Bank Holiday Hangover

An extra long Bank Holiday, plus an extra day off for Philip last Friday, plus picking up a bunch of extra hours at work, plus a whole lot of fun, plus cousins down for a visit led to me waking up this morning with an overflowing laundry hamper, a large stack of dirty dishes, house work that had been semi neglected over the weekend, and a toddler who was out of routine with a look that said "well the last five days have been a blast Mom what are you going to do to entertain me today?"

After pulling myself together J and I did a quick blitz of the dishes and started what ended up being 3 loads of laundry before heading to Grandma's house for one last visit with the cousins before they went back home (and a use of Grandma's tumble dryer lest our whole flat be taken over by racks of clothes drying). 3 loads of laundry, a nap, a trip to town on foot to run errands and blow off some energy as well, 45 minutes in the queue at the post office, a batch off home made soup, and a few more loads of dishes and our rhythm is slowly returning.  It amazes me how much can be accomplished if J is in a good mood and willing to entertain her self with her toys or the contents of the kitchen drawers while I work.  It is also amazing how little I can accomplish when she isn't!

Just to round our day off nicely J said purple this evening, clear as anything.  She was repeating something I had said about her shoes being purple. It wasn't burple, or purbble it was purple.  Gives me hope she might say please one day instead of puh.

Pinterest

I signed up for Pinterest a while ago but wasn't quite sure how or why I wanted to use it.  It took me a while and I am still learning on a whole, but it is helping me to keep all those millions of things I see and think "that might be useful on day" all in one place.  When I have a few free minutes here or there I do love to just have a look on the popular posts section.  On one of those occasions I came across Nutella Puppy Chow.  Puppy Chow held fond memories from my child hood, not literally dog food but Chex cereal that has been coated in chocolate and dusted with powder sugar.  I have to say it was messy and time consuming but was worth the effort.  Make sure you have a large party to serve this at or you will having an overwhelming desire to sit and eat this until you are ill from the amount Nutella Puppy Chow you have consumed!

Ice Lollie Anyone?

One of the best things we did while I was pregnant with Jocelynne was attend a birth class.  We did one run by the National Childbirth Trust or NCT and while there wasn't much I hadn't already covered in my obsessive reading on the subject it did allow me to meet some amazing couples who were all due with in a month of each other.  We have all remained in contact some we see on an almost weekly basis and some maybe only a handful of times each year.  It has been such a comfort to have someone else who understands just what sleep deprivation does to you, or has ideas on good children's food, or is just willing to stand in silence with  you at the park as your child goes down the slide 3097 times and not feel like you have to make polite conversation because you both are so tired that stringing more than a few words together is a chore. It has also been brilliant to see that even though we run the spectrum on parenting styles that all of our children are thriving and meeting their milestones and we can all have a non judgemental discussion about what works for us and what doesn't.  The kids love the time together as well and I hope that our meet ups formal and informal will go on for a long time.

Well done Ma'am

Jubilee celebrations to celebrate Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee have begun all over the country and will continue through till Tuesday.  Today I am watching the Flotilla on the Thames with over 1000 boat going up the Thames and tomorrow we are joining my mother in law as her road like many around the country are holding a street party.  To see all the Union Jacks, the bunting and the pictures of the Queen hung in windows makes my hear swell with pride to be a part of this great celebration and building memories as a family to share as J gets older.  Hoping to have lots of pictures to share of the street party later in the week.  Hope everyone has a brilliant weekend.

Give us this day

Making at least some of the bread we consume as a family is something I am interested in doing but at the moment between working part time and being J's main care provider M-F as Philip works doubles does not leave me what I feel is the time to invest in bread at the moment.  I know things will change, J will get older and a year from September she will start nursery 15 hours a week or what usually works out to 3 hours a morning 5 mornings a week.

In the mean time I thought I would start trying some soda bread recipes as it is quick and easy.  Instead of using yeast as a leavening agent soda breads us bicarbonate of soda or (baking soda) and buttermilk.  It makes for a much heavier loaf but also a much easier quicker loaf no need for kneading or long periods of proofing either. I started a few minutes before 8am and by 9.15am I had the loaf above and that included 60 minutes of cooking time.

J loves it which was a big bonus as I have yet to really get her to enjoy normal whole wheat bread.  While it did not work out as cheap as a normal sandwich loaf I did use organic flour and it would probably work out as cheap as a similar loaf from a bakers.

I am posting the recipe I used but I would say to use twice the salt and I might try using 3/4 wheat and 1/4 next time just to see if it lightens it up a bit.  I used a food processor to mix the flour, butter, salt and butter the rest I did in a bowl with a wooden spoon.  It also makes a massive loaf so you might think about halving the recipe if you don't think you can go through a whole loaf in 24 hours as there are no preservatives to keep it fresh this will change the baking time as well.  Happy Baking!

Soda Bread

            675                g                                  Whole Wheat flour

35                  g                                  unsalted butter

10                  g                                  bicarbonate soda

10                  g                                  salt

280                ml                                buttermilk

250                ml                                water

                        METHOD

Mix the flour, salt, bicarbonate soda and butter to                     breadcrumbs

Add the buttermilk and water mix together and roll in to a ball (do not over work the mixture) cross the top of the dough and sprinkle with porridge oats

Leave in a warm place for 15 minutes to prove

Cook at 160⁰c to 170^oc for about 1 hour.

(When cooked if you tap the bottom of the bread it will make a hollow sound)

Who Needs Sleep

Since J was 6 months old (maybe earlier anything before six months is kind of a blur) she has woken between 5am and 5.45 am.  We have tried everything under the sun, or moon as it may be, to change this. There have been black out blinds, controlled crying (yup swore I would never do it but sleep depravation does funny things to you), moving bed times later, changing nap times, giving up night feeds all together, you name it we tried it the kid wakes up before 6 am.

With the new found skill of basic communication her early morning wake up calls now come with the question “Mama Go Bye Bye?”. Yes that was my daughter first sentence and one she repeats from the time she wake until driven to insanity you are out the door at some ungodly hour okay 7.30 but pretty close to ungodly.  It really is easier than hearing her say “Mama Go Bye Bye?” on a continual loop.

These early morning outings has lead to many interesting observations.

1. People look at you strange if you are out pushing a pushchair with a child in it before 7am.

2. If you get to the park before 8am your child will be the only one there meaning you can sit on the sideline and not have to make sure they are interacting with the other children in a socially acceptable way. J has a new found love of screaming if anyone gets on a peace of equipment she has used at the park in the last 12 months so while she may be happily going down the slide if someone she does not like the look of tries to use a swing it can get ugly.

3. It is much quieter at 8 in the morning than late afternoon and as long as J is in a good mood in the push chair I can loose myself in thought while we walk.

4. There are a lot fewer people in the grocery store at this hour making it quicker and easier to do a shop.

5. J seems to generally be in a good mood at this hour where if I take her out in the afternoon some times she has the umph.

6. You get incredible views of the sea front.

I by no means enjoy getting up at the crack of dawn but have made peace with the fact that it is where we are right now.  It won’t last forever and even if it does in a few years she can pour her own cereal and milk so it won’t matter as much any ways.

Right now I am. . .

Reading The Hunger Games Trilogy.  Are they the best books I have ever read?  No.  Are they interesting enough to keep my attention and be thought provoking? Yes.  They are the first books I have finished since J was born so that says a lot.  I use to read 2-3 books a week before she was born but I also had at least a two hour commute everyday on a train so that was easy.

Enjoying the fact that the first of the British strawberries are in season.  I always get excited when they arrive in the shops and really never do get tired of them even though I tend to gorge myself on them.  J doesn't like them, I just don't think she knows what she is missing.

Trying to do my nails at least once a week, I use to do them quite often when I worked in London and do love a nicely manicured set of nails.  Even when I can't get them polished I am trying to keep them trimmed, filed, and cuticles maintained.  I am really loving Kristina Werner's blog Daily Something I have followed her crafting blog for many years and am loving her new nail blog.  Last night I gave the gradient manicure a try with some purples I had in my stash, need some practise but love the look.

Amazed at how much J is learning, she loves to get her self dressed in the morning and only needs a little bit of help.  She is starting to be so independent and like to help choose what she is wearing, put her own shoes on, help with tasks around the house.  I sometimes forget that while it might take longer to have her help at the moment by putting the time and effort in now I will have a child who is much more self sufficient in the future.

Trying not to make excuses for not doing things just because everything take 20 times longer with a toddler.  I really need to get J signed up for swim lessons in the fall but the first 2 terms are Mommy and Me classes and the thought of all the effort to pack the swim bag, get us both in our suites, do the class, get us both dry and changed, and committing most of an afternoon as the dressing and undressing is a slow process is some times daunting.  I don't however want J growing up never doing anything because it is an effort on my part.

Wearing purpose made pyjamas.  I know it sounds silly but after J was born while I was loosing the baby weight I just wore yoga pants and a tank top and when these got too big I started wearing old leggings and a  tank top and when the legging got to thread bare I started stealing Philip's boxers with a tank top.  With a trip to my parents looming and the certain knowledge that neither my parents nor my teenage sister want to see me walking around in my husbands boxer (really never as cute as when you see Jennifer Aniston do it in the movies) I bought a pair of pyjamas.  Nothing special but they make me happy.

So excited about the above mentioned trip to see my parents.  It has been 18 months since we last saw them and this will be the first time in over 5 years that Philip will be with me when I go home.