to angst for days over the way people perceived me. I enjoy her company. I get to hear about her busy, jet-setting, handbag-toting life and then we discuss recipes for weaning meals and the most effective way I should speak to consultants at the hospital. And that's a winner in my book!
The first time I met her I was in total awe and not much has changed in the four years we've been friends. We were at baby class, all sitting there with our cute little bumps, naively chatting about how easy labour would be and how natural we would find breastfeeding tra la la and Lawyer Mum was asked about her plan for delivery. She was calm, confident, self-assured...and put me into a flat spin. I cried on the way home to Husband as I really hadn't given it any proper thought (fear leads to me denial, it's a bloody useless personality trait!) and had suddenly realised I was totally unprepared and quite frankly, an idiot! In contrast, Lawyer Mum had such confidence in her ability to give birth. She (inadvertently) made me feel like a kid playing house.
Conversely, once you get to know her, she is the most supportive and encouraging person. She gives excellent advice, I think it comes from her career where she doesn't say one damn thing without thinking about it from every angle incase she gets sued or loses millions?? She is accepting of different personalities, parenting styles and opinions and never gossips about people behind their back. I find this strange, as that's one of my favourite habits!! I have never heard her question anyone else's choices or approaches, even in private.
She is the definition of self-deprecating. She could mention her salary, her career, her family home...but she is demure and reassuringly matter-of-fact. She never partakes in girly chat about the menfolk, just smiles naughtily and declines to comment! She has two boys who are not great sleepers yet she never complains. She holds down an extremely demanding full-time job, is up all night with her Baby who suffers with reflux, makes all their meals from scratch and never grumbles. She states the fact that she is tired, but never blames her boys. I find that totally admirable, most people would lose their patience and reconsider their parenting choices, maybe decide to switch to bottles or try Controlled Crying to crack the waking issue. Not Lawyer Mum, she is resolute in her decisions and refuses to compromise.
I'm glad I met her. She's such a kind person whose example has encouraged me to be more confident in both my abilities and decisions but also in the way I interact with people, with strangers. I am more straight-talking, less likely to angst for days over the way people perceived me. I enjoy her company. I get to hear about her busy, jet-setting, handbag-toting life and then we discuss recipes for weaning meals and the most effective way I should speak to consultants at the hospital. And that's a winner in my book!
27 January 2015
Tuesday's child is full of grace
Apparently?!
So far between them these two Tuesday children have pooped at the breakfast table (how is that graceful??) and lain down on the landing sobbing angrily because I suggested that brushing our teeth for the third time in 20mins would perhaps be folly? I ask you, how is this my life? Every other fecker has to wrestle the brush into their toddler's mouth, I spend most of my time finding effective hiding places for the flaming toothpaste to deter excessive cleaning. Crazy times.
So anyway, Tuesdays are Mummy days and there's no rush out the door at 8.45. So I had time to bend down and explain why I had the made the unfathomable decision to remove the toothpaste from his clenched, angry fist. Sometimes I wonder if I'm a fully paid-up member of this ridiculous generation who explain every damn little thing to a creature who is simultaneously kicking your shins, so consumed by irrational rage that they're not even really hearing my voice. But then I look at him and think, I can't just walk away. There's a time and a place for saying 'no' and just shutting the conversation down, namely 'can I play with this electrical device in the bath, Mama?' or when I've already done all the gently gently approach and he's just not hearing that either. But generally that's not my style. I try to explain, empathise, compromise, understand...it's just that sometimes I feel like I'm being a hapless fool who's being played by a child!! Last night at dinner, Toddler was literally beside himself over some chilli and I would have bet good money that he was just overtired. 10mins later he was bloody fine and I felt like my maternal gut instinct had jumped ship and left me to be outwitted by a baby!!
Random tantrums aside, we have also sorted out the Pandora's box of hell that was the art supplies (phew), checked rightmove 5 times (nothing) and done yet more laundry. I do laundry a lot. Too much I feel. Can't decide whether the answer is to bin everything so we each only have 2 outfits or buy us all 15 more outfits so laundry pile is bigger but time between loads is considerably longer. Hmm, shall have a think...
In other news, I have no news. Nana came yesterday to critique my love of routine, 'oh you poor little darling, your Mama is mean to you...you wanted to sleep didn't you?' Grr! But then she bought me lunch and for all my stubborn, grudge-holding ways, I'm quite easily swayed by a chicken and ham hock panini!! So we're friends again.
And Baby Girl has her appointment with the plastic surgeon today (fake boobs*) so am just trying to keep her and her Mama in my prayerful thoughts as I go about my errands this morning. You know, because I like to be Christian and kind while dragging Toddler around on my shin and applying anbesol to sad Baby's gums.
So yes. This is Tuesday. And as I type Baby is shrieking in his cot (bloody teeth!) so had best rush. Have a good day!
*clearly this is humour. She's 4 months old. She has a large birthmark smack bang between her eyes, little love, and it's got to be sorted if it's not going to effect her vision and hand-eye coordination.
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