Horsie horsie don't you stop

Riding nappy packet horses!

Jaiden - things I'd like to remember, but don't have time to make into a post of their own

Today's accessory of choice is one welly boot (Soph's old ladybird ones, so two sizes too big). Every so often it will fall off, and much is the gnashing of teeth before it's properly restored onto his foot.

JJ's started having a name for himself.  Especially if looking at a photo of himself, he gets very excited, pointing to the picture and then to his belly. He says "Ja-da" (Ja pronounced as in German for yes), or "Ja ja" - the variations of what we call him - Jaiden or JJ.

He's obsessed with Sophia's fluffy bear. Fluffy is the bear of the moment for Sophia, and consequently for JJ too. Fluffy has a nappy and soph often declares that he needs his nappy changed because he's done a poo-poo. Today I left JJ while I was in the bathroom, and I thought I heard him saying "poopoo". When I came back into the room he triumphantly waved bear's nappy above his head shouting "POOPOO!".

Cake Pops

A lovely lady called Hazel (who happens to be the mum of Danielle, who has the honourary title of auntie to my kids) has a new venture in cake, and we all know how much I like cake.

I haven't actually tried any of her cake pops yet (hint hint), but my children have, and judging from their enthusiasm, it was good!

Go check out her facebook page and like it, and then come back and see my kids enjoying her work!

Here are some pics of them enjoying the amazing cake pops she sent them for Easter...

 Soph excited about a parcel with her name on it!

 "Look mummy, it's Peppa Pig"

 It went in his mouth all at once! (It was a hot air balloon)

"Yum!"

In appreciation

My lovely friend Julia set up a group on facebook for people in our local area to share and request 'family' items. Soph and JJ are modelling the lovely welly boots that we got today from two of the women in the group. Thanks ladies!

He's Alive!

(now I may be giving you a spoiler here, given that today is Good Friday, but just wanted to share that it turns out ok!)

Recipe book

Quick post written one handed as JJ's sleeping on the other!

I bought myself a recipe book yesterday and today I've been writing in recipes from random scraps of paper, most of which I found yesterday when I gave my 'baking stuff etc' cupboards a good tidy up and clear out.

I found one recipe, which originally Bekki found somewhere, written on four different bits of paper,meaning I'd rung one or other of the family to get it on four separate occasions!

Do you have a popular family recipe you'd share with me? Either in the comments or on your blog, with a link in the comments. Pretty please? And I'll share the banana cake recipe one day soon when I have two hands to type with!

(It amuses me every time that blogger's spell check fails to recognise the word 'blog')

Cooking

When I was little my dad was diagnosed with coeliac disease, this means (very basically!) that his body can't tolerate gluten, and he needs a gluten-free diet. Twenty plus years ago, the availability of gluten-free products was very limited, and those that there were didn't always taste good. That meant that it was better for my parents to get gluten-free flour, and make things from scratch.

I don't really remember what it was like before my dad was diagnosed, but I'm pretty certain my mum did a fair amount of cooking from scratch anyway, but after, they cooked pretty much everything from scratch, and I grew up thinking that was normal.

I am sooooooo thankful that that's the case. I was just looking on facebook and one blog or other was asking people their essential freezer meals, and then attempting to re-create them from scratch. I had a think about that, and realised I don't really even think of buying any freezer meals*, cos I just think that fresh/home cooked would be better.

I'm not saying I don't buy junk. sure, everyone does. But I've never bought a cake mix in my life - it just wouldn't even occur to me to do so!

I think what I'm trying to say is thank you mummy and daddy for the way you raised me, teaching me to cook from scratch. Cos it seems that's a skill a lot of other people are attempting to learn later on in life!

* In the spirit of full disclosure, I do sometimes by ready meals off the reduced shelf for Menard to take to work for lunch. But I wouldn't dream of eating them myself! I'd much rather have homecooked lasagne than the stuff you buy as a ready meal. 

Jaiden's approach to eating

Jaiden's reacently got into using a spoon (or at least trying!)

But now he wants to use it for everything.

Sandwich? Bring on that spoon!

I *think* that's progress

Morning conversations

Soph: I want more milk
Mum: There's still milk in your cup, you can drink that
Soph: It's too wet
Mum: What?!?!?!


 Mum: Jaiden, kiss Soph to say sorry
Jaiden: Mwah
Soph: *wiping slobber off her cheek* Jaiden, that's NOT a nice kiss

Pick me, pick me

I've just been promoting my blog facebook page a little to my friends and I got a couple of new 'likes'.
That made me think that maybe I ought to actually write something on my blog. Oh the pressure.

( If you're on facebook and want to like my page, it's here
While you're at it, you might as well also like our business page too, go on, you know you want to! )

Well, it's Mothers' day here in the UK, so whether you're in the UK or not, if you're a mummy, then I'm wishing you a happy mothers' day. And to any of you for whom Mothers' day is tinged with sadness, then I pray that God's peace and comfort will be you.

Muffins and Mush!

This morning I've been productive in the kitchen and at using up things from my freezer that are from before my big de-frosting session last weekend (by which I mean the one ten days ago, and not the one that's just gone).

I made 'Healthy pumpkin banana muffins' roughly from this recipe. It's the second time I've done them, and the recipe is definitely a keeper (well, a keeper to continually mess with!).

I used all wholemeal flour instead of a mix of white and wholemeal, a mix of wheatgerm and wheat bran instead of oat bran. I made applesauce from scratch. Last time I used a mix of pumpkin that mum and I had cooked (two different pumpkins, a pot of each!). This time I had no pumpkin, so I boiled and mashed sweet potato and that totally worked!  For the spices I did a good shake of mixed spice and a a bit more than that of cinnamon. Instead of nuts I put about 150g plain chocolate.

 I also made 'sausage and vegetable mush'. Which despite it's name, is actually yummy and not as weird looking as you might think!

I took out of the freezer the sausagemeat, home cooked black eye beans, and mashed banana. I'll be putting back in 5 pots of sausage stuff, some of 46 muffins (depending on how many we eat first!), and two pots each of applesauce and sweet potato. Result!

Easy food to give to new mums (and dads)

We have lots of pregnant ladies in church right now, and many of them are due in the next few days, weeks, months.

We were so blessed when people brought us food in those early days, so I'm setting up a rota of people to take food over to them in the first week or two.

I was going to make a list of foods that would be good to take, but then a friend of mine shared this website with me, and I'd definitely recommend checking it out if you know someone who'd appreciate a meal, whether it be new mum, or old!

Marching on

Ok, so, I blogged through January and pretty much took February off.

I'm back tomorrow with a bang. Well, hopefully more than a whimper, anyway.

First time in the snow

(not more snow, just a photo from when we had the snow)0

Menard's latest video

Sometimes life can make you feel a bit run over

but it's ok to stay and rest awhile before you get up and go again!

Magic muffins

Sophia is at that fussy eater stage of life. And she's an especially fussy one. She *might* eat a baked bean or two, if you're very lucky and the wind is blowing in the right direction. She also likes to pick the beans out of Nan's rice and peas. But that's about all the vegetables she'll eat. Or that's what she thinks. I sneck them into her when I can.

Ella's kitchen baby food pouches
She likes the brown one and the purple one(see below)

Better still, she sometimes calls them liquid chocolate!
They're not the cheapest thing in the world, but it's gets some veg in, which is something her digestion desperately needs on occasion!

The other thing I do is make muffins with added extras of fruit and veg. I'll take a recipe which already contains some fruit or veg, and throw in some more, just for kicks!
Right now Sophia is sleeping, and I threw together some muffins which are reasonably low in sugar, almost fat free, contain wholemeal flour and oats and had... pear&apple puree (used instead of oil), a whole apple, a whole carrot, a whole banana, half a courgette and some sultanas. I just hope they pass the Sophia test later on!

Menard's slideshow

February

I blogged right through January!

As a reward I might not push myself to post every day in February.

We'll see.

But for now, this is me not really posting today!

Happy February!

Friday Flashback!

crazy crazies

The way I summed up the rest of my day yesterday on facebook...

"Today was a crazy crazy day, starting at 5.30am - thanks kids for graciously waking me up so I had time to fit in a ton of things. And thanks for weeing on the floor so I'd give you both baths, and tipping over a plant so I'd hoover the whole downstairs and.... I love you Soph and JJ, even if you do change up my to-do list a little."
 
Today has not got off to the most auspicious start, with a rough night, but we're off to see my mummy and daddy (once all the people stop being asleep again!) so that will be lovely I'm sure :)

Do all the things

My children graciously decided that they would wake up at 5.30am to give me plenty of time today to do all the things. So before 7am came around I'd already got a load of washing in the machine and done almost all of yesterday's washing up!

It's not yet ten o'clock and I have thus far done breakfast, caught up with the online world, stripped and changed the bedding on my bed, put the wet washing out on the airer, sorted dry washing and started putting it away, dealt with wee on the floor, and consequently bathed two children. The one that did the wee, and then the little one wanted to jump in the bath too, so he also went in, dried and dressed the kids, half dressed me (the other half is still pyjamas) and started another load of washing (bedding and towels and all that was wee-ed on).

Now I am just sitting for a minute before I make white sauce and assemble some lasagnas.

boozing it up on fruit shoot and ricecake

snapshot

Jaiden is doing something to my hair with a spoon. It feels a bit like when the hairdresser pulls two strands to check they're the same length. I suppose I should be glad it's a sppon he's holding and not something more dangerous!

Sophia is watching Cbeebies (TV channel for young children). I like to watch a bit of news and weather first thing and then we switch over for a few (or more than a few) children's programs. 'Tilly and her friends' just finished - that's one of the gentler ones, and quite enjoyable, even for mummy, as opposed to others which I turn off when they come on!

I am trying to be awake. JJ cried in his sleep a fair bit and Soph cried out at 2.30am. I went in, but she was actually asleep, but in going in, I woke JJ. He had a nappy change and went back to his bed ok, but coghed a lot over the next hour and cried and cried at 3.30am, so he came into our bed to stay! And that's that!

Happy birthday to my daddy

How to run a kids' clothes swap (beautiful assistants not included)

Last year I was sorting through Soph's clothes and had a bag of bits and pieces that we no longer needed, and that I wanted to pass on to someone, but I wasn't sure who would need them.
Why not get a bunch of friends together, all bring clothes their kids didn't need, and swap them, at  the same time we could drink coffee and eat cake (Mums are especially good at multitasking!).
The idea (not original, but my version thereof) was born.
That clothes swap was in my house. Today we had our second one, in the meeting room of my church's offices. I think it was even bigger and better than last time. Here's how I did it... and how you can too.

Set a date and a location. If the date is quite far off (as this one was) make sure you promote the event nearer the time, and remind people lots, but in a non-annoying way. (I hope I managed that).
Our planned location actually changed twice over time, but it was fine!
So second I would emphasise be flexible and don't panic!

Once you've settled upon your time, date and location, start telling people. (I went for 10.30 start this time, cos that meant those of us setting up didn't have to be up at the crack of dawn. I arrived at the location about 9.20am)

Invite all your friends with kids. Set up a facebook group. Think about how big your location is, but don't be scared to invite more than double the number you can actually fit in your venue - not everyone will be able to make it. Go through your phone and text all your friends with kids there too.
Pretty much everyone will bring baby clothes, so also invite expectant mothers, or those you think might be planning to have kids (get cheeky, people can always say no!)

Co-opt a couple of friends to be your beautiful assistants. You could do it all yourself, but you'd probably get a bit stressed. And your friends will bring new perspective and together you'll come up with some great ideas. I've had Rachel, Claire and Corena as my beautiful assistants for my clothes swaps, and I honestly couldn't have done it without them.

Think about child care for your kids during the event, cos you'll probably be busy running it and it would be handy to have another pair of hands and eyes around. Last time I had my mum and today my wonderful husband (and Claire's) were these to help with the kids and be oh so gentlemanly and assist with carrying etc etc. (Thanks!)

Think about how to display the clothes - we used a variety of boxes (pretty much anything I could find!) Last time we had a hanging rail.

Make labels. If you laminate them, you can use them again next time. Stick the labels on the boxes, thinking about which sizes are likely to have most clothes. For us, we had a lot of baby clothes, so I had my biggest boxes at that end and put them in small age ranges (Newborn and 0-3 month, 3-6m, 6-9m, 9-12m, 12-18m, 18-24m, 2-3years etc)

Ask your friends to presort if you can! It's so much easier if you can come and just tip a bag into a bag and go, but be prepared that you will need to help sort on the day too.

Think about what else you want to swap and share - we had bedding, towels, toy, 'baby equipment', shoes, socks, etc etc. But try to have a place for each item, so people can find the right boxes to put things in, and find things to take away too!

Consider telling people with older kids about the event (I set a rough guide of newborn-age 10 for the event). But sometimes people with older kids are ready to have a turn out of baby paraphernalia and are happy to donate it to those with the littles.

Don't feel like you have to make all the cakes - buy some, or ask folk to contribute too. People like doing that.

Tell people as they arrive, what you want them to do - We asked them to sort their own stuff into boxes, and then they could start taking. But be prepared to muck in too!
Have a plan what to do with leftovers (you will have leftover!) - we gave to charity, including my church, and I sent the people who were around at the end away with a bag or two to take to their favourite charity shop. Last time we stored some of the baby clothes because a number of our friends were expecting babies soon!

Be prepared to feel totally exhausted afterwards!

Start small the first time so you get a feel for it, but be prepared for it to all take off.

Above all, have fun!

(Of course, we're considering changing this system slightly for next time, with potentially a bigger venue, and asking people to bring their donations the day before so we can sort them better)

Not a picture

Wanted to upload some pics, but blogger or computer is being super slow.

So, this is not a picture of Soph in a box. You can all move along now.

Oh the possibilities....

Those with kids will understand

Happy birthday to...

...my very special little sister (who done got big!) Seriously, how did you get so old?! Here she is with her lovely Mr Steve.

Ok, so maybe that wasn't the most flattering of pictures, let's ty again...

That's better! Have a wonderful day!

snowman

life as we know it

Preschool's closed until Wednesday.

JJ has some back teeth (a tooth?) coming through, which while it wiggles and jiggles about is causing him lots of pain, a high temp and general miseray. This in turn is leading him to wanting me all the time and making my life miserable too. After all, it's nice to share, mummy!

The house is a tip. The washing basket is overflowing, the washing up needs doing, not to mention anything else. But JJ is reluctant to let me out of his sight, which makes achieving anything much a bit tricky. Today I aim simply not to go mad :D

In the snow (walking to the pub for lunch!)

 And that's as close as JJ's got to the snow so far since he's teething and been running a high temp

shoop shoop shoop

That's what Rachel in friends said in the episode she was hoping to go off ski-ing in Vale, but couldn't make the money in time.

And we have snow, and for some reason it made me think of that.

Snow snow snow.

By the time this posts, I'll probably be sick of it, but as I write this, it's the first day. I refuse to drive anywhere, and won't be until the snow and ice are gone! But we did have a walk in the snow along to the pub for some lunch (And to give the kids fresh air, since it'll freeze tonight and then even the pavements won't be that safe to walk on, and we'll be stuck indoors).

I haven't taken any kids in snow pictures yet and it's getting a bit dark now. We're (sort of) cosy indoors and Sophia is watching The Snowman. But I'll make sure I take some tomorrow :)  (which for me is Saturday, but as you read this when it posts in Sunday, that will actually be yesterday).

Swag-extravangaza - Tuesday 22nd January

This coming Tuesday, the 22nd, Swagbucks is celebrating the month of January with a bunch of Swag Codes - if you can get them all, you'll have an extra 65 Swag Bucks at the end of the day. They'll be happening all throughout the day, so check their blog, Facebook and Twitter for potential clues.

Also, if you have the new Toolbar installed you'll be able to check for Swag Codes all day long!

If you haven't joined Swagbucks yet, click this link to join the fun and start earn reward points that you can exchange for free stuff like gift cards! Use the code JANTASTIC during sign up - that way you'll start with 100 Swag Bucks instead of the usual 30. Enter the code exactly as it appears with no spaces.

Interrupting my blog challenge to say...

I've been doing lots of the 31 blog post challenge, but to be honest, I'm finding it a bit frustrating. Yes, it was nice to have a plan of what to write, but some of the prompts just didn't interest me much, or didn't take my post in a direction I wanted it to go. 

I'm also a bit frustrated about losing all my readers, or perhaps just all the commenters! (But I know how rubbish I am at commenting on other people's post, so I do understand).  So, I've decided that I won't totally abandon the challenge, but I'm putting it on hold a bit so I can say some of the other things I want to say. After all, this is my blog, I should get to chose what to write! (But prompts and challenges are useful sometimes!)

Have you noticed that I have actually blogged 21 posts, one a day, for 21 days (if my counting was correct!). That may be my longest blogging streak I've ever had.

*ballons, hats and party poppers all round*

Now since my almost 13 month old is alternating between trying to climb the bookcase and grabbing my arm to make me cuddle him, I it's time to get back to real life, but I'll be here again soon.

31 DBC - What are you reading?

-Well, I'm doing a 40 bible study along with the rest of my church, reading a different passage and devotional passage every day.

What else? Well facebook and blogs most days, but I've already linked up some of those.

I like dipping into a book called How to Feed Your Whole Family a Healthy, Balanced Diet with Very Little Money . . .: With Very Little Money and Hardly Any Time, Even If You Have a tiny kitchen, only three saucepans (one with an ill-fitting lid) and no fancy gadgets - Unless You Count the Garlic Crusher...


 It's a good reference for inspiration for dinner at short notice! And is written in a funny, readable way. I'd definitely recommend it :)



I don't read it start to finish, but even though Jaiden is my second child, I still like to check things out in the 'What to Expect' books. I got the pregnancy one out of the library, but I was lucky enough to be given What to Expect the 1st Year and What to Expect: the Toddler Years from a friend who had finished using them. I'd definately recommend as they cover things from feeding to sleep to nappy contents and everything inbetween!


Finally, a couple of books I got for Christmas...
More Make it Fast, Cook it Slow . A book with slow cooker recipes on a budget, as originally featured on Stephanie O'Dea's blog,  A year of slowing cooking. I think it was last Christmas I got her first book Make It Fast, Cook It Slow


And one I'm hoping might help me to get Sophia eating veg! The Great Big Veg Challenge: How to get your children eating vegetables happily by Charlotte Hume, which also originated as a blog.

(I'm dipping my toe into being an amazon affiliate, so there are links in this post)

31 DBC - Something I want my kids to know

Sometimes I shout. Sometimes I'm grumpy. Especially on the days you've woken me up at 4am for the third day in a row. Sometimes I'm a mean mean mummy (in your opinion). But remember this,

I LOVE YOU

31 DBC - Best advice I've ever got?

Hm, I'm pondering over this one. It's been sat in my drafts with the title ready and waiting for me to write something. The two things that come to mine may or may not be the best pieces of advice I've ever been given, but they're pretty good all the same :D

1. "This too will pass". Sometimes it's one of those days (weeks) where the kids have been awake since crazy o'clock, the house is a mess (thanks kids), it's time for dinner but you haven't made any.... you get the picture.  Say to yourself "this too will pass" and somehow you realise that it's ok, this crazy stage can't last forever. The day will end, the kids will go to bed, your hubby will cook (or go buy take away!). Whatever the solution, you can make it through!

2. Trust God. He knows better than you do.

Overheard

Menard and Sophia go to the kitchen to get her some milk.

Daddy: "That's a nice song you're singing, Sophie"

Soph: "I'm singing about a kitchen. I'm singing about you in the kitchen"

31 DBC - My 5+ favourite blogs

Hm, not sure I can narrow it down to five.

Currently I will generally check these on a daily basis

Owlhaven

The Common Room Blog

We are THAT family

Life in a shoe

Among the Savages

But I also like to read

The Path to Frugality

Light and Momentary

Vita Familiae

Frugal hacks

Dooce

And that's just the tip of the iceburg!

Santa's little helper

He likes auntie Hannah, reading with Nana, and looking slightly grumpy.

31 DBC - Why do you blog?

"I blog because I'm happy, I blog because I'm free..."

No wait, that's singing. I like singing too. Especially when I'm happy.

I blog to remember stuff. I blog to share things I thought were funny (and then get deflated when noone comments, and decide maybe I just have an odd sense of humour). I blog to sharehighlights (and lows) of my life. I blog to be a part of the blogging community - I need to work on commenting on others' blogs more, I know. I blog cos it makes me happy, keeps me accountable in some ways, to share photos and mostly just cos it's fun :)

31 DBC - Meaning of my blog name?

Uh well, it's kind of self evident, I think.

My sister Bekki helped me set up my blog. I didn't really know what I was going to do with it, just thought it would be fun to have one. My url is debbiemonster.blogspot.com cos that's a nickname in my family like "what's the Debbie monster up to today?".

'It's my life' came about because my sister blogged about her life, and I figured that's what I'd blog about too. So here it is, and I think it's probably been a pretty good way of recording some of the big and little events that have happened since 2005!

31 day blog challenge - day 1

I found this blog challenge which gives a title or instruction for what to write for 31 days on a blog called 'While on this side'. I liked the idea, so thought I'd give it a go. The only thing I will say is that I retain the right to interrupt this series with inane twittering or random things my kids have said, so it may take me more than 31 days to get through this!

As you can see (click pic to enlarge), the first post is to be a recent photo and intro, I guess about me and who I am. Right, let's start with a photo....

This one is me being absolutely shattered my my kids' insistence at getting up at a time that starts with a 4.

 This is JJ kissing me.

And this is me discovering I'm about to go change a stinky bum.

And that, by the way, is how I look when I've not had enough sleep for 3 nights in a row and haven't even combed my hair yet. Just keepin' it real :D  And yes, those are birthday cards and Christmas decorations up still in the background.

So who am I? I'm Debs, I'm a wife, a mummy, a daughter, a girl who must have pink things (that's Soph's definition of a girl - they must have pink things. I'm more in to purple, personally, but there you go).
Most importantly, I'm a child of the king. I mess up, I get it wrong, get cranky and shout at the kids over stupid things (especially when I'm tired), but I love Jesus, and Jesus loves me, and has a bucketload of grace for me!

I've been blogging a looong time, or that's how it feels. When I started I was young, free and single. This blog has seen a lot of changes, and I alternately laugh and cringe when I look back over all I've written here.

That's all my sleep deprived brain can come up with at the moment, but I've gotta save something to write tomorrow, right?!

Chicken

"Mummy, I want some chicken" said Sophia pointing to a packet of chicken thawing on the side.

"Not now, Sophie"

"But mummy, I want some chicken"

"You can't eat that chicken, that chicken is raw"

Sophia scrunches up her nose, looks at me with a puzzled yet bemused face and says
"Chickens don't roar"

Boxing day

One of the thingsI really enjoyed over Christmas was the opportunity to play games with my extended family. Hannah, Be, Sarah and Sophie played cribbage and 'strip Jack naked', and then later Bekki, Be and I played scrabble. Even Jaiden got in on the action!

Extreme couponing?

I've been watching extreme couponing all day today (admitedly on the 31st Dec when I wrote this, and not on the 6th Jan when it will post. I'm taking a leaf out of Kathleen's book and writing posts ahead of time)

I've found the ones who hoard it all a little sickening, and the ones who give it away to charity an inspiration.

I honestly don't think that we get as many coupons here in the UK as they appear to in the USA. But it's inspired me to look out for coupons and also deals like buy one get one free, and to consider putting aside the extra to donate to our church food bank.

When Sophie met Santa

(once I'd reassured her that he's just a man dressed up in a suit, like she was dressed up in her special party dress)

Fighting the language barrier

I grew up calling what I have on my bed 'a duvet'. Menard, for some strange reason calls it 'the blanket'.

I have lost the battle with Sophia, cos she's learnt to call it the blanket too.

Today I was trying to teach Jaiden the word 'duvet'. Every time I said it he laughed histerically, with his gorgeous giggle.

"Du-vey"

"giggle giggle giggle"

 Hm, I'll call that progress, I think.

Baby/Toddler self feeding recipes

Jaiden is getting to the stage where he'd rather feed himself that be fed. (Well, unless you're feeding him from your bowl!)
Anyway, I've been on the search for recipes for things I can make ahead, stick in the freezer, and just grab and go, that would give him a variety of things to eat and not always be having the same thing.

I've not (at the time of writing on the 31st Dec) tried any of these yet, but they're on the to-do list, and I'll give some feedback when I have :)

Cheese twists (pastry)

Individual mac & cheese

Mini meatloaf

Veggie Pancakes 

A healthy muffin recipe where you can chose your add-ins 

Weelicious - a site where I found the pancake recipe, that I will pursue further.

ponderings and resolutions

This year I resolve to blog more, and considering how little I did last year, any amount has got to be more than that :D

I also resolve to get fitter. That means losing weight, for sure, and also getting out and being active more too.

And I resolve to have fun. Cos life is for living, and it only comes round once.

Happy New Year!

From all of us!

Jaidenasaurus

The second one was round about the moment he grabbed a handful of icing, and then smeared it on Grandad's leg!

Baking fun

Things I have baked recently and found they are good....

Apple muffins. I did a half batch, since that was how much apple I had. I put in half the quanity of sugar and used wholemeal flour. I still made 19 muffins in my silicone cupcake cases, so I suspect the original recipe made big ones. I cooked them for 25 minutes.

Chocolate and zucchini muffins. Ignoring the adaptations they'd made for them to be gluten free, I used a cup of white flour and a cup of wholemeal. I used only half the choc chips that the recipe suggested. I cooked them for 20 minutes, and we made about 25 from the batter.

The times they are a-changing

I plan to be a lot more active on this blog soon (if the kiddos let me! But I've got lots of pics to show you for those days they're less co-operative!)

Today I was mostly a pillow for Jaiden. He's been a cranky pants all day long, apart from our trip to Asda, where he actually smiled at a few people! I think he's teething and/or has a cold. He's a bit miserable, whatever the reason. Mind you, I mostly forgave him when he was sat next to me on the sofa and leant over to go 'mmmmmwah' and give me a big kiss. He won't always kiss me when I ask him to, just to emphasise his cheeky-monkey-ness, I think, so that made that kiss extra special!

Sophia's had a lovely day with her Daddy, at Nan's house. They were painting a tea set that she was given as a belated birthday present (One of those 'paint your own' sets). It still needs to be baked in the oven to set the colours, but she's enjoying playing with it as I type, offering round tea and biscuits. I think it'll have to be an 'after Jaiden's in bed' toy, but that will make it more special!

Oh the indignity of the pink coat

Milk moustache thanks to discovering how yummy the froth off the top of Nana'a cappuccino is.

Happy Birthday to mah bebe

He's a walking, talking, climbing bundle of energy and fun, and we love him to bits.

Now is the time

I've talked before about swagbucks, but NOW really is a good time to sign up. Not only do they have a special code to use when you sign up to get extra bucks (see below), but there's also a mega swag code day coming on Monday. These are days when they post codes all over their part of the web - on their facebook page, on twitter, on their blog... and we find them and put them in the code bar on the right of the front page, to earn extra swagbucks.

This is what swagbucks say about it
"Cyber Monday is going to be INSANE at Swagbucks.com - they're having a Swag Code Extravaganza all day long, which means that you can get 70 extra Swag Bucks if you snag all of the codes throughout the day! Be sure to get to Swagbucks.com bright and early so you don't miss a second of the fun!"

So why not sign up now, and don't forget to use the sign up code NOVEMBERSB - it's worth an extra 80 Swag Bucks when used during registration and is active for the rest of November!

Family chaos

JJ walks

11 months just flew by

Dear Jaiden,

You were 11 months old yesterday. You're almost a year old already, how that time had flown by!
Seems like just the other day you were a tiny baby, snuggled in my arms. Now the only times I get to snuggle you are when you're tired and cranky, want some of my food, or Sophie's having a cuddle and you want to get in on the action. Because it just wouldn't be fair for one of you to have a cuddle and not the other!

You love your sister and she loves you, sometimes too much (trying to pick you up, squeezing you too tight, or trying to tuck you in under a blanket and totally covering you up)! I love watching the two of you when you are playing together.

This morning Sophia woke up early because she was so excited to play with her tea set and 'make tea' for every one, or actually, to make tea for you (We'd had the tea set put away for a while and got it out again last night). She woke up at 5.30am and woke you up too! After you'd had your mummy milk you were desperate to get playing with her, and she wanted you too. I watched as you sat and chewed on some plastic fruit as she busied about pouring out tea for you. About the only thing she doesn't like to play with you is the train set, because you have a habit of picking up the tracks she's laid, so that you can suck and chew on them!

You're a very chatty boy, with very expressive 'oh's and 'oooh's. You have this really annoying squeak when you want something (you totally got that from Sophia, grrr!). And you also learnt to say 'MUM!' from Sophia. You say 'mum', 'dad-dad', 'hiya' and 'no'. You've probably got some more words than that, but those 4 are the clearest. You never took much to the sign for milk like mummy did, but I do see you using it sometimes when you want milk, or just want mummy. I've also tried to teach you the sign for please, and sometimes I think I see you use it. We'll have to work on that some more.

You have beautiful light brown curls and big brown eyes. It's funny because I wonder sometimes just how two children can look so similar and yet so different. Really, I think you look like me. I like it.

You have the most beautiful smile, and the fifth tooth (bottom, to the right of the front two) is doing its best to catch up with the 4 fully out. I think I might have just caught sight of tooth number 6 this morning (also on the bottom, but to the left) trying to make an appearance.

I'm so glad that I'm your mummy (even if I wish sometimes that you'd still call me mama and not MUM!)

love you,
Mama

Today

Today feels like a get stuff done sort of day. My house is full of junk and I want to get rid of it!
There's a toy swap coming up at one of our mum and toddler groups and Sophia's preschool is having a table top sale, so I think those will be great opportunities to be rid of a few things (and hopefully not bring too much back into the house!)

I've tackled the washing up so far, but I think the kitchen needs more sorting than that. The plastic boxes drawer is getting out of control and there's stuff all over the surfaces. And I want to sort out my bookcase and probably remove some things from it.

But first, I smell that someone nearby has a stinky bum!

peekaboo!

I was doing so well with the posting, and then somehow life got in the way!
I'm still around, posts mulling about in my head. Can't write them now cos I have a sleeping bubba in my arms and we need to get up and out the house soon (well, we've been up for hours, but dressed with clothes and handy things like that!)

Flashback

This was back before JJ was born! I think she was taking baby on a 'wenture'.

Visiting my mummy (and my daddy too)

We're visiting my mum and dad today.

I just did half an hour on the treadmill while they took the kids to the park. And I get to have an uninterrupted shower too!

Later we'll bake a cake for my sister in law whose birthday it is on Saturday.

I like my mummy's (and daddy's) house.

Facebook status highlights from the last week (or illustrating just how random my life is sometimes)

We're hardcore. We go to the park when noone else is there and it's about to rain!


It's mitt? I thought it was mick. Is mitt even a name? Apart from oven mitts


Row row row your boat, gently down the stream. Mary mary like a jelly...


Just scored amazingly on reduced veg in morrisons. Haven't had a haul like that in ages


Doh-got too good at the reverse psychology thing-i've got a bowl of fruit i actually want to eat myself,but soph is insisting on helping me


This is definitely soup season. Just put pots of butternut squash & carrot soup (with cumin seeds) in the freezer. Watch out world, I'll be making more soon.


Re car insurance - I phoned my supplier and told them I was leaving them cos i had a quote that was over sixty quid cheaper, and they said they'd match that quote. In fact, they gave it to me for 30p cheaper than my best quote. Hurrah!


Sophia told me today that "i've got a baby growing in my belly like tilly". Just now she told me "i can't put my toys away cos the baby is coming."

Just an average day (the early edition)

The night before....

JJ ate too many beans (out of nan's rice and peas) and also fell asleep on his bottle, so was full of gas! He cried out in his sleep quite a bit, and at 11.30pm he was clearly not happy. We picked him up so as to not to wake up Sophie, and changed his nappy and gave him some gripe water. Lots of cuddles and pattings and rubbings finally resulted in a burp and he did settle back to sleep eventually without waking his sister up.

5.20am  I hear murmurs and chats over the baby monitor. I look at the time, groan, and choose to ignore them cos it's happy noises.

5.30am I hear the unmistakable noise of Sophia shouting "MUM!" and more "ooohs and dadads" from JJ. I realise that staying in bed is not an option. I get up and discover the crack on my heel is really sore, and walking on it really hurts. So I semi limp to their room, not putting any weight on my right heel. Actually, I go to the bathroom first, and have another few "MUM"s shouted at me, so I yell back "I'm on the loo!"

I go in to their bedroom and pick up Jaiden and change his nappy. Sophia tries to talk and tickle him, but he's not having any of it. He wants mummy, and that is that. Once his nappy is done he sits/stands up and determinedly makes himself as close to me as he possibly can. Sophia is also trying to get in on the cuddle action, so I have one in each arm.

Soph refuses to wee, so we go downstairs (If a camel can drink a lot of water and go for ages without a drink, what animal can go for a long time without weeing?! A Sophia, that's who.) I'm learning not to battle over it every time, only the times where we'll be away from toilet facilities and I want her to go before we go out or whatever.

We come downstairs and I put JJ down on the floor, and he collapses in a sobbing heap. I put the tv on - it's still before 6, so bbc breakfast hasn't even started. I gather up the necessities - phone, tv remote, tissues, feeding cushion, and JJ and I settle in for some mummy milk and snuggles. Soph moans cos she wants snuggles and milk, but I tell her the baby has to have his milk first. (Mummy's priority really - it's been a long time since I fed JJ the night before, and really I want him to feed quickly for my comfort more than his!)

We channel surf a bit and find something called something like 'make do and mend'. It's gentle enough for my brain, and interesting enough to distract Sophie from her moaning. JJ takes his time, looking up to check on the world every once in a while, but finally he's done. Well the milk is done, he's actually still hungry so I go to the kitchen and get him a bottle and some milk in a cup for Soph. He goes on the cushion at my feet and Sophie comes up for a snuggle with me.

Once the milk is all drunk, I get to have a bit of personal space and regroup. Oh actually, there was a dirty nappy changing in there somewhere too. Mid mummy milk I think, cos I remember thinking that I still felt uncomfortable.

I grab my laptop and check in a few places - see if I have any move likes for my blog page on facebook, read back some of the events of the last few hours. I earn a few swagbucks, read a coupleof blogs, try to figure out my blog analytics and fail (it says I've got a ton of page views and traffic from another blog, but having chatted with them on facebook, they say they've never read my blog or reffered people here. Odd!) That's blogger. Google analytics says I've had no traffic at all, which I know is also wrong!

Soph asks for something to eat, and I have something too. Finally manage to get a glass of water too. It's about 7.15am by now.

We have a few meltdowns. Soph cos JJ's taken her cup, JJ cos Soph won't give him her food. JJ comes overs several times saying "mmmm" and chomping his mouth to show me he wants some of my food. He also finds Sophia's discarded plate and we play peekaboo with it. I catch sight of what looks like tooth number 5 having a good try at breaking through the gum.

At some point (after I've got to see the weather forecast) we switched over from bbc breakfast (which we turned to at 6.10am once that other program had finished) to cbeebies.

7.30am I change another dirty stinky nappy and we manage to tip nappies all over the floor. (I opened a new packet, and then they went everywhere) We'll pick them up at some point.-

8am Soph trips over her own feet and cries and comes for a cuddle. She's tired and would have done better with another hour asleep, but once she's woken up, that's that.

JJ comes over and wants to be picked up too. Generally once one is picked up, the other wants in on he action too.

At some point I started writing this blog post, it was before Sophia came over, cos I started typing with two hands, and that was reduced to one, and then none for a short while.

It's almost 8.30am and I can hear Menard's up and getting ready for work (slightly later than normal cos he works closer to home on a Tuesday). I think I smell another nappy, so I'll end this post here.

(I finish by spell checking and find it amusing that the blogger spell checker doesn't recognise the work 'blog')

Edited to add - nappy was a false alarm, so we spend time having snuggles and kisses. JJ's very good at 'mwah-ing'

Facebooking it

I've jumped on the bloggers facebook bandwagon and have created a facebook page for this blog. I'm still figuring out all the ins and outs, but why not jump in and 'like' me now, and one day you can say "I read her blog way back when...".

Treasuring the snuggles

JJ's got to the stage where he wants to be up and at it, so I don't get to sit and snuggle his very often. Expect when he's asleep. So I will get up and dressed and on with the day in a minute, but first I'm enjoying this snuggle.

Answer

Yesterday's photo was indeed Jaiden. I thought the colour of the wall would give it away, but I guess I'm probably more up on the colour of the walls in the different places we've lived!

Flash back

Guess the baby

Being a mummy is hard work

I'm a stay at home mum. I assume most of my readers know that, but just in case they didn't.

Right now I'm shattered. We have finally got Jaiden pretty good at sleeping, but my body doesn't seem to have caught up. Add to that a couple of weeks of being ill - stomach bug followed up with flu-y cold, and it feels like I'm wading through jelly.

Jelly. Must remember to make jelly with Sophia tomorrow. Since I told her we would, she's unlikely to forget, but it would be good if I could plan it in rather than trying to do it at the last moment while trying to juggle six million other things.

I'm tired, I keep eating silly things instead of the healthy stuff I ought to be. I know that there's most likely a connection between energy levels and what I eat, so I'm trying to do better.

But mostly, I just feel like I need to say that being a mummy is hard.

It's amazing too, but today, it's hard. I'm off to bed soon (just after 7pm!) and I'm sure tomorrow will be better. Goodnight all