It's my life

Just hanging out

2012-02-15T11:51:00.001Z

Sophia moments I want to remember

2012-02-10T09:00:00.005Z

Old McDonald according to Miss Sophia "Farmer had a farm, ear ear oh! chick chick chick"

Yesterday she went swimming with Nana and Nana left her glasses in the shower afterwards and they had to go back to get them. Last night Sophia reenacted this event several time with her bear, and they also swam around the room.

Sophia's pronunciation of teddy bear "teh bear".

On Wednesday I bend down to pick something up and misjudged the distance and ended up wacking my head on the wall so hard that I saw stars and cried a bit. Sophia was very concerned and climbed into my lap to hug me. She said "shh shh shhh it's awlright mummy" (Which is pretty much what she and I both say to JJ at least ten times a day!)

Right now Sophia is sat on the floor with a bear in her lap watching 'Show Me Show Me'. When it comes to 'show me show me your groovy moves' she stands up and dances along with the presenters, and getting bear to dance too.

Oh, one more
"Grandad Jog, has some men. Couldn't put it together again. When they're up they're down"

Siblings

2012-02-08T09:45:00.000Z

Sophia, once she got over her initial unsureness of Jaiden, has become a doting big sister, and JJ just loves getting his sister's attention.

As I type (on Monday morning) the two of them are on his play mat. Jaiden's lying down staring up at his big sister, and Sophia's got a pot and spoon from her play kitchen, and is pretending to feed him (I told her she mustn't actually put the spoon in his mouth but just 'tend).

Earlier this morning Jaiden was crying (I was changing his nappy and clothes). Sophia ran to get a tissue "sad eyes crying wet" she said, and wanted to mop up his tears.

I'm enjoying watching their relationship develop.

Photos to follow soon, once I've located the lead for the camera!

one, two, three, all present and correct

2012-02-07T10:33:00.002Z

Feeding Sophia vegetables!

2012-02-07T09:33:00.000Z

Sophia loves fruit. On a daily basis she'll ask for 'suma (satsuma), pear, waisins (raisins!), apple, and more! She won't always get all of them (since I don't really want her pooing all the time), but she gets a fair amount. But she is not a good vegetable eater. She loves baked beans, but not much else, oh apart from potato and I'm not sure they really count.

A couple of recipes I've tried lately, which include a hidden vegetable serving have actually been a hit.

First, carrot and courgette muffins as seen on children's tv program 'I can cook'. We made them together, with even more carrot and courgette than the recipe asked for, and she enjoyed them. The first time I made them I used brown flour and both times I cut out most of the sugar. She actually seems to like the ones we made with brown flour better than with white! (the cooking instructions on there are a bit confused. I'd do mini muffins for about ten minutes at gas mark 4/180C/350F)

Next a breakfast bake. It's got egg, which we've recently discovered she's really into, and sausage and I was able to hide stir-fried onion, cabbage and leek in with the sausage layer and she wolfed it down.

Finally an invention of my own, or my own variation anyway. Take a tortilla, spread with tomato puree, grate on carrot and courgette and add grated cheese on top. Stick in the oven for a little while until cheese is melty and delicious. The cheese hides the fact that there's veggies on there!

Any more hidden veg suggestions gratefully received. (I know everyone does the classic blended veg in sauce thing, but she doesn't really like pasta or rice! Sometimes she'll eat soup, if I'm lucky!)

Jaiden smiles

2012-02-06T09:29:00.005Z

Little moments

2012-01-24T12:52:00.003Z

I've got Jaiden lying on my lap on a cushion and Sophia just came over. She bent down and said "noses!" and rubbed noses with him. He closed his eyes (I think cos she was so close) but I swear I also saw a smile on his face. Now his eyes have stayed closed and Sophia's brought a blanket over to cover him up. She makes a lovely, if sometimes over enthusiastic, big sister.

Happy new year!

2012-01-01T21:43:00.002Z

Hey everyone, I figure that the first day of the year is a good day to post if I want to improve my general level of posting! I'll do my best, though I'm sure you all know being a mummy of two can be a bit crazy... I can always fall back on photo posts.

Jaiden, day two of being alive!

2011-12-27T10:58:00.000Z

FYI

2011-12-26T16:35:00.001Z

Jaiden Menard arrived on the 20th December at 9.36pm weighing 8lb 13oz. Sorry it took so long to come back and tell you all! Pic to follow soon

Looks like

2011-12-20T15:53:00.001Z

little bean may actually be getting ready to make an appearance.
And ow, i forgot that contractions hurt this much. Still bearable, so hanging on at home for a bit.

Cheeky pickle

2011-12-14T20:01:00.002Z

Sophia is no longer sleeping in a cot (well, actually, tonight she is, at nan's, but that's another story!). She learnt how to climb out, so we took the side off and turned the cot into a toddler bed (which is what it was designed to do).

The first week or so she was happy to stay in bed and settled well, but the last two nights she's been a pickle. Despite the fact that we shut her door last night, she somehow managed to reach up and open it (you have to pull it towards you, and the knob is high up) and escaped from the room a number 0f times. The night before last we left the stair gate open and she came all the way down with a big grin on her face. And later that night I heard a yell from Menard - he was upstairs in our bedroom, and she'd crept in and come up behind him, making him jump!

Last night she was having fun taking clothes out of her wardrobe and drawers, not to mention ripping up a book. Partly it was our fault for letting her sleep too late in the day, but still, she was a big pickle! I guess we just have to persevere with putting her back to bed with little fuss, and eventually she'll get tired of it!

Oh, and today we were upstairs at one point and I said "shall we go downstairs for lunch?" She said "no deal"! Seems she's watched too much 'Deal or no deal' with nan and grandad!

Nope

2011-12-10T16:57:00.001Z

still waiting.

Tonight is operation 'eat curry' night.

And maybe some pineapple too.

Still in there!

2011-12-06T07:37:00.002Z

Little bean's still in there.

Yesterday the braxton hicks kicked up a gear, but they stopped around bedtime, which was nice cos I got to have a good sleep! And so far today I haven't felt anything much.

We'll keep you posted!

Bump pics! (taken last night)

2011-12-01T08:00:00.000Z

The end of another era

2011-11-30T16:36:00.003Z

Dearest Sophia,

This morning when I came to get you up (at 7.15am - you actually slept in, and I loved it, thank you!) I went in the bathroom first and then I was going to come in to get you, but as I left the bathroom you walked out of your bedroom and gave me the biggest grin in the world.
Yes, for the first time in your life you'd climbed out of the cot by yourself.

And as I type Daddy is busy taking the side off your cot to change it from a cot to a toddler bed. Whatever happened to my little baby girl? Oh life with is a constant "wenture" as you would say (adventure!). And I love it :D

Love Mummy

She reminds me of me

2011-11-26T19:05:00.002Z

Last night Sophia was reluctant to go to sleep. She went to bed at 7pm, but was still wide awake at 9pm. I went in at that point to re-settle here and to change her nappy - she'd called out for us, which we heard over the monitor, saying that she was wet.

I took her out of the cot and we had a cuddle. I changed her nappy and we had a chat about mummy milk and the baby, and all sorts of other randomness, and then I finally persuaded her to get back into the cot. I lay her down and her teddy bears too, but she said "no!" and sat herself back up, and sat the bears up too, next to her. She arranged the duvet carefully over them all, and proceeded to serve them "coffee and biscuits". In the end I had to leave her sitting up and hope that she'd eventually lay down and fall asleep. I think it was about half 9 when things finally went quiet over the monitor (and that was also about the same time I went to bed too!)

The whole episode reminded me of something I did when I was little. We had two big boxes under the bed, one had dressing up clothes and the other stuffed toys - bears, dolls etc. One night I decided, for reasons known only to myself, that the toys all deserved to be in bed too, why should I get to sleep with a comfy duvet and they all had to sleep in a box? I carefully took them all out and arranged them all round the edge of the bed. They took up so much space that I didn't fit anymore, and I ended up going to sleep in the toy box!

big sister to be

2011-11-22T08:07:00.000Z

My little Sophie Lou is changing so fast. Last week saw the end of "So-see", which was her version of her name Sophie. She started saying Sophie, and that was that, the end of the So-see era. It's funny, but it made me a little bit sad, she's growing up so fast.

Since her birthday she's become so much chattier. She's speaking in sentences some of the time and thinking really hard about what she says. She doesn't always get the tense right, but then who does?! She's got taller too. Every time I look at her it seems she's grown again.

She's very excited about the arrival of Little Bean. She knows that she's going to be a sister! And that the baby's in mummy's belly. She knows Little Bean will drink mummy milk. She knows the name we've chosen for Little Bean, and has been known to drop it into her general chatter and conversation. Luckily, it's only Menard and I who know what that name is, and we're the only ones who have actually noticed her saying it!

The other day I asked her if she was her dolly's mummy. She said, "No, Sophie sister!".
My word, will her world change when little bean comes home, but I think on the whole she's going to love it. Just as long as she still gets plenty of snuggles and cuddles, and there won't be a problem with that, I'm happy to get my snuggles with her while she still wants to have them.

Goals revisited

2011-11-11T17:12:00.006Z

Well, we're getting down to the final few weeks now. I have either 3 weeks 2 days or 4 weeks 4 days to my due date (depending on which one you take!). Of course, little bean will most likely ignore them both, and come in his own sweet time, but still, it's good to have some rough markers to aim for!

Time to look at the goals I set myself at the end of September and see how we're getting on...

Christmas
Write Christmas presents list (who we're buying for)
Buy Christmas presents (probably lots on amazon using my swagbucks money. Yay!)
Wrap and label presents and leave in an appropriate place that they won't get forgotten about!
Ok, so, most of the presents are bought. (Oi, Steve, hurry up and think of some things for your Christmas list, otherwise I'll have to come up with something myself, and you don't want my pregnancy-addled brain to be doing that! And there are some which will be photo based (Quick plug for our business - EM Photographic Services) that will be taken once little bean is here.

Clothes
Wash and sort the clothes we've recently been given
Get out the clothes we already have and wash and sort them
Decide on the system for storing clothes etc in this house
Sort through Sophia's clothes and weed out what's too small. Put away/give away. Check she's got adequate winter clothing for the time being.
Look at my clothes and check I've got adequate for being pregnant as the weather gets colder. Buy some long trousers and more underwear! Including new nursing bras.
Well I've washed one load of new baby clothes, and the ones from my mum's loft are in the basket, waiting to be done next. Still not certain on the system for storing them, but I have some ideas.
I've been through Sophia's clothes and put some away to store and some to be given away. Think she's got enough clothes for the time being now.
I found a pair of trousers in my wardrobe, so that'll help me survive the cold weather.
I've got some new knickers that come up over the bump and don't drive me mad! Nursing bras will be purchased in the next week or two.

House General
Autumn deep clean to have an approximate level of clean to start off before the baby arrives!
Eat up current contents and defrost both freezers.
Buy/cook to fill up freezers with useful things.
Think the cleaning thing will be ongoing. I'll add to that cleaning the car inside and out.

I defrosted one of the freezers, still want to do the other one.

Need to cook and shop once the freezer is defrosted.

Parent's House

Go up in the loft (or send my daddy!) to locate all the baby stuff we stashed up there - including changing unit, moses basket, sling, play mats....

My parents went up and found the 0-3 month storage box of clothes, the rest is yet to come down. Actually, they also took down the cradle/moses basket we slept in when we were little, but this needs a clean and some surface repairs as well as a new mattress.

BuyNew
breastpump

Breastfeeding pillow

Projector (Sophia's had a sad demise this week)

Bought a pillow, putting the pump purchase on hold for now. Making do with the nightlight on the baby monitor for now, though we do plan to get a new projector at some point.

Sophia's birthday
This came and went, and the cake was made (see a couple of posts back for pictures). All that had to be done was done. And I wasn't too exhausted afterwards.

Other
Anything else I think of!

Uh, lots of other things, I'm sure, but nothing that's springing to mind this second. I'll post this and follow up with a new to-do post soon.

quick update

2011-10-27T20:40:00.002+01:00

Life lately has been one big yawn. Not that it's been boring, but that it's been tiring. I'm reaching the end of the pregnancy now (about 6 weeks or so to go now) and I'm feeling it. Pregnant life with Miss 2 year old is more tiring than being pregnant with her! We're surviving by taking naps together when we can, and with the help of my in laws and my parents too.

I'm planning to be back soon, but if I'm not, don't worry. We're doing ok :)

Maka Pakka cake! (and little bean bump!)

2011-10-10T08:30:00.003+01:00

Fridge

2011-10-04T16:43:00.002+01:00

Yesterday Sophia discovered the lolly moulds for making lollies at home with squash or juice. Of course she recognised what they were and was asking for us to make some lollies. So she and Nana made some squash and put the lollies together and put them in the freezer.

Fast forward to this morning. I had to leave Sophia downstairs for a couple of minutes cos little bean had been bouncing on my bladder... when I came back down I started doing a few things in the kitchen, making our lunch for a picnic with some friends. I looked in the freezer for something and noticed that the lollies were missing. I thought well maybe Menard's eaten them, although how he could get through six in one evening, and where he'd put the left over moulds was confusing. So I called upstairs to him and he claimed no responsibility.

Sophia heard me talking about lollies and said "lollies!". She went over to her toy 'little tykes' kitchen and opened the cupboard she calls the fridge. Lo and behold, there were the lollies. She'd taken them out of the freezer and put them in her fridge!

Time for an ad break...

2011-09-28T08:18:00.002+01:00

A little plug for our business

Starting to count down

2011-09-27T09:49:00.005+01:00

Ok, this is gonna be one of those list type posts that may interest you, or you may just want to pass by, but here it is all the same.

Things I want to do/buy/think about before Little Bean arrives...

Christmas
Write Christmas presents list (who we're buying for)
Buy Christmas presents (probably lots on amazon using my swagbucks money. Yay!)
Wrap and label presents and leave in an appropriate place that they won't get forgotten about!

Clothes
Wash and sort the clothes we've recently been given (I figure that with a toddler as well, there will be even more clothes to wash, so having more certainly wouldn't hurt, given I recall there were emergencies when we had to dry things double quick for Sophia to wear again)

Get out the clothes we already have and wash and sort them

Decide on the system for storing clothes etc in this house (last time around we had a lot of the clothes on the changing unit, given we have a climbing toddler, I'm not sure how well that will work this time around!)

Sort through Sophia's clothes and weed out what's too small. Put away/give away. Check she's got adequate winter clothing for the time being.

Look at my clothes and check I've got adequate for being pregnant as the weather gets colder. Buy some long trousers and more underwear! Including new nursing bras.

House
General Autumn deep clean to have an approximate level of clean to start off before the baby arrives!

Eat up current contents and defrost both freezers.

Buy/cook to fill up freezers with useful things

Parent's House
Go up in the loft (or send my daddy!) to locate all the baby stuff we stashed up there - including changing unit, moses basket, sling, play mats....

Buy
New breastpump
Breastfeeding pillow
Projector (Sophia's had a sad demise this week)

Sophia's birthday

Design cake

Make cake

Buy other food

Buy birthday present

Have party

Collapse in big heap!

Other

Anything else I think of!

Pitiful Potato Crop

2011-09-21T08:02:00.001+01:00

I dug up my second crop of potatoes and got a pitiful amount! (So pitiful, in fact, that it didn't seem worth taking a photo unless I added some more of our homegrown carrots to the scene!)

I think the problem was that although I had banked them up, I'd left it too long to get round to doing that, and the potatoes were all only in that initial amount of soil. It's a good job both my parents and in laws have grown potatoes this year, so there are bound to be a few more coming our way!

Quick catch up

2011-09-20T10:57:00.003+01:00

Today is one of those chill out sorts of days. I'm hoping for a nap this afternoon, although of course that requires Sophia taking one too! (or me taking her round to see Nan and Grandad)

Little bean's kicking away like anything at the moment. Think he's having a good day. We had to do the glucose tolerance test yesterday. Sophia stayed overnight with Nana and Grandad so that I didn't have to worry about getting her up early and getting us both ready and me to the hospital for 8.30am. I quite enjoyed just sitting reading for two hours, although I'm not sure I'm want to do that everyday! I'm seeing the midwife on Thursday, so should get the results then.

I had a telling off from Sophia this morning! I had put my feet up or her chair. She came over and pushed them off and then put on her sternest face, wiggled her finger at me and said "Leave it!". That's me told then.

Homegrown carrots

2011-09-11T08:59:00.000+01:00

I put these ones in a stir-fry for dinner last night. They are a miniature type, but they've turned out pretty well, I think! There are more in the garden, I just pulled up what we needed

Saturday

2011-09-10T08:47:00.005+01:00

I might have been in here more often this week, but for the fact that for 3 of the last 4 days Sophia and I have both napped for a couple of hours in the afternoon! Yep, I've decided, or maybe my body has, that it's got to that point of this pregnancy where naps are totally the way forward, especially while Sophia's still a willing participant in that plan.

So I think for the next week the plan will be as follows - by all means schedule to our hearts content for morning activities, but afternoons need to be sacred nap time! Well at least half the week anyway!

Things are moving along around here. Little bean's kicking like crazy, and oh yes, that's a bump for sure now! Sophia's getting so chatty now, although I don't always understand all the words she uses. And on that note I'm going to end this post cos she's come to try and help me type...!

"sing-sing"

2011-09-01T09:20:00.002+01:00

Sophia's sat over the other side of the room, in her hands she has an open instruction manual she found in a box, and she's "sing-sing", or singing, as we would say.

"window, door, round and round, all day long.... sing sing, mummies, daddies, So-sees bounces, all day long"

I love listening to her singing, and hearing the oddments of all the different songs we sing together coming out again as she makes sense of them, and just enjoys the sound of her own voice!

productivity

2011-08-27T15:42:00.002+01:00

Today's been pretty productive. I was inspired by 31 days to clean - Having a Martha house, the Mary way's September challenge to get started in my kitchen (although I actually haven't done the challenge of cleaning out my fridge and freezer, but I have done lots of other things. I know it's not yet September, so it's ok, but I figured best to start while I'm motivated!)

Anyway, I've made an approximation of this pumpkin and sweetcorn risotto recipe, which I'm sure I've linked to before. Only this batch had butternut squash and carrot, and chickpeas instead of sweetcorn, and Red Leicester cheese instead of mozzarella. I've also assembled a potato and leek 'thing' (technical term there) which in a while will have warm milk poured over it, and be popped into the oven along with pork chops for dinner.

I did a mammoth batch of washing up, cut up and froze some apples and rhubarb from my in laws, picked up and tidied up the ground floor of the house, and also done various things online. Seems pretty productive to me :) Oh, and a second load of washing is in the machine too. Now I feel about ready to collapse in a heap. I reckon that'd be allowed though, don't you think?

Pies all over the place

2011-08-25T16:15:00.003+01:00

I made chicken pie this week too. Super simple, just a crust on top, not a base as well, like the fruit one had.

Inside I made a packet up powder chicken soup up with half the amount of liquid suggested in the instructions (that way you get a lovely thick sauce).

Meanwhile I sauteed some leeks and cut up some leftover roast chicken into small pieces. I mixed the chicken and leek into the soup sauce and heated through (my chicken was frozen).

I poured the mixture into my pie dish and popped the crust on top, cooked in a hot oven (about gas mark 7/22oC/??F!) for about 18 minutes. (I know that's precise, I'd have left it for twenty, but Soph had a melt down and needed some attention, so I took the pie out then, rather than leaving it in and letting it burn!)

Next up, once I've bought some sausagemeat, is sausage pie! Also, I have photos of the apple and blackberry pie somewhere on the computer, so I'll share them once I've found them!

I venture into making pie

2011-08-18T15:11:00.002+01:00

I've never made pie by myself before. Probably partly to do with the fact that my dad is a celiac and has to have a gluten-free diet, hence eating pastry doesn't necessary come at the top of the priority list, even though we did made a lot of other stuff from scratch including cakes, bread and biscuits for him.

Anyway, I know other people make pies all the time, and I read a post on 'The Path to Frugality' which spurred me on to deciding it was time to conquer pies.

So today, I made pie. It was apple and blackberry. I think that ideally I would have had more pastry, as what I did have turned out a bit thin. I also have a feeling that filling will be a bit runny. And I'm not convinced that I cooked it quite long enough. But I made pie! All I have to do now is summon up the courage to cut into it and eat some!

I may say that too much...

2011-08-17T21:39:00.003+01:00

I think we say "aren't you lucky to have a biscuit/juice (rather than water)/a treat?" to Sophia quite a lot, I've realised.

The other day when we were packing up to come home from holiday she found the box of food with a packet of crackers sticking up. She pointed to them and asked for "biscuit?". When I told her no she added "lucky?"!

Holiday fun

2011-08-13T09:51:00.000+01:00

We've had a lovely week in Aberystwyth, Mid Wales. Obviously it's been difficult hearing about events back home, but I think we've managed to relax and enjoy ourselves. The weather hasn't been great, but who says that a walk on the beach in high winds isn't as fun as going on the beach in the boiling hot sun?!

Sophia's discovered the enjoyment of ice creams and of throwing pebbles into the sea, not to mention picking up stones and pebbles to take home with her (we've tried to limit her, and I reckon the majority of the stones won't make it back to London!). She's also done a lot of walking, given that she's only 22 months. The only problem sometimes is convincing her she needs to have her hand held, or let us at least hold on to the reins. One of her favourite words has got to be "naughty", which she uses to express her dislike of us doing something like holding onto her reins!

Photos to follow once we're home.

Oops I did it again

2011-08-12T14:45:00.000+01:00

Guess what I've gone and done, guys?!

We went and drove to the other end of the town we're staying in, to near the harbour, and were going to go down on the beach. I got out of the drivers seat and walked towards the boot (trunk) of the car, and somehow turned my ankle over and now I'm sat at home with ice on it, barely able to hobble to the loo and back when i need to go!

I'm hoping that ice and rest today will allow me to be able to drive tomorrow. We've got to drive about 3 hours tomorrow to my grandma's house where we're staying over to break the journey, as we did on the way here too. It's my left ankle, so i need that foot for the clutch to change gears! We've really got to leave here tomorrow and get to my grandma's, but if that does it in, we would have the option to stay on there another day or two if need be. Problem is it's only me and my mum who drive, and we have two cars, so we both have to drive! So please pray that i can get it to a position that it's possible for me to drive tomorrow.

Pray for London

2011-08-08T21:54:00.001+01:00

There are ongoing riots and looting all over London and other areas of the UK. Loads more details all over the internet. The most important detail I want to say is please pray. Pray for London, pray for peace, pray for an end to this senseless violence, pray for unity.

Enjoying the sunny weather

2011-08-05T13:21:00.001+01:00

Danielle says that in a week or two we can pick her pears. I'm very excited :)

I've been getting lots of washing done while the weather's actually been warm!

Not much else to report. Happy Friday!

The joy of siblings

2011-08-02T18:17:00.001+01:00

Earlier Sophia was cuddling up to me as she gradually woke up from her afternoon nap (It's confusing when you wake up somewhere different to where you were when you went to sleep!). Little bean decided he was unimpressed and decided to kick her as hard as he could.
Clearly sibling rivalry starts early!

Funny things Soph says

2011-07-30T10:13:00.003+01:00

This morning I finally realised why Sophia insists on carrying her sleeping bag about with her when we take it off her - She's trying to be like Iggle Piggle from In the Night Garden who always carries around his blanket!

Earlier Sophia was sat on the floor playing with her toes and saying what I thought was "mucky". Then I realised she was saying "market" and was doing the little piggies game on herself. Vey cute.

'Free food'

2011-07-29T11:06:00.001+01:00

I love this time of year. So many crops are about ready to be harvested. Last week I brought home a box of blackberries we picked in my mum's garden, and on Wednesday I made some of them into blackberry muffins (using a blueberry muffin recipe and swapping out the fruit for blackberries).

Pretty much every time we go to my in laws' house we come home with a bag of bits and pieces from their allotment. We've had potaotes and onion and some rhubard too this week. I'm deciding whether to stew that or make crumble. I think Menard likes it just stewed, so we'll do that. I've already promised my Mother in Law that when I get around to making apple and blackberry crumble I will take some around to her!

My friend Danielle has a pear tree and an apple tree in her garden. She was telling me the other day that she thinks they'll be ready to pick soon, and was I too pregnant to be her picking helper? I said of course not! Though of course if I do go to help I'll be sensible and take care. I know my grandma has an apple tree too, and we usually end up helping her use some of those. Yummy!

I've still got carrots and potatoes growing in tubs out in the garden, and a tomato plant from Danielle, though I'm not sure if that'll fruit this year or not. That reminds me though, my mum's tomaotes and beans are doing well!

Don't you just love growing your own food or having the chance to share other people's homegrown delights?!

Sophia at nearly 22 months

2011-07-28T10:52:00.003+01:00

Apart from all the current pregnancy symptoms I'm experiencing which can make life a bit miserable, I'm really loving this stage of being a mummy.

Sophia is getting more and more of an independent proper person every day. She's already got more words than I can count off the top of my head (recent new ones include cupboard and shut) and you can almost have a proper conversation with her. She doesn't exactly do sentences, but she has an increasing repertoire of blended phrases including "eretis" = here it is, "m'out" = come out (or her cot/car seat/buggy).

She's also got definite likes and dislikes. "Pakka!" (In the Night Garden) has to be mentioned at this point. I'm not afraid to admit that at certain times of the name Pakka can be used as an incentive (read bribery!) to help persuade her to do certain things (like leave daddy to sleep and go downstairs with mummy to watch Pakka, or not throw a temper tantrum in the last half hour before bed as we snuggle up together watch Pakka).

I can hardly believe that that tiny little thing who didn't do much at all has turned into this being with thoughts, words and opinions of her own! I can't wait to see how she reacts to a new baby sibling. (Currently we talk a lot about the baby in mummy's belly, and if you ask her where the baby is, she'll tap her own belly!)

swagbucks

2011-07-27T09:07:00.003+01:00

I know I've mentioned it before, but I really want to tell you again about swagbucks. Feel free to ignore me, but I think you'd be missing out!

First off I'll start by saying that if you follow any of the links to swagbucks in this post you would be following a referral link, and I would benefit because I would earn the same points that you earn by searching the web, up to a limit of 1000. Anyway, having got that out the way, let me begin...

I love swagbucks :) I'm by no means an avid do all the stuff that's available on the site type of swagger, but what I do try to do is get on every day and search the web using the swag toolbar or from the swagbucks main site. I use the search tool instead of using another search engine like google or yahoo, and I also tend to type into it the names of sites I use all the time, like facebook, rather than just follow a bookmarked link.

By no means will you earn swagbucks for every search that you do, but I find that going online a couple of times a day, once in the morning and once in the evening, I will generally earn swagbucks on a least one search every session. Sometimes it's more and sometimes the bucks are elusive, that that's a good general rule to go by!

I also complete the daily poll every day, look at trusted surveys and click through the NOSO (no obligation special offers) every day. Each of these things earns me one (or two for the NOSO) buck, as will having the swagbucks toolbar installed. Little things that earn me five bucks a day, go on every day for a week and that's 35. It all adds up!

So what can I do with my swagbucks? I save mine up and when I have 849 I exchange them for a £5 amazon gift card. Now yes, that does sound a lot, and at the start it'll probably take a month maybe more to earn that many. But I still think it's worthwhile. Once you get your amazon gift code you can apply it to your amazon account and have it sitting there ready for when you want to spend it. Since we have a new arrival coming in early December I'm aware that online shopping will probably be the way to go this Christmas. Consequently I've made the decision to save all my amazon money for Christmas shopping. I've got about £25 sat there already, and hope to have a bit more by the time I'm ready to spend it.

For the UK swagbuck user it seems to me that the best use of swagbucks is to redeem them for amazon gift cards. If you're in the USA or Canada there are options for gift cards at a number of different stores, though I've still noticed that a lot of bloggers talk about using them for amazon cards.

I had some other things to say, but this post is pretty long already. Basically, I think what I'm trying to say is that if you're the type of person that's fairly happy on the computer and uses it on a fairly regular basis, then it's very easy to fit swagbucks into your life. If my mum can do it then I'm sure you can too! Obviously, if you use one of my links, I will benefit, but that's not the main reason I'm telling you about them. Mostly it's just cos I know we could all do with a bit of 'free' money right now, and the chance to start saving up for something like Christmas expenses now seems too good to pass up!

Scan tomorrow

2011-07-27T09:02:00.004+01:00

Tomorrow I have my twenty (ish) week scan. (I say ish cos I think it's twenty one and a bit, but it's all relative. Little Bean will come when he's ready!)

We are hoping that little bean will behave and we'll be able to see what we're having - meaning boy or girl, rather than dog/cat/human/alien. Although we're hoping to find out, and we'll almost certainly tell a few people, we're not planning to make it generally known, at any rate, we're not planning to broadcast it online. In which case I hope you'll excuse me if I continue to refer to little bean as 'he'. That just seems natural somehow, and whatever news we hear tomorrow, little bean will henceforth be known as a boy online until he or she makes an official appearance in December.

Hope that all makes sense!

Status update

2011-07-21T22:00:00.003+01:00

I was told the other day that I ought to have a blog. "That's handy", I said, because I do have one! The conversation referred to my crazy facebook status reports, so for those of you not on facebook, or who don't have the delight of being my friend, here are a few that offer an insight into my life, or my brain, or something...

"Someone remind me to buy heartburn stuff, cos little bean is having a field day with my insides"

"Prayers please-being overweight, pregnant and having a toddler is not being kind to my lower back,and I'm not totally sure what to do about it"

"Our little Houdini keeps taking off her sleeping bag. Think it's time for another solution to the sleep cover issue"

""Knuckle mikle?" (let's snuggle in bed and have some milk mummy?)"

"Imagine if we all got undressed and hung our trousers outside the front door when we got home like the tombliboos do"

"Sophia is watching Finding Nemo with daddy and nan. She was totally hooked "fishies! water!""

"Little bean is kicking like crazy this afternoon"

Big sister to be/Mum in the making

2011-07-18T08:19:00.000+01:00

Dear Sophia,

I love watching you play with your dolly or your teddy bears (known as 'bear' and not 'teddy' in case anyone was wondering). You carry bear around on your hip, in the position well known by all mummies.

The care and attention you show them is beautiful. You carefully tuck them into bed "sleep!" "night night!". And for at least half a second you lie peacefully next to them, before jumping up to fetch something or read a book or rearrange bear's blanket. That is a pattern I remember well from when you were tiny and I only had a limited amount of time while you slept to feed myself or wee or even take a nap myself.

I know that you will be a fantastic helper with changing little bean's nappies. You may run away or shout "no!" when faced with the prospect of having your nappy changed, but given the opportunity to change bear's nappy and you'll jump at the chance. The other night I watched you carefully wiping bear's bottom with the sock puppet Danielle made with you/for you at teeny tots ages ago. Then you arranged it like a nappy, before starting all over again. You were chatting away to bear, saying over and over "am'appy" (I'm happy). And you were, ever so ever so happy.

I think the least said about the sudocrem incident the other day the better. However, I know you were just trying to stop bear feeling "sore".

You're also great at entertaining your babies. Many a time I've found you snuggled up together as you read them stories and point out interesting pictures, especially in the 'Pakka' books. I think bear likes them as much as you do.

I can't wait for little bean to arrive and to see the two of you growing up together. I know that you're going to be a fantastic big sister, and maybe one day you'll be a mummy too.

love Mummy

Footballer in the making?

2011-07-17T18:15:00.003+01:00

Little bean has been kicking me like crazy this afternoon. This morning he* kicked his sister when she sat on my lap. I can see that there will be plenty more arguments over lap space as the bump gets bigger.
("Lap?" and "ank oo" are recent additions to Sophia's vocabulary. Lap? is a question cos she's asking if she can come up on mine or daddy's lap, usually when we're sat at the table eating dinner. Ank oo is clearly 'thank you')

*'He' because this pregnancy is so different to when I was pregnant with Sophia that surely this one is a boy?!

extending her personal dictionary

2011-07-14T21:34:00.003+01:00

Sophia's got sooooo many words now. Everyday she comes out with a new word that surprises
Some of her latest words include
mama fik (fix) it
drawing
colour
olives
fridge
lap

I need to make a list as she says them one day, cos I've already forgotten half the words she used today!

She loves me!

2011-07-02T10:29:00.003+01:00

I get to listen to this cheeky monkey chatting all day long...

Vegetables

2011-06-28T19:40:00.004+01:00

On Saturday we dug up the potatoes and ate them (yum!). Today I picked my peas and broad beans and we ate them (also yum!). Neither crop may have been large, but I have a lot of pride in them all the same. I've taken photos, but since my camera is dead they're on my phone, so I need to work out how best to get them from that to the laptop.

So in this post I'll just have to describe the crop to you and you can use your imagination!

Potatoes - 12 pea sized, 12 grape sized, 5 ping-pong ball size, 3 golf ball size and one tennis ball size (total 33, which fed myself, Menard and Danielle for dinner with salad - inc homegrown lettuce, and sausages, and then one more serving which I ate for breakfast the next day).

Peas - 4 pods, which yielded 22 peas

Broad beans - 6 pods (is that what you call the casings?) which yielded 17 beans (2 of them were pretty tiny). We also discovered that you can eat the casings, if they're fresh, which they certainly are, so we cut them up and boiled them with the beans and peas too.

Little bean update

2011-06-26T20:13:00.005+01:00

Pretty sure I felt little bean move for the first time today. Very excited :)

Shoppping lists

2011-06-23T22:04:00.004+01:00

My freezer is getting emptier, my cupboards are a little less full and a little more random in their content, I think it's time to write a 'money no object' shopping list. By that I mean it's time to stock up on those things which have been in the back of my mind for weeks, maybe even months, but that haven't been purchased because they're not a priority - for example mixed herbs. I ran out of those a while ago, but instead of using those I've been throwing in a mix of thyme, basil and oregano cos I did still have those, now, however, the thyme is running out and the oregano is getting low, maybe I ought to just shell out and get some mixed herbs.

I'm not saying I'm going to go crazy in the supermarket, although sometimes, for me, I think going crazy is when I have say under five pounds left in my week's budget and I go round the whole store figuring out to the penny what I'm going to buy with it! I'm saying it might be time to buy some meat, even if it's not reduced, stock up my herb supply, and maybe even purchase a few things that would make menu planning out of my current stock cupboards a whole lot easier.

Gardening is Delicious!

2011-06-21T13:38:00.003+01:00

One of the things that I'm really enjoying about living in a house with our own garden (rather than a flat in a block, with no garden area at all) is that I get to grow stuff.
(I know I've mentioned in the past how exciting it is to be able to dry my washing out on the line, so I won't bother to mention that again!)

Anyway, growing stuff, very cool! I'm not talking about any of your boring common or garden flowers, nope, I'm talking edible stuff all the way. So far I've got potatoes, flat leaf parsley, basil, lettuce/salad (I've got a couple of containers, one with little gem lettuce and the other with a mixture of different salad leaves, including rocket) and I've also got what started off as 'mystery veg' - I bought a box from a charity shop which basically promised that if you buried that, box and all in the garden, you'd get a variety of different stuff as a result. I think I thought that for a quid or two it was worth a shot. A few months on and I've got three bean plants (not sure what sort of beans though, possibly broad bean? I must pick one and take a look inside!) and a pea plant. Now I'm not expecting a large crop from these, but eating anything that you've grown yourself is exciting.

And I've certainly not spent a lot of money on my garden. The containers are all either troughs or buckets with the owner of the house had left in the garden. The mystery plants cost a couple of ponds max (I can't really remember), I got some of the salad seeds free from a tv series last year which encouraged folk to grow their own stuff (you could email and request a pack of seeds, which I did), and the little gems came from the 99p store. The potatoes were my mum's which had started sprouting in the cupboard so she said I could have them. The basil and parsley were seed packets which we received as part of a wedding present (over two years ago) and despite being out of date, have grown well!

I know it's maybe getting a bit late in the season for some of you to plant things, but I definitely encourage you to give it a go - next year if you think it's too late for this year (although actually, a bit of googling or swagging would probably show you that there's something you could plant today!

hello, it's me

2011-06-16T20:51:00.005+01:00

Hey lovelies, it's me!

I'm now somewhere between almost 16 and 14 weeks pregnant (depending on if you believe dates or scan). I'm not actually being sick much now, but I'm still feeling pretty sick and tired most of the time, and my bladder still seems to be doing that first trimester thing of needing to be emptied all the time! Due date early December - possibly the 4th or the 13th, or something inbetween!

Sophia is getting so big and boy is she chatty! Almost every day she uses words that I never even knew she knew! Some of her latest include "towel" "bork-it" (broken) "mouse" "f-lore" (floor). Every so often I consider making a list of all the words she uses in the day, but I haven't got around to doing it yet!

Uh, what else? Life is mostly ticking along. I'll try to be back again soon.

(I tried to post this last week as dated, but for some reason I couldn't get it to publish from my computer, so I've put it up from my mum's instead on the 21st, sorry for any confusion!)

It's me!

2011-05-31T19:40:00.004+01:00

Hello little blog, this is me and my new laptop reporting for duty.That is a pretty bad photo, but it will do to show that I am indeed truly here. Hurrah!

Problem is, all the searching it just took to work out where the webcam saves photos means that I've forgotten much of what I was going to say in this post.

Oh, I remember, I was going to tell you that the morning sickness is much improved. It's mostly back to nausea rather than actual throwing up, and I even managed to take a shower this morning and not be sick straight afterwards - something my body seemed addicted to doing for the last couple of weeks. I was beginning to think the best option might be to stop showering, although those around me might not agree.

Things are generally pootling along. Little bean is growing nicely, or so the books tell me. Sophia's learning new and exciting words every day and also some odd ones. One of her current favourite phrases is "eat-it!" and is addressed to dogs, other animals and earlier to daddy. Strange child.

swimming not drowning

2011-05-19T13:14:00.001+01:00

Sorry folks, I said I would be around, and I haven't.
My Grandma passed away on the first and dealing with that, twinned with morning sickness, has meant that the blog's been low priority. I'll be around when I can. Thanks for still checking in!

Sunny Monday

2011-05-09T20:07:00.002+01:00

I've had a lovely day today. This morning we went for our traditional Monday morning walk at a local park/country estate with my mum and the guy who runs the walks and treats us to random historical titbits, and a family who are also know from my church small group. The weather was sunny and the temperature bearable, especially since lots of the walking is done in and amongst the trees. Oh, and of course Sophia came too.

This afternoon Sophia and I met up with a Mum who I first met at antenatal classes and her son who's only 5 or 6 weeks younger than Sophia. We went to another big park, this one had the added bonus of an animal sanctuary with ducks, chickens, pigs, goats and sheep and ponies, among other things. The kiddos loved it and we could have spent the whole day there. There were also picnic tables and a playground area, so they did lots of running around, meaning that hopefully, after all that fresh air, Sophia and I will both sleep like logs today.

The best part about the day? It was all free, or very reasonably priced. The sanctuary only cost £2 for adults (under threes were free) and that included entry to far more than we actually saw. I like a good bargain.

(I promise I won't continually talk about our business, cos this blog was invented for me to talk about my life, but since my life now involves our business, then I think I'm entitled to talk about it every once in a while! Besides, I do need to talk more at some point about all the other things we can do.)

Here we go again

2011-05-07T19:02:00.004+01:00

Dear lovely readers, I think I might actually be BACK!
We have broadband. Ok, so the teeny tiny problem we still have is that this laptop is pretty much busted, but I'm hoping that it'll allow me to pop my head in here more often than once in a blue moon.

I have lots and lots of things to tell you all, but the first thing I'd like to do is to tell you about the business that Menard and I have set up along with another couple. (Actually, maybe I should say they set up with us, as they have the talent and Menard and I have the shouty-ness for telling people about it!)

It's called EM Photographic Services and we do lots of things! If you can't wait to find out all of them, then follow the link and take a look at the website, in the meantime I will focus on canvas art.

Now, it's a known fact that everyone either has a piece of Ikea art up on their wall, or knows someone who does! We are the antidote to mass produced artwork. We use quality photographs taken by one of our own team, David Evans, and print them onto high quality paper to produce beautiful artwork.

Of course, at this point someone may say "what if your business grows big too? Won't it still be mass produced artwork?". I have a couple of answers to that; firstly, even if lots of folk ended up choosing the same photo for their wall, each canvas will still have been created the highest quality we can achieve, and by a small team of workers, not a giant big corporation. Secondly, and I will cover this in more detail at some point, you can choose to have us put YOUR artwork on canvas, and then you really will have a one of a kind piece of art.

I feel like I got a bit lost on a wiggle there, so let me come back to my original thoughts and reason for this post... We need your help! (and I don't just mean to buy our stuff, although that would be great if that's your cup of tea).

We've put together a selection of photos which David has taken and worked on, and which we believe might make good wall art. However, there are only four of us and we're probably pretty biased, so I would love it if you guys, my lovely readers, could give us your thoughts too.

Now I'm hoping that this link from David will work, or if you are on facebook you can follow these instructions.

Search on facebook for 'emphotographic' or 'emphotographic services'.
Like us if you like!
Look at the wall and check out our 'Available Artwork' album.
Leave some thoughts, either there, or back here.
Enjoy the rest of your day

We would like to know if any particular photos stand out to you. What's your favourite? What would you definitely not want to see on your wall? Anything else?

Thank you my lovelies :)

quick hello

2011-04-25T11:09:00.002+01:00

Oh dear wonderful readers, assuming that anyone is actually still around to be reading, I so want to be blogging, but our broadband won't be set up until the 3rd May and internet is tricky until then.
We're settled into our new place, in fact feels like we've been there for ages, which is good. A few other bits and pieces going on, but you'll hear about them in due course.

Bag update

2011-03-16T10:55:00.002Z

Well I can't remember if I've mentioned it, but we are moving this weekend. Hence, a lot of sorting and cleaning out and packing is going on, and I've also lost count of how many bags we've got rid of!

However, I know we've thrown out at least 5 bags of rubbish, as well as maybe 3 or 4 to the charity shop and 2 more passing things on to folk who will use them. I think I'm gonna stop counting and just concentrate on getting rid of stuff as and when the moments arrive, and do our best to not pack junk to take to the new place!

I'll be back again soon. Hopefully, if I don't get lost in the boxes!

Less is more

2011-03-10T17:21:00.002Z

Yesterday with Sophia's help (she tore up some old magazines!) we filled a bag with paper to recycle so that was bag 3.

Bag 4 was filled today with 15 or so books to take to the charity shop. These were actually books from my old bedroom in my parent's house, but since it's my stuff and it needs reducing, I figure it counts! I came out of the charity shop with one new book which I'm looking forward to flicking through and possibly sharing with my friend Danielle - it's by money saving expert Martin Lewis.

Sophia's had a great afternoon. Now we live in a ground floor flat so she doesn't get to do stairs on a regular basis, but this afternoon at my parent's house she did lots of practising, both up and some down (trying out a few techniques, including sliding down on her bottom!)

And who can resist requests such as "bit-dit bease mama?" (Let's see if anyone can try to translate that!)

Challenge

2011-03-09T07:35:00.003Z

Ok so, my blog needs some loving, my house needs de-cluttering.
Looks like 40 bags in 40 days is a match made in heaven.
Let's do this!

I found this challenge on Owlhaven, and clicked over to Clover Lane

Now I'm gonna cheat a teeny tiny bit, cos I actually did a bunch of clearing out on Monday and have already got rid of two bags of stuff.
Bag one went to a charity shop and was books and a few items of toddler clothing.

Bag two went yesterday and it was books and magazines - I returned some books to their owner, gave away a duplicate book of Sophia's to her little friend J and took some magazines in to our doctors surgery.

Here's to bag three (or more) today

Thinking thoughts

2011-02-27T16:34:00.003Z

the page is blank and empty, waiting to fill up with text

the thoughts don't come right away,

they linger in the mind

and on the fingertips

waiting to be uttered,

pondering, thinking, wondering

what next?

Sharing

2011-02-17T20:48:00.002Z

Milk for Sophie

Hm, baby looks thirsty

This is tricky, how does Mummy manage?

Ah, here we go, milk for baby

As requested

2011-02-11T05:58:00.002Z

Eating lunch is such hard work

Cheeky monkeys

2011-02-10T20:53:00.001Z

today thus far

2011-02-08T11:37:00.003Z

Yesterday I popped into Morrisons after an afternoon of bits and pieces, including visiting auntie Yvonne (my sister in law, and Sophia's auntie). I didn't find much on the fridge reduced shelves, although I did score some chicken drumsticks for 99p (reduced to more than half price) and a couple of patties which can be frozen, and which Menard can take for his lunch to work.

However, on the fruit and veg table I found tons of apples. I came home with two packs, each of 45p, so a total of 90 pence. One bag was fairly small red apples (unlabelled) and contained about 20 apples! The other was mixed larger apples and had about ten. I'd say that's a score!

I also found a bag with three butternut squashes for 45p and a bag of little carrots for 45p (pretty much everything was 45p!)

This morning I have stewed some apples to put in little pots and freeze - I take one one pot of fruit every day and mix it into Sophia's porridge for breakfast, this gets fruit into her, and cools the porridge down quicker!

I made apple muffins with a recipe I found at All Recipes (and used that particular one cos I had all the ingredients, well sort of. I used all granulated sugar instead of a mix of caster and soft brown, and I didn't have any icing sugar to put on the top). They turned out really nicely, and gave me an excuse to use my new silicone muffin cases which Bekki gave me for Christmas. I used the circles and the stars and they worked brilliantly. Hurrah! My waist line will thank me for not eating them, although I tasted one with Sophia to check how they turned out, so some are going to my friend with a fairly new baby (about 5 weeks old now I think) and some have been frozen and M will take them to work as part of his lunch.

I also cut up lots of apples and froze them, to be turned into stewed apple or apple cake or something at a later date. I have 6 large apples left, but I'm all appled out for the time being. I'll do something with them either later today or tomorrow.

Meanwhile Sophia was having all sorts of fun. Drawing on her leg with biro, eating apples (bites out of multiple apples, thanks darling!), playing with plastic pots out of the 'safe cupboard' in the kitchen, putting washing (and an apple) in and out of the washing machine, etc etc!

I've also cleared up the kitchen and done what felt like endless washing up, we've watched builders out the window (who were coming to sort out the mess they made when they decided to paint the building in the rain) and Sophia's been fascinated by the shadows their ladders made against the window blinds. Oh, and we hoovered the living room to pick up all the bits of apple Sophia had showered it with!

I've probably done some other stuff too, like writing this blog post. But now it's time to stop writing and change a stinky nappy, and shower and exciting things like that, so we can head out to see Lyndsay and baby later on.

plodding along

2011-01-16T17:00:00.003Z

Life is plodding along around here. I think I'm finally mostly better from the nasty lurgy that I've been suffering with for over a week. It started with a horrible sore throat, and went on to be a high temperature, dizziness and coughing to name a few things.

Sophia is growing taller and wiser every day. She says so many words now. I can't believe how time has flown.

I've got some photos that I need to upload, so I'll try to do that soon.

Mind's gone blank, so I'll leave it there, but I'll try to be back soon.

(I don't know if I mentioned that if I'm not around here you can trying hunting for me at my other blog, Can Big Change to Beautiful? - link on the sidebar)

God is Good

2011-01-05T20:08:00.000Z

A lovely afternoon was spoiled by my purse being stolen :(

I've cancelled all the card and starting fraud proceedings to claim back the money they got on my credit card and debit card. And just been ringing/on-lining to get replacements for all the loyalty cards.

Most frustrated that i was carrying all Sophia's Christmas money (cash) that i was going to pay in to her account, but hadn't yet. Oh and the parking ticket for not moving my car in time (cos i was in the banks getting stuff sorted out)

But, God is good. Sophia and I are safe (they just took the purse from my bag. And my bank caught the cash withdrawal on my credit card super quick and called me right away, so i got them cancelled within maybe an hour of it being taken)

And when i got home the silly car that's been parked in what i consider my spot was gone and my space was free. And the buzzer on my car (when the engine is off and you open the door) told me I'd left my lights on so i could turn them off and not get a flat battery.

And "He that is in us is greater than He that is in the world" - that's a verse I had on a card in my wallet.

And now most of my loyalty cards will now finally in my married name. And I discovered that for one store i actually had two cards, so they're combining them and that's some free money i never knew i had!

And the bank lady was lovely when i cried on her, and so were the ladies in the other bank and....
basically i have so many reasons to be thankful.

God is GOOD!

Winter Cannellini Bean Soup

2011-01-02T16:30:00.003Z

(as found on the back of the dried cannellini packet. I made it with most of the ingredients in the recipe, just not necessarily with the exact ratios!)

Serves 6-8

1 tbsp Olive Oil
4 Shallots, diced (I used onions)
2 Garlic cloves, crushed
3 Celery sticks, sliced
2 Leeks, sliced
140g Streaky bacon, diced
1 1/2 litres Stock (I used some I'd made as per earlier post)
2 Bay leaves
2 tsp Oregano
2 tsp Flesh parsley, roughly chopped (I didn't have this)
500g Cannellini beans
Salt and Pepper to taste (I didn't use any)

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the shallots, garlic, celery, leeks and bacon. Cook over a medium heat for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened but not browned.

2. Pour in the stock, add the bay leaves (I didn't have any!) and oregano and bring to the boil. Cover the pan and simmer gently for 15 minutes, add the cannellini beans, cover and simmer for a further 5 minutes or until the beans are heated through.

3. Stir in the parsley and serve immediately.

This soup is yummy. I used less beans and less stock, cos that's what I had, but I think it tastes great. I used dried beans that I'd previously soaked and boiled, but you could use tinned beans instead.

Yo!

2011-01-01T11:47:00.001Z

New year, new resolutions.....
I will blog more!

WIshing you all...

2010-12-25T07:59:00.001Z

... a very Happy Christmas!

Sophia is very much enjoying this, her second Christmas, so far. (We've let her open a few presents on the days leading up to Christmas, so she's getting the hang of this tearing off wrapping paper thing!) I'm sure there will be some photos to share in the next few days.

Let's have a wonderful time celebrating Jesus' birthday.

Snow!

2010-12-20T12:50:00.003Z

We went out to play in the snow. Sophia was unimpressed.

"Uh, so why are we out here Mummy?""Maybe we should try over there?"
"No mummy, I really don't like this".
"But if you blow raspberries at me, then I might manage a smile for the camera"

I'm still here, oh little blog of mine

2010-12-16T16:54:00.002Z

Just doing lots of mummy things and getting ready for Christmas things. I think of you often, but mostly as I fall asleep at night, and thus many posts have been written, but only in my imagination. I will be here properly soon, I hope.
I'll leave you with some of Sophia's words...

Hat!
Head!
Hot!
Hup! (meaning up, to be picked up)
Gees (keys)
Da-dad (Grandad - he's the first member of the family to be named other than mummy and daddy)
Hiya
Bu-bye
Ess (Tess, Nan and Grandad's cat)

It works for me

2010-12-08T11:43:00.006Z

I'm still in my p-jams, but have been a bit productive this morning. I made pumpkin risotto and I've got my second lot of stock going in my crockpot (I used some of my first batch in my risotto). This lot is chicken and vegetable. I had to make it cos my freezer was getting full of vegetable peelings! (Check out those links if you're confused!)

Anyway, while I was cooking I was making great use of this and these both bought on Etsy. The former is a oven mitt made by my good friend Bren of goodkarma and the second set are two mitts made by Buggie (as I call her! Who is also a good friend) of LadybugsDesigns.

I actually bought both sets a couple of years back when I was young free and single. But they get used all the time now. I use them to hold my metal pans when cooking, but I also use them to hold Sophia's bottles when I take them out of the steamer.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say (and I know I'm saying it a bit late, but there is still time!) is that although I actually bought these things for myself*, I have also shopped online for presents for Christmas this year, and shopping on places like Etsy and Folksy** (UK version of etsy) works for me.

*It occurs to me that actually although I bought the mitts from Buggie, I believe that my sister paid me for them and gave me them for Christmas. So thanks HB :)

**I bought a present on Folksy this year, but I can't link to it, cos that would spoil the surprise!
(Do check out some of those links. I wish I had time to give you lots of links to friendly folk over there, but Sophia's crying so I gotta go)

I'm linking this up at We are THAT family for Works for me Wednesday

jumbled thoughts

2010-12-03T13:40:00.003Z

Today's a pyjama day.

Sophia is currently sat on my lap, holding my phone to her ear and saying "hi hi hi!".

This evening I've got a "Mum's night out" thanks to Teeny Tots, the mums and toddler group that our church runs. I'm looking forward to Christmas Dinner with all the trimmings. I think Menard will be having something like cheese on toast, but I only feel a little bit guilty!

Christmas shopping is going well, especially thanks to the internet. Good old online shopping. Only a couple more things to get. Time to start wrapping, although that'll probably be easier when Sophia's in bed.

Sophia's currently making her own additions to the master Christmas list - I'm the coordinator for the extended family. Maybe she's adding what she wants. That'd be handy, cos she's one of the few people I haven't bought for yet!

Thanks Julie and co for my new coat

2010-12-02T16:47:00.001Z

"Ooo, new coat!"

"It keeps me warm and cosy, mummy"

Trying to be frugal

2010-12-01T10:39:00.003Z

Being a stay at home mum is one of the best jobs ever. I wouldn't give up the quality time I have with Sophia for anything. However, realistically it means that less money is coming in to the household that before I had a baby (I won't even bother to try to figure out the child care versus my wages calculation, cos that wasn't a route we wanted to go down).

I've always been a bit of a saver. If I was given money for birthdays or Christmas I would often end up paying money into my savings account and then forgetting about it. Of course this has come in handy now that I'm a married adult who needed to find money for things like deposits for landlords etc. I loved to read household tips books growing up and one of my favourite books to dip into was 'More with Less'. (I can't find a good link for that, but it's a book by a lady called Doris Longacre sharing thoughts and ideas from herself and others about living in a way that better stewards the resources God has given us). Nowadays I'm also into frugal blogs. Some of my current favourites include Frugal Hacks, The Path to Frugality, The Common Room, and The Simple Dollar.

I've been making stock now and then for ages - my mum does it, and so I do too, but a post on The Simple Dollar inspired me to be more intentional about it. He (Trent) posts about how they have bags (or it might have been boxes, I use bags) in the freezer and any time they have bones or leftover vegetable peelings or scraps, they toss them into these bags and freeze them. Every once in a while, when the bags are full, they crank up the crock pot, toss them in with some bits and pieces, and the result is delicious and nutritious stock. That's just a quick summary, so go over and read the original post 'Turning kitchen waste into something sublime'.

Uh-oh!

2010-11-22T07:27:00.002Z

I haven't posted lately about how Sophia's communication is developing. It seems like every day she learns a new word, either to understand or to say for herself. The current favourites are "uh-oh" and "ooos".

'Ooos' are quite obviously shoes, and since mummy often counts them as we put them on "one shoe" and "two shoes", Sophia can frequently be heard saying "ooo ooos" (two shoes). [It's always really hard to represent sounds accurately, given that there will be variations in the regional dialects of those reading this post, but you can read 'ooo ooos' as pretty much the same as 'two shoes' but without the 't' or 'sh' sounds]

But my favourite is "uh-oh". We've always been parents who down play little tumbles by saying "whoops-a-daisy" or "uh-oh!", so that Sophia can learn for herself that she's fine, she can pick herself up and carry on. Obviously we're there to offer assistance if she needs it, but we want her to learn that she doesn't need to be picked up and soothed for every tiny little thing.

"Uh-oh" tends to be used when something has been accidentally dropped, and Sophia's picked up this meaning with glee. Two case examples...

The other day I was cooking in the kitchen and Sophia was sat in the corridor with a basket of toys (right outside the kitchen, so I could keep an eye on her, but outside the babygate to keep her safe). Sophia had been playing for a while when she decided a fun game would be to drop her toys over the gate, and as each one went over she gleefully called out "uh-oh!".

Yesterday I observed Sophia at the point where she's got bored of her dinner and decided it was time to show us that. She said "uh-oh" and then (after she said it) she threw her cup on the floor.

Other Sophia words:
Daddy
dirty
Mummy (but still mostly mum-mum or ma!)
Doe-dee (Sophie! Her name for herself)
Oh! or Oooh! (to be used as an exclamation, when pointing at something, just for fun...)

Random Debbie Thoughts

2010-11-19T10:55:00.003Z

I was driving along the A406 to a friend's house the other day (and that visit totally deserves its own post) and passed under a couple of bridges and got thinking about graffiti. Yes, so I think about odd things when I'm driving.

But anyway, most of the bridges seem to have graffiti on them, and it's usually written so that you can read it from below. Ok, so some of it is just pictures, but I'm talking about the written graffiti. And I suddenly thought, hey, not only has someone been foolish to hang off a bridge to write that (cos these things are way up high above the road), they've also obviously been practising writing upside down! I'm sure if I were graffiting a bridge, what I wrote certainly wouldn't turn out half as neat and tidy cos I'd be hopeless at getting it all even!

(More posts about Sophia coming soon for those of you who don't think a post is worth reading unles it has a cute baby story in it)

Walking!

2010-11-16T09:10:00.002Z

Thanks to Auntie Bekki we finally have proof to show y'all that Sophia's walking

Good morning

2010-11-14T07:58:00.002Z

This morning Sophia woke up at 5.30am. But she slept through until then, so I think it's an improvement.

So far this morning I have

rummaged around for things to put in shoeboxes

counted some of the pennies from our penny jar into money bags

changed at least two nappies (I've lost count)

chased Sophia up and down our halfway about six million times

jumped on daddy (actually Sophia did that, I just watched)

and probably some other stuff too

All before 8am. No wonder if feels like time to go to bed again. But instead I think I better find some breakfast for us (Sophia's had some milk, so she's fine!)

Pumpkin and Sweetcorn Risotto

2010-11-13T08:02:00.005Z

This recipe is from Allrecipes

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
225g risotto rice
500g pumpkin or 1 small butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into 1cm pieces
2 large fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
pinch of saffron
850ml vegetable stock, hot
150g frozen sweetcorn
125g mozzarella cheese, diced
50g pumpkin seeds

Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based pan over a moderate heat. Stir in the onion and garlic and cook gently for 4–5 minutes until softened but not browned, stirring occasionally.

Stir in the rice, pumpkin or butternut squash and sage leaves and cook for 2 minutes longer. Stir the saffron into the hot stock, then pour about a quarter of the stock into the pan and stir well until it has almost all been absorbed, stirring frequently.

Continue adding the stock, only a ladleful at a time, making sure each is almost completely absorbed before adding the next, and stirring frequently to produce a creamy texture.
With the last addition of stock add the sweetcorn and stir well. Once all the stock has been absorbed and the rice is tender (this will take about 20 minutes), stir in the mozzarella cheese.

Season to taste, then cover the pan and allow to stand for about 5 minutes. Sprinkle the risotto with the pumpkin seeds and serve at once.

How I actually made it, and a few comments:

I did this with pumpkin, you can use other seasonal squashes or courgette (zucchini). You can also add things like carrots - Danielle, who originally cooked it for me did this in hers.

I added cumin too,and I put mixed herbs instead of just sage, cos I didn't have any sage, but the ingredients on the mixed herbs said sage first, so I figured that was the largest ingredient of that anyway! Also I didn't have saffron but put a shake of paprika instead.

I didn't have just corn frozen, so I put in frozen mixed veg (corn, carrots, peas and green beans which are already cut into cute little cubes). That made it look really pretty actually. And I threw in some chick peas, cos I'd been cooking some from dry in my crock pot.

I ended up needing a lot more liquid than the recipe said. I think if I'd cut the pumpkin up smaller it might have cooked better quicker and needed less liquid. I started off with vegetable stock, but for the extra I just added hot water, cos the flavour gets very concentrated, and I figured more stock would be too much flavour.

I didn't have any mozzarella, so I just used grated cheddar cheese. Another time I might use a combination of the two. I'm not sure how much I added, I just went by taste, and it was yummy!

Final few changes (you may wonder if i can actually cook a recipe the way it's written!)

I put in a bit more onion and garlic than the recipe said. I didn't put pumpkin seeds on the top.
And I didn't use risotto rice - rather just long-grain rice!

My thinkings

2010-11-12T16:13:00.003Z

Well so much for the whole posting every day in November plan - I didn't commit to it out loud cos I wasn't sure I'd manage it, and it's probably just as well!

Random bits and pieces....

This morning I found Sophia cradling one of my shoes, and saying "baby". I knew she had a weird thing for shoes!

Today Sophia had her 13 month injections. There were two, and poor baby is too clever. She watched the nurse intently after the first one, as she was getting the next one ready, and poor baby kept whimpering and trying to get off my lap cos she knew what was coming. Miss Sophia milked it all morning, requesting milk and more breadsticks or rusks, or cheese, or whatever she could see that mummy was putting into the supermarket trolley (we went shopping afterwards cos we needed some stuff and cos mummy needed some retail therapy!). And Mummy had mummy-guilt and gave in to her every need. At least up until lunch, after which she had a good long sleep.

This afternoon I've been making Pumpkin and Sweetcorn Risotto. I'll share the recipe and a link, but I'll do it in a separate post cos I made so many changes to the original recipe! My friend Danielle brought some over for lunch earlier in the week and it was delicious so I got the recipe and gave it a go myself. Sophia loved it too, so I think that's what she'll be having for dinner tonight.

She's a secret cappuccino drinker*

2010-11-09T09:15:00.004Z

* Well, the froth anyway! She loves to share with Nana anytime she gets the chance

Apple and Ginger Jam

2010-11-08T14:30:00.005Z

My mum went to stay with her mum recently and brought home a lot of apples from her tree, and she gave some of them to me. I've used some of them for apple sauce for Sophia's breakfast (she has porridge with fruit in for breakfast) and I decided to make Apple and Ginger jam with some of them. Here's the recipe.

2 1/2 lb Apples (weight after peeling and coring)
1/2 pint water
1 - 2 teaspoons ground ginger
2lb sugar

Peel the apples and core the apples and cut them up into small pieces. (I went for sort of cubes)

Tie the cores and peel up in a muslin bag (Now I actually didn't do this, but instead added a dash of liquid pectin I'd bought at Sainsburys)

Simmer the fruit (and muslin bag or additional pectin) with the water and ginger until a very smooth pulp. (I actually still had a few lumps of apple left, but I think that just adds character to the jam!)

Remove the muslin bag (if you used it)

Add the sugar and stir until dissolved

Boil steadily until set.*

Pour into sterilised jars** and put on the lids. Leave to cool

*To test if the jam is set I have some saucers in the fridge, when the jam is beginning to thicken up and look more jammy I dollop a blob of the jam onto a saucer and put it back in the fridge for a couple of minutes. Meanwhile either turn down the jam or remove it from the heat. Use a finger to push the jam on the saucer, if the jam has a skin which wrinkles when you push it, then the jam is set. You can also use a jam thermometer to see when the jam has reached the correct temperature

** I wash my jars and lids in hot soapy water and then put the jars on a baking tray with sides (so a tin I guess, rather than a tray, the sides hold the jars in!) I put them in the oven on a low heat for at least 15 minutes. (140C/275F/Gas mark 1). Some people suggest doing it with the jars upside down, but I do them right side up cos that's what my mummy does.

Fireworks

2010-11-05T20:08:00.002Z

This evening we had a few fireworks which Menard let off in his Mum's back garden. They were rockets, so very loud, and made me jump every time. We also had some sparklers to play with. Sophia was totally unfazed by the fireworks, she didn't even flinch. Instead she was too busy watching her auntie Yvonne holding a sparkler. And her response to those? Well to point and say "Oooh", of course!

Daddy!

2010-11-04T13:08:00.002Z

Sophia's definitely started talking. She says "ma-ma", which she's been doing for a while, but finally she's started saying "daddy". Yep, not just "dada" but "daddy".

Of course, we may have a few identification issues. I just saw her saying "daddy" and pointing to the television at (both!) Grissom and Warrick (on CSI)!

Frugality meets Hospitality

2010-11-03T09:22:00.000Z

Themes that I seem to have been hearing and reading about a lot lately are frugality and hospitality. I've been feeling challenged to try to find a way to combine two two together into our everyday life.

I want to be frugal, I want to carefully steward the money that Menard earns, which at the of the day comes from God. I am actually one of those strange people who finds shopping exciting. I love the mathematical exercise of comparing prices, not only within store (to find the best price per unit) but also recently comparing different stores. I discovered the site MySupermarket at the weekend, and I've already used it to compare nappy prices and work out which of the stores in our area would have the best deal. A few minutes online saved me having to visit all the stores to find the figures and work out which was best, before having to then return to make my purchase. I love the way that the site allows you to compare individual items, or the whole trolley.

I also love having guests over. Menard and I really desire for this house to be a welcoming place, a home where we can serve others by inviting them into our lives. Cooking in my crockpot, among other ways, allows me to be hospitable, but also frugal.

Dead (wo)man walking

2010-11-02T08:08:00.002Z

I feel rough. I can't smell or taste. I feel like I can't breathe. My head is full of gunk. I want to go back to bed. Thank God for in laws - we'll be going to visit them this morning so they can take care of Sophia and I can flop on the sofa and die quietly.

Crock-potting across the universe

2010-11-01T16:08:00.003Z

I've been using my crock pot a lot recently. There are a number of reasons for this, firstly I actually find it to be a lot easier to get organised about dinner in the morning than later in the day when Sophia's getting tired and cranky. On some days when we've had guests over for lunch this has actually meant I've had things in the crock pot by 7am! (well if I'm up with the baby anyway!)

Secondly, I love love love coming home to a house smelling deliciously yummy. Actually, we live in shared flats and you can generally smell whatever I'm cooking out in the shared hallway. I hope other people don't mind too much!

Thirdly, you can buy some of the cheaper cuts of meat and still produce something that tastes fantastic- I've done a couple of pork casseroles with shoulder joints and other nameless parts - just labelled 'stewing pork', bought at a fraction of the cost of other fancier cuts.

Fourthly, using the crockpot has been a great way to ensure that I don't have to spend hours in the kitchen preparing the meal when we have guests over. It's all ready when we are. All I might do is quickly prepare some rice or mashed potato and boom, it's done.

Finally, it's just so easy. Ok so of course there are some complicated recipes out there, but mostly what I've done has been really simple and yet tasted amazing.

Today I'mmaking a variation of this recipe. I'm using four chivken legs rather than a whole chicken, and I changed the spices to what I had on hand. Finally, I put in a pinch or two of salt, not 4 teaspoons like the recipe suggested. It tells you not to add any liquid because the chicken will just cook in its own juices, and I'm glad I didn't because it really had produced loads. It smells delicious, so I'll let you know how it tastes.

-9 (28th January 2009)

2010-10-30T12:40:00.000+01:00

Written 28th January after taking a pregnancy test. I'd intended to write more letters, but this was the only one I wrote while pregnant.

Dear Baby,

I've wondered for the last couple of weeks whether there was someone growing inside of me, and this morning I saw that blue cross on the test, and knew for sure. Well, pretty sure. I'm going to do another test in a few days and go see my doctor to be sure sure.

I want you to know that I love you. I will always love you. I will do all I can for your good. But, even when at times when I fail, when I let you down, if I make the wrong decisions, there is a God in heaven who will never let you down. I'm excited about the chance to teach you about Him. I know that he holds your life in His hands.

I love you,
your Mummy

wedding dress pics

2010-10-29T09:40:00.000+01:00

Since I seem to be going with some blasts from the past, these are photos of me the day we bought my wedding dress in February 2009. I look pretty rough as I was suffering with some pretty nasty morning sickness that day!

life changes forever

2010-10-28T09:48:00.000+01:00

I've been looking through my draft posts which I wrote but never posted. I found this one, which was written at a very emotional time. Reading it made me well up with tears, because I know how it turns out. It's like watching a film but already knowing the ending. I know that God is good. I know Sophia and she is a wonderful addition to my life, to our lives. And I'm still trusting God for our future.

written on 28th January, 2009

Today I found out that I'm almost definitely pregnant. Life is about to totally change forever.
I'm a good Christian girl, I've never done anything this big before. Even last year when I was depressed and full of rebellion, I didn't do anything like this. What went wrong?

I guess the answer is, I slipped up. We slipped up. People do it all the time. Every day people make the wrong decision, they do things they shouldn't, just not everyone's mistakes have such big and such direct consequences.

Right from the beginning I knew for certain that if I got pregnant, I would be keeping the baby. I refused to even think about the morning after pill. Well, that's not quite true. I thought about it, I thought about it a lot, but I knew that there was no way that I could sqare that with my conscience. I belive too highly in the sanctity of life. Even at conception, a life is a life. I know that to the very depths of my being.

So, I'm keeping my baby. I have that Madonna song going round in my head. I wonder how I could have been so stupid. And yet, also, there's a part of me that's excited. Scared wittless, but excited. I know that God has good plans for me, for us. All three of us. I know that although we messed up, God forgives. That God can turn all things around for good. And I choose in my heart to belive that. I don't know what will happen tomorrow, or next week, or next month. I don't even know if this fragile life within me will reach term - I know how fragile it is, and that not all pregnancys will result in a baby. But, whatever happens, I'm going to trust in God.

Whatever people say, however people treat me, however I'm feeling, I choose to trust in God, because he first chose me.
And I claim these verses for me, and for my baby.
Psalm 139: 13-16
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

I had a dream

2010-10-22T08:26:00.002+01:00

To really appreciate the funniness of a dream I had last night in the drowsy time I had while feeding Sophia at 2.30am after she woke up with wind, wet and having done a poo (well at least she's multitasking) you need to know two things.

Firstly, lately Menard and I have been watching a lot of the program Grand Designs, where "Kevin McCloud follows self builders in pursuit of architectural brilliance" (I stole that sentence from their summary when you search for them on swagbucks)

Secondly, my house is full of 'value' products from Morrisons, which are all packaged in an attractive bright yellow.

I dreamt that we were building a house, at least I assume that's what we were doing, I just sort of launched into the dream at the point the materials were arriving to cover the roof.

We had piles of black tiles, possibly slate, and they came in packs of ten and packaged in beautiful bright yellow Morrisons value wrapping!

sort of here

2010-10-21T21:43:00.003+01:00

Totally meant to blog this evening (Sophia sleeping, Menard out) but I got caught up with swag bucks.

Anyway, um, hello, this is really just one of those mark the page with something posts (like a cat marking his territory?! Hm, maybe not!) I really want to get back to proper blogging soon, so in the meantime go sign up for swag bucks (and if you do it through my referral link, then I'd be extremely grateful!)

I'm back! (again again, or something!)

2010-10-18T10:14:00.002+01:00

Hey lovely blog folk, things have been a bit ick around here. We've all got a horrible cold and I've been suffering with these nasty headaches too. I've come to the conclusion that sugar is one of the culprits for the headaches, so I'm doing my best to cut that out of my diet. And that can't be a bad thing when it comes to trying to lose weight either, so I guess that's a good thing.

Oh, but the biggest news around here is that SOPHIA IS WALKING! She started on the Saturday, three days after her birthday, and she's just got better and better since :)

There has to be cake...

2010-10-08T09:35:00.001+01:00

She was a bit confused about the concept of blowing out candles rather that trying to touch them, but we got there with a little help from mummy!

Happy First Birthday Sophia!

2010-10-07T09:58:00.003+01:00

One year ago our little baby girl arrived and totally roacked our world. How quick time passes!

(I wanted to compare with an up to date photo, but can't find the camera leads. Will post more pics soon, hopefully!)

A quick link

2010-10-04T20:22:00.001+01:00

I have been enjoying making chutney and jam lately (homemade Christmas presents here we come...!)
Today I made caramel apple jam, and judging from the taste of the leftover bits stuck to the wooden spoon, it's delicious!

The much awaited Green Tomato Chutney recipe

2010-10-01T06:39:00.002+01:00

Last year my friend Danielle made some green tomato chutney and gave me a little jar of it, and it was yummy! I decided that if I ever got the chance I would either steal her entire supply of it, or even better, get the recipe.

This year, thanks to the heat and then the rain, my in laws had a lot of tomatoes that were refusing to turn red. I asked them if I could have some, and they graciously gave me many many of them, and I also had lots of onions my father in law had grown on his allotment. How could it get better than that? Homemade chutney, made with homegrown ingredients.

Danielle duly gave me the recipe, and thanks to the power of google (actually, come to think of it, it was the swag bucks tool bar I used) I was able to search and find the original website the recipe came from. And since I'm a bit lazy I will just give you a link to the yummiest chutney I know. I took some photos when I was making it, but I'm not awake enough at 6.45am to do all that camera/computer/leads malarkey. All I can say is check out the link and try it! Also, it really is worth dicing up the tomatoes and onions - they pretty much stay the size you cut them, and if you cut them too small it'd just be too chunky.

I made 5 jars, one's going to Danielle, one's gone to my in laws, and I may give one to my mum. The other two I'm fiercely guarding. It's just too yummy!