A Week of Mornings ::

Inspired by Xanthe Berkeley, this week I took time to capture our morning routine and share it on Instagram. Knowing how quickly these little things change I thought it was a really great opportunity to keep hold of these ordinary everyday moments to look back it when it's all different again.

Something I've learned this week about my routine is, it's super chilled. I'm sure that won't last of course. But at the moment, despite having 2 children, my morning is mostly spent in bed! I'm really lucky in that Johnny takes Milo to school on his way to work every day. Milo is very independent, since Effie joined us he slipped into his own morning routine, which mostly involves, playing Lego until Johnny gets up, then he gets his breakfast, brushes his teeth, gets himself dressed, gathers his essentials for the day, then comes up to read to me and Effie in bed. Apart from the occasional clothing correction (usually back-to-front trousers) being able to do all this by himself without any nagging, at 5, seems pretty spectacular to me. Though there was a morning this week where he was a little too eager and appeared at my bedside fully dressed (coat and all) ready to go at 7am, 2 hours before he needs to leave!

Effie generally wakes sometime between 8 and 9, I have coffee, watch the news and feed her. After that she'll generally sleep a little more, so I stay in bed a little longer too. At some point I manage a shower, she sits in her bouncy chair in the bathroom with me. After that the rest of the day begins.

I'd love to do this again next year, to see how much things have changed, a lot I'm sure as we'll be in the presence of a toddler by then!

Hill Top CAL ::

The lovely Joanne of Not So Granny, is hosting a crochet a long over on Facebook at the moment. The pattern is her gorgeous Hill Top hat from Issue 10 of Simply Crochet, which is also available as a single PDF download.

Inspired by the thought of crocheting along with a group I excitedly ordered my yarn last week. I went for Fyberspates Scrumptious DK Joanne used in her original sample, in the plum. I absolutely adore this yarn and the colour.

As it was I didn't actually believe I'd get started let alone finished. Crafting time is it an all time low, what with our new addition and all. But you know what, I went from yarn in skein (I even had winding to do, my least favourite job) to finished hat on my head by the time the mr was home from work.

The speed in which I finished this project is a great testament to both the yarn and pattern. I simply loved working with both. So much so that before the day was out I'd whipped up a matching hat for Effie.

It's not too late to join in yourself if you fancy, just hop on over to Joanne's blog for all the details.

Our Dream Holiday ::

A couple of years ago, before Milo started school, we dreamed of taking a trip across Europe, visiting various cities and friends along the way. It was going to be spectacular, our first proper holiday as a family and create the kind of memories that stick with you forever. But for whatever reasons, life got in the way, finances were never quite right and it just didn't happen.

One day though I really hope that everything falls in to place and we do manage to take that magical trip, only now of course it will be as a family of 4.

Our plan was to fly out from Bristol to Copenhagen, spend a couple of nights in the Danish capital, before heading over to Billund on the train. If like my son you've a passionate interest in Lego, you'll know Billund is the birthplace of this much loved brick, so our sole purpose of this visit would of course be to visit Legoland.

After exhausting ourselves with an incredibly overexcited boy and no doubt blowing all our spending budget on lego, we would head out to Berlin for a couple of days, then on to Austria.

Followed by a couple of days in Venice, some time in Nice and finishing up with a few days in Barcelona. From Barcelona we would fly back into Bristol.

I've never travelled 'properly' really, though I dreamed of it in my youth. Apart from a couple of visits to Spain and Portugal I've not experienced any other country apart from our own and America. My childhood holidays, as wonderful as they were, were always in the same place in Florida (somewhere I would love to visit again some day), I would love so much to explore these cities across Europe and how wonderful it will be to do it with family.

Exploring unknown cities, visiting tourist attractions, finding fabulous places to eat and drink, all the time making wonderful memories for our children and providing them with all manner of great experiences they'd never have any where else, these are surely what great holidays are made of.  I cannot wait for that time when everything falls into place and we manage to head off on this great adventure we've been dreaming of and planning for so long.

This post is an entry for the #Flying100 Family Holiday Challenge, celebrating how flying allows us to make memories and ‘be there’, in association with #Flying100. Find out more at http://www.flying100years.com/

Weekending ::

It feels like we had a long weekend this week, because Friday seems to have added itself on to the beginning there. As it was half term, Halloween and the mr took the afternoon off work, Friday definitely merged itself into our weekend.
Milo had his best friend stay over on Thursday night for the first time. He's been to others for sleepovers but never had one here before so as you can imagine there was much excitement and not much sleeping. Friday morning I prepared ghostly pancakes for the sleep deprived monsters! I thought they were fab (super simple too, I just made a ghostly shape with the batter and added currants for the eyes and mouth). Cries of 'errr what's the black stuff' were shouted in unison when they were presented and then they both proceeded to remove the eyes and mouths, but it's the thought that counts right?!
Friday afternoon Milo had a Halloween party to attend. So he got to don his 'man eating spider' costume a little early. Not wanting Effie to feel left out I whipped her up a little ghost costume in the morning. The party was great fun. Milo had a fabulous time, lots of halloween inspired party games and sweets!

After arriving home there was just enough time for a bit of supper before heading out trick or treating. We're so lucky to live on a really friendly street with lots of families.

There's always lots of houses taking part and we get together with some of the other boys on the street and they have a great time. I've read a lot this week of people who are really opposed to the whole trick or treating culture. Personally I love it. Having spent every Halloween from age 6-16 in the states for Halloween, it was a big holiday for me growing up. My sister and I dressed up every year and traipsed the streets with hordes of American children, it was so much fun and I felt that sense of community even then.
I understand however that it's not for everyone, as a child the rule was always 'if the porch light is off you don't knock'. It always seemed a pretty strict rule to me, certainly one you didn't break. The rule we give our boys is, 'if it has a pumpkin you can knock'. We never ever knock on doors without. Personally I'm so pleased it's become a bigger thing over here and I hope it stays that way.

On Saturday we headed up to the grand opening of Cheltenham's new toy superstore 'Smyths'. Milo was so excited by this prospect and I don't think he was disappointed! As soon as we walked through the door he came face to face with a huge wall of lego. He shrieked with excitement. It was nice for him to see all the really big sets he's been adding to his Christmas list, in the flesh. He was physically shaking with pure joy on seeing the Simpsons house!
After that a quick pit stop at wholefoods, where Milo consumed at meringue the size of his head before heading home for a supper of Moules Marineres and left over reheated pizza!

Sunday was super quiet for us, I don't think any of us left our pjs all day. The boys worked hard on sorting the lego collection whilst I baked cookies and attempted to sneak a little knitting in here and there.
All in all it was a lovely one.

Angel Delight Shortbread :: A Recipe ::

When I was a kid my sister and I adored Angel Delight, I think one of the things we really loved was that we were able to make it ourselves. Kids love to cook generally and love the independence of being able to do it by themselves. Milo has since inherited this same love and proudly measures out the milk, adds the packet, whisks the mix, carefully pours it into single serving bowls and pops it in the fridge. It's so quick and easy making it a fabulous school day pudding.

When I saw the Britmum's Angel Delight linky challenge celebrating the new bubblegum flavour we were eager to try it out. So I gave Milo the responsibility of preparing Thursday nights pudding, he did a fabulous job and we all enjoyed the results.

However I wanted to try out something else. I have really fond memories of strawberry shortbread my Mum would make when I was a kid, which she would flavour with blancmange mix. This got me thinking about how interesting bubblegum flavoured shortbread would be. So I sent my Mum off to rummage through her old recipe books and adjusted her original recipe to see if I could make Angel Delight Shortbread

I was so impressed with the results, you could of course use any of the Angel Delight flavours for this recipe, but we are particularly fond of the bubblegum variety.

Here's the recipe if you fancy making some yourself ::

This Week ::

A round up of some of my favourite moments from my Instagram this week ::

Breastfeeding ::

I am certainly no expert at the art of breast feeding, but I have had 2 very different experiences of it now. So I'd like to share with you some of what I've learned.

My first was utterly dreadful. I had every breast feeding related ailment going, cracked, bleeding nipples, mastitis (5 cases in all I think I racked up) thrush (both in Milo's mouth and my nipples, a side effect of the antibiotics I was constantly on for the mastitis) and abscesses. Of all the things the abscesses were probably the worst. When I got the first, I dutiful turned up to see my GP only to be quickly sent straight to A and E as soon as he clapped eyes on the angry puss filled lump growing on my breast. Here I had to wait hours for a surgeon who rather painfully removed as much of the puss as he could. Bearing in mind I had been in labour less than 2 weeks prior to this, I declared it the most painful experience of my life. I spent the next few days making daily visits for more puss removal (I asked for anaesthetic injections on all of the following trips). Not long after the first was on it's way to healing (I still bear the massive scar) another little bubble appeared on the other breast. I was back at the hospital later that day, where I would return every day for almost 2 weeks. The second was worse because it was much deeper.

Feeding Milo on our first night at home.

I experienced a lot of awful healthcare professionals during that ordeal, doctors who told me 'it's really time you give up [breastfeeding] now' when I called for yet another antibiotic prescription and another who told me my milk was no good for my baby anyway and he shouldn't be drinking it as it would be full of infections, something that was declared nonsense by the doctor I saw just 10 minutes later (she was my favourite). But there were some lovely ones too, the aforementioned favourite who gave me her direct number and who I saw almost everyday for 2 weeks. The lovely receptionists and nurses who would coo over Milo whilst I was being prodded with needles, the beautiful La Leche League lady on the end of the phone who was the only person to tell me 'yes your baby is latching on incorrectly' everyone else had said 'it looks right'. My favourite GP (now retired) who declared 'of course you're miserable, look at everything you're going through' when everyone else kept telling me I had post natal depression and needed medication, something I wanted to avoid.

By the time all this was over Milo had no interest in feeding from me (I could hardly blame him) but I had kept my milk supply and I pumped and bottle fed him for 6 months, it was exhausting, hard work and my first few months of my baby boys life were not exactly the bliss filled days of motherhood I was expecting!

 bottle feeding Milo in the park

I expect this was part of the reason I didn't think I wanted anymore children and why there is such an age gap between them. Ask any failed breastfeeder, there is no greater guilt than that of not being able to feed your baby. It's meant to be so natural, everyone else manages ok, why am I so useless? The simple truth is it just isn't always as easy as it should be.

When I found out I was pregnant with Effie, the first thing I said to Johhny was, 'if I decide it's best I will feed her formula from the moment she is born and I will not feel guilty for it'. As it was, as the birth drew nearer I realised I really wanted to give it another go. I had learned so much from my experience with Milo and I wanted to implement all that knowledge. You know what, this time it's easy. Yes my nipples were sore to begin, yes I was in agony when my milk came in, but apart from thrush (had to have antibiotics during labour) so far so good. This has taught me that every mother's experience of breast feeding is going to be different as will every baby's. We all have to make our own choices and decide what the best decisions are for us and our individual babies.

breastfeeding Effie - a couple of days old

From my humble experience, here are some of the things I learned, to prepare yourself for what lies ahead if you do decide breastfeeding is for you ::

• Get yourself a tube of Lansinoh. By far and away the best nipple cream! Put it in your hospital and apply after every feed right from the start. The lanolin prevents your nipples cracking and scabbing, plus it's all natural so no need to wash off before feeding.

• Do some research. I literally knew nothing about breastfeeding before I had Milo. I read a million birth stories and a ton of books on childbirth, yet knew nothing about how to look after my baby. Understanding how supply and demand works in terms of breast feeding, how you produce more milk at night time, the importance of correct latch and how to hand express will all make those first few days a little easier.
• Hot flannels and a little bit of expressing will be super beneficial when your milk comes in. I woke up on the second night with Effie with the most ridiculously huge breasts. They were so painful for the next few days, using Natural Birthing Company's engorged breasts oil (from their lovely Bosom Buddies Breast Feeding Survival kit) with some super hot water and flannels really helped. I did this a couple of times a day, I also expressed a little bit of milk off before and after each feed to ease the pain a little.

• Use YouTube! The day I spent alone in hospital I watched numerous 'latching on' videos, playing them over and over and practicing with my real life baby when she was awake. Getting that correct latch is the most important thing as far as I can tell. If it feels wrong take the baby off and start again.

• Know that it does get easier. Your nipples will get sore, but they will toughen up. It will be, literally, toe curlingly painful when the baby latches on at first (the pain should stop once they are feeding) but that will stop, I don't even remember when it did for me but at some point it did. Once you've done it a couple of times you become quite blasé about feeding in public (two tops one to go up one to go down is my best advice to retain some modesty). Sleepless nights don't get much easier, though you do get more used to the sleep deprivation! 

• Babies have growth spurts. Be warned that there may be occasions where they will feed and feed and feed for what will feel like all eternity. I have never wanted to be able to get off the sofa and do the housework so much! But you know what they aren't tiny forever and you won't always have such a good excuse to sit on your bum eating all the cake (essential breastfeeding nourishment in my opinion) binge watching The Walking Dead. So make the most of it, that and the privilege of being able to demand your other half fetch you food and drinks as required.

I don't know how long I'll feed Effie for, but as far as I can tell right now, it'll be for a long time yet. Everyone talks about the magic 6 week mark. That's the time everything suddenly falls into place, so I've been told. We're not quite there yet, just a few days to go, but I can already see that the longer you stick at breast feeding the easier it becomes, but if it doesn't work out for you and your baby it really doesn't matter. Milo was fed formula (along with my pumped milk) from just a few days old, he's healthy and clever, he's independent and loving, he is the least fussy eater of his age I know and he has no memory of any of those first few months of his life. He literally couldn't care less how he was fed, the main thing is he was fed and he is loved, nothing else matters.

Milo feeding himself - at 7 months